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A Malayalam speaker, recorded in South Africa. Malayalam (/ ˌ m æ l ə ˈ j ɑː l ə m /; [9] മലയാളം, Malayāḷam, IPA: [mɐlɐjaːɭɐm] ⓘ) 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.
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.
The language uses the Arabic and Kannada alphabets for writing. Being a distant cousin of other dialects of Malayalam and surrounded by other linguistic groups for centuries, mainly Tulu, the dialect exhibits ancient features as well as modern innovations not seen in other well-known dialects of Malayalam. [4]
Old Malayalam, or Early Malayalam, the inscriptional variety found in Kerala from c. 9th to c. 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam language. [1] [2] The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the medieval Chera kings as well as the upper-caste village temples). [1]
The origin of this word cannot be conclusively attributed to Malayalam or Tamil. Congee, porridge, water with rice; uncertain origin, possibly from Tamil kanji (கஞ்சி), [7] Telugu or Kannada gañji, or Malayalam kaññi (കഞ്ഞി). [citation needed] Alternatively, possibly from Gujarati, [8] which is not a Dravidian language.
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 among the Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of Kerala in India.
South Dravidian (also called "South Dravidian I") is one of the four major branches of the Dravidian languages family. It includes the literary languages Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu, as well as several non-literary languages such as Badaga, Irula, Kota, Kurumba, Toda and Kodava.
This script was more commonly used in southern Kerala. The script is not, however, the one that is ancestral to the modern Malayalam script. [7] The modern Malayalam script, a modified form of the Pallava-Grantha script, later replaced Vatteluttu for writing the Malayalam language. [3] [7]