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Updated 13 April, 2025 • recent changes scripts/mlym/ml • leave a comment
This page brings together basic information about the Malayalam script and its use for the Malayalam language. It aims to provide a brief, descriptive summary of the modern, printed orthography and typographic features, and to advise how to write Malayalam using Unicode.
Richard Ishida, Malayalam Orthography Notes, 13-Apr-2025, https://r12a.github.io/scripts/mlym/ml
Click to toggle Table of Contents.
Phonological transcriptions should be treated as a guide, only. They are taken from the sources consulted, and may be narrow or broad, phonemic or phonetic, depending on what is available. They mostly represent pronunciation of words in isolation. For more detailed information about allophones, alternations, sandhi, dialectal differences, and so on, follow the links to cited references.
This is an interactive document. Click/tap on the following to reveal detailed information and examples for each character: (a) coloured characters in examples and lists; (b) link text on character names. If your browser supports it, your cursor will change to look like 
as you hover over these items.
Languages using the Malayalam script • Malayalam picker • Terms list • Character notes • Malayalam links • Other orthography notes
വകുപ്പ്‌ 1. മനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്‌. അന്യോന്യം ഭ്രാതൃഭാവത്തോടെ പെരുമാറുവാനാണ്‌ മനുഷ്യന്നു വിവേകബുദ്ധിയും മനസ്സാക്ഷിയും സിദ്ധമായിരിക്കുന്നത്‌.
വകുപ്പ്‌ 2. ജാതി, മതം, നിറം, ഭാഷ, സ്ത്രീപുരുഷഭേദം, രാഷ്ട്രീയാഭിപ്രായം സ്വത്ത്‌, കുലം എന്നിവയെ കണക്കാക്കാതെ ഈ പ്രഖ്യാപനത്തില്‍ പറയുന്ന അവകാശങ്ങള്‍ക്കും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിനും സര്‍വ്വജനങ്ങളും അര്‍ഹരാണ്‌. രാഷ്ട്രീയ സ്ഥിതിയെ അടിസ്ഥാനമാക്കി (സ്വതന്ത്രമോ, പരിമിത ഭരണാധികാരത്തോടു കൂടിയതോ ഏതായാലും വേണ്ടതില്ല) ഈ പ്രഖ്യാപനത്തിലെ അവകാശങ്ങളെ സംബന്ധിച്ചേടത്തോളം യാതൊരു വ്യത്യാസവും യാതൊരാളോടും കാണിക്കാന്‍ പാടുള്ളതല്ല.
Source: Unicode UDHR, articles 1 & 2
Origins of the Malayalam script, 13thC – today.
Phoenician
└ Aramaic
└ Brahmi
└ Tamil-Brahmi
└ Pallava
└ Grantha
└ Malayalam
+ Tigalari
+ Dhives Akuru
+ Saurashtra
Malayalam script is used to write the Malayalam language of Kerala state, and spoken by 35 million people including the diaspora, and the script is used for another 10 minority languages, according to the Ethnologue. It is also widely used for writing Sanskrit texts in Kerala.
മലയാളലിപി mlyāɭlipi mələjɑːɭə lɪpɪ Malayalam script
Originally descended from Bhrami, the Malayalam script is a Vatteluttu alphabet extended with symbols from the Grantha alphabet to represent Indo-Aryan loanwords. Throughout its history, it has absorbed words from Tamil, Sanskrit, Arabic, and English.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Malayalam underwent orthographic reform due to printing difficulties. A significant change involved the introduction of a visible virama (chandrakkala) rather than conjunct forms, and simplification of a number of forms, including consonant plus -u/-uu combinations.
Sources: The Unicode Standard, Wikipedia.
| Script code | mlym |
|---|---|
| Language code | ml |
| Script type | abugida |
| Origin | sasia |
| Native speakers | 38,000,000 |
| Total characters | 93 |
| Letters | 61 |
| Combining marks | 15 |
| Symbols | 1 |
| Punctuation | 4 |
| Numbers | 10 |
| Other | 2 |
| Possible other | 21 |
| Unicode blocks | 1 |
| Character counts above are for this orthography but exclude ASCII. | |
| Text direction | ltr |
| Post-consonant vowels | 1 inherent vowel marks vocalics composite vowels pre-base marks circumgraphs |
| Standalone vowels | letters |
| Case distinction | no |
| Cursive script | no |
| Combining marks | no |
| Clusters marked | no |
| Dedicated finals | marks |
| Other ligatures | yes |
| Word separator | space |
| Wraps at | word |
| G Clusters OK? | no |
| Justification | spaces |
| Baseline | romn |
The script is an abugida. Consonants carry an inherent vowel which can be modified by appending vowel signs to the consonant. See the table to the right for a brief overview of features for the modern Malayalam orthography.
The Malayalam script was significantly simplified at the beginning of the 1970s. Prior to the orthographic reform there were many more ligated forms. In particular, the vowels u/ū and r in 2nd position in a consonant were reduced from ligated forms to simple, unchanging glyphs alongside a consonant.
Generally, words are separated by spaces, however the number of characters between spaces can be quite high as sometimes spaces are used to indicate phonological pauses, rather than lexical boundaries.
Malayalam uses 36 basic consonant letters.
Consonant clusters are typically indicated in modern Malayalam using the visible chandrakkala mark (virama), which indicates that no vowel follows a consonant. Conjunct forms are also expressed using stacked consonants, and conjoined consonants, where the chandrakkala is still used but hidden, and special chillu shapes.
As part of a cluster, RA has special forms. As a medial consonant in the modern orthography it appears as a simple glyph to the left of the letters spoken before it. When initial in the cluster its glyph includes a cillu hook at the top right. There are also special rules involving clusters of multiple RA letters.
Syllable-final consonant sounds may be represented by 2 dedicated combining marks (anusvara & visarga), but are generally ordinary consonants with chandrakkala, or 6 chillu forms. The word-final virama sometimes represents a half-u sound, rather than completely killing the inherent vowel. Because of this, Malayalam uses a set of syllable-final consonants called chillus that have no vowel sound associated with them.
The Malayalam orthography is an abugida with one inherent vowel. It represents other vowels using 12 vowel signs, all combining marks. Also the word-final half-u sound is written in modern Malayalam using ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA (candrakkala).
