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 significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is a district of Karnataka state in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangalore. It is part of the larger Tulu Nadu region. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east ...

districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the

Malayali Diaspora The Malayali Diaspora refers to Malayali who live outside their homeland of Indian states of Kerala and Union Territories of Mahé, India and Lakshadweep. They are predominantly found in Gulf, North America, Europe, Australia, Caribbean, Afric ...

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 expatriates there. There are significant population in each cities in India including Mumbai,

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, 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 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 merc ...

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 Perumal ...

. 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 t ...

. 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 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 o ...

, and Sanskrit in the adjacent Malabar region. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book ''

Kerala Panineeyam ''Keralapanineeyam'' (or ''Kerala Panineeyam'', ''Keralapaniniyam'') is a treatise on Malayalam grammar and rhetoric, written by A. R. Raja Raja Varma, grammarian, litterateur and one of the pioneers of Malayalam Language studies. The book was ...

'' written by

A. R. Raja Raja Varma A. R. Raja Raja Varma or A R. Rajaraja Varma ( ml, എ.ആർ. രാജരാജവർമ്മ) (1863–1918) was an Indian poet, grammatician and Professor of Oriental Languages at Maharaja's College (present University College), Trivandrum. ...

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 Tulu may refer to: People *Derartu Tulu (born 1972), Ethiopian long-distance runner *Walid Yacoubou (born 1997), Togolese footballer nicknamed "Tulu" India *Tulu calendar, traditional solar calendar generally used in the regions of southwest Kar ...

to Kanyakumari 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, nati ...

, 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 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 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 Literature is any collection of Writing, 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 ...

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 The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...

, 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. 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 rest of Indian peninsula because of the presence of 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 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) 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 (2nd–3rd century CE), and Kulasekhara Alvar (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

and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, 'Proto-Tamil-Malayalam', and that the notion of Malayalam being a 'daughter' of

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

(''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

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

- 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

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) village temples). Most of the inscriptions in

were found from the northern districts of Kerala, those lie adjacent to Tulu Nadu.

was mostly written in

(with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters).

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

found so far.

Middle Malayalam

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 also completely diverged from Tamil literature during this period. Works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in

, and date back to 13th and 14th centuries of Common Era. 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''. ''Kannassa Ramayanam'' and ''Kannassa Bharatham'' by ''Rama Panikkar'' of the Niranam poets 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 Thiruvananthapu ...

has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in Malayalam literature that

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

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 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

, 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 Koleḻuttu, popularly romanised as Kolezhuthu (കോലെഴുത്ത്), was a syllabic alphabet of Kerala used for writing Malayalam language.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 379-80 and ...

'' and '' Malayanma'' were also used to write

, in addition to ''Vatteluthu'' and Grantha script those were used to write

. The literary works written in

were heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit, while comparing them with the modern Malayalam literature. Copy of Ezhuthachan's Adhyathma ramayanam Kilippattu

Copy of Ezhuthachan's Adhyathma ramayanam Kilippattu

Modern Malayalam

The

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 Valluvanad was an independent chiefdom in present-day central Kerala that held power from the early 12th century to the end of the 18th century. Prior to that, and since the late 10th century, Valluvanad existed as an autonomous chiefdom within t ...

followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''

Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu ''Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu'' is the most popular Malayalam version of the Sanskrit Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. It is believed to have been written by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan in the early 17th century, and is considered to be a classic ...

'' 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 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'', ''

'', 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 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 Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional Dravidian language of the Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the Malabar Coast of Kerala state, southe ...

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 The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

, which is known as

Arabi Malayalam script Arabi Malayalam script (Malayalam: അറബി-മലയാളം, Arabi Malayalam: عَرَبِ مَلَیَاۻَمٛ), also known as Ponnani script, is a writing system — a variant form of the Arabic script with special orthographic featu ...

