Malayalam Pronunciation

Beyond the Basics

Open Educational Resources for South Asian Language Instruction

Language: Malayalam
Malayalam Pronunciation: Beyond the Basics by Donald R. Davis Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.
Created in cooperation with the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning.
Last updated: July 2020
Donald R. Davis, Jr., University of Texas at Austin, drdj@austin.utexas.edu
Spoken and Written Malayalam
You may hear that Malayalam is pronounced the way it is written. It’s not. This document provides some strategies for
pronouncing Malayalam that may be hard for those with no prior exposure to the language. It is not meant to be
comprehensive, but rather to focus on common challenges for beginners. Familiarity with the Malayalam script and the
basic sounds of each letter is assumed throughout.

Malayalam derives historically from Tamil and carries over a lot of pronunciation from Tamil, but it also borrows a lot from
Sanskrit. Some Sanskritic sounds come out more clearly in Malayalam than they do in Tamil, but not much. You should be
familiar with the following grid showing most (but not all) consonants in Malayalam according to where/how they are
spoken in the mouth (point of articulation).
Table 1. Stop Consonants (Plosives) in Malayalam. Softening Single Letters in the Middle of a Word

ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ As part of the Dravidian language family,

ka kha ga gha ṅa Malayalam leans heavily toward a South
Indian, especially Tamil, way of speaking.
ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ The most important consequence of this
fact is softening or voicing the single (not
ca cha ja jha ña
doubled) letters ക, ച, ട, ത, and പ in the
ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ middle of words. When these single
consonants begin a word, they take their
ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa
normal, unvoiced pronunciation. In the
ത ഥ ദ ധ ന middle of a word, however, they soften by
becoming voiced. To say these letters in
ta tha da dha na the middle of a word, you have to use the
പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ corresponding sound from two columns
over in Table 1.
pa pha ba bha ma
And Softening Aspirate Letters Table 2. Pronunciation of Major Consonants
in the Middle of a Word.

Another consequence of Tamil’s influence is that the ക ഖ ഗ ഘ

aspirated letters ഖ, ഛ, ഠ, ഥ, and ഫ and their voiced
counterparts ഘ, ഝ, ഢ, ധ, and ഭ all lose the extra air ka kha ga gha
that should be expelled when pronouncing these letters in
ച ഛ ജ ഝ
Sanskrit. Graphically, it looks like Table 2. All the letters
in red will be pronounced (roughly) like the
ca cha ja jha
corresponding letter in black from the same row, e.g. ക
ഖ ഘ -> ഗ. ട ഠ ഡ ഢ

ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha

ത ഥ ദ ധ

ta tha da dha

പ ഫ ബ ഭ

pa pha ba bha
Background
Why does this happen? Tamil does not differentiate voiced and aspirated consonants from others, since these sounds come
from Sanskrit. In modern Tamil script, there is no written form for any of the last three columns in Table 2 (middle three in
Table 1). Even though Malayalam does distinguish these sounds in writing, there is still a strong tendency to pronounce
words in the Tamil way. This tendency is not absolute, but a student must get used to this difference between writing and
speaking from the beginning.

So, “അത്” will sound a lot like “അദ്” and “പഠിക്കുന്നു” like “പഡിക്കുന്നു.” What trips up new learners is thinking too
much about the distinctions made in writing and imposing those onto speech. Linguists will say that there are in fact subtle
differences in spoken Malayalam. For a beginner, however, the point is to improve one’s pronunciation with the help of
some predictable rules and to worry about the finer points later. For what it’s worth, though it may throw you at first, using
the Malayalam script exclusively and avoiding transliteration into Roman letters will over time help you learn to associate
these softer sounds with the natural pronunciation of Malayalam.
Listen to the following examples of the common letters you will encounter (ഛ, ഠ, and ഫ and ഝ, and ഢ are quite rare,
especially as single letters). Notice how the same written letter will sound different at the beginning and in the middle of a
word.

1. േപാകാം let’s go Listen (non-native speaker)

2. രുചി taste, flavor
3. വട name of savory ‘donut’ snack Listen (native speaker)
4. കടൽ sea
5. അത് this
6. മതി enough
7. കഥ story
8. േകാപം anger
9. രൂപ rupee
10. സുഖം happiness, health
11. പഠിക്കും will study
12. രാഘവൻ name of Rama, common personal name
13. വിധി fate
14. പദ്മനാഭൻ name of Vishnu, especially the deity in
Thiruvananthapuram
The same softening happens when you combine one of these letters with the corresponding nasal (one of the “n-s” from the
last column in Table 1).

1. അങ്കം mark Listen (non-native speaker)

2. അഞ്ച് five
3. എന്ത് what? Listen (native speaker)
4. ഉണ്ട് there is
5. േവണ്ട don’t want; not
needed
6. വണ്ടി vehicle
7. മുമ്പ് before, in front
Disappearing ക, വ , and ള

One of the most malleable sounds in Malayalam is ക. Especially in the middle of a word, ക is liable to be spoken in several
ways, all of which change and reduce it. It may shift to a വ sound, less often to a soft ഹ sound, or be eliminated altogether.
Similar elisions happen for വ and ള, sometimes with changes to the nearby vowels, too. The more common the word, the
more likely it is to be contracted in speech. Several of these changes are part of regional dialects in Kerala, but they are
common enough to be important for beginners.

