Malayalam

Malayalam (/ˌmæləˈjɑːləm/;[7] 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. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a "Classical Language of India" in 2013.[8][9] Malayalam has official language status in Kerala and Puducherry (Mahé),[10][11][12] and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep and is spoken by 34 million people in India.[2] Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune etc. Malayalam is closely related to the Tamil language.

Quick facts: Malayalam, Pronunciation, Native to, Reg... ▼

Malayalam
malayāḷaṁ
മലയാളം
Malayalam in Malayalam script
Pronunciation	[mɐlɐjaːɭɐm]; pronunciationⓘ
Native to	India
Region	Kerala with border communities in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep and Mahé (Puducherry)
Ethnicity	Malayali
Speakers	L1: 37 million (2011)[1][2][3][4] L2: 700,000[3]
Language family	Dravidian Southern Dravidian[5] Tamil–Kannada Tamil–Kodagu Malayalam languages Malayalam
Early forms	Karintamil Old Malayalam Middle Malayalam
Dialects	Jeseri (Lakshadweep), Arabi Malayalam, Suriyani, Judeo-Malayalam, Beary, Paniya, Mygurudu, Ravula, Aranadan, Kadar, Malapandaram, Malaryan, Malavedan, Mannan, Paliyan, Mullu Kurumba, Malankuravan and Kakkala
Writing system	Malayalam script (Brahmic) Malayalam Braille Vatteluttu (historical) Koleluttu (historical) Malayanma (historical) Grantha (historical) Arabi Malayalam script (historical/rarely used now) Suriyani Malayalam (historical) Hebrew script Latin script (informal)
Official status
Official language in	India Kerala[6] Lakshadweep Puducherry (Mahé)
Regulated by	Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ml
ISO 639-2	mal
ISO 639-3	mal
Glottolog	mala1464
Linguasphere	49-EBE-ba
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Constitutionally recognised languages of India
Category
22 Official Languages of the Indian Republic
Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Marathi Meitei (Manipuri) Nepali Odia Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu
Related
Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India Official Languages Commission Classical Languages of India List of languages by number of native speakers in India
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Malayalam is written in a non-Latin script. Malayalam text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the ISO 15919 standard.

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 around the c. 9th century CE.[13] A second view argues for the development of the two languages out of "Proto-Dravidian" or "Proto-Tamil-Malayalam" in the prehistoric era,[14] although this is generally rejected by historical linguists.[15] It is generally agreed that the Quilon Syrian copper plates of 849/850 CE is the oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam. The oldest extant literary work in Malayalam distinct from the Tamil tradition is Ramacharitam (late 12th or early 13th century).[16]

The earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu script.[17] The current Malayalam script is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with Grantha script letters to adopt Indo-Aryan loanwords.[17][18] It bears high similarity with the Tigalari script, a historical script that was used to write the Tulu language in South Canara, and Sanskrit in the adjacent Malabar region.[19] The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book Kerala Panineeyam written by A. R. Raja Raja Varma in late 19th century CE.[20] The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785.[21][22]

Robert Caldwell describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of Kumbla in the north where it supersedes with Tulu to Kanyakumari in the south, where it begins to be superseded by Tamil,[23] besides the inhabited islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.