C H A P T E R 6 Malayalam Tutorials Structure Of Inscript Keyboard The Inscript overlay is same for all the Indian scripts, and contains the basic characters required for all of them. The Inscript keyboard overlay shown below is for the Malayalam script. The characters which are not used in Malayalam are not shown in the overlay. Malayalam script is used for writing Malayalam Languages. When the Caps-Lock is off (indicated by an LED), the normal English overlay is active. Caps-Lock has to be put on for selecting Inscript overlay. Characters available in this overlay are shown in the right half of the key tops. In the Inscript overlay the following English overlay characters are available in their usual place: ~ H `s#m Tab caps lock SHIFT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ( ) -,.! @ ##vc $ % Ú ^ {X & * {i ( ) _ #x + E 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = #r BS QHu WsF EB RCu TDu Y ` U M I L O [ PQ { V } R #u ss# #m #o #q _ l K Z P [ U ] NUK \ AHm S G DA F C G D H ^ J d K J L Y : O " T t#m t# #v #n #p ] c I X ; N ' S ENTER Z F X CW V B g N f M i < j >? s# #w a \ h e k,. / b SHIFT 4th row 3rd row Home row 1 st row CNTRL ALT SPACE ALT CNTRL Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 1
Inscript Keyboard overlay has been optimized both for touch-typing as well as sight-typing. Touch typing is done primarily through characters in the first three rows. The second row is the "Home Row" in which the fingers of both hands rest. This makes the characters in the Home Row easiest to type, followed by those in the 3rd Row and then in the 1st Row. The characters in the 4th row are primarily meant for sight typing. Malayalam Characters Overview The Inscript Keyboard overlay allows the following basic characters in Malayalam to be typed in. A B C Cu D Du E F G sf H Hm Hu #m #n #o #p #q #r s# t# ss# s#m t#m #u #w (Anuswar) #x (Visarg) I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` a b c e` h i j k l f g d #v (Halant) Nuk (Nukta) The Vowel/Nasal Pad Left half of the keyboard contains the Vowels, Nasal signs and Nasal consonants. In touch typing these characters have to be typed by the left hand. 2 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
The Vowels The vowel structure in all the Indian languages is quite the same and similar. But two more short vowels (F and H) join additionally in Malayalam which are not present in Malayalam. The Malayalam vowels can be classified into different groups as follows. Short Vowels : A C D F H Long Vowels : B Cu Du G Hm Dipthongs : sf Hu Additional : E The Home row contains the 5 short vowels in Malayalam. A Hm S G D A F C G D Shift Home Row t#m t# #v #n #p Unshift Notice that a Matra is given in the Unshift position, while the corresponding vowel is given in the shift position. This is convenient since the Matras are used more often than the vowels. A Vowel has got no corresponding Matra as its sound is inherently present in each consonant. A Halant #v sign has to be used to remove the inherent A sound from a consonant. The Halant sign is used quit often for combining consonants, and is thus given in the Unshift position. Q Hu W sf E B R Cu T Du Long Vowels 3rd Row #u ss# #m #o #q A Hm S G D A F C G D Short Vowels Home Row t#m t# #v #n #p Among the 5 pairs of short and long vowels in Malayalam All the short vowels are given in the Home row, and the corresponding long vowels are given in the 3rd row. One needs to remember the positions of the short vowels in the Home row. Position of a long vowel is in the key above the corresponding short vowel. Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 3
1th Row Z F Shift s# Unshift ~ H Shift 4th Row ` s#m Unshift There is one more vowel in Malayalam which is not often used : E. This vowel and its corresponding matra (#r) are placed in the 4th row. 4th row + E Shift = #r Unshift Nasal Signs and Nasal Consonants 1st Row X C W V Shift #w a \ Unshift Anuswar #w is given in the Unshift position, Malayalam has 5 Nasal consonants M, R, W, \ and a The Nasal consonants a, \ and W are provided in the left half of the first row. The Nasal consonants M and R are provide in the Shift Positions of the right pad in the 3 row. 3rd Row U M } -R Shift Consonant Pad The Consonant Pad is in the right half of the keyboard. The characters in this pad are to be typed by the right hand during touch-typing. Consonant Vargs Malayalam has 5 Consonant Vargs, each having 5 consonants. These consonants are accommodated in the right pad of the keyboard. 4 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
