Editing Malayalam script (section)

=====Consonant ligatures=====
Like in other [[Brahmic family of scripts|Indic scripts]], a [[#Chandrakkala|virama]] is used in the Malayalam script to cancel—or "kill"—the [[inherent vowel]] of a consonant letter and represent a consonant without a vowel, so-called a "dead" consonant. For example,
# {{lang|ml|ന}} is a consonant letter ''na'',
# {{lang|ml| ്}} is a virama; therefore,
# {{lang|ml|ന്‌}} (''na'' + virama) represents a dead consonant ''n''.
If this ''n'' {{lang|ml|ന്‌}} is further followed by another consonant letter, for example, ''ma'' {{lang|ml|മ}}, the result may look like {{lang|ml|ന്‌മ}}, which represents ''nma'' as ''na'' + virama + ''ma''. In this case, two elements ''n'' {{lang|ml|ന്‌}} and ''ma'' {{lang|ml|മ}} are simply placed one by one, side by side. Alternatively, ''nma'' can be also written as a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] {{lang|ml|ന്മ}}.

Generally, when a dead consonant letter C<sub>1</sub> and another consonant letter C<sub>2</sub> are conjoined, the result may be either:
# A fully conjoined ligature of C<sub>1</sub>+C<sub>2</sub>;
# Half-conjoined—
#* C<sub>1</sub>-conjoining: a modified form (half form) of C<sub>1</sub> attached to the original form (full form) of C<sub>2</sub>
#* C<sub>2</sub>-conjoining: a modified form of C<sub>2</sub> attached to the full form of C<sub>1</sub>; or
# Non-ligated: full forms of C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub> with a visible virama.<ref name="Constable2004">{{Cite web|last=Constable|first=Peter|title=Clarification of the Use of Zero Width Joiner in Indic Scripts|work=Public Review Issue #37|url=https://www.unicode.org/review/pr-37.pdf|publisher=Unicode, Inc|year=2004|access-date=2009-09-10}}</ref>

If the result is fully or half-conjoined, the (conceptual) virama which made C<sub>1</sub> dead becomes invisible, only logically existing in a [[character encoding]] scheme such as Unicode. If the result is non-ligated, a virama is visible, attached to C<sub>1</sub>. The glyphs for ''nma'' has a visible virama if not ligated ({{lang|ml|ന്‌മ}}), but if ligated, the virama disappears ({{lang|ml|ന്മ}}). Usually the difference between those forms is superficial and both are semantically identical, just like the meaning of the English word ''palaeography'' does not change even if it is spelled ''palæography'', with the ligature [[æ]].

======Common consonant ligatures======
Several consonant-consonant ligatures are used commonly even in the new orthography.

{|class="wikitable" lang="ml" style="text-align:center; margin-left:30px"
|+{{lang|en|Common ligatures}}
|- lang="en"
!&nbsp;!!''kka''!!''ṅka''!!''ṅṅa''!!''cca''!!''ñca''!!''ñña''!!''ṭṭa''!!''ṇṭa''!!''ṇṇa''!!''tta''!!''nta''!!''nna''!!''ppa''!!''mpa''!!''mma''
|-
!{{lang|en|Non-ligated}}
|ക്‌ക||ങ്‌ക||ങ്‌ങ||ച്‌ച||ഞ്‌ച||ഞ്‌ഞ||ട്‌ട||ണ്‌ട||ണ്‌ണ||ത്‌ത||ന്‌ത||ന്‌ന||പ്‌പ||മ്‌പ||മ്‌മ
|-
!{{lang|en|Ligated}}
|ക്ക||ങ്ക||ങ്ങ||ച്ച||ഞ്ച||ഞ്ഞ||ട്ട||ണ്ട||ണ്ണ||ത്ത||ന്ത||ന്ന||പ്പ||മ്പ||മ്മ
|}

The ligature ''mpa'' {{lang|ml|മ്പ}} was historically derived from ''npa'' {{lang|ml|ന്‌പ}}. The ligatures ''cca'', ''bba'', ''yya'', and ''vva'' are special in that a doubled consonant is denoted by a triangle sign below a consonant letter.
{|class="wikitable" lang="ml" style="text-align:center;margin-left:30px"
|- lang="en"
!&nbsp;!!''cca''!!''bba''!!''yya''!!''vva''
|-
!{{lang|en|Non-ligated}}
|ച്‌ച||ബ്‌ബ||യ്‌യ||വ്‌വ
|-
!{{lang|en|Ligated}}
|ച്ച||ബ്ബ||യ്യ||വ്വ
|}

