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 The Syriac alphabet ( ) is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language since the 1st century AD. It is one of the Semitic abjads descending from the Aramaic alphabet through the Palmyrene alphabet, and shares similarities with ...

which was popular among the Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of Kerala in India. It uses Malayalam grammar, the Maḏnḥāyā or "Eastern" Syriac script with special orthographic features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac. This originated in the South Indian region of the Malabar Coast (modern-day Kerala). Until the 19th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.

Writing system

There were numerous problems in writing Malayalam using the Syriac alphabet, which was designed for a Semitic language. Only 22 letters were available from East Syriac orthography to render over 53 phonemes of Malayalam. Both the languages are not related to one another in any way except for religious causes. These problems were overcome by creating additional letters. Basic Syriac ''ʾĀlap̄ Bēṯ'' based on form with corresponding Malayalam letters Additional Malayalam letters * Malayalam alveolar nasal encoded as U+0D29 for scholarly purposes. Vowels

Unicode

The Syriac alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0. Additional letters for Suriyani Malayalam were added in June, 2017 with the release of version 10.0.

Blocks

The Unicode block for Syriac is U+0700–U+074F: The Syriac Abbreviation (a type of overline) can be represented with a special control character called the

Syriac Abbreviation Mark The Syriac Abbreviation Mark is a Unicode Control character (U+070F) that forms part of the Syriac script block. In Syriac, words are sometimes written in an abbreviated form, omitting some of the last letters. In such cases, a special overline is ...

(U+070F). The Unicode block for Suriyani Malayalam specific letters is called the Syriac Supplement block and is U+0860–U+086F:

Loanwords

Over the centuries, Malayalam borrowed Eastern Syriac words. A few of them are given below:

Literature

''Vedatharkam'' written by

Kariattil Mar Ousep Kariattil Mar Iousep, alternatively written as Mar Joseph Kariattil, (5 May 1742 – 10 September 1786) was the first native Indian to be appointed as Metropolitan of Kodungalloor (Cranganore) for Syrian Catholics in the territory now compris ...

is one of the famous books written in Suriyani Malayalam. Large number of documents written in Suriyani Malayalam are found among the Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis of Kerala. These documents include an alternate set of the Canons of the

Synod of Diamper The Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor Synod) ( mal, ഉദയംപേരൂർ സൂനഹദോസ്, Udayampērūṟ Sūnahadōs), held at Udayamperoor (known as Diamper in non-vernacular sources) in June 1599, was a diocesan synod, or cou ...

.Perczel (2014), 266-8. At present the dialect is not in popular usage. However it strives in historical literature of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations.

Thomas Koonammakkal Thomas Koonammakkal ( ml, കൂനമ്മാക്കൽ തോമാക്കത്തനാർ, Koonammakkal Thoma kathanar) is a Syro-Malabar Catholic priest and syriacist, scholar and church historian. He is an expert in Karshoni Malayal ...

is one of the most notable experts in Garshuni Malayalam studies.

Writing system

Unicode

Blocks

Loanwords

Literature

See also

References

Further reading