Malayalam

Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a " Classical Language of India" in 2013. Malayalam has official language 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 a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune etc.

The origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars. The mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from early Middle Tamil 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 of 849/850 CE is the oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam. The oldest extant literary work in Malayalam distinct from the Tamil tradition is ''Ramacharitam'' (late 12th or early 13th century).

The earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu script. The current Malayalam script is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with Grantha script letters to adopt Indo-Aryan loanwords. It bears high similarity with the Tigalari script, a historical script that was used to write the Tulu language in South Canara, and Sanskrit in the adjacent Malabar region. 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'', written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785.

Robert Caldwell describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of Kumbla in the north where it supersedes with Tulu to Kanyakumari in the south, where it begins to be superseded by Tamil, besides the inhabited islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

Etymology

The word originated from the words , meaning ' mountain', and , meaning ' region' or '-ship' (as in "township"); thus translates directly as 'the mountain region'. The term ''Malabar'' 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 of the Chera dynasty (later Zamorins and the Kingdom of Cochin), Kingdom of Ezhimala (later Kolathunadu), and Ay kingdom (later Travancore), 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 works in the regional language of present-day Kerala 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 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 and the region. According to Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese visitor who visited Kerala in the early 16th century CE, the people in the southwestern Malabar coast of India from Kumbla in north to Kanyakumari in south had a unique language, which was called "Maliama" by them.

Prior to this period, the people of Kerala usually referred to their language as 'Tamil', and both terms overlapped into the colonial period.

History

Due to the geographical isolation of the Malabar Coast from the rest of the Indian peninsula due to the presence of the Western Ghats mountain ranges which lie parallel to the coast, the dialect of Old Tamil spoken in Kerala was different from that spoken in Tamil Nadu. The mainstream view holds that Malayalam began to grow as a distinct literary language from the western coastal dialect of Medieval Tamil ( Karintamil) and the linguistic separation completed sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries. The renowned poets of Classical Tamil such as Paranar (1st century CE), Ilango Adigal (2nd–3rd century CE), and Kulasekhara Alvar (9th century CE) were Keralites. The Sangam works can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.

Some scholars however believe that both Tamil 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 is misplaced. This is based on the fact that Malayalam and several Dravidian languages 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 period, thus making independent descent impossible.

For example, Old Tamil 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, 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 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 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'' and the Western Grantha scripts in the 8th and 9th centuries of Common Era. And by the end of the 13th century a written form of the language emerged which was unique from the '' Vatteluttu'' script that was used to write Tamil on the eastern coast.

Old Malayalam

Old Malayalam (''Pazhaya Malayalam''), an inscriptional language found in Kerala 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. The beginning of the development of Old Malayalam from a western coastal dialect of contemporary Tamil ( Karintamil) 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 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 Brahmins in Kerala (who also knew Sanskrit and Prakrit). 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 and Prakrit, those became common prominent languages on Malabar Coast, when the caste system became strong in Kerala under Nambudiri Brahmins.

The Old Malayalam language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Perumal kings as well as the upper-caste ( Nambudiri) village temples). Most of the inscriptions in Old Malayalam were found from the northern districts of Kerala, those lie adjacent to Tulu Nadu. Old Malayalam was mostly written in Vatteluttu script (with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters). Old Malayalam 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'' and '' Thirunizhalmala'' are the possible literary works of Old Malayalam found so far.

Middle Malayalam

Old Malayalam gradually developed into Middle Malayalam (''Madhyakaala Malayalam'') by 13th century CE. Malayalam literature also completely diverged from Tamil literature during this period. Works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, and date back to 13th and 14th centuries of Common Era. The ''Sandesha Kavya''s of 14th century CE written in Manipravalam language include '' Unnuneeli Sandesam''. ''Kannassa Ramayanam'' and ''Kannassa Bharatham'' by ''Rama Panikkar'' of the Niranam poets who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language. Ulloor has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in Malayalam literature that Edmund Spenser does in English literature. The '' Champu Kavyas'' written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the ''Pathinettara Kavikal'' (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the Zamorin of Calicut, also belong to Middle Malayalam. The literary works of this period were heavily influenced by Manipravalam, which was a combination of contemporary Malayalam and Sanskrit. The word ''Mani-Pravalam'' literally means ''Diamond-Coral'' or ''Ruby-Coral''. The 14th-century '' Lilatilakam'' 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'' were also used to write Middle Malayalam, in addition to ''Vatteluthu'' and Grantha script those were used to write Old Malayalam. The literary works written in Middle Malayalam were heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit, while comparing them with the modern Malayalam literature.

