Editing Malayalam script (section)

=== Recommendations by the committees ===

==== Use non-ligating vowel signs for ''u'', ''ū'', and ''r̥''  ====
In the traditional orthography that had been taught in the primary education system before the reforms, any consonant or consonant ligature followed by the vowel sign ''u'', ''ū'', or ''r̥'' were represented by a cursive consonant-vowel ligature. The glyph of each consonant had its own way of ligating with these vowel signs. This irregularity was simplified in the reformed script.<ref>Manohar, Kavya & Thottingal, Santhosh. (2018). [https://thottingal.in/documents/Malayalam%20Orthographic%20Reforms_%20Impact%20on%20Language%20and%20Popular%20Culture.pdf "Malayalam Orthographic Reforms: Impact on Language and Popular Culture"]. Presented at the ''Graphematik 2018''.</ref> Thus, a vowel sign or consonant sign would always have a disconnected symbol that did not fuse with the base consonant.

Examples:
* ''ku:'' → {{lang|ml|കു}} 
* ''kū:'' → {{lang|ml|കൂ}}
* ''kr̥:'' → {{lang|ml|കൃ}}
* ''nu:'' → {{lang|ml|നു}}
* ''śu:'' → {{lang|ml|ശു}}

==== Split uncommon conjuncts with ''Chandrakkala'' ====
Also, most of traditional consonant-consonant ligatures, especially the less common ones only used to write words of Sanskrit origin, were split into non-ligated forms with explicit ''chandrakkala''. For example:
* {{lang|ml|ഗ്}} ''g'' + {{lang|ml|ദ}} ''da'' = ''gda:'' -> {{lang|ml|ഗ്‌ദ}}
* {{lang|ml|ല്‌}} ''l'' + {{lang|ml|ത}} ''ta'' = ''lta:'' -> {{lang|ml|ല്‌ത}}
* {{lang|ml|ശ്}} ''ś'' + {{lang|ml|ന}} ''na'' = ''śna:'' -> {{lang|ml|ശ്‌ന}}
* {{lang|ml|ശ്}} ''ś'' + {{lang|ml|മ}} ''ma'' = ''śma:'' -> {{lang|ml|ശ്‌മ}}

# The ligature ('''{{lang|ml|ശ്മ}}''') ''śma'' is required as an additional letter. For examples, '''{{lang|ml|ശ്മശാനം}}''', ''śmaśanam'', is the word for [[cemetery]].

==== Use non-ligating sign for conjoining ''ra'' ====
Any consonant or consonant ligature followed by the conjoining ''ra'' is represented by a cursive tail attached to the consonant or the consonant-ligature. In the reformed script, this consonant sign would be disconnected from the base and represented as a left-bracket like symbol placed on the left side of the cluster.
* ''kra:''{{lang|ml| ക‍്ര}} → {{lang|ml|ക‌്ര}}
* ''kru:'' {{lang|ml|ക‍്ര‍ു}} → {{lang|ml|ക‌്ര‌ു}}