Last class you learned the letters. This class teaches you to read them when they are combined — a completely separate skill, and the one that actually stands between you and a Malayalam page. THE PRINCIPLE Malayalam is an abugida. Every consonant already contains a vowel — the short അ. ക is not the sound k. ക is the whole syllable ka. Three things can happen to that built-in vowel, and those three things are the entire reading system: leave it alone, change it with a mark, or remove it. THE VOWEL SIGNS — സ്വരചിഹ്നങ്ങൾ ക കാ കി കീ കു കൂ കൃ കെ കേ കൈ കൊ കോ കൗ ka · kaa · ki · kee · ku · koo · kru · ke · kē · kai · ko · kō · kau THE TRAP The marks do not all sit in the same place. Some follow the consonant, some sit below, some sit before it, and some wrap around both sides. In കെ the mark is written to the LEFT and pronounced AFTER. You cannot read strictly left to right. This is true of the whole Brahmi family — Devanagari, Bengali, Tamil, Thai, Khmer. The fix is a change of unit: stop reading letters, read syllable blocks. That is why a Malayali reads fast — they are recognising syllables, not assembling letters. REMOVING THE VOWEL — ചന്ദ്രക്കല The crescent moon sits above the consonant and strips the vowel away. ക് is a bare k. You have been saying these all along: വീട്, ഉപ്പ്, ചോറ്. When you see the crescent, the word closes — ഒരുപാട് does not end in a vowel sound. THE FOURTEEN CONJUNCTS THAT DO MOST OF THE WORK ക്ക ചക്ക jackfruit · ങ്ങ മാങ്ങ mango · ച്ച ഈച്ച a fly · ഞ്ഞ പറഞ്ഞു said ട്ട കട്ടിൽ bed · ണ്ട ഉണ്ട് there is · ത്ത പത്ത് ten · ന്ത എന്താണ് what is it ന്ന വരുന്നു coming · മ്പ ഒൻപത് nine · ല്ല നല്ല good · ള്ള വെള്ളം water റ്റ പറ്റില്ല cannot · ക്ഷ ലക്ഷം one hundred thousand Some are transparent — ന്ത is plainly ന plus ത. Others merged completely: you would never guess the parents of ക്ഷ. And two consonants take a special reduced form below the first — ക്ര and ക്യ — which you meet constantly in Sanskrit-derived words like പ്രശ്നം and ക്രമം. Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.