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Alphabet 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
| Caractère | Nom | Romanisation | Prononciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| അ | A | a | like 'a' in 'apple' |
| ആ | Aa | ā | like 'a' in 'father' |
| ഇ | I | i | like 'i' in 'sit' |
| ഈ | Ii | ī | like 'ee' in 'meet' |
| ഉ | U | u | like 'u' in 'put' |
| ഊ | Uu | ū | like 'oo' in 'moon' |
| ഋ | Ri | ri | like 'ri' in 'river' |
| എ | E | e | like 'e' in 'met' |
| ഏ | Ee | ē | like 'a' in 'cake' |
| ഐ | Ai | ai | like 'i' in 'site' |
| ഒ | O | o | like 'o' in 'on' |
| ഓ | Oo | ō | like 'o' in 'go' |
| ഔ | Au | au | like 'ow' in 'how' |
Consonants
| Caractère | Nom | Romanisation | Prononciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ക | Ka | k | like 'k' in 'key' |
| ഖ | Kha | kh | like 'k' (aspirated) |
| ഗ | Ga | g | like 'g' in 'go' |
| ഘ | Gha | gh | like 'g' (breathy) |
| ങ | Nga | ṅ | like 'ng' in 'sing' |
| ച | Ca | c | like 'ch' in 'cheese' |
| ഛ | Cha | ch | like 'ch' (aspirated) |
| ജ | Ja | j | like 'j' in 'jam' |
| ഝ | Jha | jh | like 'j' (breathy) |
| ഞ | Nya | ñ | like 'ny' in 'canyon' |
| ട | Ta (retroflex) | ṭ | a retroflex 't' |
| ഠ | Tha (retroflex) | ṭh | a retroflex 'th' (aspirated) |
| ഡ | Da (retroflex) | ḍ | a retroflex 'd' |
| ഢ | Dha (retroflex) | ḍh | a retroflex 'dh' |
| ണ | Na (retroflex) | ṇ | a retroflex 'n' |
| ത | Ta | t | like 't' in 'top' |
| ഥ | Tha | th | like 't' (aspirated) |
| ദ | Da | d | like 'd' in 'dog' |
| ധ | Dha | dh | like 'd' (breathy) |
| ന | Na | n | like 'n' in 'night' |
| പ | Pa | p | like 'p' in 'pen' |
| ഫ | Pha | ph / f | like 'f' in 'fan' |
| ബ | Ba | b | like 'b' in 'book' |
| ഭ | Bha | bh | like 'b' (breathy) |
| മ | Ma | m | like 'm' in 'moon' |
| യ | Ya | y | like 'y' in 'yes' |
| ര | Ra | r | a flap 'r' |
| ല | La | l | like 'l' in 'lamp' |
| വ | Va | v / w | like 'v' or 'w' |
| ശ | Sha (palatal) | ś | like 'sh' in 'shoe' |
| ഷ | Sha (retroflex) | ṣ | a retroflex 'sh' |
| സ | Sa | s | like 's' in 'sun' |
| ഹ | Ha | h | like 'h' in 'house' |
| ള | Lla (retroflex) | ḷ | a retroflex 'l' |
| ഴ | Zha (special) | ḻ | a unique retroflex lateral found only in Malayalam and Tamil |
| റ | Rra (trill) | ṟ | a trilled 'r' |