Malayalam (; , ) is a
Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
and the union territories of
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
and
Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry t ...
(
Mahé district
Mahé district ( ml, മയ്യഴി ജില്ല) is one of the four districts of the union territory of Puducherry, India. It consists of the whole of the Mahé region. Mahé is the smallest district of India by size. The total area o ...
) by the
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
people. It is one of 22
scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a "
Classical Language of India
Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...
" in 2013. Malayalam has
official language
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
status in Kerala, and Puducherry (
Mahé), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep, and is spoken by 34 million people in India.
Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with significant number of speakers in the
Kodagu
Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State.
It occupies ...
and
Dakshina Kannada districts of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, and
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
, district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the
Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the
Persian Gulf countries
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...
, due to large populations of
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
expatriates there. There are significant population in each cities in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
including
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Bengaluru,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
etc.
The origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars. The mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from early
Middle Tamil
Middle Tamil is the form of the Tamil language that existed from the 8th to the 15th century.
The development of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of ...
and separated from it sometime after the CE.
A second view argues for the development of the two languages out of "Proto-Dravidian" or "Proto-Tamil-Malayalam" in the prehistoric era, although this is generally rejected by historical linguists. It is generally agreed that the
Quilon Syrian copper plates
Kollam/Quilon Syrian copper plates, also known as Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates, or Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, or Tabula Quilonensis record a royal grant issued by the chieftain of Kollam (Ayyan Adikal) to a Syrian Christian mer ...
of 849/850 CE is the available oldest inscription written in
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
. The oldest literary work in Malayalam, distinct from the Tamil tradition, is dated from between the 9th and 11th centuries.
The earliest script used to write Malayalam was the
Vatteluttu script
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing ...
.
The current
Malayalam script is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with
Grantha script
The Grantha script ( ta, கிரந்த எழுத்து, Granta eḻuttu; ml, ഗ്രന്ഥലിപി, granthalipi) is a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Originating from the Pallava script, th ...
letters to adopt
Indo-Aryan loanwords.
It bears high similarity with the
Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
, a historical script that was used to write the
Tulu language
Tulu () in Kannada script, ml, തുളു ഭാഷെ in Malayalam script. ''bhāṣe'', , ''bhāśe'', and ''bāśe'' are alternative spellings for the Tulu word ''bāse'' in the Kannada script. The correct spelling for the word ...
in
South Canara
South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of ...
, and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
in the adjacent
Malabar region
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 ...
.
The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book ''
Kerala Panineeyam'' written by
A. R. Raja Raja Varma in late 19th century CE.
The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam ''
Varthamanappusthakam
''Varthamanappusthakam'' is a Malayalam travelogue written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar, a Saint Thomas Christians, Nasrani Mappila kathanar of the modern-day Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first ever travelogue written in an Languages of India, ...
'', written by
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar (1736–1799) is the author of ''Varthamanappusthakam'' (1790), the first ever travelogue in an Indian language. Also known as ''Roma Yatraa Varthamanapusthakam'', it postulates that the foundation of Indian nationali ...
in 1785.
Robert Caldwell
Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a missionary for London Missionary Society. He arrived in India at age 24, studied the local language to spread the word of Bible in a vernacular language, studies that led him to author a tex ...
describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of
Kumbla
Kumbla is a small town in Kasaragod district of Kerala state in India. It is located 12 km north of Kasaragod town.
History
The original name "Kanvapura" was derived from the name of Maharshi Kanva. Since then the name has morphed into ...
in the north where it supersedes with
Tulu to
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
in the south, where it begins to be superseded by
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
, besides the inhabited islands of
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
in the
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
.
Etymology
The word originated from the words , meaning '
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
', and , meaning '
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
' or '-ship' (as in "township"); thus translates directly as 'the
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
region'. The term ''
Malabar
Malabar may refer to the following:
People
* Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India
* Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion
Places
* Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...
'' was used as an alternative term for ''Malayalam'' in foreign trade circles to denote the southwestern coast of the Indian peninsula, which also means ''The land of hills''. The term originally referred to the western hilly
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
of the
Chera dynasty (later
Zamorin
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited b ...
s and the
Kingdom of Cochin
The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy wa ...
),
Kingdom of Ezhimala (later
Kolathunadu
Kolattunādu (Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along with ...
), and
Ay kingdom
Ay (short from of Ayar) was one of the Tamil dynasties which controlled the south-western tip of the peninsula, from the early historic period up to the medieval period.The clan traditionally held sway over the harbour of Vizhinjam, the ferti ...
(later
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
), and only later became the name of its language.
The language Malayalam was alternatively called , , , , , , , and until the early 19th century CE.
[Malabar Manual (1887), William Logan, Calicut]
The earliest extant
literary
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
works in the regional
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
of present-day
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
probably date back to as early as the
12th century. At that time the language was differentiated by the name ''Kerala Bhasha''. The distinctive 'Malayalam' named identity of this
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
appears to have come into existence only around the
16th century, when it was known as "Malayayma" or "Malayanma"; the words were also used to refer to the
script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
and the
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
.
According to
Duarte Barbosa
Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a Christian pastor and scrivener in a '' feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbo ...
, a Portuguese visitor who visited Kerala in the early 16th century CE, the people in the southwestern
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 India from
Kumbla
Kumbla is a small town in Kasaragod district of Kerala state in India. It is located 12 km north of Kasaragod town.
History
The original name "Kanvapura" was derived from the name of Maharshi Kanva. Since then the name has morphed into ...
in north to
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
in south had a unique language, which was called "Maliama" by them.
Prior to this
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
, the people of Kerala usually referred to their language as 'Tamil', and both terms overlapped into the
colonial period.
History
![Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Quilon_Syrian_copper_plates_%28849_AD%29.jpg)
Due to the geographical isolation of 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 ...
from rest of
Indian peninsula
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
because of the presence of
Western Ghats mountain ranges which lie parallel to the coast, the dialect of
Old Tamil
Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning from 300 BCE to 700 CE. Prior to Old Tamil, the period of Tamil linguistic development is termed as Pre Tamil. After the Old Tamil period, Tamil becomes Middle Tamil. The earliest records i ...
spoken in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
was different from that spoken in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
.
The mainstream view holds that Malayalam began to grow as a distinct literary language from the western coastal dialect of
Medieval Tamil
Middle Tamil is the form of the Tamil language that existed from the 8th to the 15th century.
The development of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of p ...
(
Karintamil
Karintamil is thought to be the earliest predecessor of the modern Malayalam language. The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.
The earliest records in Karintamil are the ''pattu literature'' (songs). Prom ...
)
and the linguistic separation completed sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries. The renowned poets of
Classical Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
such as
Paranar
Paranar (Tamil: பரணர்) (c. 1st century CE) was a poet of the Sangam period, to whom 84 verses of the Sangam literature have been attributed, besides verse 6 of the Tiruvalluva Maalai.
Biography
Paranar belonged to the Paanar caste. He ...
(1st century CE),
Ilango Adigal
Ilango Adigal ()() was a Jain monk and a poet, sometimes identified as a Chera prince. He is traditionally credited as the author of '' Cilappatikaram'', one of the Five Great Epics of Ancient Tamil literature. He is one of the greatest poets ...
(2nd–3rd century CE), and
Kulasekhara Alvar
Kulasekhara (Tamil: ''குலசேகரர்'') (''fl.'' 9th century CE), one of the twelve Vaishnavite alvars, was a bhakti theologian and devotional poet from medieval south India (Kerala). He was the author of Perumal Tirumoli in Tamil a ...
(9th century CE) were
Keralites
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
.
The
Sangam works can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.
Some scholars however believe that both
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, 'Proto-Tamil-Malayalam', and that the notion of Malayalam being a 'daughter' of
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
is misplaced. This is based on the fact that Malayalam and several
Dravidian languages
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 ...
on the
Western Coast have common archaic features which are not found even in the oldest historical forms of literary Tamil.
Despite this Malayalam shares many common innovations with Tamil that emerged during the early
Middle Tamil
Middle Tamil is the form of the Tamil language that existed from the 8th to the 15th century.
The development of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of ...
period, thus making independent descent impossible.
For example,
Old Tamil
Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning from 300 BCE to 700 CE. Prior to Old Tamil, the period of Tamil linguistic development is termed as Pre Tamil. After the Old Tamil period, Tamil becomes Middle Tamil. The earliest records i ...
lacks the first and second person plural pronouns with the ending '. It is in the Early Middle Tamil stage that ' first appears:
Indeed, most features of Malayalam morphology are derivable from a form of speech corresponding to early Middle Tamil.
Robert Caldwell
Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a missionary for London Missionary Society. He arrived in India at age 24, studied the local language to spread the word of Bible in a vernacular language, studies that led him to author a tex ...
, in his 1856 book "''A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages"'', opined that literary Malayalam branched from ''Classical Tamil'' and over time gained a large amount of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
vocabulary and lost the personal terminations of verbs.
[Caldwell, Robert (1875)]
''A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages''
, second edition. London: Trübner & Co. As the language of scholarship and administration, Old-Tamil, which was written in
Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptio ...
and the Vatteluttu alphabet later, greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam as a literary language. The
Malayalam script began to diverge from the ''
Vatteluttu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing t ...
'' and the Western
Grantha scripts in the 8th and 9th centuries of
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...
. And by the end of the 13th century a written form of the language emerged which was unique from the ''
Vatteluttu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing t ...
'' script that was used to write Tamil on the eastern coast.
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
(''Pazhaya Malayalam''), an inscriptional language found in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century CE,
[M. G. S. Narayanan. "Kozhikkodinte Katha". Malayalam/Essays. Mathrubhumi Books. Second Edition (2017) ] is the earliest attested form of
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
.
The beginning of the development of
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
from a western coastal dialect of
contemporary Tamil (
Karintamil
Karintamil is thought to be the earliest predecessor of the modern Malayalam language. The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.
