It’s been a long while that I have put out a standard dictionary of transliterating বাংলা (bāŋlā) to Latin alphabets. This time, I turn to മലയാളം (malayāḷaṃ)! I have worked on this together with a native speaker of the language, my dear friend, without whom this task would always remain a figment of my imagination.
Since it is not my native tongue, there might be exceptions that have been missed. Anyone who feels so, can contact me with a brief written explanation, and I will be most happy to add them. You can refer to the বাংলা (bāŋlā) post for help in framing the explanation.
Without further ado, here goes!
- Vowels
- അ | a
- ആ | ā
- ഇ | i
- ഈ | ī
- ഉ | u
- ഊ | ū
- ഋ | r̥
- എ | e
- ഏ | ē
- ഐ | āi
- ഒ | o
- ഓ | ō
- ഔ | au
- ം | ṃ
- : | ḥ
- Consonants
- ക | k
- ഖ | kʰ
- ഗ | g
- ഘ | gʰ
- ങ | ŋ
- ച | c
- ഛ | cʰ
- ജ | j
- ഝ | jʰ
- ഞ | ñ
- ട | ṭ
- ഠ | ṭʰ
- ഡ | đ
- ഢ | đʰ
- ണ | ṇ
- ത | t
- ഥ | tʰ
- ദ | d
- ധ | đʰ
- ന | n
- പ | p
- ഫ | pʰ
- ബ | b
- ഭ | bʰ
- മ | m
- യ | y
- ര | r
- ല | l
- വ | v
- ശ | ś
- ഷ | ṣ
- സ | s
- ഹ | h
- ള | ḷ
- ഴ | ḻ
- റ | ṟ
- Special character
- ് | eliminate <അ | a> sound at end of whichever consonant it appears.*
There are some distinctive features to keep in mind.
- അ/a is much more pronounced, and closer to the ആ/ā sound, than the saṃskr̥t अ/a sound.
- The ള/ḷ sound is much more softer than the मराठी (marāṭʰī) ळ/ḷ sound.
[* The specific cases where its appearance in text explicitly changes the appearance of the accompanying consonant, are given below.
ല + ് = ൽ
ന + ് = ൻ
റ + ് = ർ
ള + ് = ൾ
ണ + ് = ൺ ]
Examples of standard words that I use quite often are given below.
- kēraḷaṃ
- malayāḷaṃ
- mūnnār
- vayanāṭ
- kōḻikkōṭ
- eṭakkal
- saṟbatt
- biriyāṇi
- taḷi śiva
- tiruvanantapuraṃ
- jaṭāyu
- ponmuṭi
- caṭayamaṃgalaṃ
- koṭṭārakkara
- varkkala
- kōvaḷaṃ
- ālappuḻa
- ayyō!
Debdutta Paul 