1. േപാകാം -> “േപാഗാം” -> “േപാവാം” -> “േപാ-ആം” Let’s go. Listen (non-native speaker)
2. പുസ്തകം -> “പുസ്തഗം” -> “പുസ്തഹം” book
3. വന്നുെകാള്ളൂ -> “വെന്നാള്ളൂ” Please come [in].
4. അകം -> “അഗം” -> “അഹം” inside, interior Listen (native speaker)
5. മകൻ -> “േമാൻ” son
6. മകൾ -> “േമാൾ” daughter
7. കച്ചവടം -> “കേച്ചാടം” business; commerce
8. പറഞ്ഞവൻ -> “പറേഞ്ഞാൻ” the one who spoke
9. നമ്മളുെട -> “നമ്മുെട” our
10. നമ്മൾക്ക് -> “നമുക്ക്” for/to us
Doubled and Conjunct Consonants

When consonants are doubled or in a conjunct, they sound as they would at the beginning of a word. Doubled consonants
should be hit hard or emphasized. Note the differences between doubled/conjunct consonants and single letters in the
beginning and middle of words.

1. അടുക്കള kitchen Listen (non-native speaker)

2. െകാല്ലുക to kill
3. അമ്മ mother
4. അയ്യപ്പൻ Ayyappan, name of a deity Listen (native speaker)
5. വന്നു came
6. ഇരുട്ടെ് darkness
7. പാ തം vessel, container
8. മാ തം only
9. എത how much/many
10. പെക്ഷെ but, however
Long and Short Vowels

Vowel pronunciation also deviates from the strict written Listen (non-native speaker)
form to some extent. The major hurdle is distinguishing
long and short vowels. In general, the distinction is simply
how long you hold the vowel sound, but a few key vowels Listen (native speaker)
shift the quality of the sound:
● Short അ sounds like “uh” as in English “cut.” Long 1. അനുജൻ younger brother
ആ sounds like “ah” as in English “father.” 2. കൽപന order, command
● Short ഇ sound like the “i” in English “kit.” Long ഈ 3. ആൾ person, people
sounds like “ee” in English “feet.” 4. തമാശ joke
● The long dipthongs ഐ and ഔ tend to sound like 5. രാജാവ് king
their counterparts, ഏ and ഓ. 6. മലയാളം Malayalam
7. ൈദവം god, deity
8. സൗന്ദര്യം beauty
9. ൈവഷ്ണവ Vaishnava, devotee of Vishnu
10. ൈപസ paisa, small unit of currency
11. കൗമാരം youth
12. പ തം vs. പാ തം newspaper vs. vessel
Now listen to the differences of length in other vowels and the sound of the unique Indic vowel ഋ.

1. നിറം color Listen (non-native speaker)

2. നീതി policy, justice
3. കിട്ടെി got, received, was available
4. കീർത്തി fame Listen (native speaker)
5. ഉമ്മ kiss
6. ഊണ് lunch, meal
7. മുറി room
8. മൂന്ന് three
9. െപട്ടെി box, suitcase
10. േപടി fear
11. െചാല്ലി told, said
12. േചാർ rice, meal
13. കൃതി work, deed
14. ഋഷി sage
Simple Vowel to Dipthong

When a single letter (not a conjunct) begins a word with the

vowels ഇ or ഉ, those vowel sounds will shift toward their Listen (non-native speaker)
corresponding short dipthong.
1. കുറച്ച് -> “െകാറച്ച്” a little, small Listen (native speaker)
amount
2. പിറന്നു -> “െപറുന്നു” was born
3. കുഴപ്പം -> “െകാഴപ്പം” problem, obstacle

Similarly, അയ് often shifts to ഏ.

1. കയറി -> “േകറി” climbed, entered into
2. കളയും -> “കേളം” will discard, throw away
Further Sample Sentences & Contrasting Pairs

Note how softening/voicing occurs even in formal, purposely clear

Listen (non-native speaker)
speech and how much contraction/elision is possible in
conversational speech.
1. അതുണ്ട്. Listen (native speaker)
2. നിങ്ങളുെട വീട് എവിെടയാണ്?
3. ഞങ്ങളുെട മകൾ ഐ.ഐ.ടിയിൽ പഠിക്കുകയാണ്.
4. ഞാൻ വരെണ്ടന്നു അവർ സൂചിപ്പിച്ചു.
5. വന്നവേരാട് ഒരു കാര്യം പറഞ്ഞുെകാള്ളെട്ടെ?
6. ആെക ഒൻപത് േപർക്ക് അസുഖമുണ്ടായി.

1. ആണ്; ആന is; elephant

2. ഇല; ഇല്ല leaf; no, not
3. പനി; പണി; പന്നി fever; work, chore; pig

If you have a fever, don’t say, as I once did, എനിക്ക് ഒരു പന്നി
പിടിച്ചു.