. P. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work '' Keralolpathi'', which describes the Parashurama 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, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.History of Travancore by Shungunny Menon, page 28 Kunchan Nambiar 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,

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. In the second half of the 20th century, Jnanpith 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,

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, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature. Later, writers like

O. V. Vijayan Ottupulackal Velukkuty Vijayan (2 July 1931 – 30 March 2005), commonly known as O. V. Vijayan, was an Indian author and cartoonist, who was an important figure in modern Malayalam language literature. Best known for his first novel ''Khasakki ...

Kamaladas Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was an Indian poet in English as well as an author in Malayalam from Kerala, India. Her popularity ...

M. Mukundan Maniyambath Mukundan, (born 10 September 1942) commonly known as M. Mukundan, is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Many of his early works are set in Mahé (Mayyazhi) which has earned him the moniker, ''Mayyazhiyude Kathakaaran''. He is ...

, Arundhati Roy,

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 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 Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...

* North Malabar * Wayanad * Kozhikode *

Eranad Eranad also known as Ernad refers to the erstwhile province in the midland area of Malabar, consisting of Malappuram and nearby regions such as Anakkayam, Manjeri, Kondotty, Nilambur, etc. Currently Eranad Taluk is a Taluk in Malappuram distric ...

* 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 Jeseri (also known as Jesri or Dweep Bhasha) is a dialect of Malayalam, spoken in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. The word 'Jeseri' derives from Arabic word Jazari (جزري) which means 'Islander' or 'of island'. It is spoken on ...

Yerava The Ravula (Adyar in Malayalam, Yerava in Kannada) are a tribal community in Karnataka and Kerala. Their common language is known as the Ravula language. They live predominantly the Kodagu district of Karnataka along with its adjacent regions ...

, Pulaya, Nasrani, and Kasargod. The community dialects are: Namboodiri, Nair,

, Pulaya, and Nasrani. Whereas both the Namboothiri and Nair dialects have a common nature, the

is among the most divergent of dialects, differing considerably from literary Malayalam.

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

, Kannur district, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, and

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarter ...

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 The voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase lett ...

(/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 Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

Pathanamthitta Pathanamthitta (), is a municipality situated in the Central Travancore region in the state of Kerala, India, spread over an area of 23.50 km2. It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The town has a population of 37 ...

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

, 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 A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...

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 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 ...

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 Sooranad P. N. Kunjan Pillai (24 June 1911 8 March 1995) was an Indian researcher, lexicographer, poet, essayist, literary critic, orator, grammarian, educationist, and scholar of the Malayalam language, best remembered for his contributions ...

who compiled the authoritative Malayalam lexicon, the other principal languages whose vocabulary was incorporated over the ages were Arabic, Dutch,

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu * Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...

, Pali, Persian, Portuguese, Prakrit, and Syriac. * Many medieval liturgical texts were written in an admixture of Sanskrit and early Malayalam, called

. 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 Ladino, derived from Latin, may refer to: * The register of Judaeo-Spanish used in the translation of religious texts, such as the Ferrara Bible *Ladino people, a socio-ethnic category of Mestizo or Hispanicized people in Central America especi ...

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 Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

dialects. * The Muslim dialect known as

Mappila Malayalam Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional Dravidian language of the Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the Malabar Coast of Kerala state, southe ...

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 Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. 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

accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report. 25.57% of the total population in the

of Karnataka are Malayalis, and they form single largest linguistic group accounting for 35.5% in the

Virajpet The town of Virajpet also spelled as Virajapete is the second town of the district of Kodagu (Coorg), in Karnataka. It is the main town of the ''Virajpet taluka'', south of the district, in the Kerala-Karnataka border. The name is an abbreviatio ...

Taluk. Around one-third of the Malayalis in

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 Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

attracted many Malayalis. Large numbers of Malayalis have settled in Chennai,

, 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 Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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)
''stats.govt.nz'' 134 Malayalam speaking households were reported in 1956 in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. There is also a considerable Malayali population in the Persian Gulf regions, especially in Dubai and Doha.

Phonology

For the consonants and vowels, the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...

(IPA) symbol is given, followed by the Malayalam character and the

ISO 15919 ISO 15919 (Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts into Latin characters) is one of a series of international standards for romanization by the International Organization for Standardization. It was published in 2001 and uses dia ...

transliteration. The current Malayalam script bears high similarity with Tigalari script, which was used for writing the Tulu language, spoken in

coastal Karnataka Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...