Modern Malayalam

The Middle Malayalam was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (''Aadhunika Malayalam'') by 15th century CE. The poem '' Krishnagatha'' written by Cherusseri Namboothiri, who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of Kolathunadu, is written in modern Malayalam. The language used in ''Krishnagatha'' is the modern spoken form of Malayalam. During the 16th century CE, Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan from the Kingdom of Tanur and Poonthanam Nambudiri from the Kingdom of Valluvanad followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu'' and ''Mahabharatham Kilippattu'' written by Ezhuthachan and '' Jnanappana'' written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.

It is Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan 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'', ''Kolezhuthu'', and Grantha script, 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, which was used to write Sanskrit, due to the influence of Tuluva Brahmins in Kerala. The language used in the Arabi Malayalam works of 16th–17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and Arabic. 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'', which describes the Parashurama legend and the departure of the final Cheraman Perumal king to Mecca, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.History of Travancore by Shungunny Menon, page 28

Kunchan Nambiar introduced a new literary form called ''Thullal'', and Unnayi Variyar introduced reforms in '' Attakkatha literature''. The printing, prose literature, and Malayalam journalism, 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, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon. In the second half of the 20th century, Jnanpith winning poets and writers like G. Sankara Kurup, S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, O. N. V. Kurup, and Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature. The life and works of Edasseri Govindan Nair have assumed greater socio-literary significance after his death and Edasseri is now recognised as an important poet of Malayalam. Later, writers like O. V. Vijayan, Kamaladas, M. Mukundan, Arundhati Roy, Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, have gained international recognition. Malayalam has also borrowed a lot of its words from various foreign languages, mainly from the Semitic languages including Arabic, and the European languages including Dutch and Portuguese, due to the long heritage of Indian Ocean trade and the Portuguese-Dutch colonisation of the Malabar Coast.

Dialects

Variations in intonation patterns, vocabulary, and distribution of grammatical and phonological elements are observable along the parameters of region, religion, community, occupation, social stratum, style and register.

According to the Dravidian Encyclopedia, the regional dialects of Malayalam can be divided into fifteen dialect areas. They are as follows:

* Kasaragod
* North Malabar
* Wayanad
* Kozhikode
* Eranad
* Valluvanad ( South Malabar)
* Palakkad
* Thrissur- Kochi
* North Travancore
* West Vembanad
* Central Travancore
* South Travancore
* Lakshadweep
* Beary
* Ravula

According to Ethnologue, the dialects are: Malabar, Nagari-Malayalam, North Kerala, Central Kerala, South Kerala, Kayavar, Namboodiri, Nair, Mappila, Beary, Jeseri, Yerava, Pulaya, Nasrani, and Kasargod. The community dialects are: Namboodiri, Nair, Arabi Malayalam, Pulaya, and Nasrani. Whereas both the 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 and Beary is spoken in Tulu Nadu 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 ''Yerava'' dialect and 31,329 spoke non-standard regional variations like '' Eranadan''.
, ''censusindia.net''

The dialects of Malayalam spoken in the districts like Kasaragod, Kannur district, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, and 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-Kollam-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 and 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 loan words from English and 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 is a tribal dialect of Malayalam spoken by the members of Ravula tribe who are primarily inhabitants of the Kodagu district of Karnataka.
* 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 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, Dutch, Hindustani, Pali, Persian, Portuguese, Prakrit, and Syriac.

* Many medieval liturgical texts were written in an admixture of Sanskrit and early Malayalam, called Manipravalam. The influence of Sanskrit 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 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, Syriac, and Ladino abound in the Jewish Malayalam dialects, as well as English, Portuguese, Syriac, and Greek in the Christian dialects, while Arabic 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.

Geographic distribution and population

Malayalam is a language spoken by the native people of southwestern India and the islands of Lakshadweep in Arabian Sea. 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, 957,705 (2.70%) in Tamil Nadu, and 406,358 (1.2%) in Maharashtra.

The number of Malayalam speakers in Lakshadweep 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 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 are Malayalis, and they form the single largest linguistic group accounting for 35.5% in the Virajpet Taluk. Around one-third of the Malayalis in Kodagu district speak the Yerava dialect according to the 2011 census, which is native to Kodagu and Wayanad.

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, Malaya attracted many Malayalis. Large numbers of Malayalis have settled in Chennai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Mysuru and Delhi. 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

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