Editing Malayalam (section)

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan=2|
! scope="col" |[[Bilabial consonant|Labial]]
! scope="col" |[[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! scope="col" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! scope="col" |[[Retroflex]]
! scope="col" |[[Postalveolar]]/<br />[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! scope="col" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
!scope="col" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!scope="row" colspan=2|[[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}} '''{{lang|ml|മ}}''' {{angbr|m}}
|{{IPA link|n̪}} '''{{lang|ml|ന}}''' {{angbr|n}}
|{{IPA link|n}} '''{{lang|ml|ന}}''' / '''{{lang|ml|ഩ}}'''{{Efn|Obsolete}} {{angbr|ṉ}}
|{{IPA link|ɳ}} '''{{lang|ml|ണ}}''' {{angbr|ṇ}}
|{{IPA link|ɲ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഞ}}''' {{angbr|ñ}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}} '''{{lang|ml|ങ}}''' {{angbr|ṅ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="4" scope="row" |[[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]]
!scope=row| <small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPA link|p}} '''{{lang|ml|പ}}''' {{angbr|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪}} '''{{lang|ml|ത}}''' {{angbr|t}}
|{{IPA link|t}} '''{{lang|ml|റ്റ}}''' {{angbr|ṟṟ}}
|{{IPA link|ʈ}} '''{{lang|ml|ട}}''' {{angbr|ṭ}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ɕ}}~{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} '''{{lang|ml|ച}}''' {{angbr|c}}
|{{IPA link|k}} '''{{lang|ml|ക}}''' {{angbr|k}}
|
|-
!scope=row| <small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|{{IPA link|pʰ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഫ}}''' {{angbr|ph}}
|{{IPA link|t̪ʰ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഥ}}''' {{angbr|th}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഠ}}''' {{angbr|ṭh}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ɕʰ}}~{{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഛ}}''' {{angbr|ch}}
|{{IPA link|kʰ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഖ}}''' {{angbr|kh}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPA link|b}} '''{{lang|ml|ബ}}''' {{angbr|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪}} '''{{lang|ml|ദ}}''' {{angbr|d}}
|({{IPA link|d}}){{efn|Only occurs after ṉ.}}<br />'''{{lang|ml|ന്റ}}''' {{angbr|nṟ}}
|{{IPA link|ɖ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഡ}}''' {{angbr|ḍ}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʑ}}~{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} '''{{lang|ml|ജ}}''' {{angbr|j}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഗ}}''' {{angbr|g}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Breathy voice|breathy]]</small>
|{{IPA link|bʱ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഭ}}''' {{angbr|bh}}
|{{IPA link|d̪ʱ}} '''{{lang|ml|ധ}}''' {{angbr|dh}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɖʱ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഢ}}''' {{angbr|ḍh}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʑʱ~d͡ʒʱ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഝ}}''' {{angbr|jh}}
|{{IPA link|ɡʱ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഘ}}''' {{angbr|gh}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" scope="row" |[[Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}} '''{{lang|ml|ഫ}}''' {{angbr|f}}
|
|{{IPA link|s}} '''{{lang|ml|സ}}''' {{angbr|s}}
|{{IPA link|ʂ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഷ}}''' {{angbr|ṣ}}
|{{IPA link|ɕ}}~{{IPA link|ʃ}} '''{{lang|ml|ശ}}''' {{angbr|ś}}
|
|{{IPA link|h}} '''{{lang|ml|ഹ}}''' {{angbr|h}}
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" |[[Approximant consonant|Approx.]]