The earliest records in Karintamil are the ''pattu literature'' (songs). Prom ...
) can be dated to c. 7th - 8th century CE.
It remained a west coast dialect until c. 9th century CE or a little later.
The origin of
Malayalam calendar
The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era.
There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...
dates back to year 825 CE.
The formation of the language is mainly attributed to geographical separation of Kerala from the Tamil country
and the influence of immigrant
Tulu-
Canarese
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
s in Kerala (who also knew
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
).
It is generally agreed that the western coastal dialect of Tamil began to separate, diverge, and grow as a distinct language, mainly due to the heavy influence of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
, those became common prominent languages on
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 ...
, when the caste system became strong in Kerala under
Nambudiri
The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
s.
The
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the
Chera Perumal
Chera Perumals of Makotai, also known as the Perumal dynasty of KeralaThapar, Romila'', The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.'' Penguin Books, 2002. 331-32., or Cheraman Perumal dynasty of MahodayapuramNoburu Karashmia ...
kings as well as the
upper-caste (
Nambudiri
The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...
) village temples).
Most of the inscriptions in
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
were found from the
northern districts of Kerala, those lie adjacent to
Tulu Nadu
Tulunad or Tulu Nadu, also called Bermere sristi or Parashurama Srishti, is a region and a proposed state on the southwestern coast of India. The Tulu people, known as 'Tuluva' (plural 'Tuluver'), speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, ar ...
.
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
was mostly written in
Vatteluttu script
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing ...
(with
Pallava/Southern Grantha characters).
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
had several features distinct from the contemporary Tamil, which include the nasalisation of adjoining sounds, substitution of palatal sounds for dental sounds, contraction of vowels, and the rejection of gender verbs.
''
Ramacharitam
The ''Ramacharitam'' is a Sanskrit epic poem written in ''Arya metre'' by Sandhyakar Nandi (c. 1084 - 1155 CE) during Pala Empire. This work simultaneously narrates the story of the Ramayana and the Pala king Ramapala.
Manuscripts
A palm-leaf ma ...
'' and ''
Thirunizhalmala
Thirunizhalmala ("Garland of the Sacred Shade" or "Grace") is a c. 13th century " pattu" genre poem in Malayalam language. Along with "Ramacharitham", it is one of the earliest extant poems in Malayalam. It is generally considered as a work associ ...
'' are the possible literary works of
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
found so far.
Middle Malayalam
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
gradually developed into
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
(''Madhyakaala Malayalam'') by 13th century CE.
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
also completely diverged from
Tamil literature
Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...
during this period. Works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
, and date back to 13th and 14th centuries of
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...
.
The ''Sandesha Kavya''s of 14th century CE written in
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
language include ''
Unnuneeli Sandesam
''Uli Sandam'' is among the oldest works in Malayalam language. It is a '' sandesa kavyam'' (message poem), a message written in poetry, on the lines of the famous ''Meghadūta'' of Kalidasa. In the case of this work, it is a message written by a ...
''.
''Kannassa Ramayanam'' and ''Kannassa Bharatham'' by ''Rama Panikkar'' of the
Niranam poets
The Niranam poets, also known as the Kannassan poets, were three poets from the same family by the names of Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar, and Rama Panikkar. They hailed from Niranam, a small village in southern Kerala, India, near the town ...
who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language.
Ulloor
Ulloor is a city locality in the Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was the home of the modern Malayalam triumvirate poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer. The Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram and Credence Hospital Thiruvananthap ...
has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
that
Edmund Spenser does in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
.
The ''
Champu
Champu or Chapu-Kavya ( Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A ''champu-kavya'' consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya ...
Kavyas'' written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the ''Pathinettara Kavikal'' (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the
Zamorin of Calicut
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited ...
, also belong to Middle Malayalam.
The literary works of this period were heavily influenced by
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
, which was a combination of contemporary Malayalam and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
.
The word ''Mani-Pravalam'' literally means ''Diamond-Coral'' or ''Ruby-Coral''. The 14th-century ''
Lilatilakam
''Lilatilakam'' (IAST: ''Līlā-tilakam'', "diadem of poetry") is a 14th century Sanskrit-language treatise on the grammar and poetics of the Manipravalam language form, a precursor of the modern Malayalam language spoken in the Kerala state of I ...
'' text states Manipravalam to be a ''Bhashya'' (language) where "Malayalam and Sanskrit should combine together like ruby and coral, without the least trace of any discord".
[Ke Rāmacandr̲an Nāyar (1971). ''Early Manipravalam: a study.'' Anjali. Foreign Language Study. pp. 78] The scripts of ''
Kolezhuthu'' and ''
Malayanma
Malayanma script was a writing system used in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It was used to write the Malayalam language. Malayanma belongs to the same script family like Kolezhuthu and Vattezhuthu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanise ...
'' were also used to write
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
, in addition to ''Vatteluthu'' and
Grantha script
The Grantha script ( ta, கிரந்த எழுத்து, Granta eḻuttu; ml, ഗ്രന്ഥലിപി, granthalipi) is a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Originating from the Pallava script, th ...
those were used to write
Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...
.
The literary works written in
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
were heavily influenced by
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
, while comparing them with the modern
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
.
Modern Malayalam
The
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (''Aadhunika Malayalam'') by 15th century CE.
The poem ''
Krishnagatha
''Krishnagatha'' (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണഗാഥ) is a 15th-century poem written in Malayalam language; It is also known as Krishnapattu. it belongs to the poetic form ''Gatha''. The author of the poem is believed to be Cherusseri Namboothir ...
'' written by
Cherusseri Namboothiri
Cherusseri Namboothiri (Malayalam:ചെറുശ്ശേരി നമ്പൂതിരി) is a 15th-century Malayalam poet who belonged to Kolathunadu, in present-day North Malabar region of Kerala. He was a court poet of Udaya Varma (1446 ...
, who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of
Kolathunadu
Kolattunādu (Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along with ...
, is written in modern Malayalam.
The language used in ''Krishnagatha'' is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.
During the 16th century CE,
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ
എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...
from the
Kingdom of Tanur
Kingdom of Tanur (Vettathunadu, Vettom, Tanur Swaroopam, Prakashabhu, Kingdom of Light) was one of the numerous feudal principalities on Malabar Coast during the Middle Ages. It was ruled by a Hindu dynasty, claiming Kshatriya status, known as ...
and
Poonthanam Nambudiri
Poonthanam Nambudiri (1547–1640AD) was a famous poet and a devotee of Guruvayurappan, who lived in Keezhattoor in what is now Malappuram district, Kerala, India. He is remembered for his masterpiece, ''Jnanappana'' which means "the song o ...
from the
Kingdom of Valluvanad followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''
Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu'' and ''Mahabharatham
Kilippattu
Kilippattu or ''parrot song'' is a genre of Malayalam poems in which the narrator is a parrot, a bee, a swan, and so on. Kiḷippaṭṭu was popularized by the 16th-century poet Ezhuthachan (The Father Of The Malayalam language).
In Adhyathm ...
'' written by Ezhuthachan and ''
Jnanappana
Jnanappana is a devotional poem written by the 16th century Malayalam poet Poonthanam. This poem written as a devotional prayer to Guruvayoorappan is considered as an important work in Malayalam literature. Written in simple Malayalam, the Jnana ...
'' written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.
It is
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ
എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...
who is also credited with the development of
Malayalam script into the current form through the intermixing and modification of the erstwhile scripts of ''
Vatteluttu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing t ...
'', ''
Kolezhuthu'', and
Grantha script
The Grantha script ( ta, கிரந்த எழுத்து, Granta eḻuttu; ml, ഗ്രന്ഥലിപി, granthalipi) is a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Originating from the Pallava script, th ...
, which were used to write the inscriptions and literary works of Old and Middle Malayalam.
He further eliminated excess and unnecessary letters from the modified script.
Hence, Ezhuthachan is also known as ''The Father of modern Malayalam''.
The development of modern
Malayalam script was also heavily influenced by the
Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
, which was used to write
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, due to the influence of
Tuluva Brahmin
Tulu Brahmins or Tuluva Brahmins are the inhabitants of Tulu Nadu, also considered a part of Parashurama Kshetra which extends to Kerala.
They consist of following:
Sthanika Brahmins, also called "Sthanika Tulu Brahmins" or "Tulu Brahmins" ar ...
s in Kerala.
The language used in the
Arabi Malayalam works of 16th–17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
.
They follow the syntax of modern Malayalam, though written in a modified form of
Arabic script, which is known as
Arabi Malayalam script.
P. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work ''
Keralolpathi
The Keralolpathi ( ml, കേരളോല്പത്തി; IAST:''kēraḷōlpatti''; ) is a Malayalam Brahmanical literary work that deals with the origin and legends of the land of Kerala. P. Shungunny Menon ascribes the authorship of this wor ...
'', which describes the
Parashurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appea ...
legend and the departure of the final
Cheraman Perumal
Perumal (the 'Great One') is the name of a Hindu deity.
It was also a medieval Indian royal title of:
*Western Ganga dynasty Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala''. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171.
**Sripurusha
**Rajamalla
**Nitim ...
king to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.
[History of Travancore by Shungunny Menon, page 28]
Kunchan Nambiar
Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the dance art form of Thullal, most of his works were written for use in Thullal perfo ...
introduced a new literary form called ''Thullal'', and
Unnayi Variyar
Unnayi Warrier was a poet, writer, scholar, and dramatist who lived in Kerala, India during the 17th/18th century. He is best known for his chef-d'oeuvre ''Nalacharitham'' aattakatha and is known to have made significant contributions to the ar ...
introduced reforms in ''
Attakkatha literature''.
The printing, prose literature, and
Malayalam journalism
Malayalam journalism encompasses journalism published and broadcast in the Malayalam language. Modern Malayalam journalism can be traced to the publication of the ''Raajyasamaachaaram'' and the ''Pashchimodhayam'' under the direction of Hermann Gu ...
