Malayalam

Malayalam is a <a href="/facts/Dravidian_languages/s8pMU64e">Dravidian language</a> spoken in the <a href="/facts/India/1kKHcnxM">Indian</a> state of <a href="/facts/Kerala/DMP5u40q">Kerala</a> and the union territories of <a href="/facts/Lakshadweep/fjpHspgw">Lakshadweep</a> and <a href="/facts/Puducherry_(union_territory)/5CHgSWyT">Puducherry</a> (<a href="/facts/Mah%C3%A9_district/whSRL8PN">Mahé district</a>) by the <a href="/facts/Malayali/Rv3L2enG">Malayali</a> people. It is one of 22 <a href="/facts/Languages_with_official_status_in_India/lu7FmR72">scheduled languages</a> of India. Malayalam was designated a "<a href="/facts/Classical_Languages_of_India/6XDhJrTq">Classical Language of India</a>" in 2013. Malayalam has <a href="/facts/Official_language/yCH2URym">official language</a> status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry (<a href="/facts/Mah%C3%A9,_Puducherry/jUBbQahn">Mahé</a>), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep. Malayalam is spoken by 35 million people in India.
Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the <a href="/facts/Kodagu/r53xX9wn">Kodagu</a> and <a href="/facts/Dakshina_Kannada/AmC11Pe3">Dakshina Kannada</a> districts of <a href="/facts/Karnataka/NhJAc4t9">Karnataka</a>, and <a href="/facts/Kanyakumari_district/V02uweSm">Kanyakumari</a>, <a href="/facts/Coimbatore_district/bD0xJwqK">Coimbatore</a> and <a href="/facts/Nilgiris_district/PDdDbuJq">Nilgiris</a> district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the <a href="/facts/Malayali_diaspora/oPuuIcNR">Malayali Diaspora</a> worldwide, especially in the <a href="/facts/Arab_states_of_the_Persian_Gulf/tpxkypCs">Persian Gulf countries</a>, due to the large populations of <a href="/facts/Malayali/Rv3L2enG">Malayali</a> expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in <a href="/facts/India/1kKHcnxM">India</a> including <a href="/facts/Mumbai/BdoEc10R">Mumbai</a>, <a href="/facts/Bengaluru/LoufLHv4">Bengaluru</a>, <a href="/facts/Chennai/8ngv75bW">Chennai</a>, <a href="/facts/Delhi/Xa6CKgnf">Delhi</a>, <a href="/facts/Hyderabad/APPUtNqU">Hyderabad</a> etc.
The origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars. The mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from a western coastal dialect of early <a href="/facts/Middle_Tamil/rVKGVg5h">Middle Tamil</a> and separated from it sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries. This western dialect also preserved some archaisms suggesting an earlier divergence of the spoken dialects in the prehistoric period. A second view argues for the development of the two languages out of "Proto-Dravidian" or "Proto-Tamil-Malayalam" either in the prehistoric period or in the middle of the first millennium A.D., although this is generally rejected by historical linguists. The <a href="/facts/Quilon_Syrian_copper_plates/m0HDwStK">Quilon Syrian copper plates</a> of 849/850 CE are considered by some to be the oldest available inscription written in <a href="/facts/Old_Malayalam/q9rUqGrz">Old Malayalam</a>. However, the existence of Old Malayalam is sometimes disputed by scholars. They regard the <a href="/facts/Chera_Perumals_of_Makotai/IEREJ3gV">Chera Perumal</a> inscriptional language as a diverging dialect or variety of contemporary <a href="/facts/Tamil_language/7I0lHL0d">Tamil</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Vatteluttu_alphabet/wXIUNUXL">Vatteluttu script</a>. The current <a href="/facts/Malayalam_script/HDsBdkqw">Malayalam script</a> is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with <a href="/facts/Grantha_script/V329dYoU">Grantha script</a> letters to adopt <a href="/facts/Indo-Aryan_languages/hm2N7fYp">Indo-Aryan</a> loanwords. It bears high similarity with the <a href="/facts/Tigalari_script/wawmVvNQ">Tigalari script</a>, a historical script that was used to write the <a href="/facts/Tulu_language/oast8Tkb">Tulu language</a> in <a href="/facts/South_Canara/DFDQtwk2">South Canara</a>, and <a href="/facts/Sanskrit/ychfjhlx">Sanskrit</a> in the adjacent <a href="/facts/Malabar_District/0SGvd8Xq">Malabar region</a>. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book <a href="/facts/Kerala_Panineeyam/4FC6q0Nz">Kerala Panineeyam</a> written by <a href="/facts/A._R._Raja_Raja_Varma/orJ8WLQw">A. R. Raja Raja Varma</a> in late 19th century CE. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam <a href="/facts/Varthamanappusthakam/pCxplNjr">Varthamanappusthakam</a>, written by <a href="/facts/Paremmakkal_Thoma_Kathanar/zRRgdhBI">Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar</a> in 1785.
<a href="/facts/Robert_Caldwell/ahKxuLkY">Robert Caldwell</a> describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of <a href="/facts/Kumbla/XSnQsKHs">Kumbla</a> in the north where it supersedes with <a href="/facts/Tulu_language/oast8Tkb">Tulu</a> to <a href="/facts/Kanyakumari/AUNpggYd">Kanyakumari</a> in the south, where it begins to be superseded by <a href="/facts/Tamil_language/7I0lHL0d">Tamil</a>, beside the inhabited islands of <a href="/facts/Lakshadweep/fjpHspgw">Lakshadweep</a> in the <a href="/facts/Arabian_Sea/JM6V0y3s">Arabian Sea</a>.

Malayalam open-in-new

Malayalam