The orthography includes 3 pre-base vowels and 3 circumgraphs. All circumgraphs can be decomposed, creating composite vowels. The only composite vowels are those created by decomposition of the circumgraphs, and involve 2 glyphs, one on each side of the base consonant(s).
Standalone vowel sounds are written using 12 independent vowels, one for each vowel sound, including the inherent vowel.
There is also a set of vocalics.
There is an archaic set of numbers that include digits beyond the normal 0-9 range, and include a number of fractional symbols.
The index points to locations where a character is mentioned in this page, and indicates whether it is used by the Malayalam orthography described here.
Click on the image to the left to view all the 'main' and 'infrequent' characters in the index in various groupings or open related apps.
200C
200DThese are sounds for the Malayalam language.
Click on the sound groups to see where else in the document each of the sounds are referred to.
Phones in a lighter colour are non-native or allophones. Source Wikipedia.
| labial | dental | alveolar | post- alveolar |
retroflex | palatal | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stops | p b | t d | t | ʈ ɖ | k ɡ | |||
| aspirates | pʰ bʰ | tʰ dʰ | ʈʰ ɖʰ | kʰ ɡʰ | ||||
| affricates | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | |||||||
| aspirates | t͡ʃʰ d͡ʒʰ | |||||||
| fricatives | f | s | ɕ | ʂ | h | |||
| nasals | m | n̪ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| approximants | ʋ | l | ɻ ɭ | j | ||||
| trills/flaps | ɾ | ɽ | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Malayalam is not a tonal language.
tbd
The Malayalam orthography is an abugida with one inherent vowel. It represents other vowels using 12 vowel signs, all combining marks. Also the word-final half-u sound is written in modern Malayalam using ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA (candrakkala).
The orthography includes 3 pre-base vowels and 3 circumgraphs. All circumgraphs can be decomposed, creating composite vowels. The only composite vowels are those created by decomposition of the circumgraphs, and involve 2 glyphs, one on each side of the base consonant(s).
Standalone vowel sounds are written using 12 independent vowels, one for each vowel sound, including the inherent vowel.
There is also a set of vocalics.
The following table summarises the main vowel to character assigments.
ⓘ represents the inherent vowel. Diacritics are added to the vowels to indicate nasalisation (not shown here).
| post-consonant | standalone | |
|---|---|---|
| Plain: |  4 iിii0D3F iːീīī0D40 uുuu0D41 uːൂūū0D42 |
4 iഇiị0D07 iːഈīị̄0D08 uഉuụ0D09 uːഊūụ̄0D0A |
4 eെee0D46 eːേēē0D47 oൊoo0D4A oːോōō0D4B |
4 eഎeẹ0D0E eːഏēẹ̄0D0F oഒoọ0D12 oːഓōọ̄0D13 |
|
ə് ͞0D4D |
əഎ് 0D0E 0D4D |
|
both aⓘ 24D8 aːാāā0D3E |
both aഅaạ̄0D05 aːആāậ0D06 |
|
| Diphthongs: | 3 ai̯ൈ aiaʲ0D48 au̯ൗ auaʷ0D57 au̯ൌarchaicauȧʷ0D4C |
both ai̯ഐaiạʲ0D10 au̯ഔauạʷ0D14 |
| Vocalics: | rɨൃr̥r̥0D43 |
4 rɨഋ r̥̣r̥̣0D0B rɨːൠrarer̥̣̄r̥̣̄0D60 lɨഌrarel̥̣l̥̣0D0C lɨːൡrarel̥̣̄l̥̣̄0D61 |
For additional details see Vowel sounds to characters.
ക ka U+0D15 MALAYALAM LETTER KA
The inherent vowel for Malayalam is pronounced a, so ka is written by simply using the consonant letter, eg.
കനത്ത kanat̪t̪a heavy
ക് k U+0D15 MALAYALAM LETTER KA + U+0D4D MALAYALAM SIGN VIRAMA
Malayalam uses ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA (in Malayalam called ചന്ദ്രക്കല cn͓d͓rk͓kl (candrakkala) ʧand̪r̪akkala) to kill the inherent vowel after a consonant, eg. ക്U+0D15 LETTER KA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA explicitly represents just the sound k.
However, in modern text, ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA may also represent the sound ə̆ or ɨ̆, depending on dialect, see Half-U).
Word-final consonants are typically written using chillu characters, rather than using the virama (see Finals), and in conjuncts the virama is hidden (see Consonant clusters).
Post-consonant vowels are written using 12 vowel signs, all combining marks. Also the word-final half-u sound may be written in modern Malayalam using ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA.
The orthography includes 3 pre-base vowels and 3 circumgraphs. Normally, Malayalam text has no composite vowels, but all circumgraphs can be decomposed, creating composite vowels that involve 2 glyphs, one on each side of the base consonant(s).
All of the vowel signs are spacing marks, meaning that they consume horizontal space when added to a base consonant.
All vowel signs are typed and stored after the base consonant, and the glyph rendering system takes care of the positioning at display time. Conjuncts are treated as indivisible units when it comes to rendering vowel signs, meaning that pre-base vowel signs and left-side glyphs of circumgraphs are rendered before the conjunct as a whole (see Pre-base vowel signs).
Vowel signs may also be attached to digits (see Ordinals).
The Unicode block also contains ഽU+0D3D SIGN AVAGRAHA and ഁU+0D01 SIGN CANDRABINDU, for use with Sanskrit texts.5
കി ki U+0D15 MALAYALAM LETTER KA + U+0D3F MALAYALAM VOWEL SIGN I
Malayalam uses the following dedicated combining marks for plain vowel sounds.
In the older orthography, the u and ū vowel signs, and to some extent the i and ī signs, tend to form ligatures with the base consonant. The shape of the u vowel sign has also changed recently, to avoid the complications of the older ligated forms. See Vowel ligatures & orthographic reforms.
Although it normally represents the virama, at the end of a word in modern Malayalam text the combination ക്U+0D15 LETTER KA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA may also represent the sound kə̆ or kɨ̆ (depending on dialect). The transcription for this is usually ŭ, and it is called half-u.
കട്ടയാക് kaʈʈajaːkɨ̆ to freeze
In older documents the half-u was typically written with a u vowel sign plus chandrakkala, which is not ambiguous. It is unusual for a virama to occur after a vowel sign, like this. പാലു് paːlə milk, pink
The Unicode Standard provides examples of half-u occurring in positions that are not word-final, such as before ംU+0D02 SIGN ANUSVARA, eg.
