Malayalam

Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India and the first language of more than 38 million people.

Etymology

The term Malayalam originally referred to the land of the Chera dynasty, and only later became the name of its language. The language Malayalam is alternatively called Malayanma or Kairali.

History

Malayalam has a history dating back to the 10th century. The earliest known poem in Malayalam, Ramacharitam, was written in the 13th century AD. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785.

Script

The Malayalam script is a Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language, which is the principal language of Kerala, India.

Literature

Malayalam literature is ancient in origin, and includes such figures as the 14th-century Niranam poets (Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar), and the 17th-century poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan.

Dialects

There are a number of Malayalam dialects spoken across Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands. These include the Malabar dialect, Travancore dialect, and Kochi dialect.

Phonology

The Malayalam phonology is characterized by the presence of retroflex lateral and multiple lateral phonemes. The language also has a total of 54 alphabets in its language script.

Grammar

Malayalam grammar is based on the subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, like other Dravidian languages. It also has a rich system of agglutination.

See also

• Malayalam cinema
• Malayalam journalism
• Malayalam calendar
• Malayalam literature
• Music of Kerala