അ is the first letter of the Malayalam script. It is an independent vowel letter that represents the near-open central vowel /ɐ/. In the Malayalam abugida, അ is classified as a laghu (short vowel), a category that influences metrical rules in poetry and grammatical sandhi.
As the inherent vowel of the script, the sound /ɐ/ is implied in every consonant letter unless otherwise indicated by a diacritic. For example, the consonant letter ക (ka) represents the sound /kɐ/.
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