Malayalam: I. Independent Vowel Characters
Malayalam: I. Independent Vowel Characters
Malayalam
The United Nations recommended system was approved in 1972 (II/11) and amended in 1977
(III/12), based on a report prepared by D. N. Sharma. The tables and their corrections were
published in volume II of the conference reports1,2.
There is no evidence of the use of the system either in India or in international cartographic
products.
Romanization
The romanization system below is based on the new orthography, with notes where
appropriate on the older spelling. The table of ligatures has been added.
1 a a 6 11 o
2 7 12 o
3 i i 8 e 13
au
4 9 e
5 u u 10
ai
II. Abbreviated vowel characters ( stands for any consonant character)
1 a 6 B 11
2 7 C
12 o
3 i 8 13 auD
4 9 e
5 uA 10 ai
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A
Traditional script forms: khu, mu, etc., exceptionally: ku ( kku, ku), gu,
chhu, ju,
u, tu, nu (
nnu), bhu, ru, shu, hu.
B
Traditional script forms: kh, m, etc., exceptionally: k, g, chh, j,
, t, n, bh, r, sh, h.
C
Traditionally written in conjunction with the consonant character: k.
D
In the older spelling: .
1
2
3 (A)
A
Indicates absence of the inherent short [a] vowel, e.g. k , s. Special, co-called chillu-
forms of consonants with that symbol: , n, ! r, " l, # .
1 ka 14 0 ha 27 = ra
2 % kha 15 1 a 28 > la
3 & ga 16 2 ta 29 ? va
4 ' gha 17 3 tha 30 @ sha
5 ( a 18 4 da 31 A ha
6 ) cha 19 5 dha 32 sa
7 * chha 20 6 na 33 C ha
8 ja 21 7 pa 34 k kha
9 , jha 22 8 pha 35 E a
10 - a 23 9 ba 36 F a
11 a 24 : bha 37 G aA
12 . ha 25 ; ma
13 / a 26 < ya
A
Special ligature: H t .
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V. Ligatures
Other ligatures (the list is not complete; availability depends on the fonts used)
k k k k g " g g g T
kka ka kta kha kla gga gda gddha* gna gma gla ka
U c c j j Z # $ [ \ ] ^
a chcha chchha jja ja cha chha* ja* a a a a
_. ` a b t t % t t t d d
ha* a a ma tta ttha tna* tbha tma tsa dda ddha
n n n n n n & ( ) p p *
nta ntha nda ndha nna nma na pta* pna* ppa pla psa*
b b b b ) m m m y yk y2 yt
bda bdha bba bla mna* mpa mma mla yka* ykka yta* ytta*
y7 y; y { {k ,
- >| v ~
ypa* yma* yya lka* lkka* lpa lma* lla vva shcha shla shsha
/ 0 , 8 ; s 2 s 6
hka* ha hha* ha* hpa* hpha* hma* ska* st a sta* stha sna*
7 8 ; s s h h h ) t
spa* spha* sma* sla ssa hna hma hla a ka* cha* tta*
; 7
ma* pa*
Many of the ligatures, especially those marked with the asterisk are thought to be obsolete
since the introduction of the new spelling and have been replaced by a combination of two
consonant characters, the first of which bears the diacritic, e.g. 6 pna. However, the
usage of ligatures in different sources varies greatly.
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Other systems of romanization
For differences between the UN system and the ISO transliteration standard ISO 15919:
2001 see the section on the romanization of Hindi.
The State of Kerala seems to use a regular pattern for rendering their geographical names. At
least the following correspondences may be noted:
UN State of Kerala
= zh
sh =s
t = th
= t or d
References
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