Primary Secondary Nasal Varg 1: I J K L M Varg 2: N O P Q R Varg 3: S T U V W Varg 4: X Y Z [ \ Varg 5: ] ^ _ ` a Each Varg contains a pair of Primary consonants, a pair of Secondary consonants and a Nasal consonant. The two pairs of each Varg are kept in two vertical keys as shown below. varg varg varg varg varg 5 1 4 2 3 Y ` U I L O [ P Q { V Shift 3rd Row _ K Z P [ U Unshift H ^ J K _ L Y : O " T Shift Home Row ] I X ; N ' S Unshift This arrangement is not only easy to remember but also places the Primary consonants, which are more used, in the home row. The salient feature of this arrangement is that the consonant in the Shift position of a key is the "Aspirated" counterpart of the consonant in the Unshift position. This is possible since the second consonant of each of the Primary or Secondary pair is an Aspirated consonant. An Aspirated consonant has an extra "h" sound in it. An aspirated consonant is used less frequently than its unaspirated counterpart. So the Unshift position of the keys is quite suitable for them Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 5
Primary Secondary Varg 1: I + l = J K + l = L Varg 2: N + l = O P + l = Q Varg 3: S + l = T U + l = V Varg 4: X + l = Y Z + l = [ Varg 5: ] + l = ^ _ + l = ` Note: The above table is just for illustrating the phonetic equivalence, you can't derive an aspirated consonant by typing an unaspirated consonant followed by a l. Keeping all the aspirated consonants in the Shift position of their unaspirated counterparts, halves the efforts to remember them. This is just like the positioning of upper-case letters in the Shift positions of the lower-case letters in English Keyboard. To start with one has to remember the position of the 5 primary unaspirated consonants in the Home row, the positions of the rest of them can be easily learnt in relation to these. The Non-Varg consonants After the first 5 Vargs of Malayalam, come the Non-Varg consonants. These are also accommodated in the consonant pad on the right half of the overlay. b c e h i j k l f g d c is the most often used consonant amongst these, and is thus provided in the Home row, for ease of typing. U 3rd Row L Unshift J d Shift Home Row c Unshift B g N f M i < j >? Shift 1st Rowh h e k,. / b Unshift d which is similar to c, is provided on its shift position. 6 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
i which is similar to k, though less frequent, is provided on its Shift position. j which has the same pronunciation as i is provided on the shift position of the adjacent key. f which is similar to e, though less frequent, is provided on its shift position. g which has a slightly different pronounciation as f is provided on the shift position of the adjacent key. Visarg Visarg # - which is an aspiration sign, is used infrequently in Malayalam It is provided in the Shift position of a key in the 4th row. - _ # x Shift 4th Row - Unshift Soft Halant (Halant Nukta) - Chillukal The soft Halant is used in Malayalam for deriving the alternative forms for some of the half consonants. These soft consonants are known as Chillukal in Malayalam vernacular. = W #v NUK ³- ----= \ #v NUK À = c #v NUK Â = e #v NUK Ä = f #v NUK The NUK character shown above is provided on the "]" key in the 3rd row extreme right.a chillu consonant will not attract a matra on its own. A chillu can come with conjuncts, which can attract matras. E.g.: hq Ä, AhÄ v, Ahsâ, AÂ w Conjunct Keys x For convenience of typing, some Conjunct characters are provided in the Shift positions of some keys in the 4th row. The action of these keys is equivalent to typing the two or three characters comprising each of the corresponding conjuncts. # * {# $ %Ú^ & {i Shift 4st Row 3 4 5 6 7 8 Unshift Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 7