ഐശീല്ം ai̯ɕiːləm than ice
In another example, the chandrakkala is attached to an independent vowel letter, and overrides the sound of that letter, eg. എ്ന്നാ ənnaː on which day?
The chandrakkala is always written after any vowel sign.
Two Malayalam diphthongs are also written using vowel signs.
Although it was originally just an indicator of vowel length, ൗU+0D57 AU LENGTH MARK has been used for some time as the normal way to write the sound au̯. Previously, that sound was represented by a vowel sign that surrounded the base character. If you want to use that form in your text you should use ൌU+0D4C VOWEL SIGN AU, however some fonts still hide the left-hand part from display.
Composite vowels only occur in decomposed text, where the glyphs in circumgraphs are split into separate code points.
An unusual feature of Malayalam is that there are circumstances where a decomposed circumgraph has to be used. See Clusters with RA.
കെ ke U+0D15 MALAYALAM LETTER KA + U+0D46 MALAYALAM VOWEL SIGN E
Three vowel signs appear to the left of the base consonant letter or cluster, eg.
കെട്ട് keʈʈɨ̆ to tie
കേട് keːʈɨ̆ bad
കൈപ്പ് kɐi̯ppɨ̆ bitterness (taste)
These are combining marks that are always typed and stored after the base consonant(s), ie. the codepoints follow the order in which the items are pronounced. The rendering process places the glyph before the base consonant without changing the code points. The following shows the sequence of code points that make up the first word just above.
| കKA | െE | ടTTA | ്virama | ടTTA | ്virama |
These vowel signs do not split a conjunct. This means that a word with a consonant cluster at the start separates the pre-base vowel from the position where it is pronounced by more than one consonant character, eg.
ഡ്രൈവ് ɖrɐi̯ʋɨ̆ drive
| ഡ്രൈɖrɐi̯ | → | ഡDDA | + | ്virama | + | രRA | + | ൈAI |
ഇദ്ദേഹം iddeham he
However, if the cluster is split by a visible virama, the pre-base vowel sign appears after the consonant with the virama. If you view the composition of the example below, you'll see that the characters and code point orders are the same as for the previous example (apart from the addition of the ZWNJ to force the virama to appear), but the location of the pre-base vowel sign is now immediately before the consonant after which it is pronounced.
ഇദ്ദേഹം iddeham he
കൊ ko U+0D15 MALAYALAM LETTER KA + U+0D4A MALAYALAM VOWEL SIGN O
Three vowels are produced by a single combining character with visually separate parts, that appear on opposite sides of the consonant onset, eg.
ഒരൊറ്റ oɾotɐ single
ആഗോള äːɡoːɭɐ global
As for pre-base vowel signs, these do not split a conjunct, but instead they treat the conjunct as a single unit and place glyphs either side of it, eg.
ക്രോധം kroːd̪ʱam anger, fury
| ക്രോkroː | → | ക KA | + | ്virama | + | രRA | + | ോOO |
കൊച്ച് kott͡ʃɨ̆ child
In modern text, ൗU+0D57 AU LENGTH MARK has become a dominant way to write the vowel au̯, rather than ൌU+0D4C VOWEL SIGN AU, eg. സൗന്ദര്യം sɐun̪d̪ɐɾjɐm beauty
All of these circumgraphs can be written as a single character, or as two. Whichever approach is used, the vowel signs must be typed and stored after the consonant characters they surround, and if the vowel signs are decomposed, they must be typed and stored in left to right order. See Encoding circumgraphs.
Vowel length is indicated by the vowel sign used (see Basic plain vowel sounds).
Malayalam represents standalone vowels using a set of independent vowel letters.
For example:
എല്ലാ ellaː all
ഓടുക oːɖuɡɐ to run
സിമേഈ simei Simei (place in Singapore)
The set includes a character to represent the inherent vowel sound (അU+0D05 LETTER A ).
The Unicode block also contains ൟU+0D5F LETTER ARCHAIC II, which is an archaic form for iː.5
This section maps Malayalam vowel sounds to common graphemes in the Malayalam orthography.
Code points are labelled as either dependent or standalone.
Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc. Light coloured characters occur infrequently.
dependent ിU+0D3F VOWEL SIGN I
standalone ഇU+0D07 LETTER I
dependent ീU+0D40 VOWEL SIGN II
standalone ഈU+0D08 LETTER II
dependent ുU+0D41 VOWEL SIGN U
standalone ഉU+0D09 LETTER U
dependent ൂU+0D42 VOWEL SIGN UU
standalone ഊU+0D0A LETTER UU
dependent െU+0D46 VOWEL SIGN E
standalone എU+0D0E LETTER E
dependent േU+0D47 VOWEL SIGN EE
standalone ഏU+0D0F LETTER EE
dependent ൊU+0D4A VOWEL SIGN O
standalone ഒU+0D12 LETTER O
dependent ോU+0D4B VOWEL SIGN OO
standalone ഓU+0D13 LETTER OO
dependent ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA at the end of a word.
dependent ു്U+0D41 VOWEL SIGN U + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA at the end of a word in older texts.
standalone എ്U+0D0E LETTER E + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA
inherent vowel eg. കടുവ kɐɖuʋɐ tiger
standalone അU+0D05 LETTER A
dependent ാU+0D3E VOWEL SIGN AA
standalone ആU+0D06 LETTER AA
dependent ൈU+0D48 VOWEL SIGN AI
standalone ഐU+0D10 LETTER AI
dependent ൗU+0D57 AU LENGTH MARK
standalone ഔU+0D14 LETTER AU
The modern orthography generally only uses the following.5
Examples:
മൃഗം mriɡɐm animal
ഋഷി riʂi rishi, sage
The items in the list below are rare and typically used only to write Sanskrit in Malayalam.5
Malayalam uses 36 basic consonant letters.
Consonant clusters are typically indicated in modern Malayalam using the visible chandrakkala mark (virama), which indicates that no vowel follows a consonant. Conjunct forms are also expressed using stacked consonants, and conjoined consonants, where the chandrakkala is still used but hidden, and special chillu shapes.
As part of a cluster, RA has special forms. As a medial consonant in the modern orthography it appears as a simple glyph to the left of the letters spoken before it. When initial in the cluster its glyph includes a cillu hook at the top right. There are also special rules involving clusters of multiple RA letters.