! scope="row" | {{small|central}}
|{{IPA link|ʋ}} '''{{lang|ml|വ}}''' {{angbr|v}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɻ}} '''{{lang|ml|ഴ}}''' {{angbr|ḻ}}{{efn|Often transliterated as {{transliteration|ml|zh}} by Malayalis and Tamils, may also be transliterated as {{transliteration|ml|ẓ}} or {{transliteration|ml|r̤}} by some others.}}
|{{IPA link|j}} '''{{lang|ml|യ}}''' {{angbr|y}}
|
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|-
! scope="row" | {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|l}} '''{{lang|ml|ല}}''' {{angbr|l}}
|{{IPA link|ɭ}} '''{{lang|ml|ള}}''' {{angbr|ḷ}}
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|
|
|-
! colspan="2" scope="row" |[[Tap consonant|Tap]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}} '''{{lang|ml|ര}}''' {{angbr|r}}
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|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" scope="row" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|r}} '''{{lang|ml|റ}}''' {{angbr|ṟ}}
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|}
* As in other Dravidian languages, the retroflex series are true [[subapical consonant]]s, in which the underside of the tongue contacts the roof.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Hamann |first=Silke |year=2003 |title=The Phonetics and Phonology of Retroflexes |location=Utrecht, Netherlands |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/627/full.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=13 January 2021 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116155425/https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/627/full.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>
* All of the alveolars except /s/ are apical.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" />
* /{{IPA|ɕ ~ ʃ}}, {{IPA|t͡ɕ ~ t͡ʃ}}, {{IPA|t͡ɕʰ ~ t͡ʃʰ}}, {{IPA|d͡ʑ ~ d͡ʒ}}, {{IPA|d͡ʑʱ ~ d͡ʒʱ}}/ can either be postalveolar or alveolo-palatal depending upon the speaker and dialect; the postalveolar and alveolo-palatal realizations are in free variation.<ref name="namboodiripad-2016">{{cite thesis |first=Savithry |last=Namboodiripad |year=2016 |title=Malayalam (Namboodiri Dialect) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/malayalam-namboodiri-dialect/19CBF6E9E1CE65A84928F7C9C2286A9B |access-date=22 December 2020 |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302184525/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/malayalam-namboodiri-dialect/19CBF6E9E1CE65A84928F7C9C2286A9B |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The [[alveolar nasal]] once had a separate character ⟨ഩ⟩ that is now obsolete and the sound is now almost always represented by the symbol that was originally used only for the [[dental nasal]]. However, both sounds are extensively used in current colloquial and official Malayalam, and although they were allophones in Old Malayalam, they now occasionally contrast in gemination – for example, {{transliteration|ml|eṉṉāl}} ('by me', first person singular pronoun in the instrumental case) and {{transliteration|ml|ennāl}} ('if that is so'), which are both written {{transliteration|ml|ennāl}} (എന്നാൽ) and tiṉṉŭ "eat!", tinnŭ "ate".
* The unaspirated alveolar stop also had a separate character ⟨ഺ⟩ but it has become obsolete, as the sound only occurs in geminate form (when geminated it is written with a {{lang|ml|റ}} below another {{lang|ml|റ}} ⟨റ്റ⟩) or immediately following other consonants (in these cases, {{lang|ml|റ}} or {{lang|ml|ററ}} are usually written in small size underneath the first consonant).
*The proto Dravidian alveolar stop ''*ṯ'' developed into an alveolar trill /r/ in many of the [[Dravidian languages]] and ''*ṉṯ'' became ''nn'' in Malayalam while ''*ṯṯ'' remained.<ref name="krishnamurti-2003" /> Currently Malayalam only has [nd] in the genitive case ending ''-ṉṟe'' and a word formed with it ''taṉṟēṭam''; Malayalam regained it from the older genitive case ending ''-ṉuṭaiya > -ṉuṭe > -ṉṭe > -ṉṟe'', Malayalam still retains both forms in words like eṉṉuṭe and eṉṟe though the former is dated, a similar process happened in some Sri Lankan Tamil dialects.<ref>{{cite book |first=Kamil|last=Zvelebil|title=Some features of Ceylon Tamil|series=Indo-Iranian Journal|year=1965|volume=9|issue=2|pages=113–138|publisher=JSTOR|jstor=24650188|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24650188}}</ref>
* ന്റ is pronounced as [nd] but ൻറ can be pronounced as [nd] or [nr]; [nr] doesn't occur natively but it occurs in loans like എൻറോൾ (''en̠r̠ōḷ'') 'enroll' or ഹെൻറി (''hen̠r̠i'') 'Henry'.<ref>The Unicode Standard Version 13.0 – Core Specification, South and Central Asia-I, Official Scripts of India pg. 514</ref>