These keys are primarily meant for the occasional users. For touch-typing it would be more convenient to use the basic keys provided in the first 3 rows. Typing On Inscript Keyboard Everyone can have their own style of writing, but there has to be only one style for typing. Typing is done using limited number of keys on the keyboard. For typing a word we need to know how to break it up into a sequence of separate keystrokes. For example: Ie will be typed with 2 keys:i e P\X will be typed with 3 keys: P \ X Consonants Vowels Following consonants are present in Bengali. Each can be typed through a single keystroke. I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` a b c e h i j k l f g d Malayalam has the following vowels: A B C Cu D Du E F G sf H Hm Hu Each of them, except A, has an associated Matra: #m #n #o #p #q #r s# t# ss# s#m t#m #u Each Vowel is typed separately, even though it may look as if it is a combination of another vowel with a Matra. 8 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
The Matras are shown around a dotted circle to demonstrate the correct placement of matras around a Consonant or consonant cluster Example: Matras Anuswar Huj[ = Hu j [ and not H #u j [ A Matra can attach to the left or right side, or on sides of consonant: I Im In Io Ip Iq Ir si ti ssi sim tim Iu It has to be typed immediately after a Consonant. It cannot be typed after a Vowel. Imf is typed as: I #m f hne is typed as: h #n e EXp is typed as: E X #p tk\ is typed as: k t# \ ssa\ is typed as: a ss# \ IrXn is typed as: I #r X #n timsn is typed as: I t#m S #n Kufn is typed as: K #u f #n Note that all the Matra are typed after a consonant according to their pronounciation. The computer logic will display them properly according to their display order. Anuswar #w is used to denote a nasal sound. AwKw = A #w K #w ]nwkf = ] #n #w K f N{Iw = N I #v c #w Note that if a matra is present, the anuswar will always follow it according to the pronunciation order. Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 9
Visarg Visarg #x can be used to indicate an aspiration sound. ZpxJw = Z #p #x J #w The Visarg is many times confused with an English colon sign ":". The common mistake is to type a colon instead of a Visarg. The Visarg can be distinguished easily from a colon as it written as two small circles where as colon is normally written as two vertically aligned dots. Note that only one of Anuswar, or Visarg can attach to a vowel or a consonant character. Halant Halant #v is typed after a consonant to indicate the pure consonant, which represents missing of the inherent a vowel in it. A Halant can be attached only on a consonant, and not on vowel. It will be shown separately if placed inthe wrong position: C#v Ip#v In#v Iw#v Ix#v Conjuncts (Ip«- -c- Ä) The Halant can cause the adjoining consonants to assume a seperate "conjunct" shape. ip²w = i #p Z #v [ #w The conjuncts form in several ways in Malayalam on certain basic rules. 1 The first consonant is written in half form and the second consonant is written in full form E.g. = \ #v X 2. The first consonant in its full form and the second consonant in a miniature form or abridged form E.g. ¹ = ] #v e; = X #v Y 10 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
3. The first consonant in its full form and the second consonant in half- form. E.g. «= S #v S 4. By writing the consonants in close. E.g. Å = f + f 5. By adding a special element to indicate the repetition of the same consonant. E.g. = I #v I ; = b #v b ; = N #v N ; 6. Consonants b, c and h produce detatched forms when they follow pure consonant. E.g. ky = k #v b ; {k = k #v c ; kz = k #v h. But when repeated: = b #v b, Æ = h #v h and cvc = c #v c 7. There are two popular forms. Conjunct Keys E.g. ä = d #v d and â = \ #v NUK d. Some of the conjuncts can be typed in a single keystroke (macro). These keystrokes are equivalent to typing the constituent consonants with a Halant in between: = I #v j ; c = c = c I #v j {X = X #v c; an{xw = a #n {X #w = a #n X #v c #w {i = i #v c; hn{iaw = h #n {i a #w = h #n i #v c a #w Ú = P #v R; Úm\w = Ú #m \ #w = P #v R #m \ #w Note that these conjunct keys are given only for convenience of an occasional user. For touch-typing it might be easier to type in without these conjunct keys, using the basic keystrokes. A half consonant can be present before a conjunct in Malayalam: Imkv{Xw = i #m k #v {X #w = i #m k #v X #v c #w Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 11