, developed after the latter-half of 18th century CE. Modern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of
Kumaran Asan
Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (Malayalam: എൻ. കുമാരൻ ആശാൻ) (12 April 1873 – 16 January 1924) was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam ...
,
Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer
Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer (Malayalam: ഉള്ളൂർ എസ്. പരമേശ്വര അയ്യർ; 6 June 1877 – 15 June 1949), born Sambasivan but popularly known as Ulloor, was an Indian poet of Malayalam literature and a histo ...
and
Vallathol Narayana Menon
Vallathol Narayana Menon (Malayalam: വള്ളത്തോൾ നാരായണ മേനോൻ) (16 October 1878 – 13 March 1958) was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor ...
. In the second half of the 20th century,
Jnanpith
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...
winning poets and writers like
G. Sankara Kurup
G. Sankara Kurup, (3 June 1901 – 2 February 1978) also referred to as Mahakavi G (The Great Poet G), was an Indian poet, essayist and literary critic of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the greats of Malayalam poetry, he was the first r ...
,
S. K. Pottekkatt
Sankarankutty Kunjiraman Pottekkatt (14 March 1913 – 6 August 1982) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a politician from Kerala, India. He was also a great traveller among the Keralites, who wrote many travelogues for the peopl ...
,
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 7 shor ...
,
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...
,
O. N. V. Kurup
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup (known as O. N. V. Kurup; 27 May 1931 – 13 February 2016) was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He receive ...
, and
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (18 March 1926 – 15 October 2020), popularly known as Akkitham, was an Indian poet and essayist who wrote in Malayalam. He was known for a simple and lucid style of writing, exploring themes of profound love and ...
, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.
Later, writers like
O. V. Vijayan,
Kamaladas,
M. Mukundan,
Arundhati Roy
Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. S ...
,
Vaikom Muhammed Basheer
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994), popularly referred to as Beypore Sulthan, was a writer of Malayalam literature. He was a writer, humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer, noted for his path-breaking, ...
, have gained international recognition.
Malayalam has also borrowed a lot of its words from various foreign languages, mainly from the
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
including
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, and the
European languages
Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...
including
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, due to the long heritage of
Indian Ocean trade
Indian Ocean trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long-distance trade in dhows and proas made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast Asia to Ea ...
and the Portuguese-Dutch colonisation of 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 ...
.
Dialects
Variations in
intonation patterns, vocabulary, and distribution of grammatical and
phonological
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
elements are observable along the parameters of region, religion, community, occupation, social stratum, style and register.
According to the Dravidian Encyclopedia, the regional
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s of Malayalam can be divided into fifteen dialect areas. They are as follows:
*
Kasaragod
*
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
*
Wayanad
Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...
*
Kozhikode
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
*
Eranad
*
Valluvanad (
South Malabar
South Malabar refers to a geographical area of the southwestern coast of India covering some parts of the present-day Kerala. South Malabar covers the regions included in present-day Kozhikode taluk of Kozhikode district, the whole area of Malap ...
)
* Palakkad
* Thrissur-Kochi
* North Travancore
* West Vembanad
* Central
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
* South
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
*
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
* Beary language, Beary
* Ravula language, Ravula
According to Ethnologue, the dialects are:
Malabar, Nagari-Malayalam, North Kerala, Central Kerala, South Kerala, Kayavar, Namboodiri, Nair, Arabi Malayalam, Mappila, Beary language, Beary, Jeseri, Ravula language, Yerava, Pulaya, Saint Thomas Christians, Nasrani, and Kasargod. The community dialects are: Nambudiri, Namboodiri, Nair,
Arabi Malayalam, Pulaya, and Saint Thomas Christians, Nasrani.
Whereas both the Nambudiri, Namboothiri and Nair dialects have a common nature, the
Arabi Malayalam is among the most divergent of dialects, differing considerably from literary Malayalam.
Jeseri is a dialect of Malayalam spoken mainly in the Union territory of
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
and Beary language, Beary is spoken in
Tulu Nadu
Tulunad or Tulu Nadu, also called Bermere sristi or Parashurama Srishti, is a region and a proposed state on the southwestern coast of India. The Tulu people, known as 'Tuluva' (plural 'Tuluver'), speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, ar ...
which are nearer to Kerala. Of the total 33,066,392 Malayalam speakers in India in 2001, 33,015,420 spoke the standard dialects, 19,643 spoke the Ravula language, ''Yerava'' dialect and 31,329 spoke non-standard regional variations like ''Aranadan language, Eranadan''.
, ''censusindia.net''
The dialects of Malayalam spoken in the districts like
Kasaragod, Kannur district, Kannur,
Wayanad
Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...
,
Kozhikode
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
, and Malappuram district, Malappuram in the former Malabar District have few influences from Kannada.
For example, the words those start with the sound "V" in Malayalam become "B" in these districts as in Kannada.
Also the Voiced retroflex approximant (/ɻ/) which is seen in both Tamil and the standard form of Malayalam, are not seen in the northern dialects of Malayalam, as in Kannada.
For example, the words ''Vazhi'' (Path), ''Vili'' (Call), ''Vere'' (Another), and ''Vaa'' (Come/Mouth), become ''Bayi'', ''Bili'', ''Bere'', and ''Baa'' in the northern dialects of Malayalam.
Similarly the Malayalam spoken in the southern districts of Kerala, i.e., Thiruvananthapuram district, Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam district, Kollam-Pathanamthitta district, Pathanamthitta area is influenced by Tamil.
Labels such as "Nampoothiri Dialect", "Mappila Dialect", and "Nasrani Dialect" refer to overall patterns constituted by the sub-dialects spoken by the subcastes or sub-groups of each such caste. The most outstanding features of the major communal dialects of Malayalam are summarized below:
* Lexical items with phonological features reminiscent of Sanskrit (e.g., meaning 'fool'), 'lie', 'impudence', 'impurity', and and (both meaning 'good-for-nothing fellow') abound in Nampoothiri dialect.
* The Muslim dialect, also known as
Arabi Malayalam, shows maximum divergence from the literary Standard Dialect of Malayalam. It is very much influenced by
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and Persian language, Persian rather than by Sanskrit or by English. The retroflex continuant of the literary dialect is realised in the Muslim dialect as the palatal . In some other dialects of Northern Kerala too, of the literary dialect is realised as .
* The Syrian Christian or Nasrani dialect of Malayalam is quite close to the Nair dialect, especially in phonology. The speech of the educated section among Syrian Christians and that of those who are close to the church are peculiar in having a number of assimilated as well as unassimilated List of loanwords in Malayalam#Aramaic or East Syriac, loan words from English language, English and Syriac language, Syriac. The few loan words which have found their way into the Christian dialect are assimilated in many cases through the process of de-aspiration.
* The Ravula language, Ravula is a tribal dialect of Malayalam spoken by the members of Ravula tribe who are primarily inhabitants of the Kodagu district of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
.
* Tamil spoken in the Kanyakumari district has influences from Malayalam language.
External influences and loanwords
Malayalam has incorporated many elements from other languages over the years, the most notable of these being
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and later, English. According to Sooranad Kunjan Pillai who compiled the authoritative Malayalam lexicon, the other principal languages whose vocabulary was incorporated over the ages were
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, Hindustani language, Hindustani, Pali, Persian language, Persian,
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
,
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
, and Syriac language, Syriac.
* Many medieval liturgical texts were written in an admixture of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and early Malayalam, called
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
. The influence of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
was very prominent in formal Malayalam used in the medieval literature. Malayalam has a substantially high number of Sanskrit loanwords but these are seldom used.
* Some
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
loanwords like ''adālattŭ'' (court of justice), ''jāmyaṃ'' (bail), ''japti'' (foreclosure), ''jilla'' (district), ''tālukkŭ'' (subdistrict), etc., are used in the formal literary Malayalam for administrative purposes.
* Loanwords and influences also from Hebrew language, Hebrew, Syriac language, Syriac, and Ladino language, Ladino abound in the Judeo-Malayalam, Jewish Malayalam dialects, as well as English language, English,
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, Syriac language, Syriac, and Greek language, Greek in the Christian dialects, while
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and Persian elements predominate in the Muslim dialects.
* The Muslim dialect known as Mappila Malayalam is predominantly in the northern districts of Kerala. Another Muslim dialect called Beary bashe is used in the extreme northern part of Kerala along with the southern part of Karnataka in a former region called
Tulu Nadu
Tulunad or Tulu Nadu, also called Bermere sristi or Parashurama Srishti, is a region and a proposed state on the southwestern coast of India. The Tulu people, known as 'Tuluva' (plural 'Tuluver'), speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, ar ...
.
Geographic distribution and population
Malayalam is a language spoken by the native people of southwestern India and the islands of
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
in
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
. According to the Indian census of 2011, there were 32,413,213 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala, making up 93.2% of the total number of Malayalam speakers in India, and 97.03% of the total population of the state. There were a further 701,673 (1.14% of the total number) in
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, 957,705 (2.70%) in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, and 406,358 (1.2%) in Maharashtra.
The number of Malayalam speakers in
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
is 51,100, which is only 0.15% of the total number, but is as much as about 84% of the population of Lakshadweep. Malayalam was the most spoken language in erstwhile Gudalur taluk (now Gudalur and Panthalur taluks) of Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu which accounts for 48.8% population and it was the second most spoken language in Mangalore and Puttur taluks of
South Canara
South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of ...
accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report. 25.57% of the total population in the Kodagu district of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
are
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
s, and they form single largest linguistic group accounting for 35.5% in the Virajpet Taluk.
Around one-third of the
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
s in Kodagu district speak the Ravula language, Yerava dialect according to the 2011 census, which is native to Kodagu and
Wayanad
Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...
.