======Consonant + ''ya'', ''va'', ''la'', ''ra''======
# The consonant letter ''ya'' is generally C<sub>2</sub>-conjoining after a consonant in both orthographies. For example,
* ''k'' {{lang|ml|ക്}} + ''ya'' {{lang|ml|യ}} = ''kya'' {{lang|ml|ക്യ}}
* ''p'' {{lang|ml|പ്}} + ''ya'' {{lang|ml|യ}} = ''pya'' {{lang|ml|പ്യ}}

In ''kya'' {{lang|ml|ക്യ}}, a variant form of ''ya'' ({{lang|ml| ്യ}}) is placed after the full form of ''ka'' {{lang|ml|ക}}, just like ''ki'' {{lang|ml|കി}} is written ''ka'' {{lang|ml|ക}} followed by the vowel sign ''i'' {{lang|ml| ി}}. In other words, the variant form of ''ya'' ({{lang|ml| ്യ}}) used after a consonant letter can be considered as a diacritic. Since it is placed after the base character, it is sometimes referred to as a ''post-base'' form. An exception is ''yya'' {{lang|ml|യ്യ}} (see above).

# Similarly, ''va'' ({{lang|ml| ്വ}}) after a consonant takes a post-base form:
* ''k'' {{lang|ml|ക്}} + ''va'' {{lang|ml|വ}} = ''kva'' {{lang|ml|ക്വ}}
* ''p'' {{lang|ml|പ്}} + ''va'' {{lang|ml|വ}} = ''pva'' {{lang|ml|പ്വ}}
An exception is ''vva'' {{lang|ml|വ്വ}} (see above).

# The consonant letter ''la'' ({{lang|ml| ്ല}}) after a consonant traditionally takes a below-base form. These forms are used also in the new orthography, though some fonts do not support them.
* ''k'' {{lang|ml|ക്}} + ''la'' {{lang|ml|ല}} = ''kla'' {{lang|ml|ക്ല}}
* ''p'' {{lang|ml|പ്}} + ''la'' {{lang|ml|ല}} = ''pla'' {{lang|ml|പ്ല}}
* ''l'' {{lang|ml|ല്}} + ''la'' {{lang|ml|ല}} = ''lla'' {{lang|ml|ല്ല}}

# A consonant letter ''ra'' (്ര) after a consonant usually takes a pre-base form in the reformed orthography, while this combination makes a fully conjoined ligature in the traditional orthography.
* ''k'' {{lang|ml|ക്}} + ''ra'' {{lang|ml|ര}} = ''kra'' {{lang|ml|ക്ര}}
* ''p'' {{lang|ml|പ്}} + ''ra'' {{lang|ml|ര}} = ''pra'' {{lang|ml|പ്ര}}

======''nṯa'' and ''ṯṯa''======
The ligature ''nṯa'' is written as ''n'' {{lang|ml|ന്‌}} + ''ṟa'' {{lang|ml|റ}} and pronounced {{IPA|/nda/}}. The ligature ''ṯṯa'' is written as ''ṟ'' {{lang|ml|റ്}} + ''ṟa'' {{lang|ml|റ}}.
{|class="wikitable" lang="ml" style="text-align:center;margin-left:30px"
|- lang="en"
!&nbsp;!!''nṯa''!!''ṯṯa''
|-
!{{lang|en|Non-ligated}}
|ന്‌റ||റ്‌റ
|-
!{{lang|en|Ligated}}
|ന്റ||റ്റ
|-
!{{lang|en|Digraph}}
|ൻറ||ററ
|}
In those two ligatures, a small ''ṟa'' {{lang|ml|‌റ}} is written below the first letter (''chillu-n'' if it is a dead ''n''). Alternatively, the letter ''ṟa'' is sometimes written to the right of the first letter, making a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] (just like {{lang|el|[[Iota adscript|ωι]]}} used instead of {{lang|el|[[Iota subscript|ῳ]]}} in Greek). The spelling {{lang|ml|ൻറ}} is therefore read either ''nṟa'' (two separate letters) or ''nṯa'' (digraph) depending on the word like in {{lang|ml|എൻറോൾ}} (en̠r̠ōḷ) 'enroll' or {{lang|ml|ഹെൻറി}} (hen̠r̠i) 'Henry' but {{lang|ml|ന്റ}} is always read ''nṯa''. Similarly, {{lang|ml|‌റ‌റ}} is read either ''ṟaṟa'' or ''ṯṯa''.<ref name="Unicode5.1.0"/>