(iii) [ə] also occurs as the weakened form of [a] or [ʌ] in unaccented syllables, e.g., [vʌɹ̣ijɑˑttrəkkɑˑrən] traveller; [bɦɑˑɡəʋətər] songster.
All Malayalam grammarians regard this [ə] not as a full sound having one full "mātrā" or mora, but only as a half-sound.
Front Vowels.
3. (i) [i] and [i:]: the short sound is never so short in Malayalam as in English "bit" or "pit."
(ii) When the short sound is followed by a consonant of the [t] or [ṭ] series, or by [l] or [ḷ], [ʃ], [r] or [r] and a back vowel, then the [i] changes, especially in the colloquial, into the easier [e]: e.g., [vila] > [vela] price; [iṭʌm] > [eṭəm] place; [pirʌḷuka] > [perʌḷuka] to be smeared; [vitʌkkjuka] > [vetəkkʲuka] to sow.
When the immediately succeeding consonant is not followed by a short back vowel (usually [ʌ]), then the change does not take place, e.g., [irikkʲuxa] to sit.
Evidently this change is only the result of the tendency to harmonise and smoothen the utterance of dissimilar or antagonistic sounds.
This change is very frequent in the colloquial, and is not absent in the literary language also, though, in writing, the symbol does not represent [e] but only [i].
(iii) Conjunct consonants with "-y- subscript," i.e. a following [j], are broken up in the colloquial into [i] and [ʌ]: e.g., [bɦɑ:ɡjəm] > [bɦɑˑɡːiʌm] fortune.
This change, however, hardly occurs in the language spoken by the literate classes who claim—and to a certain extent rightly too—to be able to pronounce Sanskrit conjunct consonants with greater "purity" than the people of other provinces of India.
4. [e] and [e:]. (i) The off-glide [i], usual in the English words "late" or "made," does not appear in Malayalam words. Malayali speakers of English do not at all note the presence of this off-glide, and pronounce "late," "made" [leit], [meid] etc. as [le:ṭ, me:ḍ].
(ii) [e:] has in certain words a tendency to become the more open [ɛ] as in English "there"; e.g., [pɛˑpʌṭṭi] mad dog; [pɛrə] name; [kɛˑsə] case. Purists would regard this [ɛ] as a corruption, notwithstanding the fact that it is very frequently heard even in the speech of educated persons.
5. [æ]. In literary language, this sound occurs in [ɲæˑn] I (the first person singular), [ɲæṇtə] crab; [ɲæˑttəʋeˑla] a season; [ɲæˑjerɑˑɹ̣c͡ʃa]