(

and Udupi districts) and the northernmost Kasargod district of Kerala. Tigalari script was also used for writing Sanskrit in Malabar region.

Vowels

* ്* 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 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 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 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) Manglish is an informal form of Malaysian English with features of an English-based creole principally used in Malaysia. It is heavily influenced by the dominant languages of the country, Malay, Chinese languages, and Tamil. It is not an offi ...

)

Consonants

* 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 The voiced alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in numerous spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar nasals is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ...

. 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 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. ɐgɐnTa. ɐɣɐn 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 iɖɐk:ugɐvs ɾikʲ:ugɐand ɐŋ:ɐlvs. ɐt̪: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 ojkʲːoor okʲːo aḍaykka as �ɖɐjkʲːɐor �ɖɐkʲːɐ 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 * 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 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

, d The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...

or �, ɖthough 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 SOV (subject–object–verb), as do other Dravidian languages. A rare 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 ''

'' written by

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 plosive In phonetics and phonology, an alveolar stop is a type of consonantal sound, made with the tongue in contact with the alveolar ridge located just behind the teeth (hence alveolar), held tightly enough to block the passage of air (hence a stop cons ...

s and nasals (although the modern Malayalam script does not distinguish the latter from the

) are underlined for clarity, following the convention of the National Library at Kolkata romanization.

Personal pronouns

Vocative forms are given in parentheses after the

nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

, 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 nouns with a word stem ending in a short /a/ take the ending /an/ in the nominative singular. For example, 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 "

Sītā Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

" → "Sīta" and "

Lakṣmī Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). Al ...

" → "Lakṣmi". However, the long vowel still appears in compound words, such as "Sītādēvi" or" Lakṣmīdēvi". The long ī is generally reserved for the 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," 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" 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 "

Viṣṇu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

", "

Prajāpati Prajapati ( sa, प्रजापति, Prajāpati, lord and protector of creation) is a Vedic deity of Hinduism. In later literature, Prajapati is identified with the creator god Brahma, but the term also connotes many different gods, depe ...

" 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, SyriacSuriyani Malayalam
, Nasrani Foundation
, The Hindu
, India Today and Arabic.

Suriyani Malayalam Suriyani Malayalam (സുറിയാനി മലയാളം, ܣܘܪܝܢܝ ܡܠܝܠܡ), also known as Karshoni, Syro-Malabarica or Syriac Malayalam, is a dialect of Malayalam written in a variant form of the Syriac alphabet which was popular ...

was used by Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Nasranis) until the 19th century. Arabic scripts particularly were taught in

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s in Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Malayalam script

Historically, several scripts were used to write Malayalam. Among these were the Vatteluttu,

and Malayanma scripts. But it was the Grantha script, another

Southern Brahmi Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...

variation, which gave rise to the modern Malayalam script. The modern Malayalam script bears high similarity to Tigalari script, which was used for writing Tulu language in

Coastal Karnataka Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...

(

and 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 Visarga ( sa, विसर्गः, translit=visargaḥ) means "sending forth, discharge". In Sanskrit phonology ('' ''), ' (also called, equivalently, ' by earlier grammarians) is the name of a phone voiceless glottal fricative, , written as: ...

. 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 fonts containing the entire character repertoire of more than 900

glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...

s. This was announced and released along with a text editor in the same year at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. In 2004, the fonts were released under the

GNU GPL The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...

