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Nature of Malayalam Alphabets

Malayalam belongs to the family of Brahmic writing systems that is alphasyllabary in nature. In this writing system consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary.

  1. There are independent notations for vowels (eg: അ /a/, ഈ /iː/)
    • Short vowels (/a/ )
    • Long vowels (/iː/)
    • Diphthongs (/ai̯/)
  2. Independent consonant without a vowel sign following them has the inherent vowel /a/ associated with them. (eg: ക /ka/ )
  3. There are vowel signs (diacritics) following a consonant (eg: കി /ki/, കെ /ke/) to indicate the vowel sounds. These signs (eg: ി, െ) do not have independent existence without a consonant preceding them. A vowel sign automatically removes the inherent vowel associated with the consonant.
  4. The special diacritic called 'chandrakkala' or 'virama' (്) following a consonant has the function of removing the inherent vowel.
    • Consonant clusters or conjuncts are formed by joining the consonants with virama in between. (eg: ക/ka/+്+ഷ/ʂa/ -> ക്ഷ /kʂa/. Note the removal of /a/ sound in /ka/).
    • But virama at word ends, do not make abrupt consonantal ending to the word, instead introduces the medial vowel 'schwa'. (eg: വാക്ക് /ʋaːkkə/) and is called 'Samvruthokaram'. Native Malayalam speakers introduce this word end 'schwa', even when pronouncing English word like 'Bus' as /basə/.
  5. There are special consonant characters in Malayalam, that have no inherent vowel associated with them. They are called 'Chillus'. ( eg: ൽ /l/, ൻ /n/, ർ /r/)
  6. There are other diacritics like Anuswara, (ം) and Visarga (ഃ) with sounds of /m/ and /h/ respectively.

Consonantal Sounds in Malayalam and their IPA

Position→→ Manner↓ Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Unaspirated Plosives p b t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ
Aspirated Plosives pʰ bʰ t̪ʰ d̪ʰ ʈʰ ɖʰ cʰ ɟʰ kʰ ɡʰ
Nasals m n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Trill r
Tap ɾ
Fricative f s ʂ ɕ h
Approximant ʋ ɻ j
Lateral Approximant l ɭ

Vowel Sounds in Malayalam and their IPA

Short Vowels

front central back
close i u
close-mid e o
mid ə
open a

Long Vowels

front central back
close iː uː
close-mid eː oː
mid
open aː

Diphthongs

/ai/ /au/

Vocalics

/rɨ/ /rɨː/ /lɨ/ /lɨː/

IPA mapping of all Malayalam alphabets in Unicode

Long and Short Vowels

Standalone Vowles അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ എ ഏ ഒ ഓ
Vowel Signs ാ ി ീ ു ൂ െ േ ൊ ോ
IPA a aː i iː u uː e eː o oː

Diphthongs

Standalone ഐ ഔ
Vowel Signs ൈ ൗ ൌ
IPA ai̯ au̯

Vocalics

Standalone ഋ ൠ ഌ ൡ
Vowel Signs ൃ ൄ ൢ ൣ
IPA rɨ rɨ lɨ lɨː

Finite State Transducers for Phonetic Analysis

Define Alphabets and Tags

Identify Malayalam Words

Unicode Normalization ?

Identify and split to Malayalam Syllables

  • Syllable definition in Malayalam

Initial IPA mapping along with tags

  • No inherent vowel added in this stage

Contextual substitution 1: Adding Inherent Vowel, Schwa

  • See മ: നമോ, നമഃ, നമ്മൾ, സമം
  • അവന്

Contextual substitution 2: Conjuncts of alveolar plosives

  • റ്റ, ന്റ

Contextual substitution 3: Reph sign of ്ര

  • ക്ര, ഗ്ര

Contextual substitution 4: Dot Reph sign ൎ

  • ചൎക്ക, ഭാൎയ

Contextual substitution 5 : Word medial/end voicing

  • കട, അകം
  • തുടൽ, പന്തയം

Contextual Substitution 6: അനുനാസികാതിപ്രസരം

  • ബ്രഹ്മം , ചിഹ്നം, ഭംഗി, സന്ദിഗ്ധം,

Contextual Substitution 7 : /a/ -> /e/ transitions

  • ജയ, ബലം, രമ്യ

Alvelar and dental nasal disambiguation

  • പന, നമ്മൾ, എന്നാൽ, നമ്പർ, നനഞ്ഞു, ന്യായം, സേനാനായകൻ

Gemination after Visargam

  • ദുഃഖം

Non- native words and sounds

  • ഫാൻ, ഫോൺ