In all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2011. Of the total 34,713,130 Malayalam speakers in India in 2011, 33,015,420 spoke the standard dialects, 19,643 spoke the ''Yerava'' dialect and 31,329 spoke non-standard regional variations like ''Eranadan''.
As per the 1991 census data, 28.85% of all Malayalam speakers in India spoke a second language and 19.64% of the total knew three or more languages.
Just before independence, British Malaya, Malaya attracted many Malayalis. Large numbers of Malayalis have settled in Chennai,
Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hyderabad, Telangana, Hyderabad,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Navi Mumbai,
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
, Mysuru and
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. Many Malayalis have also emigrated to the Middle East, the United States, and Europe. There were 179,860 speakers of Malayalam in the United States, according to the 2000 census, with the highest concentrations in Bergen County, New Jersey, and Rockland County, New York. There are 144,000 of Malayalam speakers in Malaysia. There were 11,687 Malayalam speakers in Australia in 2016. The 2001 Canadian census reported 7,070 people who listed Malayalam as their mother tongue, mainly in Toronto. The 2006 New Zealand census reported 2,139 speakers.
[Statistics New Zealand:Language spoken (total responses) for the 1996–2006 censuses (Table 16)](_blank)
''stats.govt.nz'' 134 Malayalam speaking households were reported in 1956 in Fiji. There is also a considerable
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
population in the Persian Gulf regions, especially in Dubai and Doha.
Phonology
For the consonants and vowels, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol is given, followed by the Malayalam character and the ISO 15919 transliteration.
The current Malayalam script bears high similarity with
Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
, which was used for writing the
Tulu language
Tulu () in Kannada script, ml, തുളു ഭാഷെ in Malayalam script. ''bhāṣe'', , ''bhāśe'', and ''bāśe'' are alternative spellings for the Tulu word ''bāse'' in the Kannada script. The correct spelling for the word ...
, spoken in Tulu Nadu, coastal Karnataka (
Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district, Udupi districts) and the northernmost Kasargod district of Kerala.
Tigalari script was also used for writing
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
in
Malabar region
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 ...
.
Vowels
![malayalam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Word_Malayalam.svg)
* ്* formed from word final short /u/s but now there are /u/s finally as well, mostly in loanwords like in ''guru'' but native ''pērŭ''; It is also added to the end of loanwords ending in some consonants, e.g. Skt. manas, suhr̥t, Ml. manassŭ, suhr̥ttŭ, En. current Ml. karaṇḍŭ. It is the , an epenthesis, epenthentic vowel in Malayalam. Therefore, it has no independent vowel letter (because it never occurs at the beginning of words) but, when it comes after a consonant, there are various ways of representing it. In medieval times, it was just represented with the symbol for ⟨⟩, but later on it was just completely omitted (that is, written as an inherent vowel ⟨⟩, thus, ''pērŭ'' was once written as ''pēra''). In modern times, it is written in two different ways – the Northern style, in which a chandrakkala is used ⟨⟩, and the Southern or
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
style, in which the diacritic for a is attached to the preceding consonant and a chandrakkala is written above ⟨⟩. According to one author, this alternative form ⟨⟩ is historically more correct, though the simplified form without a vowel sign ''u'' is common nowadays.
* * (phonetically central: ) is represented as basic or the "default" vowel in the Abugida script.
Malayalam has also borrowed the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
diphthongs of (represented in Malayalam as , au) and (represented in Malayalam as , ai), although these mostly occur only in Sanskrit loanwords. Traditionally (as in Sanskrit), four vocalic consonants (usually pronounced in Malayalam as consonants followed by the , which is not officially a vowel, and not as actual vocalic consonants) have been classified as vowels: vocalic r (, , r̥), long vocalic r (, , r̥̄), vocalic l (, , l̥) and long vocalic l (, , l̥̄). Except for the first, the other three have been omitted from the current script used in Kerala as there are no words in current Malayalam that use them.
Some authors say that Malayalam has no diphthongs and /ai̯, au̯/ are clusters of V+glide j/ʋ while others consider all V+glide clusters to be diphthongs /ai̯, aːi̯, au̯, ei̯, oi̯, i̯a/ as in ''kai, vāypa, auṣadhaṁ, cey, koy'' and ''kāryaṁ''
Vowel length is phonemic and all of the vowels have minimal pairs for example ''paṭṭŭ'' "silk", ''pāṭṭŭ'' "song", ''koḍi'' "flag", ''kōḍi'' "crore" (10 million), ''er̠i'' "throw", ''ēr̠i'' "lots"
Some speakers also have /æː/, /ɔː/, /ə/ from English loanwords e.g. /bæːŋgɨ̆/ "bank" but most speakers switch it with /aː/, /eː/ or /ja/; /oː/ or /aː/ and /e/ or /a/.
(See Manglish (Malayalam))
Consonants
![Malayala lipi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Malayala_lipi.svg)
* As in other Dravidian languages, the retroflex series are true subapical consonants, in which the underside of the tongue contacts the roof.
* All of the alveolars except /s/ are apical.
* /, , , , / can either be postalveolar or alveolo-palatal depending upon the speaker and dialect; the postalveolar and alveolo-palatal realizations are in free variation.
* The alveolar nasal once had a separate character ⟨ഩ⟩ that is now obsolete and the sound is now almost always represented by the symbol that was originally used only for the dental nasal. However, both sounds are extensively used in current colloquial and official Malayalam, and although they were allophones in Old Malayalam, they now occasionally contrast in gemination – for example, ('by me', first person singular pronoun in the instrumental case) and ('if that is so'), which are both written (എന്നാൽ).
* The unaspirated alveolar stop also had a separate character ⟨ഺ⟩ but it has become obsolete, as the sound only occurs in geminate form (when geminated it is written with a below another ⟨റ്റ⟩) or immediately following other consonants (in these cases, or are usually written in small size underneath the first consonant).
*The proto Dravidian alveolar stop *ṯ developed into an alveolar trill /r/ in many of the
Dravidian languages
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 ...
while *ṯṯ and *ṉṯ remained in Malayalam.
* ന്റ is pronounced only as n̠d̠ but ൻറ can be pronounced as n̠d̠ or n̠r̠, n̠r̠ doesn't occur natively but it occurs in loans like എൻറോൾ (en̠r̠ōḷ) 'enroll' or ഹെൻറി (hen̠r̠i) 'Henry'.
* All non geminated voiceless stops and affricate become voiced in intervocalic position like in Tamil but unlike Tamil it doesn't spirantize, it remains a stop; e.g. ''makaṉ'' Ml. [mɐgɐn] Ta. [mɐɣɐn]; it also gets voiced after a nasal.
* The geminated velars /k:/ and /ŋ:/ are sometimes palatalized word medially after /j, i(:), e(:)/ like in the words [kiɖɐk:ugɐ] vs [iɾikʲ:ugɐ] and [mɐŋ:ɐl] vs. [mɐt̪:ɐŋʲ:ɐ], their distribution is unpredictable e.g. it doesn't palatalize in vikkŭ but does in irikkŭ. If the palatalization is from /j/ it is sometimes deleted e.g. poykko can be [pojkʲːo] or [pokʲːo], aḍaykka as [ɐɖɐjkʲːɐ] or [ɐɖɐkʲːɐ]. Some of the northern dialects might pronounce them without palatalization.
* The letter ഫ represents both , a phoneme occurring in Sanskrit loanwords, and , which is mostly found in comparatively recent borrowings from European languages. Though nowadays most people (especially youngsters) pronounce as like in the word .
In the Jesari dialect the native /p/ too spirantized to [f].
* are unreleased word finally.
Words will never begin or end with a geminated consonant. never occur word initially. All consonants appear word medially.
* The plain stops, affricates, nasals, laterals, the fricatives and and approximants other than can be geminated and gemination can sometimes change the meaning of the word, e.g. /kaɭam/ 'cell', 'lie'.
only occur in geminated form intervocalically.
* The retroflex lateral is clearly retroflex, but may be more of a flap (= ) than an approximant . The approximant has both rhotic and lateral qualities, and is indeterminate between an approximant and a fricative, but is laminal consonant, laminal post-alveolar rather than a true retroflex. The articulation changes part-way through, perhaps explaining why it behaves as both a rhotic and a lateral, both an approximant and a fricative, but the nature of the change is not understood.
* are very weakly palatalized while are clear.
* Around 75% of nk and 50% of ñc and nt from Old Malayalam got assimilated to ṅṅ, ññ and nn, almost all of the n̠t̠ merged with nn suggesting an earlier merger of some of the n̠t̠ and nt (for e.g. the cognate of Ta. nan̠r̠i is spelt as nandi and pronounced nanni); mp and ṇṭ were unchanged, e.g. Ta. mūṉṟu, maruntu, kañci, teṅku, Ml. mūnnŭ, marunnŭ, kaññi, teṅṅŭ. Word final ai, āy and ey became the word is monosyllabic, e.g. Ta. avai, māṅgāy, veṇṇey Ml. ava, māṅṅa, veṇṇa. Final āy in monosyllabic words became āya e.g. Ta. kāy, Ml. kāya.