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. Anusvara and

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 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 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

Vatteluttu (, "round writing") is a script that had evolved from Tamil-Brahmi and was once used extensively in the southern part of present-day Tamil Nadu and in Kerala. Malayalam was first written in Vattezhuthu. The

Vazhappally Vazhappally is a suburb of Changanasserry Municipality, Kottayam District, in central Kerala. The famous Vazhappally Shiva Temple is situated in Vazhappally. Vazhappally is a part of Changanacherry Taluk in Kottayam District. It is located in ...

inscription issued by

Rajashekhara Varman Rama Rajasekhara (''fl.'' 870/71 – c. 883/84 AD) was a Chera Perumal ruler of medieval Kerala, south India. Rajasekhara is usually identified by historians with Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, the venerated Shaiva ( Nayanar) poet-musician of the B ...

is the earliest example, dating from about 830 CE. During the medieval period, the Tigalari script that was used for writing

, and Sanskrit in the adjacent Malabar region, 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

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,

, was used until about the 19th century mainly in the

- 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

, 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

. 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, 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

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, Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only applied to write Sanskrit. 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 language while Malayalam is a Dravidian language).

Karshoni

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

which was popular among the Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of Kerala in India. It uses Malayalam grammar, the Maḏnḥāyā or "Eastern" Syriac script with special orthographic features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac. This originated in the South Indian region of the Malabar Coast (modern-day Kerala). Until the 20th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.

Ponnani script

The

, otherwise known as the

Ponnani Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...

script, is a writing system – a variant form of the

with special orthographic features – which was developed during the early medieval period and used to write

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, today it is predominantly used in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant

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 Nadan Pattu *

of the Sanskrit tradition, which permitted a generous interspersing of Sanskrit with Malayalam. Niranam poets Manipravalam Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar wrote Manipravalam poetry in the 14th century. * The folk song rich in native elements Malayalam literature has been profoundly influenced by poets Cherusseri Namboothiri, Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, and Poonthanam Nambudiri, in the 15th and the 16th centuries of Common Era.

, a probable 17th–18th century poet, and Kunchan Nambiar, a poet of 18th century, also greatly influenced Malayalam literature in its early form. The words used in many of the

works those date back to 16th–17th centuries of Common Era are also very closer to the modern Malayalam language. The prose literature, criticism, and

began after the latter half of 18th century CE. Contemporary Malayalam literature deals with social, political, and economic life context. The tendency of the modern poetry is often towards political radicalism. Malayalam literature has been presented with six 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 The ''Arthashastra'' ( sa, अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is ...

''. Adhyatmaramayanam by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (known as the father of modern Malayalam literature) who was born in Tirur, one of the most important works in Malayalam literature.

Unnunili 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 ...

written in the 14th century is amongst the oldest literary works in Malayalam language. Cherusseri Namboothiri of 15th century ( Kannur-based poet), Poonthanam Nambudiri of 16th century ( Perinthalmanna-based poet),

of 17th–18th centuries ( Thrissur-based poet), and Kunchan Nambiar of 18th century ( Palakkad-based poet), have played a major role in the development of Malayalam literature into current form. The words used in many of the

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 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 A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

from Kerala started writing in Malayalam but mostly travelogues, dictionaries and religious books. Varthamanappusthakam (1778), written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar is considered to be the first travelogue in an Indian language. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book ''

'' written by

in late 19th century CE.

Folk Songs

For the first 600 years of the Malayalam calendar, 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 Vadakkan Pattukal (literally, ''the songs of the north'') are a collection of Malayalam ballads from the medieval period. The songs present stories of heroes such as Aromal Chekavar and Thacholi Othenan, and heroines like Unniyarcha. The stories ...

'' (Northern songs) in North Malabar region and the ''Thekkan Pattukal'' (Southern songs) in

Southern Travancore The Southern Division, or Padmanabhapuram Division till 1921 and Trivandrum Division from 1921 to 1949, was one of the administrative subdivisions of the princely state of Travancore. It covered the five taluks of Agastiswaram, Eraniel, Kalkula ...

. Some of the earliest

Mappila song Mappila songs (or ''Mappila Paattu'') are a folklore Muslim song genre rendered to lyrics, within a melodic framework ( Ishal), in Arabi Malayalam by the Mappilas of the Malabar region in Kerala, India. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural ide ...

s (Muslim songs) were also folk songs.

