Malayalam: ml-puthiya, ml-pazhaya

[Sascha Brawer]

Below requests for registering variant subtags for [ml-]puthiya and
[ml-]pazhaya. I’m cc’ing my contact in case of questions. Best, — Sascha

------------- #1 ----------------
LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM
1. Name of requester: Sascha Brawer
2. E-mail address of requester: sascha at brawer.ch
3. Record Requested:

   Type: variant
   Subtag: puthiya
   Description: reformed Malayalam orthography
   Prefix: ml

4. Intended meaning of the subtag:

Malayalam that is written in the orthography of the 1971 reform. In
Malayalam (transcribed to English), the term for this variant is “puthiya
lipi”.


5. Reference to published description of the language (book or article):

a) http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2008/08039-kerala-order.pdf

b) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_script#Orthography_reform

c)
https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971-%E0%B4%B2%E0%B5%86_%E0%B4%B2%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B7%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%A3%E0%B4%82


6. Any other relevant information:

The difference between the traditional and the reformed variant also
affects text rendering, eg. regarding the forming of conjuncts. OpenType
therefore defines two language system tags to distinguish “Malayalam
Reformed” (MLR) from [traditional] “Malayalam” (MAL).
https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/languagetags.htm

The above Wikipedia article uses both “puthiya” and “putiya” as English
transliteration of the Malayalam term for the reformed orthography. A
Malayalam speaker has confirmed that “puthiya” would be a better English
transliteration.

According to my contact, this reform was a continuum; the Kerala government
order of 1971 did not immediately affect the common practice. Instead, the
transition from traditional to reformed has happened over the period of
20-30 years. There is a lot of variation in the specifics for any year one
could pick in the last century.

Again according to my contact, there is a common overall understanding
among Malayalam speakers that the orthography of the language has moved
from ‘traditional’ to ‘reformed.’ However, my contact did not know of an
authoritative reference that would describe this transition in more detail.

------------- #2 ----------------
LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM
1. Name of requester: Sascha Brawer
2. E-mail address of requester: sascha at brawer.ch
3. Record Requested:

   Type: variant
   Subtag: pazhaya
   Description: traditional Malayalam orthography
   Prefix: ml

4. Intended meaning of the subtag:

Malayalam that is written using the orthographic conventions that were in
place before the 1971 reform. In Malayalam (transcribed to English), the
term for this variant is “pazhaya lipi”.

5. Reference to published description of the language (book or article):

See above.

6. Any other relevant information:

Wikipedia uses the expression “palaya” but a Malayalam speaker confirmed
that “pazhaya” would be a better English transliteration of the Malayalam
term for the “traditional” orthography.
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