Syllable-final consonant sounds may be represented by 2 dedicated combining marks (anusvara & visarga), but are generally ordinary consonants with chandrakkala, or 6 chillu forms. The word-final virama sometimes represents a half-u sound, rather than completely killing the inherent vowel. Because of this, Malayalam uses a set of syllable-final consonants called chillus that have no vowel sound associated with them.
The following table summarises the main consonant to character assigments.
For additional details see Vowel sounds to characters.
| onsets | finals | |
|---|---|---|
| Consonants | 8 pപpp0D2A bബbb0D2C t̪തtt0D24 d̪ദdd0D26 ʈടṭʈ0D1F ɖഡḍɖ0D21 kകkk0D15 ɡഗgg0D17 |
-kൿk^k̽0D7F |
8 pʰഫphpʰ0D2B bʰഭbhbʰ0D2D t̪ʰഥthtʰ0D25 d̪ʰധdhdʰ0D27 ʈʰഠṭhʈʰ0D20 ɖʰഢḍhɖʰ0D22 kʰഖkhkʰ0D16 ɡʰഘghgʰ0D18 |
||
4 t͡ʃചcc0D1A ɟജjj0D1C t͡ʃʰഛchcʰ0D1B ɟʰഝjhjʰ0D1D |
||
5 ʋവvʋ0D35 sസss0D38 ʂഷṣʂ0D37 ɕ~ʃശśʃ0D36 ɦഹhh0D39 | -ɦഃ0D03 |
|
5 mമmm0D2E n̪~nനnn0D28 ɳണṇɳ0D23 ɲഞñɲ0D1E ŋങṅŋ0D19 |
3 -mം0D02 -nൻ0D7B -ɳൺ0D7A |
|
6 r̪രrr0D30 r tറṟṙ0D31 ɻഴḻɻ0D34 lലll0D32 ɭളḷɭ0D33 jയyy0D2F |
3 -rർ0D7C -lൽ0D7D -ɭൾ0D7E |
The basic consonant sounds in Malayalam are written using the following letters. Click on each letter for more details and for example usage.
The conjunct ക്ഷU+0D15 LETTER KA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D37 LETTER SSA kʂ is conventionally regarded as an additional letter in the Malayalam alphabet.1420
റU+0D31 LETTER RRA has some complicated mappings to sounds. See Clusters with RRA.
Two other letters, ഩU+0D29 LETTER NNNA and ഺU+0D3A LETTER TTTA are historic and used rarely in scholarly texts to represent alveolar sounds. In ordinary texts, നU+0D28 LETTER NA and റU+0D31 LETTER RRA are used instead.7
Clusters of consonant letters at the beginning of an orthographic syllable occur in Malayalam, and are typically handled as described in the section Consonant clusters. Examples:
വ്യക്തി ʋjɐkt̪i person
സ്വാഗതം sʋɐːɡɐd̪ɐm welcome
A medial RA is rendered to the left of an initial consonant or conjunct (see Medial RA).
ഗ്രാമ്പൂ ɡɾaːmbuː clove
In some cases, a medial consonant is represented using a vocalic vowel sign, rather than a consonant, eg.
കൢപ്തം kɭipt̪ɐm fixed, limited
രU+0D30 LETTER RA when non-initial in a cluster is displayed to the left of the other consonant(s) in the reformed orthography. This transposition is done during the font rendering – the typed and stored order remains the same as the spoken order.
ചക്രം t͡ʃɐkrɐm wheel
| ക്രkr̪a | → | കKA | + | ്virama | + | രRA |
When RA follows more than one consonant, it is displayed to the left of any conjunct, not just to the left of the preceding consonant, eg.
ചന്ദ്രക്കല ʧand̪r̪akkala chandrakala
| ന്ദ്രnd̪r̪a | → | നNA | + | ്virama | + | ദDA | + | ്virama | + | രRA |
Malayalam words can end with a consonant sound or an inherent vowel, and the difference is usually marked. However, unlike many other Brahmi-derived scripts, the virama (chandrakkala) is not normally used to kill the inherent vowel at the end of a word. This is because, in Malayalam, the chandrakkala actually can indicate a short vowel sound (see Half-U). Instead, Malayalam uses a set of special characters, called chillus, that don't have a following vowel, or a final-consonant diacritic.
The chillu characters can also appear as word-medial syllable codas, but often these codas are written using either a chandrakkala or a conjunct (see Consonant clusters).
Codas can also be written using a couple of diacritics, described below.
Contemporary chillu (or cillakṣaram) characters include the following.
ൿU+0D7F LETTER CHILLU K is relatively rare in modern texts.5
Examples:
വില്ലൻ ʋillan villain
അയാൾ ajaːɭ he
അവർ aʋar they
Although they represent 'dead' consonants, chillu forms can sometimes be followed by a virama and subjoined consonant, although this is only likely to occur in modern texts in the combination ൻ്റU+0D7B LETTER CHILLU N + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D31 LETTER RRA (see Clusters with RRA).
The Unicode Standard lists a small number of other, historical combinations of a chillu consonant as part of a stack.
Unicode v9 introduced 3 more chillu letters, ൔU+0D54 LETTER CHILLU M, ൕU+0D55 LETTER CHILLU Y, and ൖU+0D56 LETTER CHILLU LLL, which are only found in historical texts.5
In older Unicode text chillus were written by following the consonant with 
+ 
U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER, but since the introduction of the chillu characters in Unicode v5.1 the use of the atomic characters is recommended, instead.5
Malayalam has 3 ways of writing an r coda before a following consonant.5
Chillu RA Since the orthographic reform, this has been written as ർU+0D7C LETTER CHILLU RR followed by the next consonant in the cluster, eg.
നേർത്ത n̪eːɾt̪t̪a thin
ഈർപ്പമുള്ള iːɾppamuɭɭa wet
Special form The form ര്യU+0D30 LETTER RA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D2F LETTER YA is only used before യU+0D2F LETTER YA5, eg.
സൗന്ദര്യം sɐun̪d̪ɐɾjɐm beauty
ഭാര്യ bʱaːɾjɐ wife
Dot reph Before the 1970s, a dot or small vertical stroke was used over the following consonant, in a similar way to the repha in other Indic scripts. It may still be in use by people educated before that time. The character ൎU+0D4E LETTER DOT REPH is used to reproduce this, eg. compare:
തൎക്കം tarkkam argument
തർക്കം tarkkam argument
The reph dot is not a combining character; it has the general category of letter. It is typed and stored in the same place as you would expect to find the RA + VIRAMA, ie. before the consonant it appears over, and then the font needs to position the glyph over the consonant that follows it.