Old and Middle Malayalam

The earliest known poems in Malayalam, ''

'' and ''

'', 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 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. The influence of ''

'' 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 (

- Kannur region). Furthermore, the Thiruvananthapuram mentioned in ''Ramacharitham'' is not the Thiruvananthapuram in Southern Kerala. But it is Ananthapura Lake Temple of Kumbla 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 (most likely near

). 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

, those date back to 13th and 14th centuries of Common Era. The ''Sandesha Kavya''s of 14th century CE written in

language include '' Unnuneeli Sandesam'' The literary works written in

were heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit, while comparing them with the modern Malayalam literature. The word ''Manipravalam'' 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". 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.

Modern Malayalam

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. It appears to be the first literary work written in the present-day language of Malayalam. During the 16th century CE, Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan from the Kingdom of Tanur and Poonthanam Nambudiri from the

followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''

'' and ''Mahabharatham

'' written by Ezhuthachan and ''

'' written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam. The words used in most of the

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'', which describes the Parashurama legend and the departure of the final

king to Mecca, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan. THUNCHAN MEMORIAL

Kunchan Nambiar, 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 wrote the first Malayalam travelogue called '' Varthamanappusthakam'' 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 The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS) at Kottayam in association with the

Syriac Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...

started a seminary at Kottayam in 1819 and started printing books in Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, made the first Malayalam types. In addition, he contributed to standardizing the prose. Hermann Gundert from

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany, started the first Malayalam newspaper, ''Rajya Samacaram'' in 1847 at Talasseri. It was printed at Basel Mission. Malayalam and Sanskrit were increasingly studied by Christians of Kottayam and

. The

Marthomite The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian ChurchS. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India'. APH Publishing; 2000. . p. 442. and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar ...

movement in the mid-19th century called for replacement of Syriac by Malayalam for liturgical purposes. By the end of the 19th century Malayalam replaced Syriac as language of

Liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

in all Syrian Christian churches.

1850–1904

Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar (1860 – 14 November 1914) was a Malayali essayist and short story writer, and a prominent landlord of Malabar district. Vengayil family Nayanar was born in an aristocratic Nair family known as "Vengayil" in Chiracka ...

, (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 Oyyarathu Chandu Menon (popularly known as O. Chandu Menon) (1847–1899) was a Malayalam language novelist. He is the author of ''Indulekha (novel), Indulekha'', the first major novel in Malayalam published in 1889. Life Chandu Menon was born on ...

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

. 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 The Venmani School of poets were involved in a movement in Malayalam Literature also known as the Venmani Movement. The style of poetry was pioneered by members of the Venmani Illam of Kodungalloor in the 19th century. Main members The major poets ...

were

Venmani Achhan Nambudiripad Venmani Parameshwaran Nambudiripad (1817-1890), popularly known as Venmani Achhan Nambudiripad was a famous poet of Malayalam. He was born in the Venmani Illam, a family which was involved in the Venmani School of Malayalam Literature. He was the n ...

(1817–1891),

Venmani Mahan Nambudiripad Venmani Mahan Nambudiripad (1844-1893) (also known as KadambanKadambhan) was a famous Malayalam poet of the Venmani Illam and one of the main literary figures of the Venmani Movement of Malayalam Literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of ...

(1844–1893),

Poonthottam Achhan Nambudiri Poonthottam Achhan Nambudiri (also known as Poonthottam Parameshwaran Nambudiri) (1821-1865) was a poet of the Venmani School of Malayalam Literature. Nambudiri was born in 1821 in Killikkurussimangalam, Palakkad district. He was a close friend a ...

(1821–1865),

Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri (also known as Poonthottam Damodaran Nambudiri) (1857-1946) was a poet from the Venmani School of Malayalam Literature. He was the author of several Malayalam poems like ''Thaarakaasura Vadham'', ''Raajasooyam'', ''Kuc ...

(1857–1896) and the members of the

Kodungallur Kovilakam Kodungallur Kovilakam ( ml, കൊടുങ്ങല്ലൂര്‍ കോവിലകം), is a palace of the royal family of the late edievalKingdom of Kodungallur (Cranganore), in the modern-day Indian state of Kerala. Kodungallur was a fe ...