* Loanwords with /z/ are switched with /s/ but not /d͡ʒ/ like in Hindi or Telugu e.g. /brasi:l/ En. "Brazil" unless it was loaned through Hindi then the Hindi pronunciation is taken e.g. /d͡ʒilːa/ Hi. Per. , other Perso-Arabic phonemes like are switched with /k, kʰ, g, h, C, ∅, ∅/, sometimes /q, x/ are switched with /kʰ, k/ e.g. قطر (Qaṭar) as ഖത്തർ (khattaṟ) and Arb. خَطّ (xaṭṭ) as കത്ത് (kattŭ). English loans with /θ, ð, ʒ/ are switched with ; the dentals do not clash with English loans with /t, d/, which are switched with [t, d] or [ʈ, ɖ] though [d] is rare because of the limited distribution natively e.g. "taxi" as ṯāksi or more commonly ṭāksi. The English /ɹ/ is loaned as either /ɾ/ or /r/ unpredictably, for e.g. 'current' got loaned as karaṇḍŭ but 'maroon' got loaned as 'mar̠ūṇ' or 'mer̠ūṇ' but the cluster /ɹs/ is loaned as /ɻs/ other clusters are loaned as /rC/ or /ɾC/, /ɻ/ only occurs in words with /ɹs/ e.g. 'force' as fōḻsŭ. Speakers with non rhotic English accents don't have /ɹC/ clusters in English loans and pronounce it as fōs(ŭ). In Sanskrit loans with /t̪C/ and /d̪C/ (unless C is a sonorant or a dental stop) sometimes the /t̪, d̪/ becomes /l/ especially in /t̪s/ e.g. utsava > ulsavam, utpādana > ulpādaṉam, udghāṭana > ulghāḍaṉam. There are some native words with /s/ (urasŭ) and /ʃ/ (vīśŭ) but rest of the fricatives (except /f/ in native words of Jesari) and aspirates are only found in loans.
* Rarely some speakers pronounce the voiced aspirated consonants as voiceless so words like dhaṉam as thaṉam, it is more commonly deaspirated so dhaṉam as daṉam and kharam as karam, intervocalically the voiceless aspirate also becomes voiced so mukham as mugam.
Sample text
The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Malayalam
മനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്. അന്യോന്യം ഭ്രാതൃഭാവത്തോടെ പെരുമാറുവാനാണ് മനുഷ്യന് വിവേകബുദ്ധിയും മനസാക്ഷിയും സിദ്ധമായിരിക്കുന്നത്.
Romanisation (ISO 15919)
man̠uṣyarellāvaruṁ tulyāvakāśaṅṅaḷōṭuṁ antassōṭuṁ svātantryattōṭuṅkūṭi jan̠icciṭṭuḷḷavarāṇŭ. an̠yōn̠yaṁ bhrātr̥bhāvattōṭe perumāṟuvān̠āṇŭ man̠uṣyan̠ŭ vivēkabuddhiyuṁ man̠asākṣiyuṁ siddhamāyirikkunnatŭ.
IPA
/manuʂjaɾellaːʋaɾum t̪uljaːʋaɡaːʃaŋŋaɭoːɖum an̪d̪assoːɖum sʋaːd̪an̪d̪rjat̪t̪oːɖuŋguːɖi d͡ʒanit͡ʃt͡ʃiʈʈuɭɭaʋaɾaːɳɨ̆ ǁ anjoːnjam bʱraːt̪ribʱaːʋat̪t̪oːɖe peɾumaːruʋaːnaːɳɨ̆ manuʂjanɨ̆ ʋiʋeːɡabud̪d̪ʱijum manasaːkʂijum sid̪d̪ʱamaːjiɾikkun̪n̪ad̪ɨ̆ ǁ/
Grammar
Malayalam has a canonical word order of subject–object–verb, SOV (subject–object–verb), as do other
Dravidian languages
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 ...
. A rare subject–object–verb, OSV word order occurs in interrogative clauses when the interrogative word is the subject. Both adjectives and possessive adjectives precede the nouns they modify. Malayalam has 6 or 7 grammatical cases. Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood and aspect, but not for person, gender nor number except in archaic or poetic language. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book ''
Kerala Panineeyam'' written by
A. R. Raja Raja Varma in late 19th century CE.
Nouns
The declensional paradigms for some common nouns and pronouns are given below. As Malayalam is an agglutinative language, it is difficult to delineate the cases strictly and determine how many there are, although seven or eight is the generally accepted number. Alveolar plosives and Alveolar nasal, nasals (although the modern
Malayalam script does not distinguish the latter from the dental nasal) are underlined for clarity, following the convention of the National Library at Kolkata romanization.
Personal pronouns
Vocative case, Vocative forms are given in parentheses after the nominative, as the only pronominal vocatives that are used are the third person ones, which only occur in compounds.
Other nouns
The following are examples of some of the most common declension patterns.
Words adopted from Sanskrit
When words are adopted from Sanskrit, their endings are usually changed to conform to Malayalam norms:
Nouns
* Masculine
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
nouns with a word stem ending in a short /a/ take the ending /an/ in the nominative singular. For example, Krishna, Kr̥ṣṇa → Kr̥ṣṇan. The final /n/ is dropped before masculine surnames, honorifics, or titles ending in /an/ and beginning with a consonant other than /n/ – e.g., "Krishna Menon", "Krishna Kaniyaan" etc., but "Krishnan Ezhutthachan". Surnames ending with /ar/ or /aḷ/ (where these are plural forms of "an" denoting respect) are treated similarly – "Krishna Pothuval", "Krishna Chakyar", but "Krishnan Nair", "Krishnan Nambiar", as are Sanskrit surnames such "Varma(n)", "Sharma(n)", or "Gupta(n)" (rare) – e.g., "Krishna Varma", "Krishna Sharman". If a name is a compound, only the last element undergoes this transformation – e.g., "Kr̥ṣṇa" + "dēva" = "Kr̥ṣṇadēvan", not "Kr̥ṣṇandēvan".
* Feminine words ending in a long /ā/ or /ī/ are changed to end in a short /a/ or /i/, for example "Sita, Sītā" → "Sīta" and "Lakshmi, Lakṣmī" → "Lakṣmi". However, the long vowel still appears in compound words, such as "Sītādēvi" or" Lakṣmīdēvi". The long ī is generally reserved for the vocative case, vocative forms of these names, although in Sanskrit the vocative actually takes a short /i/. There are also a small number of nominative /ī/ endings that have not been shortened – a prominent example being the word "strī" for "woman".
* Nouns that have a stem in /-an/ and which end with a long /ā/ in the masculine nominative singular have /vŭ/ added to them, for example "Brahmā" (stem "Brahman") → "Brahmāvŭ". When the same nouns are declined in the neuter and take a short /a/ ending in Sanskrit, Malayalam adds an additional /m/, e.g. "Brahma" (neuter nominative singular of "Brahman") becomes "Brahmam". This is again omitted when forming compounds.
* Words whose roots end in /-an/ but whose nominative singular ending is /-a-/ (for example, the Sanskrit root of "karma" is actually "karman") are also changed. The original root is ignored and "karma" (the form in Malayalam being "karmam" because it ends in a short /a/) is taken as the basic form of the noun when declining. However, this does not apply to all consonant stems, as "unchangeable" stems such as "manas" ("mind") and "suhr̥t" ("friend") are identical to the Malayalam nominative singular forms (although the regularly derived "manam" sometimes occurs as an alternative to "manas").
* Sanskrit words describing things or animals rather than people with a stem in short /a/ end with an /m/ in Malayalam. For example,"Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa" → "Rāmāyaṇam". In most cases, this is actually the same as the Sanskrit accusative case ending, which is also /m/ (or, allophonically, anusvara due to the requirements of the sandhi word-combining rules) in the neuter nominative. However, "things and animals" and "people" are not always differentiated based on whether or not they are sentient beings; for example, "Narasimha" becomes "Narasiṃham" and not "Narasiṃhan", whereas "Ananta Shesha, Ananta" becomes "Anantan" even though both are sentient. This does not strictly correspond to the Sanskrit neuter gender, as both "Narasiṃha" and "Ananta" are masculine nouns in the original Sanskrit.
* Nouns with short vowel stems other than /a/, such as "Vishnu, Viṣṇu", "Prajapati, Prajāpati" etc. are declined with the Sanskrit stem acting as the Malayalam nominative singular (the Sanskrit nominative singular is formed by adding a visarga, e.g., as in "Viṣṇuḥ")
* The original Sanskrit vocative is often used in formal or poetic Malayalam, e.g. "Harē" (for "Hari") or "Prabhō" (for "Prabhu" – "Lord"). This is restricted to certain contexts – mainly when addressing deities or other exalted individuals, so a normal man named Hari would usually be addressed using a Malayalam vocative such as "Harī". The Sanskrit genitive is also occasionally found in Malayalam poetry, especially the personal pronouns "mama" ("my" or "mine") and "tava" ("thy" or "thine"). Other cases are less common and generally restricted to the realm of Maṇipravāḷam.
* Along with these tatsama borrowings, there are also many tadbhava words in common use. These were incorporated via borrowing before the separation of Malayalam and Tamil. As the language did not then accommodate Sanskrit phonology as it now does, words were changed to conform to the Old Tamil phonological system, for example "Kr̥ṣṇa" → "Kaṇṇan". Most of his works are oriented on the basic Malayalam family and cultures and many of them were path-breaking in the history of Malayalam literature
Writing system
Aside from the Malayalam script, the Malayalam language has been written in other scripts like Latin script, Latin, Suriyani Malayalam, Syriac
[Suriyani Malayalam](_blank)
, Nasrani Foundation
, The Hindu
, India Today and Arabi Malayalam, Arabic. Suriyani Malayalam was used by Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Nasranis) until the 19th century.
Arabic scripts particularly were taught in madrasahs in Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands.
Malayalam script
![St angelo fort Arakkal Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/St_angelo_fort_Arakkal_Museum.JPG)
Historically, several scripts were used to write Malayalam. Among these were the Vatteluttu,
Kolezhuthu and
Malayanma
Malayanma script was a writing system used in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It was used to write the Malayalam language. Malayanma belongs to the same script family like Kolezhuthu and Vattezhuthu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanise ...
scripts. But it was the
Grantha script
The Grantha script ( ta, கிரந்த எழுத்து, Granta eḻuttu; ml, ഗ്രന്ഥലിപി, granthalipi) is a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Originating from the Pallava script, th ...