Malayalam also uses the anusvara and visarga as syllable-final characters, eg. the following word contains both:
ദുഃഖം d̪uɦkʰam sorrow
The anusvara normally represents the sound m, but may be assimilated to another nasal consonant. It can be used multiple times after a vowel,5 eg.
ഈംംംം ị̄m̽m̽m̽m̽
The absence of a vowel sound between two or more consonants is visually indicated in one of the following ways.
See also syllable-final consonants, which may be followed by a regular consonant.
If the font supports it, U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (ZWNJ) and U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER (ZWJ) can be used to control the shaping of conjuncts. See Explicit shaping controls.
In Unicode, the stacking and conjoining behaviour is achieved by adding ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA between the consonants. The font hides the glyph automatically.
| ഞNYA | + | ്virama | + | ചCA | → | ഞ്ചɲt͡ʃ |
The rendered shape of the conjunct may also vary from font to font. Traditional fonts have more ligatures than modern ones. For example, compare the sequences below which are identical except that Noto Serif Malayalam is used for the top row, and Manjari is used for the bottom row.
| പPA | + | ്virama | + | തTA | → | പ്തpt̪ | |
| പPA | + | ്virama | + | തTA | → | പ്തpt̪ |
The link at the bottom of this section shows all combinations of two consonants and allows you to observe the effect of changing the font. Versions of the table with conjuncts highlighted are available for Noto Serif Malayalam and Thoolika Traditional Unicode, which is split into those that are stacked, etc, and those using chillu shapes. The number of conjuncts is 129 and 219+156, respectively.
There doesn't appear to be much in the way of a systematic approach to shaping. With a few exceptions, the conjuncts are specific to particular pairs of characters. Sequences involving more than two consonants in a cluster can combine a variety of methods. The example in Figure 4 shows 3 conjoined consonants in the middle, and a conjoined cluster stacked below another letter at the end.
ഇന്ത്യയ്ക്ക് to India
Malayalam has 2 other virama code points, both of which are only found in historical texts, and used to indicate a pure consonant in a particular orthography. They are ഻U+0D3B SIGN VERTICAL BAR VIRAMA and ഼U+0D3C SIGN CIRCULAR VIRAMA.5
See a table of 2-consonant clusters.
The table allows you to test results for various fonts.
This was promoted as the default by the orthographic reforms of the 1970s. It is also the fallback if the font doesn't contain conjunct forms for a particular cluster of consonants.
Examples include ആഴ്ച äːɻt͡ʃɐ week ഗുല്ഫം gulfam ankle നമസ്തേ n̪amast̪eː hello
The non-initial consonant is drawn below the initial consonant, and with a slightly different shape.
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | ലLA | → | ക്ലkl | |||||
| യYA | + | ്virama | + | യYA | → | യ്യjj | |||||
| സSA | + | ്virama | + | റRRA | + | ്virama | + | റRRA | → | സ്റ്റst(t) |
Stacks tend to be particularly common for geminated consonants, even when those consonants don't participate in other conjunct pairings. In such cases, the second consonant is sometimes represented by a small triangle.
Otherwise, the subjoined consonant may be a reduced version of the original, or may be ligated. Note that LA has a very different shape from normal when in subjoined position.
Although Malayalam consonant clusters can often involve 3 consonants, the 3-character stack in the third example in Figure 5 is unusual.
Conjuncts where the consonants remain side-by-side, typically merging the shapes of the consonants.
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | ഷSSA | → | ക്ഷkʂ | |
| തTA | + | ്virama | + | തTA | → | ത്തt̪t̪ | |
| നNA | + | ്virama | + | തTA | → | ന്തnt̪ | |
| മMA | + | ്virama | + | മMA | → | മ്മmm |
Three consonants have very standardised glyphs when they appear in non-initial position, and those glyphs don't merge with the other consonant. They are യU+0D2F LETTER YA, റU+0D31 LETTER RRA, and വU+0D35 LETTER VA. Figure 7 shows them combined with the letter KA.
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | യYA | → | ക്യkj | |
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | വLA | → | ക്വkl | |
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | രRA | → | ക്രkr |
The isolated, pre-base shape for RA was introduced by the reformed orthography. In the old orthography RA as the second element in a conjunct was represented by a ligated swash below the initial consonant.
An exception to the standardised shapes illustrated in Figure 7 is:
| യYA | + | ്virama | + | യYA | → | യ്യjj |
In some fonts the initial consonant in a cluster may take a chillu shape, followed by an ordinary glyph for the second character.
In the Thoolika Traditional Unicode font this applies to the following consonants in initial position.
Figure 9 shows the same sequence of characters in the Thoolika Traditional Unicode font. Note how the shape of the second consonant remains the same as normal - there is no ligation or repositioning. The examples in Figure 9 all use SHA in the second position. Note that the chillu code points are not used here – this is just font styling on normal consonants.
When RA occurs in a cluster, either as a medial consonant or a coda followed by another consonant, there are special rules for rendering. See Medial RA and RA coda for details.
The conjunct റ്റU+0D31 LETTER RRA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D31 LETTER RRA is always pronounced tt, eg.
പാറ്റ paːttɐ cockroach
ഉറ്റോർ uttoːr relatives
| റ്റോttoː | → | റRRA | + | ്virama | + | റRRA | + | ോO |
Until the 1960s, the geminated tt was generally written using just two side-by-side RRA letters, although circumgraphs and pre-base vowel signs would span the digraph as if it were a single unit. For example:
പാററ paːttɐ cockroach
This is problematic in 2 ways:
because there is no virama creating a single typographic unit of the digraph, the decomposed form of circumgraphs has to be used, with parts of the vowel sign after each RRA letter, eg.
മാറെറാലി maːṯṯoli echo
| റെറാtto | → | റRRA | + | െE | + | റRRA | + | ാA |
the digraph sometimes represents two separate consonants followed by vowel sounds, making the sequence ambiguous, eg.
ടെംപററി ʈemparari temporary
| ററിrari | → | റRRA | + | റRRA | + | ിI |
It would be particularly ambiguous when there are more than 2 RRA characters side by side. For example, compare
ബാറ്ററി baːttɐri battery
ബാറററി baːttɐri? baːrɐtti? baːrɐrɐri?
