Help talk:IPA/Malayalam
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Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Help talk:IPA which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 16:17, 15 July 2017 (UTC)
Approximation of plosives with fricatives
Currently, two plosives are recommended to be pronounced as fricatives. One is [d̪] → that. For the average reader's ear that may well be the best recommendation, given that even some Irish English and African American English speakers pronounce /th/ as a plosive. But how does that sound to a native Malayalam speaker's ear? Given that there is no [d] in the inventory, a simple [d] may be a better approximation. This consideration doesn't apply to [t̪] → thank , because [t] exists - unless [t] is very rare. At any rate, would it make sense to add a note like “(but as a stop)” in both cases? ◅ Sebastian Helm 🗨 05:57, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
[Seeking consensus] The English approximation for ശ is incorrect
As a native speaker of Malayalam, I affirm that ശ is pronounced as shoo (with an ɐ at the end, hence /ʃɐ/), not shoe. Another example is hush vs shut. To be specific, the 'sh' is thinner‐sounding.
Google Translate samples
Use the 'listen' button in the Malayalam field to hear reasonably accurate renditions (ഷ should be a bit thicker, similar to shut):
Wikicode
The wikicode in question is:
| style="text-align:center;" |ʃ
| style="text-align:center;" | ശ
| ś
| shoe
If you are familiar with the language, kindly provide your feedback. Thanks.
— Alexanderino (talk) 22:42, 20 October 2025 (UTC)