, another Southern Brahmi variation, which gave rise to the modern
Malayalam script. The modern Malayalam script bears high similarity to
Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
, which was used for writing
Tulu language
Tulu () in Kannada script, ml, തുളു ഭാഷെ in Malayalam script. ''bhāṣe'', , ''bhāśe'', and ''bāśe'' are alternative spellings for the Tulu word ''bāse'' in the Kannada script. The correct spelling for the word ...
in South Canara, Coastal Karnataka (
Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district, Udupi districts) and the northernmost Kasaragod district of Kerala.
It is syllabic in the sense that the sequence of graphic elements means that syllables have to be read as units, though in this system the elements representing individual vowels and consonants are for the most part readily identifiable. In the 1960s Malayalam dispensed with many special letters representing less frequent conjunct consonants and combinations of the vowel /u, u:/ with different consonants.
Malayalam script consists of a total of 578 characters. The script contains 52 letters including 16 vowels and 36 consonants, which forms 576 syllabic characters, and contains two additional diacritic characters named anusvāra and visarga. The earlier style of writing has been superseded by a new style as of 1981. This new script reduces the different letters for typesetting from 900 to fewer than 90. This was mainly done to include Malayalam in the keyboards of typewriters and computers.
In 1999 a group named "Rachana Akshara Vedi" produced a set of free typeface, fonts containing the entire character repertoire of more than 900 glyphs. This was announced and released along with a text editor in the same year at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. In 2004, the fonts were released under the GNU GPL license by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation at the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kochi, Kerala.
Chillu letters
A ''chillu'' (, ), or a ''chillaksharam'' (, ), is a special consonant letter that represents a pure consonant independently, without help of a virama. Unlike a consonant represented by an ordinary consonant letter, this consonant is never followed by an inherent vowel. #Anusvaram, Anusvara and #Visargam, visarga fit this definition but are not usually included. ISCII and Unicode 5.0 treat a ''chillu'' as a glyph variant of a normal ("base") consonant letter.
In Unicode 5.1 and later, ''chillu'' letters are treated as independent characters, encoded atomically.
Number system and other symbols
Numerals
Malayalam numbers and fractions are written as follows. These are archaic and no longer used. Instead, the common Hindu–Arabic numeral system, Hindu-Arabic numeral system is followed. Note that there is a confusion about the glyph of Malayalam digit zero. The correct form is oval-shaped, but occasionally the glyph for () is erroneously shown as the glyph for 0.
Number "11" is written as "൰൧" and not "൧൧". "32" is written as "൩൰൨" similar to the Tamil numerals, Tamil numeral system.
For example, the number "2013" is read in Malayalam as (). It is split into:
* () : 2 –
* () : 1000 –
* () : 10 –
* () : 3 –
Combine them together to get the Malayalam number .
And 1,00,000 as "" = hundred(), thousand() (100×1000), 10,00,000 as "" = ten(), hundred(), thousand() (10×100×1000) and 1,00,00,000 as "" = hundred(), hundred(), thousand() (100×100×1000).
Later on this system got reformed to be more similar to the Hindu-Arabic numerals so 10,00,000 in the reformed numerals it would be .
Fractions
In Malayalam you can transcribe any fraction by affixing () after the denominator followed by the numerator, so a fraction like would be read as () 'out of ten, seven' but fractions like and have distinct names (, , ) and () 'half quarter'.
Vattezhuthu alphabet
![Tigalari-sanskrit-manuscript](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Tigalari-sanskrit-manuscript.jpg)
Vatteluttu (, "round writing") is a script that had evolved from
Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptio ...
and was once used extensively in the southern part of present-day
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
.
Malayalam was first written in Vattezhuthu. The Vazhappally inscription issued by Rajashekhara Varman is the earliest example, dating from about 830 CE.
During the medieval period, the
Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
that was used for writing
Tulu in
South Canara
South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of ...
, and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
in the adjacent
Malabar region
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 ...
, had a close similarity to the modern Malayalam script.
In the Tamil country, the modern Tamil script had supplanted Vattezhuthu by the 15th century, but in the
Malabar
Malabar may refer to the following:
People
* Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India
* Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion
Places
* Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...
region, Vattezhuthu remained in general use up to the 17th century,
[Burnell (1874), p. 39.] or the 18th century.
A variant form of this script,
Kolezhuthu, was used until about the 19th century mainly in the Malabar District, Malabar-Kingdom of Cochin, Cochin area.
Vatteluttu was in general use, but was not suitable for literature where many Sanskrit words were used. Like Tamil-Brahmi, it was originally used to write
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
, and as such, did not have letters for voiced or aspirated consonants used in Sanskrit but not used in Tamil. For this reason, Vatteluttu and the Grantha alphabet were sometimes mixed, as in the
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
. One of the oldest examples of the Manipravalam literature, ''Vaishikatantram'' (, ''Vaiśikatantram''), dates back to the 12th century,
[Nampoothiri, N. M. (1999)]
"Cultural Traditions in Medieval Kerala"
(PDF) in Cherian, P. J., ''Perspectives on Kerala History: The Second Millennium'', Kerala Council for Historical Research, , retrieved 2009-11-20. where the earliest form of the Malayalam script was used, which seems to have been systematized to some extent by the first half of the 13th century.
Another variant form,
Malayanma
Malayanma script was a writing system used in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. It was used to write the Malayalam language. Malayanma belongs to the same script family like Kolezhuthu and Vattezhuthu
''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanise ...
, was used in the south of Thiruvananthapuram.
By the 19th century, old scripts like Kolezhuthu had been supplanted by Arya-eluttu – that is the current Malayalam script. Nowadays, it is widely used in the press of the Malayali population in Kerala.
[Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich. ''A Grammar of the Malayalam Language in Historical Treatment''. Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1996.]
Grantha
![9th century Tamil Grantha script Sanskrit Chera era font](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/9th_century_Tamil_Grantha_script_Sanskrit_Chera_era_font.jpg)
According to Arthur Coke Burnell, one form of the Grantha alphabet, originally used in the Chola dynasty, was imported into the southwest coast of India in the 8th or 9th century, which was then modified in course of time in this secluded area, where communication with the east coast was very limited.
[Burnell (1874), p. 35.] It later evolved into Tigalari-Malayalam script was used by the
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
, Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only applied to write
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. This script split into two scripts: Tigalari and Malayalam. While Malayalam script was extended and modified to write vernacular language Malayalam, the Tigalari was written for Sanskrit only.
In Malabar, this writing system was termed Arya-eluttu (, ''Ārya eḻuttŭ''),
meaning "Arya writing" (Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language while Malayalam is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language).
Karshoni
![East Syriac Script Thaksa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/East_Syriac_Script_Thaksa.jpg)
Suriyani Malayalam (സുറിയാനി മലയാളം, ܣܘܪܝܢܝ ܡܠܝܠܡ), also known as ''Karshoni'', ''Syro-Malabarica'' or ''Syriac Malayalam'', is a version of Malayalam written in a variant form of the Syriac alphabet which was popular among the Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
It uses Malayalam grammar, the Madnhaya, Maḏnḥāyā or "Eastern" Syriac script with special orthography, orthographic features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac. This originated in the South Indian region of 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 ...
(modern-day Kerala). Until the 20th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.
Ponnani script
![ArabiMalayalam_alphabet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/ArabiMalayalam_alphabet.png)
The
Arabi Malayalam script, otherwise known as the Ponnani script, is a writing system – a variant form of the
Arabic script with special orthography, orthographic features – which was developed during the early medieval period and used to write
Arabi Malayalam until the early 20th century CE.
[Miller, Roland. E., "Mappila" in "The Encyclopedia of Islam". Volume VI. E. J. Brill, Leiden. 1987. pp. 458–56.] Though the script originated and developed in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, today it is predominantly used in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant Muslim community.
[Menon. T. Madhava. "A Handbook of Kerala, Volume 2", International School of Dravidian Linguistics, 2002. pp. 491–493.]
Literature
The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.
According to Iravatham Mahadevan, the earliest Malayalam inscription discovered until now is the Edakal-5 inscription (ca. late 4th century – early 5th century) reading (English: 'this is old'). Although this has been disputed by other scholars. The use of the pronoun and the lack of the literary Tamil ending are archaisms from Proto-Dravidian rather than unique innovations of Malayalam.
The early literature of Malayalam comprised three types of composition:
Malayalam Nada, Tamil Nada and Sanskrit Nada.
* Classical songs known as Music of Kerala, Nadan Pattu
*
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
of the Sanskrit tradition, which permitted a generous interspersing of Sanskrit with Malayalam.
Niranam poets
The Niranam poets, also known as the Kannassan poets, were three poets from the same family by the names of Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar, and Rama Panikkar. They hailed from Niranam, a small village in southern Kerala, India, near the town ...
Manipravalam Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar wrote Manipravalam poetry in the 14th century.
* The folk song rich in native elements
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
has been profoundly influenced by poets
Cherusseri Namboothiri
Cherusseri Namboothiri (Malayalam:ചെറുശ്ശേരി നമ്പൂതിരി) is a 15th-century Malayalam poet who belonged to Kolathunadu, in present-day North Malabar region of Kerala. He was a court poet of Udaya Varma (1446 ...
,
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ
എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...
,
and
Poonthanam Nambudiri
Poonthanam Nambudiri (1547–1640AD) was a famous poet and a devotee of Guruvayurappan, who lived in Keezhattoor in what is now Malappuram district, Kerala, India. He is remembered for his masterpiece, ''Jnanappana'' which means "the song o ...
,
in the 15th and the 16th centuries of Common Era.
Unnayi Variyar
Unnayi Warrier was a poet, writer, scholar, and dramatist who lived in Kerala, India during the 17th/18th century. He is best known for his chef-d'oeuvre ''Nalacharitham'' aattakatha and is known to have made significant contributions to the ar ...
, a probable 17th–18th century poet,
and
Kunchan Nambiar
Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the dance art form of Thullal, most of his works were written for use in Thullal perfo ...
, a poet of 18th century,
also greatly influenced
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
in its early form.