Use in /nta/. When stacked, ൻ്റU+0D7B LETTER CHILLU N + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D31 LETTER RRA is always pronounced nta, eg. ആൻ്റോ aːntoː proper name
According to the Unicode Standard, an alternative spelling exists without the stack, but this can also lead to ambiguity4506, ie. ആൻേറാ ận̽ēṙā aːntoː
Note that again we had to split the vowel to achieve this spelling.
Gemination/consonant lengthening is very common in Malayalam. It is usually indicated by doubling the consonant, in the same way as for consonant clusters (see Consonant clusters).
അപ്പൻ appan father
തൂക്ക് t̪uːkkɨ̆ to rub, wipe
The sound tt is unusual in that it can be written റ്റU+0D31 LETTER RRA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D31 LETTER RRA (see Clusters with RRA).
പാറ്റ paːttɐ cockroach
മാറ്റം maːttɐm change
This section maps Malayalam consonant sounds to common graphemes in the Malayalam orthography.
The left column contains ordinary consonants, and the right column contains dedicated syllable-final consonants.
consonant പU+0D2A LETTER PA
consonant ഫU+0D2B LETTER PHA
consonant ബU+0D2C LETTER BA
consonant ഭU+0D2D LETTER BHA
consonant തU+0D24 LETTER TA
consonant cluster റ്റU+0D31 LETTER RRA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+0D31 LETTER RRA
consonant ഥU+0D25 LETTER THA
consonant ചU+0D1A LETTER CA
consonant ഛU+0D1B LETTER CHA
consonant ദU+0D26 LETTER DA
consonant ധU+0D27 LETTER DHA
consonant ജU+0D1C LETTER JA
consonant ഝU+0D1D LETTER JHA
consonant ടU+0D1F LETTER TTA
consonant ഠU+0D20 LETTER TTHA
consonant ഡU+0D21 LETTER DDA
consonant ഢU+0D22 LETTER DDHA
consonant കU+0D15 LETTER KA
chillu consonant ൿU+0D7F LETTER CHILLU K Coda. (Chillu consonant)
consonant ഖU+0D16 LETTER KHA
consonant ഗU+0D17 LETTER GA
consonant ഘU+0D18 LETTER GHA
consonant സU+0D38 LETTER SA
consonant ഷU+0D37 LETTER SSA
consonant ശU+0D36 LETTER SHA
consonant ഹU+0D39 LETTER HA
final consonant ഃU+0D03 SIGN VISARGA Coda.
consonant മU+0D2E LETTER MA
final consonant ംU+0D02 SIGN ANUSVARA Coda.
consonant നU+0D28 LETTER NA
chillu consonant ൻU+0D7B LETTER CHILLU N Coda. (Chillu consonant)
consonant ഞU+0D1E LETTER NYA
consonant ണU+0D23 LETTER NNA
chillu consonant ൺU+0D7A LETTER CHILLU NN Coda. (Chillu consonant)
consonant ങU+0D19 LETTER NGA
consonant വU+0D35 LETTER VA
consonant രU+0D30 LETTER RA
consonant റU+0D31 LETTER RRA
chillu consonant ർU+0D7C LETTER CHILLU RR Coda. (Chillu consonant)
vocalic vowel sign ൃU+0D43 VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC R
vocalic independent vowel ഋU+0D0B LETTER VOCALIC R
vocalic independent vowel ൄU+0D44 VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC RR Very rare. Used for Sanskrit words.
vocalic independent vowel ൠU+0D60 LETTER VOCALIC RR Very rare. Used for Sanskrit words.
consonant ഴU+0D34 LETTER LLLA
consonant ലU+0D32 LETTER LA
chillu consonant ൽU+0D7D LETTER CHILLU L Coda. (Chillu consonant)
consonant ളU+0D33 LETTER LLA
chillu consonant ൾU+0D7E LETTER CHILLU LL Coda. (Chillu consonant)
vocalic independent vowel ഌU+0D0C LETTER VOCALIC L Used in one Sanskrit word only.
vocalic independent vowel ൡU+0D61 LETTER VOCALIC LL Very rare.
consonant യU+0D2F LETTER YA
This section looks at alternative strategies for typing and storing text in Malayalam, taking into consideration the effects of normalising the text using Unicode Normalisation Form D (NFD), and Normalisation Form C (NFC).
The 3 circumgraphs can be written as a single character, or as two characters (in decomposed text).
The single code point per vowel sign is the form preferred by the Unicode Standard and the form in common use for Malayalam. The parts are separated, however, in Unicode Normalisation Form D (NFD), and recomposed in Unicode Normalisation Form C (NFC), so both approaches are canonically equivalent.
Whichever approach is used, the vowel signs must be typed and stored after the consonant characters they surround. In the case of decomposed vowel signs, the order is also important and must be as shown above.
In some cases, visually similar or identical glyph patterns can be made from a sequence of code points rather than the single code point that Unicode provides. These are not made the same by normalisation, and they are not semantically equivalent. These inappropriate sequences should be avoided because they will cause the meaning of the text to change; searches, matching and other aspects of the text will fail to be understood by the application or the font. In the table below, the single code point on the left should be used, and not the sequence on the right. In some cases, fonts will indicate that there is a problem by forcing the appearance of a dotted circle or otherwise failing to render the text correctly, but this may not always be the case.
In older Unicode text chillu letters were written using the combination C+VIRAMA+ZWJ, but since the introduction of the chillu characters in Unicode v5.1 these new atomic characters are recommended. The sequences are not canonically equivalent.
The default Noto font used for this page doesn't render the K glyph sequence in this table the same as the atomic character, but older fonts such as Malayalam MN and ThoolikaTraditionalUnicode do.
When 2 vowel signs are used for a circumgraph, the encoded order of the combining marks should match the displayed order, left to right.
This section describes typographic features related to digits, dates, currencies, etc.
There is a set of Malayalam digits, but they are not in use for modern texts.
Older texts also used the following additional numeric characters.
൏U+0D4F SIGN PARA was used historically to measure rice.
According to the Unicode Standard, Malayalam also used the following characters in the Common Indic Number Forms block.5
ംU+0D02 SIGN ANUSVARA may be attached to digits to indicate ordinal numbers5, eg.