Rakar Yakar Vakar When the #v is followed by a c, a Rakar { gets formed. This { is also available directly as a Conjunct key, for providing convenience to an occasional user. N{Iw = N I { #w = N I #v c #w {ZpXw = Z { #p X #w = Z #v c #p X #w FIvkv{Sm = F I #v k #v S { #m = F I #v k #v S #v c #m {Zu]Zn = Z #v c #u ] Z #n {lkzw = l #v c k #v h #w For touch typing it may be easier to type rakar without the conjunct key, as two separate keystrokes Similar to rakar, #v when followed by a b, has a different form called Yakar y. This comes to the right of a consonant or a conjunct. Example : Iy = I #v b, y = I #v I #v b Similar to rakar, #v when followed by a h, has a different form called Vakar z. This comes to the right of a consonant or a conjunct. Example : Iz = I #v h, z = I #v I #v h Alternative Composition Of Words Some special ways of typing are provided to achieve variations in display of a word. These special ways should be used only in exceptional cases, as they can change the basic spelling of a word. Invisible Consonant INV Sometimes it becomes necessary to show characters like: { y z m o q 12 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
These can be formed only by attaching them to a consonant. If typed directly we will get for the previous examples: #vc #vb #vh #m #o #q An Invisible consonant called "INV" is provided for forming these. This INV consonant is located in the shift position of the ESC key, and is available only when the Inscript overlay has been selected. INV Shift ESC Unshift The INV consonant can be used in the following ways: o = INV #o { = INV #v c q = INV #v b Soft Halant (or Halant+Nukta) There is an elegant way of preventing formation of conjuncts by adding a NUK # sign after the appropriate Halant sign. All the matras would now attach properly. hnizw = h #n i #v h #w; hnivhw = h #n i #v INV h #w ] mbw = ] X #v X #m b #w; ]XvXmbw = ] X #v INV X #m b #w Explicit Halant (Or Double Halant) Apart from preventing formation of a conjunct, sometimes it may be desirable to show an explicit Halant rather than a conjunct.this can be achieved by just typing the Halant twice: iàn = i I #v X #n; iivxn = i I #v #v X #n Note that the #n matra is displayed after the Explicit Halant. Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 13
Conjuncts Which Are Automatically Formed Following conjuncts (including soft Halants) are automatically formed on LEAP.office = I #v I = I #v e = I #v j = K #v K = K #v e = M #v I = M #v M = N #v N = R #v N ª = R #v R «= S #v S = W #v NUK = W #v S = W #v W = X #v X = X #v Y ± = Z #v Z ² = Z #v [ ³ = \ #v NUK = \ #v X µ = \ #v Z = \ #v \ = \ #v a = ] #v ] ¹ = ] #v e º = _ #v _ 14 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
» = _ #v e \] = \ #v ] ½ = a #v a ¾ = a #v e = b #v b À = c #v NUK ä = d #v d  = e #v NUK à = e #v e Ä = f #v NUK Å = f #v f Æ = h #v h Ç = i #v e È = i #v i É = k #v e Ê = k #v k Ë = l #v e Ì = k #v d #v d Í = U #v U Î = I #v #v S Ï = _ #v #v [ Ð = _ #v #v Z Ñ = N #v O Ò = l #v a Ó = l #v \ Ô = \ #v [ Õ = X #v k Ö = P #v P = W #v a Ø = k #v Y Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 15
Ù = \ #v Y Õ = X #v k Ö = P #v P = W #v a Ø = k #v Y Ù = \ #v Y Ú = P #v R Û = X #v ` Ü = K #v a Ý = i #v N Þ = W #v [ ß = X #v a à = I #v X á = K #v \ â = \ #v NUK d ã = j #v #v S ä = d #v d The half b, half h, and half c are detatched forms and as such the conjuncts with these consonants form in combination. Example: b : Iy Jy Ky Ly My h : Iz Jz Kz Lz Mz c : {I {J {K {L {M A soft halant (#v NUK) can be used instead of halant, to prevent the combination of a conjunct. An explicit halant (#v#v) can be used to show the first consonant with an explicit Halant. 16 Inscript Keyboard Tutorials
Anuswar And The Nasal Consonants Anuswar can many times denote a half-nasal consonant. This provides two ways of writing the same word: _ w]à with anuswar and _¼À with \v. In general the spelling with anuswar is to be preferred, since it is more compact. In general a half nasal consonant can be converted to an anuswar only if it comes before a non-nasal consonant belonging to the same varg. The anuswar can't be changed to a nasal consonant in the following words, as it is followed by a non-varg consonant: kwba \w, kwc- Ww, kwhmzw, hwiw, lwkw, kwlmcw Inscript Keyboard Tutorials 17