The words used in many of the
Arabi Malayalam works those date back to 16th–17th centuries of
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...
are also very closer to the modern Malayalam language.
The prose literature, criticism, and
Malayalam journalism
Malayalam journalism encompasses journalism published and broadcast in the Malayalam language. Modern Malayalam journalism can be traced to the publication of the ''Raajyasamaachaaram'' and the ''Pashchimodhayam'' under the direction of Hermann Gu ...
began after the latter half of 18th century CE. Contemporary
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
deals with social, political, and economic life context. The tendency of the modern poetry is often towards political radicalism.
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
has been presented with six Jnanpith Award, Jnanapith awards, the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.
Malayalam poetry to the late 20th century betrays varying degrees of the fusion of the three different strands. The oldest examples of Pattu and Manipravalam, respectively, are ''Ramacharitam'' and ''Vaishikatantram'', both from the 12th century.
The earliest extant prose work in the language is a commentary in simple Malayalam, ''Bhashakautalyam'' (12th century) on Chanakya's ''Arthashastra''. Adhyathmaramayanam, Adhyatmaramayanam by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (known as the father of modern
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
) who was born in Tirur, one of the most important works in Malayalam literature. Unnunili Sandesam written in the 14th century is amongst the oldest literary works in Malayalam language.
Cherusseri Namboothiri
Cherusseri Namboothiri (Malayalam:ചെറുശ്ശേരി നമ്പൂതിരി) is a 15th-century Malayalam poet who belonged to Kolathunadu, in present-day North Malabar region of Kerala. He was a court poet of Udaya Varma (1446 ...
of 15th century (Kannur-based poet),
Poonthanam Nambudiri
Poonthanam Nambudiri (1547–1640AD) was a famous poet and a devotee of Guruvayurappan, who lived in Keezhattoor in what is now Malappuram district, Kerala, India. He is remembered for his masterpiece, ''Jnanappana'' which means "the song o ...
of 16th century (Perinthalmanna-based poet),
Unnayi Variyar
Unnayi Warrier was a poet, writer, scholar, and dramatist who lived in Kerala, India during the 17th/18th century. He is best known for his chef-d'oeuvre ''Nalacharitham'' aattakatha and is known to have made significant contributions to the ar ...
of 17th–18th centuries (Thrissur-based poet), and
Kunchan Nambiar
Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the dance art form of Thullal, most of his works were written for use in Thullal perfo ...
of 18th century (Palakkad-based poet), have played a major role in the development of
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
into current form.
The words used in many of the
Arabi Malayalam works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.
The basin of the river Bharathappuzha, which is otherwise known as Ponnani, River Ponnani, and its tributaries, have played a major role in the development of modern Malayalam Literature.
By the end of the 18th century some of the Christian missionaries from Kerala started writing in Malayalam but mostly travelogues, dictionaries and religious books.
Varthamanappusthakam
''Varthamanappusthakam'' is a Malayalam travelogue written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar, a Saint Thomas Christians, Nasrani Mappila kathanar of the modern-day Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first ever travelogue written in an Languages of India, ...
(1778), written by
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar (1736–1799) is the author of ''Varthamanappusthakam'' (1790), the first ever travelogue in an Indian language. Also known as ''Roma Yatraa Varthamanapusthakam'', it postulates that the foundation of Indian nationali ...
is considered to be the first travelogue in an Indian language. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book ''
Kerala Panineeyam'' written by
A. R. Raja Raja Varma in late 19th century CE.
Folk Songs
For the first 600 years of the
Malayalam calendar
The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era.
There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...
, Malayalam literature remained in a preliminary stage. During this time, Malayalam literature consisted mainly of various genres of songs (''Pattu'').
Folk songs are the oldest literary form in Malayalam.
They were just oral songs.
Many of them were related to agricultural activities, including ''Pulayar Pattu'', ''Pulluvan Pattu'', ''Njattu Pattu'', ''Koythu Pattu'', etc.
Other Ballads of Folk Song period include the ''Vadakkan Pattukal'' (Northern songs) in
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
region and the ''Thekkan Pattukal'' (Southern songs) in Southern Division (Travancore), Southern Travancore.
Some of the earliest Mappila songs (Muslim songs) were also folk songs.
Old and Middle Malayalam
The earliest known poems in Malayalam, ''
Ramacharitam
The ''Ramacharitam'' is a Sanskrit epic poem written in ''Arya metre'' by Sandhyakar Nandi (c. 1084 - 1155 CE) during Pala Empire. This work simultaneously narrates the story of the Ramayana and the Pala king Ramapala.
Manuscripts
A palm-leaf ma ...
'' and ''
Thirunizhalmala
Thirunizhalmala ("Garland of the Sacred Shade" or "Grace") is a c. 13th century " pattu" genre poem in Malayalam language. Along with "Ramacharitham", it is one of the earliest extant poems in Malayalam. It is generally considered as a work associ ...
'', dated to the 12th to 14th century, were completed before the introduction of the Sanskrit alphabet. It was written by a poet with the pen name ''Cheeramakavi'' who, according to poet Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer, was Sree Veerarama Varman, a king of southern Kerala from AD 1195 to 1208. However the claim that it was written in Southern Kerala is expired on the basis of new discoveries.
Other experts, like Chirakkal T Balakrishnan Nair, Dr. K.M. George, M. M. Purushothaman Nair, and P.V. Krishnan Nair, state that the origin of the book is in Kasaragod district in
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
region.
They cite the use of certain words in the book and also the fact that the manuscript of the book was recovered from Nileshwaram in
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
. The influence of ''
Ramacharitam
The ''Ramacharitam'' is a Sanskrit epic poem written in ''Arya metre'' by Sandhyakar Nandi (c. 1084 - 1155 CE) during Pala Empire. This work simultaneously narrates the story of the Ramayana and the Pala king Ramapala.
Manuscripts
A palm-leaf ma ...
'' is mostly seen in the contemporary literary works of Northern Kerala.
The words used in ''Ramacharitam'' such as ''Nade'' (''Mumbe''), ''Innum'' (''Iniyum''), ''Ninna'' (''Ninne''), Chaaduka (''Eriyuka'') are special features of the dialect spoken in
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
(Kasaragod-Kannur region).
Furthermore, the Thiruvananthapuram mentioned in ''Ramacharitham'' is not the Thiruvananthapuram in Southern Kerala.
But it is Ananthapura Lake Temple of
Kumbla
Kumbla is a small town in Kasaragod district of Kerala state in India. It is located 12 km north of Kasaragod town.
History
The original name "Kanvapura" was derived from the name of Maharshi Kanva. Since then the name has morphed into ...
in the northernmost Kasaragod district of Kerala.
The word ''Thiru'' is used just by the meaning ''Honoured''.
Today it is widely accepted that ''Ramacharitham'' was written somewhere in
North Malabar
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and t ...
(most likely near Kasaragod).
But the period of the earliest available literary document cannot be the sole criterion used to determine the antiquity of a language. In its early literature, Malayalam has songs, ''Pattu'', for various subjects and occasions, such as harvesting, love songs, heroes, gods, etc. A form of writing called ''Campu'' emerged from the 14th century onwards. It mixed poetry with prose and used a vocabulary strongly influenced by Sanskrit, with themes from epics and ''Puranas''.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichirudevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
, those date back to 13th and 14th centuries of
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...
.
The ''Sandesha Kavya''s of 14th century CE written in
Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
language include ''
Unnuneeli Sandesam
''Uli Sandam'' is among the oldest works in Malayalam language. It is a '' sandesa kavyam'' (message poem), a message written in poetry, on the lines of the famous ''Meghadūta'' of Kalidasa. In the case of this work, it is a message written by a ...
''
The literary works written in
Middle Malayalam
Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those ...
were heavily influenced by
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
, while comparing them with the modern
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
.
The word ''Manipravalam'' literally means ''Diamond-Coral'' or ''Ruby-Coral''. The 14th-century ''
Lilatilakam
''Lilatilakam'' (IAST: ''Līlā-tilakam'', "diadem of poetry") is a 14th century Sanskrit-language treatise on the grammar and poetics of the Manipravalam language form, a precursor of the modern Malayalam language spoken in the Kerala state of I ...
'' text states Manipravalam to be a ''Bhashya'' (language) where "Malayalam and Sanskrit should combine together like ruby and coral, without the least trace of any discord".
The ''
Champu
Champu or Chapu-Kavya ( Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A ''champu-kavya'' consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya ...
Kavyas'' written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the ''Pathinettara Kavikal'' (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the
Zamorin of Calicut
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited ...
, also belong to Middle Malayalam.
Modern Malayalam
The poem ''
Krishnagatha
''Krishnagatha'' (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണഗാഥ) is a 15th-century poem written in Malayalam language; It is also known as Krishnapattu. it belongs to the poetic form ''Gatha''. The author of the poem is believed to be Cherusseri Namboothir ...
'' written by
Cherusseri Namboothiri
Cherusseri Namboothiri (Malayalam:ചെറുശ്ശേരി നമ്പൂതിരി) is a 15th-century Malayalam poet who belonged to Kolathunadu, in present-day North Malabar region of Kerala. He was a court poet of Udaya Varma (1446 ...
, who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of
Kolathunadu
Kolattunādu (Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along with ...
, is written in modern Malayalam.
The language used in ''Krishnagatha'' is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.
It appears to be the first literary work written in the present-day language of Malayalam.
