Arabi-Malayalam
| Arabi Malayalam |
|
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Languages | Arabi Malayalam dialect |
|
Time period
|
c. 500 to the present |
|
Parent systems
|
Proto-Sinaitic
|
Arabi Malayalam (Malayalam script: അറബി മലയാളം, Arabi Malayalam: عربِ ملیاۻم) is a writing system for writing Mappila Malayalam. It uses a variant form of the Arabic script. Mappila Malayalam uses the grammar and syntax of Malayalam, vocabulary from Malayalam, Arabic, Tamil, Urdu and Persian, and the Arabic script with special orthographic features. Though this originated in the South Indian region of the Malabar, today the script is mainly used in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant Muslim community. It is also used to teach Malayalam in Madrassas of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Until the 20th century, the script was widely taught to all Muslims in Kerala, including women. Most of the Mappila Songs are written in Arabi-Malayalam script. The earliest known such work is the Muhyidheen Mala, written in 1607. Over the centuries, almost 3000 Arabic words used in Mappila Malayalam came to be assimilated to the Malayalam language. Many of them relate to law, administration and commerce, indicating the areas where the Muslim influence, especially in the lands under the Zamorin.
There were many problems to write Malayalam using letters covering Arabic, a Semitic language. Only 28 letters were available from Arabic orthography to render over 53 phonemes of Malayalam. It was overcome by following the pattern of creating additional letters established for Persian. The letters like pa, gha, kha, ṅa, ña, ḻa, ga, ca were not available in the Arabic alphabets. The characters which stand for ḻa, ca, pa, ga (ഴ, ച, പ, ഗ) are ژ, چ, پ, گ respectively in Arabi Malayalam.
അ = اَ
ആ = ا
ഇ = اِ
ഈ = اِى
ഉ = اُ
ഊ = اُو
ഋ = رْ
എ = اٝ
ഏ = اٝى
ഐ = ايْ
ഒ = اٗ
ഓ = اٗو
ഔ = اَوْ
ക് = ك
ഖ് = كه
ഗ് = گ
ഘ് = گه
ങ് = ڠ
ച് = چ
ഛ് = چه
ജ് = ج
ഝ് = جه
ഞ് = ڃ
ട് = ڌ
ഠ് = ڌه
ഡ് = ڊ
ഢ് = ڊه
ണ് = ڹ
ത് = ت
ഥ് = ته
ദ് = د
ധ് = ده
ന് = ن
പ് = پ
ഫ് = په
ബ് = ب
ഭ് = به
മ് = م
യ് = ی
ര് = ر
റ് = ڔ
ല് = ل
വ് = و
ള് = ۻ
ശ് = ش
ഷ് = ښ
സ് = س
ഹ് = ه
ഴ് = ڎ
റ്റ് = ڔّ
...
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