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Alfabeto Malayalam

Malayalam Script

The Malayalam script is an abugida derived from the ancient Grantha script, used for Malayalam spoken in Kerala, India. It has 15 vowels and 37 consonants. Historically it had over 900 unique glyphs. Malayalam is the only language among the Dravidian family that has been shown to have a regular word order like Latin, making it linguistically fascinating.

Vowels

CarácterNombreRomanizaciónPronunciación
Aalike 'a' in 'apple'
Aaālike 'a' in 'father'
Iilike 'i' in 'sit'
Iiīlike 'ee' in 'meet'
Uulike 'u' in 'put'
Uuūlike 'oo' in 'moon'
Ririlike 'ri' in 'river'
Eelike 'e' in 'met'
Eeēlike 'a' in 'cake'
Aiailike 'i' in 'site'
Oolike 'o' in 'on'
Ooōlike 'o' in 'go'
Auaulike 'ow' in 'how'

Consonants

CarácterNombreRomanizaciónPronunciación
Kaklike 'k' in 'key'
Khakhlike 'k' (aspirated)
Gaglike 'g' in 'go'
Ghaghlike 'g' (breathy)
Ngalike 'ng' in 'sing'
Caclike 'ch' in 'cheese'
Chachlike 'ch' (aspirated)
Jajlike 'j' in 'jam'
Jhajhlike 'j' (breathy)
Nyañlike 'ny' in 'canyon'
Ta (retroflex)a retroflex 't'
Tha (retroflex)ṭha retroflex 'th' (aspirated)
Da (retroflex)a retroflex 'd'
Dha (retroflex)ḍha retroflex 'dh'
Na (retroflex)a retroflex 'n'
Tatlike 't' in 'top'
Thathlike 't' (aspirated)
Dadlike 'd' in 'dog'
Dhadhlike 'd' (breathy)
Nanlike 'n' in 'night'
Paplike 'p' in 'pen'
Phaph / flike 'f' in 'fan'
Bablike 'b' in 'book'
Bhabhlike 'b' (breathy)
Mamlike 'm' in 'moon'
Yaylike 'y' in 'yes'
Rara flap 'r'
Lallike 'l' in 'lamp'
Vav / wlike 'v' or 'w'
Sha (palatal)ślike 'sh' in 'shoe'
Sha (retroflex)a retroflex 'sh'
Saslike 's' in 'sun'
Hahlike 'h' in 'house'
Lla (retroflex)a retroflex 'l'
Zha (special)a unique retroflex lateral found only in Malayalam and Tamil
Rra (trill)a trilled 'r'