Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional
Dravidian language
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant i ...
of the
Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...
of Kerala state, southern India. The form can be classified as a regional dialect in northern Kerala, or as a class or occupational dialect of the Mappila community. It can also be called a
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
in general, or as a provincial
patois
''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or ...
, with the latter label being increasingly applicable in Colonial times. All the forms of the Malayalam language, including Mappila, are mutually intelligible.
[Subramoniam, V. I. (1997). ''Dravidian Encyclopaedia''. Vol. 3, Language and literature. Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): International School of Dravidian Linguistics. pp. 508-09]
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The Mappila form shows some lexical admixture from Arabic and Persian.[Krishna Chaitanya. ''Kerala. India, the Land and the People.'' New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 1994]
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The variety Arabi Malayalam is also used by Ezhava, lower caste non-Muslims in northern Kerala, Muslims in Dakshina Kannada, and different Mappila migrant communities in South East Asia.
Writing system
The Arabi Malayalam script
Arabi Malayalam script (Malayalam: അറബി-മലയാളം, Arabi Malayalam: عَرَبِ مَلَیَاۻَمٛ), also known as Ponnani script, is a writing system — a variant form of the Arabic script with special orthographic featu ...
is an Abjad
An abjad (, ar, أبجد; also abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with other alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels ...
. The script is also known as Khatafunnani or Ponnani
Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...
script. It is also used to write several minority languages such as Eranadan and Jesri.
Arabi Malayalam was made by writing Malayalam while using the Arabic script. The language of Malayalam was mainly used to spread the ideas and practices of Islam in Kerala. Creating Arabi Malayalam made it easier for the Arabs who migrated to Kerala to spread the religion without a language barrier getting in the way.
Study center
The Malayalam University has been set up a centre for studies of Arabi Malayalam language at Tirur
Tirur is a Municipality in Malappuram district in the Indian state of Kerala spread over an area of . It is one of the business centers of Malappuram district and is situated west of Malappuram and south of Kozhikode, on the Shoranur–Mangalor ...
.
See also
* Arabi Malayalam script
Arabi Malayalam script (Malayalam: അറബി-മലയാളം, Arabi Malayalam: عَرَبِ مَلَیَاۻَمٛ), also known as Ponnani script, is a writing system — a variant form of the Arabic script with special orthographic featu ...
* Suriyani Malayalam
Suriyani Malayalam (സുറിയാനി മലയാളം, ܣܘܪܝܢܝ ܡܠܝܠܡ), also known as Karshoni, Syro-Malabarica or Syriac Malayalam, is a dialect of Malayalam written in a variant form of the Syriac alphabet which was popular ...
* Arwi
Arwi or ArabuTamil (Arabic: , ; ta, அரபுத்தமிழ் ) is an Arabic influenced dialect of the Tamil language, Tamil language written with an Arabic Extended-A, extension of the Arabic alphabet, with extensive Lexicon, lexical a ...
* Byari bhashe
* Eranadan language
Eranadan or Aranadan (ISO: ; ml, ഏറനാടൻ; ar, ا٘يرَناڊَن) is a Dravidian language spoken by several hundred people, predominantly in the region of Eranad, Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is classified under the Malay ...
* Jasri
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabi Malayalam
Languages of India
Dravidian languages
Islamic culture
Mappilas
Arabi Malayalam