(Royal Family) such as

Kodungallur Kunjikkuttan Thampuran Kodungallur Kunjikkuttan Thampuran (1864 - 1914) also transliterated as ''Kotungallur Kunhikkuttan Thampuran'', was a Malayalam poet and Sanskrit scholar lived in Kerala, India. His birth-name was Rama Varma. He is famous for his single-hande ...

. 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 Velutheri Kesavan Vaidyar(1858–1896) was a Malayalam poet; Sanskrit scholar and Ayurveda physician from the state of Kerala, India. He was born as second child among four children born to Eeshwaran Padmanabhan of Velutheri House in Thottam and ...

(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 winning poets and writers like

, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai,

, and Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature. Later, writers like

, Arundhati Roy, and

, have gained international recognition.

Prose

The travelogues written by

were turning point in the travelogue literature. The writers like Kavalam Narayana Panicker have contributed much to Malayalam drama. Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai turned away from party politics and produced a moving romance in '' Chemmeen'' (Shrimps) in 1956. For

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 ''Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu'' (''My Granddad Had an Elephant!'') is a short novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994), popularly referred to as Beypore Sulthan, was a writer of Malayalam liter ...

'' (My Grandpa had an Elephant, 1951). The non-political social or domestic novel was championed by P. C. Kuttikrishnan (Uroob) with his ''

Ummachu ''Ummachu'' (''Beloved'') is a Malayalam novel written by Uroob in 1954. ''Ummachu'' along with '' Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum'' are considered the best works by Uroob and are ranked among the finest novels in Malayalam. In ''Ummachu'', Uroob e ...

'' (1955) and ''

Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum ''Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum'' (''The Beautiful and the Handsome'') is a 1958 Malayalam novel written by Uroob (P. C. Kuttikrishnan). ''Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum'' along with ''Ummachu'' are considered the best works by Uroob and are ranked amon ...

'' (Men and Women of Charm, 1958). In 1957 Basheer's ''

Pathummayude Aadu ''Pathumma's Goat'' (original title: ml, പാത്തുമ്മായുടെ ആട് ''Pathummayude Aadu'') is a 1959 Malayalam novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. The characters of the novel are members of his family and the action tak ...

'' (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

and

T. Padmanabhan Thinakkal Padmanabhan (born 5 February 1931), popularly known as T. Padmanabhan, is an Indian short story writer of Malayalam literature. He is a recipient of several awards including the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award of t ...

upon the scene. Front runners in the post-modern trend include

Kakkanadan George Varghese Kakkanadan (23 April 1935 – 19 October 2011), commonly known as Kakkanadan, was an Indian short-story writer and novelist in the Malayalam language. His works broke away from the neo-realism that dominated Malayalam literature ...

E. Harikumar E. Harikumar (13 July 1943 – 24 March 2020) was an Indian Malayalam novelist and short story writer and novelist in Malayalam, the language of Kerala in South West India. Born on 13 July 1943 in Ponani a coastal town between Calicut and ...

and

Anand Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936), Indian Malayalam writer Places * Anand ...

. Kerala has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly 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.

References

Sources

* * * * * Govindankutty, A. "From Proto-Tamil-Malayalam to West Coast Dialects," 1972. Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. XIV, Nr. 1/2, pp. 52–60.

Notes

External links

*
Malayalam language
at '' 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 * Official languages of India Subject–object–verb languages Sahitya Akademi recognised languages

Etymology

History

Old Malayalam

Middle Malayalam

Modern Malayalam

Dialects

External influences and loanwords

Geographic distribution and population

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Sample text

English

Malayalam

Romanisation (ISO 15919)

IPA

Grammar

Nouns

Personal pronouns

Other nouns

Words adopted from Sanskrit

Nouns

Writing system

Malayalam script

Chillu letters

Number system and other symbols

Numerals

Fractions

Vattezhuthu alphabet

Grantha

Karshoni

Ponnani script

Literature

Folk Songs

Old and Middle Malayalam

Modern Malayalam

Impact of European scholars

1850–1904

Twentieth century

Prose

Poetry

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

Notes

External links