During the 16th century CE,
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ
എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...
from the
Kingdom of Tanur
Kingdom of Tanur (Vettathunadu, Vettom, Tanur Swaroopam, Prakashabhu, Kingdom of Light) was one of the numerous feudal principalities on Malabar Coast during the Middle Ages. It was ruled by a Hindu dynasty, claiming Kshatriya status, known as ...
and
Poonthanam Nambudiri
Poonthanam Nambudiri (1547–1640AD) was a famous poet and a devotee of Guruvayurappan, who lived in Keezhattoor in what is now Malappuram district, Kerala, India. He is remembered for his masterpiece, ''Jnanappana'' which means "the song o ...
from the
Kingdom of Valluvanad followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''
Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu'' and ''Mahabharatham
Kilippattu
Kilippattu or ''parrot song'' is a genre of Malayalam poems in which the narrator is a parrot, a bee, a swan, and so on. Kiḷippaṭṭu was popularized by the 16th-century poet Ezhuthachan (The Father Of The Malayalam language).
In Adhyathm ...
'' written by Ezhuthachan and ''
Jnanappana
Jnanappana is a devotional poem written by the 16th century Malayalam poet Poonthanam. This poem written as a devotional prayer to Guruvayoorappan is considered as an important work in Malayalam literature. Written in simple Malayalam, the Jnana ...
'' written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.
The words used in most of the
Arabi Malayalam works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries, are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.
P. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work ''
Keralolpathi
The Keralolpathi ( ml, കേരളോല്പത്തി; IAST:''kēraḷōlpatti''; ) is a Malayalam Brahmanical literary work that deals with the origin and legends of the land of Kerala. P. Shungunny Menon ascribes the authorship of this wor ...
'', which describes the
Parashurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appea ...
legend and the departure of the final
Cheraman Perumal
Perumal (the 'Great One') is the name of a Hindu deity.
It was also a medieval Indian royal title of:
*Western Ganga dynasty Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala''. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171.
**Sripurusha
**Rajamalla
**Nitim ...
king to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.
Kunchan Nambiar
Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the dance art form of Thullal, most of his works were written for use in Thullal perfo ...
, the founder of ''Thullal'' movement, was a prolific literary figure of the 18th century.
Impact of European scholars
The British printed Malabar English Dictionary by Graham Shaw in 1779 was still in the form of a Tamil-English Dictionary.
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar (1736–1799) is the author of ''Varthamanappusthakam'' (1790), the first ever travelogue in an Indian language. Also known as ''Roma Yatraa Varthamanapusthakam'', it postulates that the foundation of Indian nationali ...
wrote the first Malayalam travelogue called ''
Varthamanappusthakam
''Varthamanappusthakam'' is a Malayalam travelogue written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar, a Saint Thomas Christians, Nasrani Mappila kathanar of the modern-day Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first ever travelogue written in an Languages of India, ...
'' in 1789.
Hermann Gundert, (1814–1893), a German missionary and scholar of exceptional linguistic talents, played a distinguishable role in the development of Malayalam literature. His major works are Keralolpathi (1843), Pazhancholmala (1845), Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam (1851), ''Paathamala (1860) the first Malayalam school text book'', Kerala pazhama (1868), ''the first Malayalam dictionary (1872)'', Malayalarajyam (1879) – Geography of Kerala, ''Rajya Samacharam (1847 June) the first Malayalam news paper'', Paschimodayam (1879) – Magazine. He lived in Thalassery for around 20 years. He learned the language from well established local teachers Ooracheri Gurukkanmar from Chokli, a village near Thalassery and consulted them in works. He also translated the Bible into Malayalam.
In 1821, the Church Mission Society (CMS) at Kottayam in association with the Syriac Orthodox Church started a seminary at Kottayam in 1819 and started printing books in Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey, an Anglican priest, made the first Malayalam types. In addition, he contributed to standardizing the prose. Hermann Gundert from Stuttgart, Germany, started the first Malayalam newspaper, ''Rajya Samacaram'' in 1847 at Thalassery, Talasseri. It was printed at Basel Mission. Malayalam and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
were increasingly studied by Christians of Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. The Marthomite movement in the mid-19th century called for replacement of Syriac language, Syriac by Malayalam for liturgical purposes. By the end of the 19th century Malayalam replaced Syriac language, Syriac as language of Liturgy in all Syrian Christian churches.
1850–1904
![Travancore Rupee - Reverse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Travancore_Rupee_-_Reverse.jpg)
Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar, (1861–1914) from Thalassery was the author of first Malayalam short story, Vasanavikriti. After him innumerable world class literature works by was born in Malayalam.
O. Chandu Menon wrote his novels "Indulekha" and "Saradha" while he was the judge at Parappanangadi Munciff Court. ''Indulekha'' is also the first Major Novel written in Malayalam language.
![Shakuntala RRV](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Shakuntala_RRV.jpg)
.
The third quarter of the 19th century CE bore witness to the rise of a new school of poets devoted to the observation of life around them and the use of pure Malayalam. The major poets of the Venmani School were Venmani Achhan Nambudiripad (1817–1891), Venmani Mahan Nambudiripad (1844–1893), Poonthottam Achhan Nambudiri (1821–1865), Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri (1857–1896) and the members of the Kodungallur Kovilakam (Royal Family) such as Kodungallur Kunjikkuttan Thampuran. The style of these poets became quite popular for a while and influenced even others who were not members of the group like Velutheri Kesavan Vaidyar (1839–1897) and Perunlli Krishnan Vaidyan (1863–1894). The Venmani school pioneered a style of poetry that was associated with common day themes, and the use of pure Malayalam (''Pachcha Malayalam'') rather than Sanskrit.
Twentieth century
In the second half of the 20th century,
Jnanpith
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...
winning poets and writers like
G. Sankara Kurup
G. Sankara Kurup, (3 June 1901 – 2 February 1978) also referred to as Mahakavi G (The Great Poet G), was an Indian poet, essayist and literary critic of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the greats of Malayalam poetry, he was the first r ...
,
S. K. Pottekkatt
Sankarankutty Kunjiraman Pottekkatt (14 March 1913 – 6 August 1982) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a politician from Kerala, India. He was also a great traveller among the Keralites, who wrote many travelogues for the peopl ...
,
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 7 shor ...
,
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...
,
O. N. V. Kurup
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup (known as O. N. V. Kurup; 27 May 1931 – 13 February 2016) was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He receive ...
, and
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (18 March 1926 – 15 October 2020), popularly known as Akkitham, was an Indian poet and essayist who wrote in Malayalam. He was known for a simple and lucid style of writing, exploring themes of profound love and ...
, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.
Later, writers like
O. V. Vijayan,
Kamaladas,
M. Mukundan,
Arundhati Roy
Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. S ...
, and
Vaikom Muhammed Basheer
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994), popularly referred to as Beypore Sulthan, was a writer of Malayalam literature. He was a writer, humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer, noted for his path-breaking, ...
, have gained international recognition.
Prose
The travelogues written by
S. K. Pottekkatt
Sankarankutty Kunjiraman Pottekkatt (14 March 1913 – 6 August 1982) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a politician from Kerala, India. He was also a great traveller among the Keralites, who wrote many travelogues for the peopl ...
were turning point in the travelogue literature.
The writers like Kavalam Narayana Panicker have contributed much to Malayalam drama.
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 7 shor ...
turned away from party politics and produced a moving romance in ''Chemmeen (novel), Chemmeen'' (Shrimps) in 1956. For
S. K. Pottekkatt
Sankarankutty Kunjiraman Pottekkatt (14 March 1913 – 6 August 1982) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a politician from Kerala, India. He was also a great traveller among the Keralites, who wrote many travelogues for the peopl ...
and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, who had not dabbled in politics, the continuity is marked in the former's ''Vishakanyaka'' (Poison Maid, 1948) and the latter's ''Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu'' (My Grandpa had an Elephant, 1951). The non-political social or domestic novel was championed by Uroob, P. C. Kuttikrishnan (Uroob) with his ''Ummachu'' (1955) and ''Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum'' (Men and Women of Charm, 1958).
In 1957 Basheer's ''Pathummayude Aadu'' (Pathumma's Goat) brought in a new kind of prose tale, which perhaps only Basheer could handle with dexterity. The fifties thus mark the evolution of a new kind of fiction, which had its impact on the short stories as well. This was the auspicious moment for the entry of
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...
and T. Padmanabhan upon the scene. Front runners in the post-modern trend include Kakkanadan,
O. V. Vijayan, E. Harikumar,
M. Mukundan and Anand (writer), Anand.
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
has the Indian states ranking by media exposure, highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English language, English and Malayalam.
Poetry
Contemporary Malayalam poetry deals with social, political, and economic life context. The tendency of the modern poetry is often towards political radicalism.
See also
*
Arabi Malayalam
* Beary bashe
* Jeseri
* Judeo-Malayalam
* Malayalam (Unicode block)
* Malayalam Braille
*
Malayalam calendar
The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era.
There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...
* Malayalam cinema
* Malayalam languages
*
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
* Malayalam poetry
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Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
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Manipravalam
Manipravalam (Malayalam: മണിപ്രവാളം, Tamil: மணிப்பிரவாளம்) is a macaronic language found in some manuscripts of South India. It is a hybrid language, typically written in the Grantha script, which combi ...
* Palindrome
* Ravula language
* Suriyani Malayalam
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Tigalari script
Tigalari (''Tigaḷāri lipi'', ''tulu lipi''),The script is also referred to as Arya Ezhuttu, Grantha Malayalam, Tulu Grantha, Tulu-Malayalam and Western Grantha. also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to writ ...
References
Sources
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* Govindankutty, A. "From Proto-Tamil-Malayalam to West Coast Dialects," 1972. Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. XIV, Nr. 1/2, pp. 52–60.
Further reading
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* Pillai, A.D. & Arumugam, P. (2017). From Kerala to Singapore: Voices of the Singapore Malayalee Community. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia). Pte. Ltd.
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Notes
External links
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Malayalam languageat ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
Unicode Code Chart for Malayalam (PDF Format)
{{Authority control
Ancient languages
Christian liturgical languages
Classical Language in India
Languages attested from the 9th century
Languages with own distinct writing systems
Languages officially written in Indic scripts
Malayalam language, *
Official languages of India
Subject–object–verb languages
Sahitya Akademi recognised languages