355ാം 355th
൹U+0D79 DATE MARK can be used like the 'th' in English dates, but it use is fading in modern text. 5
Malayalam text runs left to right in horizontal lines.
Show default bidi_class properties for characters in the Malayalam orthography described here.
This section describes typographic features related to font/writing styles, cursive text, context-based shaping, context-based positioning, letterform slopes, weights & italics, and case & other character transforms.
You can experiment with examples using the Malayalam character app.
Are special glyph forms needed, depending on the context in which a character is used? Do glyphs interact in some circumstances? Are there requirements to position diacritics or other items specially, depending on context? Does the script have multiple diacritics competing for the same location relative to the base?
Malayalam is not cursive, but display technology needs to provide shaping for conjunct formation.
Display technology must correctly position pre-base vowels to the left of the consonant or consonant cluster, and place the separate glyphs of 2-part vowels around those also (see Pre-base vowel signs and Circumgraphs).
It must do a similar thing for display of RA using the orthographic reforms (see RA coda, Medial RA, and Clusters with RRA).
Like Tamil, in the traditional version of the script Malayalam consonants combining with ുU+0D41 VOWEL SIGN U and ൂU+0D42 VOWEL SIGN UU tend to produce ligated forms.
During orthographic reforms in the 1970s and 1980s a simpler approached was introduced, to make printing easier. Both vowels were represented by an unchanging, post-base vowel sign as shown below. No change is needed to the underlying code points in Unicode, this is purely a font difference.
The list below shows traditional forms for each of the basic consonants with ുU+0D41 VOWEL SIGN U. The top line shows the traditional form, and the line just below (in the darker colour) shows the modern version.
This next list shows the same, but the consonant is followed by ൂU+0D42 VOWEL SIGN UU.
See a table of all consonants and all vowel signs.
The table allows you to test results for various fonts.
Figure 10 summarises the various ways in which a consonant cluster can be rendered (on the right), and on the left indicates which code sequences may produce those forms.
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | രRA | + | → | ക്രkrɐ | ||
| കKA | + | ്virama | + | ZWNJ | + | രRA | → | ക്രkrɐ | |
| കKA | + | ZWNJ | + | ്virama | + | രRA | → | ക്രkrɐ |
Assuming that you have fonts that produce the expected behaviours, the Unicode Standard describes the use of the joiner characters U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (ZWNJ) and U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER (ZWJ) as follows:
ZWNJ placed after the chandrakkala can be used to force the production of a visible virama, rather than a conjunct form.5 For example, compare:
Uniquely to Malayalam, placing the ZWNJ before the chandrakkala is supposed to produce the modern 'open' form of the conjunct in fonts that would otherwise produce a traditional conjunct.5 For example, compare:
ZWJ before the chandrakkala can be used to produce a traditional conjunct form in fonts that produce the open form by default but have the glyphs for the traditional forms too.5
ZWJ used after the chandrakkala may produce a chillu form (eg. ക്U+0D15 LETTER KA + U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA + U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER), but this approach is now deprecated in favour of using the chillu codepoints, such as ൿU+0D7F LETTER CHILLU K. See Finals.
Are words separated by spaces, or other characters? Are there special requirements when double-clicking on the text? Are words hyphenated?
Spaces are often used between words, but it is not uncommon for writers to use spacing to indicate phonological pauses, rather than lexical boundaries.7
Sequences of characters between spaces are often quite long in Malayalam, eg. അറിയപ്പെടുന്നുവെങ്കിലുംạ̄ṙiyp͓peʈun͓nuʋeŋ͓kilum̽
In many cases, grapheme clusters can be used to segment Malayalam words, since the virama is often visible and in principle allows for a segment break immediately (like Tamil). However, consonant cluster sequences often form conjuncts which should not be broken during edit operations such as letter-spacing, first-letter highlighting, and in-word line breaking. For the operations mentioned, one needs to segment the text using orthographic syllables.
The choice of visible virama vs. conjunct tends to vary from sequence to sequence and from font to font, but given that there is only one Malayalam virama, the application needs to interpret the virama in two different ways for segmentation: (1) as a simple vowel-killer, and (2) as a conjunct initiator. Choosing the right behaviour requires the application to understand the rendered glyphs, but this is asking a lot of an application.
The Malayalam virama (chandrakkala) is ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA,
which has an Indic Syllabic Category of Virama.
Base ZW(N)J? Combining_mark* ZW(N)J?
Combining marks may include one of the following types of character.
Placing a ZWNJ before the chandrakkala is supposed to produce the modern 'open' form of the conjunct in fonts that would otherwise produce a traditional conjunct (see Explicit shaping controls). A ZWNJ can also be used after a chandrakkala to prevent the formation of a conjunct form.
ZWJ can be used before the chandrakkala to produce a traditional conjunct form in fonts that produce the open form by default but have the glyphs for the traditional forms too (see Explicit shaping controls).
The following examples show a variety of grapheme clusters, several of which show the virama used in a different way from its use in other words:
Click on the text version of these words to see more detail about the composition.
 | കാഴ്ച käːɻt͡ʃɐ sight, vision |
 | കോത് koːt̪ɨ̆ to cut |
 | എ്ന്നാ ənnaː on which day? |
 | നമ്മൾ n̪ammaɭ we |
 | നല്ലത് n̪ɐllɐd̪ɨ̆ goodness |
 | നമസ്തേ n̪amast̪eː hello |
In many cases a non-final consonant in a cluster is these days rendered using a special chillu codepoint, rather than a consonant with virama. Chillus are also used for word final consonants that are not followed by a vowel. These chillu characters stand alone as grapheme clusters. See the example below, where the 2nd and final graphemes are chillus.
 | പെൻസിൽ pensil pencil |
(Consonant Chandrakkala)* Grapheme_cluster
Malayalam commonly stacks or conjoins glyphs, to form conjuncts. The conjuncts represent consonant clusters.
Grapheme clusters terminate after a sequence of marks that ends with a chandrakkala, but editorial operations that change the visual appearance of the text, such as letter-spacing, first-letter highlighting, line-breaking, and justification, should never split conjunct forms apart. For this reason, an alternative way of segmenting graphemes is needed. This may not apply, however, for some other operations such as cursor movement or backwards delete.
Where conjuncts appear, a typographic unit contains multiple grapheme clusters. The non-final grapheme clusters all end with ്U+0D4D SIGN VIRAMA, and the final grapheme cluster begins with a consonant.
The following are examples.