* All non geminated voiceless stops and affricate become voiced intervocalically and after a nasal as in Tamil.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" /><ref name="krishnamurti-2003" />
* The geminated velars /kk/ and /ŋŋ/ are sometimes palatalized word medially after /j, i(:), e(:)/ like in the words {{lang|ml|കിടക്കുക}} [kiɖɐk:ugɐ] vs {{lang|ml|ഇരിക്കുക}} [iɾikʲ:ugɐ] and {{lang|ml|മങ്ങൽ}} [mɐŋ:ɐl] vs. {{lang|ml|മത്തങ്ങ}} [mɐt̪:ɐŋʲ:ɐ], their distribution is unpredictable e.g. it doesn't palatalize in vikkŭ but does in irikkŭ. If the palatalization is from /j/ it is sometimes deleted e.g. poykko can be [pojkʲːo] or [pokʲːo], aḍaykka as [ɐɖɐjkʲːɐ] or [ɐɖɐkʲːɐ]. Some of the northern dialects might pronounce them without palatalization.<ref name="namboodiripad-2016" /><ref name="haowen jiang-2010" />
* The letter ഫ represents both {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, a phoneme occurring in Sanskrit loanwords, and {{IPA|/f/}}, which is mostly found in comparatively recent borrowings from European languages. Though nowadays most people (especially youngsters) pronounce {{IPA|/pʰ/}} as {{IPA|/f/}} like in the word {{lang|ml|ഫലം}} {{IPA|/falam/}}.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" /> In the Jesari dialect the native word-initial /p/ too spirantized to [f].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vhB60gYvnLgC&q=laccadive | title=A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages | isbn=978-3-447-04455-4 | last1=Andronov | first1=Mikhail Sergeevich | year=2003 | publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag | access-date=25 June 2022 | archive-date=2 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002110634/https://books.google.com/books?id=vhB60gYvnLgC&q=laccadive | url-status=live }}</ref>
* {{IPA|/m, n, ɳ, l, ɭ/}} are unreleased word finally.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" /> Words will never begin or end with a geminated consonant. {{IPA|/ɻ/}} never occur word initially. All consonants appear word medially.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" />
* The plain stops, affricates, nasals, laterals, the fricatives {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and approximants other than {{IPA|/ɻ/}} can be geminated and gemination can sometimes change the meaning of the word, e.g. ''kaḷam'' 'cell', ''kaḷḷam'' 'lie'.<ref name="haowen jiang-2010" /> {{IPA|/n̪, ɲ, ŋ, t/}} only occur in geminated form intervocalically.<ref name="namboodiripad-2016" />
* The approximant {{IPA|/ɻ/}} has both rhotic and lateral qualities, and is indeterminate between an approximant and a fricative. The articulation of {{IPA|/ɻ/}} changes part-way through, perhaps explaining why it behaves as both a rhotic and a lateral, both an approximant and a fricative, but the nature of the change is not understood.<ref>Scobbie, Punnoose & Khattab (2013) "Articulating five liquids: a single speaker ultrasound study of Malayalam". In ''Rhotics: New Data and Perspectives.'' BU Press, Bozen-Bolzano.</ref>
* {{IPA|/n, t, ɾ, l, ɻ/}} are weakly palatalized and have an advanced tongue root while {{IPA|/n̪, r, ɭ/}} are clear or velarized and have a retracted tongue root, particularly noticeable in geminates.<ref name="namboodiripad-2016" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Palatalization and velarization in Malayalam nasals: a preliminary acoustic study of the dental–alveolar contrast |last=Dowla Khan |first=Sameer ud |year=2021 |publisher=Reed College |url=https://www.reed.edu/linguistics/khan/assets/Khan%202021%20Palatalization%20and%20velarization%20in%20Malayalam%20nasals%20-%20a%20preliminary%20acoustic%20study%20of%20the%20dental-alveolar%20contrast.pdf}}</ref>
* /ʋ/ may be realized as [ʋ], [v], [w] or [β̞].<ref name="namboodiripad-2016" />
* Around 75% of ''nk'' and 50% of ''ñc'' and ''nt'' from Old Malayalam got assimilated to ''ṅṅ, ññ'' and ''nn'', almost all of the ''ṉṯ'' merged with ''nn'' suggesting an earlier merger of some of the ''n̠t̠'' and ''nt'' (for e.g. the cognate of Tamil ''nan̠r̠i'' is spelt as ''nandi'' and pronounced nanni); ''mp'' and ''ṇṭ'' were unchanged, e.g. Tamil ''mūṉṟu, maruntu, kañci, teṅku,'' Malayalam ''mūnnŭ, marunnŭ, kaññi, teṅṅŭ.''{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=167}} Word final ''ai, āy and ey'' became ''a'' unless the word is monosyllabic, e.g. Tamil ''avai, māṅgāy, veṇṇey'' Malayalam ''ava, māṅṅa, veṇṇa.'' Final ''āy'' in monosyllabic words became ''āya'' e.g. Tamil ''kāy'', Malayalam ''kāya''.
