Typing Malayalam with the Lalitha Keyboard Layout

Lalitha is a xkb input method for typing Malayalam (മലയാളം) on standard ISO/ANSI keyboards. Lalitha maps characters phonetically to the keys of the English QWERTY layout. This makes Lalitha well suited for language learners. It also provides an intuitive input method for native speakers used to standard QWERTY keyboards. Lalitha is included in the xkeyboard-config reference database that ships with all major Linux distributions. This website intends to provide an overview of the Lalitha keys and key combinations available for writing modern Malayalam on the computer.

On this page Malayalam characters are rendered with Google's "Noto Serif Malayalam" font. This font adheres to modern conventions of Malayalam glyphs for conjuncts and internal vowels (see Sect. 12.9 of the Unicode Standard). The key presses documented here create the relevant Unicode combinations for this purpose. Usage of different fonts may result in different, perhaps undesired, glyphs for the key press sequences presented above.

While preparing this overview I noticed a bug with the Lalitha layout of xkeyboard-config (versions ≤ 2.46). Currently, the layout uses an archaic variant for the dependent form of the au vowel (see my bug report for further details). A workaround is to change the relevant entry in the xkb symbols definition. This is achieved by replacing U0D4C with U0D57 in the xkb_symbols "mal_lalitha" section of the file that contains all Indian layouts.

Original version:

key <AD01>   { [   U0D48, U0D4C, U0D10, U0D14  ] }; // Q: ai and au matras

Changed Version:

key <AD01>  { [   U0D48, U0D57, U0D10, U0D14  ] }; // Q: ai and au matras

In Debian and derivates this file is located at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/in.

I am no expert in മലയാളം. My native tongue is German. I created this page mainly as an overview for myself, with the hope that others might find it useful as well. The Lalitha layout is inspired by the Bolnagri layout for the Devanagari script. Bolnagri serves me well for learning and typing हिन्दी. But, while Lalitha seemed as awesome as Bolnagri, I had some difficulties at first, and I could could not find an overview like this to get me started. Hence, I drafted this web page while spending time with my family Kerala. Credits go to the love of my life, പ്രസിയ, who helped me in refining the initial draft.

Most of the examples in Sect. 3, as well as the English phonetic transliterations in Sect. 2 are taken from from the Malayalam textbook by R.F. Moag (2018; University of Texas at Austin South Asian Institute; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License).

Feedback and corrections, especially from native Malayalis, are welcome! Please refer to my homepage for contact details.

Throughout a , (comma) in the keyboard column indicates a sequence of keypresses. That is to say, the pressed key or key-combination, indicated by +, left of the comma needs to be released before pressing the key- or combination on right of the comma. Moreover, Alt always refers to the Alt key right of the Space key.

In the following table CK refers to a consonant key. Moreover, a few examples provide visual reference for each vowel.

Regarding the last row please note the bug and the workaround mentioned above.

For double consonants the pattern is CK, x, CK, where CK is the consonant key. The following table presents common examples.

For two letter conjunct glyps the pattern is CK, x, CK. Some examples are shown below:

Rendering of the conjunctn and double consonants can be turned off explicitly by adding a ZWNJ (zero-width non-joiner) or a ZWSPC (zero-width space) after the chandrakala. This is achieved by pressing Alt + \ or Shift + x, respectively. Here are some examples:

This variant is also the fallback in fonts that do not support the consonant letters.

Lastly, I noted that some conjuncts are used to indicate similar sounding consonants:

However, as seen in the last column, this is an explicit choice of the writer.