Click on the text version of these words to see more detail about the composition.
 | നമ്മൾ n̪ammaɭ we |
 | നല്ലത് n̪ɐllɐd̪ɨ̆ goodness |
 | അങ്കക്കളരി aŋɡakkaɭaɾi arena |
Malayalam has only one virama code point, but it can be used to indicate a conjunct and disappear, or it may simply be displayed as a diacritic over the non-final consonant(s) in a cluster. Often both approaches will appear in the same cluster. The codepoints in memory give no indication as to which will result – that may also vary by font. There is no additional code point, like in some Southeast Asian scripts, that users can choose to indicate that they want a visible chandrakkala rather than a conjunct.
The problem is that, in principle, you would expect line-breaks, etc. to be allowed after a consonant with a visible chandrakkala, just like in Tamil. But without a way to distinguish how the font is rendering the codepoints, this is not possible. Therefore, applications may keep cluster components together for Malayalam when the chandrakkala is visible.
The following example shows 3 chandrakkala characters that are used in different ways. The first just appears above its base, the second creates a conjunct and disappears, and the third represents a vowel sound (a completely different usage). Note that the app that generated the orthographic syllable keeps everything together as one unbreakable typographic unit.
Click on the text version of this word to see more detail about the composition.
 | തുടയ്ക്ക് t̪uʈajkkɨ̆ to wipe |
 | Same word with orthographic syllable rules applied. |
Treatment as grapheme clusters rather than conjuncts can also affect vowel sign positioning. An illustration of this can be seen when a consonant cluster is followed (phonetically) by a vowel rendered as a vowel sign glyph that is displayed to the left of the base. For example, observe below how the pre-base vowel േU+0D47 VOWEL SIGN EE appears to the left of the tr conjunct, but doesn't get rendered at the beginning of the str cluster.
Click on the text version of this word to see more detail about the composition.
 | ഓസ്ട്രേലിയ oːsʈreːlijä Australia |
 | Same word with orthographic syllable rules applied. |
This section describes typographic features related to word boundaries, phrase & section boundaries, bracketed text, quotations & citations, emphasis, abbreviation, ellipsis & repetition, inline notes & annotations, other punctuation, and other inline text decoration.
What characters are used to indicate the boundaries of phrases, sentences, and sections?
Malayalam uses western punctuation.
| phrase | |
|---|---|
| sentence |
।U+0964 DEVANAGARI DANDA and ॥U+0965 DEVANAGARI DOUBLE DANDA are used in older texts to separate phrases.5
Malayalam commonly uses ASCII parentheses to insert parenthetical information into text.
| start | end | |
|---|---|---|
| standard |
What characters are used to indicate quotations? Do quotations within quotations use different characters? What characters are used to indicate dialogue? Are the same mechanisms used to cite words, or for scare quotes, etc? What about citing book or article names?
Malayalam texts use quotation marks around quotations. Of course, due to keyboard design, quotations may also be surrounded by ASCII double and single quote marks.
| start | end | |
|---|---|---|
| initial | ”U+201D RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK |
This section describes typographic features related to line breaking & hyphenation, text alignment & justification, text spacing, baselines, line height, counters, lists, and styling initials.
Are there special rules about the way text wraps when it hits the end of a line? Does line-breaking wrap whole 'words' at a time, or characters, or something else (such as syllables in Tibetan and Javanese)? What characters should not appear at the end or start of a line, and what should be done to prevent that? Is hyphenation used, or something else? What rules are used? What difficulties exist?
Spaces provide the main line break opportunities, however Malayalam is an agglutinative language and Malayalam words can be long. This can lead to large gaps during justification, and sometimes words that are longer than the available column width, so it is desirable to also hyphenate words.
As in almost all writing systems, certain punctuation characters should not appear at the end or the start of a line. The Unicode line-break properties help applications decide whether a character should appear at the start or end of a line.
Show (default) line-breaking properties for characters in the modern Malayalam orthography.
The following list gives examples of typical behaviours for some of the characters used in modern Malayalam. Context may affect the behaviour of some of these and other characters.
Click/tap on the Malayalam characters to show what they are.
Because of the length of Malayalam words, in-word line-breaks are very common and needed during layout, especially in narrow columns, such as newsprint.
The breaks mostly takes place at syllable boundaries, however there are also occasional exceptions and special cases. Usually, no visual marker is associated with the mid-word line break.3
Does the script have special requirements for baseline alignment between mixed scripts and in general? Is line height special for this script? Are there other aspects that affect line spacing, or positioning of items vertically within a line?
Malayalam uses the so-called 'alphabetic' baseline, which is the same as for Latin and many other scripts.
Malayalam characters have ascenders and descenders, and combining marks appear above and below the lettters. However, generally speaking the extensions involved don't extend far beyond those of Latin text.
To give an approximate idea, Figure 12 compares Latin and Malayalam glyphs from Noto fonts. The basic height of Malayalam letters is typically around the Latin x-height, however extenders and combining marks reach slightly beyond the Latin ascenders and descenders, creating a need for slightly larger line spacing.
Figure 13 shows similar comparisons for the Malayalam MN and Kartika fonts.
Are there list or other counter styles in use? If so, what is the format used? Do counters need to be upright in vertical text? Are there other aspects related to counters and lists that need to be addressed?
You can experiment with counter styles using the Counter styles converter. Patterns for using these styles in CSS can be found in Ready-made Counter Styles, and we use the names of those patterns here to refer to the various styles.
The modern Malayalam orthography uses a native numeric style.
The malayalam numeric style is decimal-based and uses these digits.2
Examples:
Malayalam commonly uses a full stop + space as a suffix.
Examples:
This section describes typographic features related to general page layout & progression; grids & tables, notes, footnotes, etc, forms & user interaction, and page numbering, running headers, etc.
1Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, The World's Writing Systems, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-507993-0✓
2Richard Ishida, Ready-made Counter Styles✓
3Santhosh Thottingal, Personal correspondence
4Unicode Consortium, The Unicode Standard, Version 13.0, Chapter 12.9: South and Central Asia-I, Malayalam, 508-515, ISBN 978-1-936213-16-0.✓
5Unicode Consortium, The Unicode Standard, Version 16.0, Chapter 12.9: South and Central Asia-I, Malayalam✓
6Unicode Consortium, Unicode Line Breaking Algorithm (UAX#14)✓
7Wikipedia, Malayalam script