* Loanwords with /z/ are replaced with /s/ and not with /d͡ʒ/ like in Hindi or Telugu e.g. /brasi:l/ English "Brazil" unless it was loaned through Hindi then the Hindi pronunciation is taken e.g. /d͡ʒilla/ Hi. {{IPA|/d͡ʒilaː/}} Per. {{IPA|/zilʔ/}}, other Perso-Arabic phonemes like {{IPA|/q, x, ɣ, ħ, Cˤ, ʕ, ʔ/}} are replaced with /k, kʰ, g, h, C, ∅, ∅/, sometimes /q, x/ are replaced with /kʰ, k/ e.g. Arabic قطر ''qaṭar'', خَطّ&lrm; ''xaṭṭ'' as ഖത്തർ ''khattaṟ'', കത്ത് ''kattŭ''. English loans with /θ, ð, ʒ/ are replaced with {{IPA|/t̪, d̪, ʃ/}}; the dentals do not clash with English loans with /t, d/, which are replaced with [t, d] or [ʈ, ɖ] though [d] is rare because of the limited distribution natively e.g. "taxi" as ''ṯāksi'' or more commonly ''ṭāksi''. The English /ɹ/ is loaned as either /ɾ/ or /r/ unpredictably, for e.g. 'current' got loaned as ''karaṇḍŭ'' but 'maroon' got loaned as ''mar̠ūṇ'' or ''mer̠ūṇ'' but the cluster /ɹs/ is loaned as /ɻs/ other clusters are loaned as /rC/ or /ɾC/, /ɻ/ only occurs in words with /ɹs/ e.g. 'force' as ''fōḻsŭ''. Speakers with non rhotic English accents don't have /ɹC/ clusters in English loans and pronounce it as ''fōs(ŭ)''. In Sanskrit loans with /t̪C/ and /d̪C/ (unless C is a sonorant or a dental stop) sometimes the /t̪, d̪/ becomes /l/ especially in /t̪s/ e.g. ''utsava > ulsavam, utpādana > ulpādaṉam, udghāṭana > ulghāḍaṉam''.<ref name="shekharsankaran">{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42929361 | jstor=42929361 | title=Notes on Colloquial Malayāḷam | last1=Shekhar | first1=A. C. | last2=Sankaran | first2=C. R. | journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute | date=1944 | volume=6 | issue=1/2 | pages=49–52 }}</ref> There are some native words with /s/ (''urasŭ'') and /ʃ/ (''vīśŭ'') but rest of the fricatives (except /f/ in native words of Jesari) and aspirates are only found in loans.
* Rarely some speakers pronounce the voiced aspirated consonants as voiceless so words like ''dhaṉam'' as ''thaṉam'', it is more commonly deaspirated so ''dhaṉam'' as ''daṉam'' and ''kharam'' as ''karam'', intervocalically the voiceless aspirate also becomes voiced so ''mukham'' as ''mugam''.{{sfnp|Steever|2015|p=63}}