{"history":[],"article":{"id":"b392252d-2d44-4615-97f6-1ba10a0c6330","title":"Malayalam","slug":"malayalam","content":":::summary\n![Malayalam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Word///Malayalam.svg)\n**Name:** Malayalam \n**Pronunciation:** ; \n**States:** [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-of-india) \n**Region:** [Southern India](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-india) · [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) · [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu) ([Kanyakumari district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari-district) and other districts bordering with kerala) · [Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/puducherry-union-territory) ([Mahé](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-district)) · [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) · [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka) (in the district of [Dakshina](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Kodagu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district)) \n**Ethnicity:** [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) \n**Speakers Label:** Speakers \n**Speakers:** [L1](https://bliptext.com/articles/l1-speakers): million \n**Date:** 2011 \n**Speakers 2:** [L2](https://bliptext.com/articles/l2-speakers): \n**Familycolor:** Dravidian \n**Fam 2:** Southern \n**Fam 3:** [Southern I](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-dravidian-languages) \n**Fam 4:** Tamil–[Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada-dialects) \n**Fam 5:** Tamil–[Kota](https://bliptext.com/articles/kota-language-india) \n**Fam 6:** Tamil–[Toda](https://bliptext.com/articles/toda-language) \n**Fam 7:** Tamil–Irula \n**Fam 8:** Tamil–[Kodava](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodava-language)–[Urali](https://bliptext.com/articles/urali-language) \n**Fam 9:** [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamiloid-languages)–[Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalamoid-languages) \n**Fam 1 0:** [Malayalamoid](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalamoid-languages) \n**Ancestor:** [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil-language) \n**Ancestor 2:** [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil-language) \n**Ancestor 3:** [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) \n**Ancestor 4:** [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) \n**Dialects:** [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district)
[North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar)
[Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad)
[Kozhikode](https://bliptext.com/articles/kozhikode)
[Eranad](https://bliptext.com/articles/eranad)
[Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad) ([South Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-malabar))
[Palakkad](https://bliptext.com/articles/palakkad)
[Thrissur](https://bliptext.com/articles/thrissur)-[Kochi](https://bliptext.com/articles/kochi)
North [Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)
West [Vembanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/vembanad)
Central [Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore) South [Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)
[Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep)
[Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language)
[Ravula](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language) [Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri) [Arabi](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) [Suriyani](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) [Judeo-Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/judeo-malayalam) [Byari](https://bliptext.com/articles/byari-dialect) \n**Script:** [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) ([Brahmic](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmic-scripts)) · [Malayalam Braille](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-braille) · [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu-alphabet) (historical) · [Koleluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) (historical) · [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) (historical) · [Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-alphabet) (historical) · Arabi [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) (mostly historical) · [Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) (historical) · [Hebrew script](https://bliptext.com/articles/hebrew-script) · [Latin script](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script) (informal) \n**Nation:** [Official languages of India](https://bliptext.com/articles/official-languages-of-india) · [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) · [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) · [Mahé, Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-puducherry) \n**Agency:** [Kerala Sahitya Akademi](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-sahitya-akademi) · [Government of Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/government-of-kerala) \n**Iso 1:** ml \n**Iso 2:** mal \n**Iso 3:** mal \n**Imagecaption:** Malayalam in [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) \n**Lingua:** 49-EBE-ba \n**Map:** Malayalam_language_(ml,_Q36236)_distribution.svg \n**Mapcaption:** Blue = majority or plurality speak Malayalam · Light blue = A significant minority speak Malayalam or Malayalam languages are spoken alongside other languages \n**Glotto:** mala1464 \n**Glottorefname:** Malayalam \n**Notice:** IPA \n**Notice 2:** Indic \n:::\n\n# \n**Malayalam** is a [Dravidian language](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages) spoken in the Indian state of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) and the union territories of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) and [Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/puducherry-union-territory) ([Mahé district](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-district)) by the [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) people.\nIt is one of 22 [scheduled languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-with-official-status-in-india) of India.\nMalayalam was designated a \"[Classical Language of India](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-languages-of-india)\" in 2013.\nMalayalam has [official language](https://bliptext.com/articles/official-language) status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry ([Mahé](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-puducherry)), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep.\nMalayalam is spoken by 35 million people in India.\nMalayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the [Kodagu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu) and [Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) districts of [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka), and [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari-district), [Coimbatore](https://bliptext.com/articles/coimbatore-district) and [Nilgiris](https://bliptext.com/articles/nilgiris-district) district of Tamil Nadu.\nIt is also spoken by the [Malayali Diaspora](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali-diaspora) worldwide, especially in the [Persian Gulf countries](https://bliptext.com/articles/arab-states-of-the-persian-gulf), due to the large populations of [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) expatriates there.\nThey are a significant population in each city in [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/india) including [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), [Bengaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/bengaluru), [Chennai](https://bliptext.com/articles/chennai), [Delhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/delhi), [Hyderabad](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyderabad) etc.\nThe origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars.\nThe mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from a western coastal dialect of early [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) and separated from it sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries.\nA 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.\nThe [Quilon Syrian copper plates](https://bliptext.com/articles/quilon-syrian-copper-plates) of 849/850 CE are considered by some to be the oldest available inscription written in [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam).\nHowever, the existence of Old Malayalam is sometimes disputed by scholars.\nThey regard the [Chera Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-perumals-of-makotai) inscriptional language as a diverging dialect or variety of contemporary [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language).\nThe oldest extant literary work in Malayalam distinct from the Tamil tradition is Ramacharitam (late 12th or early 13th century).\nThe earliest script used to write Malayalam was the [Vatteluttu script](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu-alphabet).\nThe current [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) letters to adopt [Indo-Aryan](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-aryan-languages) loanwords.\nIt bears high similarity with the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), a historical script that was used to write the [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara), and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in the adjacent [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district).\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\nThe first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam [Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam), written by [Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) in 1785.\n[Robert Caldwell](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-caldwell) describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in the north where it supersedes with [Tulu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) to [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari) in the south, where it begins to be superseded by [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language), beside the inhabited islands of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) in the [Arabian Sea](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabian-sea).\n\n# Etymology\nIn a 7th century poem written by the Tamil poet [Sambandar](https://bliptext.com/articles/sambandar) the people of Kerala are referred to as malaiyāḷar (mountain people).\nThe word is also said to originate from the words, meaning '[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain))', and , meaning '[region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region)' or '-ship' (as in \"township\"); thus translates directly as 'the [mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain)) [region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region)'.\nThe term [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) 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.\nThe term originally referred to the western hilly [land](https://bliptext.com/articles/land) of the [Chera dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-dynasty) (later [Zamorins](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin) and the [Kingdom of Cochin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-cochin)), [Kingdom of Ezhimala](https://bliptext.com/articles/mushika-dynasty) (later [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu)), and [Ay kingdom](https://bliptext.com/articles/ay-kingdom) (later [Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)), and only later became the name of its language.\nThe language Malayalam was alternatively called, , , , , , , and until the early 19th century CE.\nThe earliest extant [literary](https://bliptext.com/articles/literary) works in the regional [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language) of present-day [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) probably date back to as early as the [12th century](https://bliptext.com/articles/12th-century).\nAt that time, the language was differentiated by the name Kerala Bhasha.\nThe earliest mention of Malayalam as a language is found outside of Kerala in the 15th century [Telugu](https://bliptext.com/articles/telugu-language) work Śrībhīmēśvarapurāṇamu by Śrīnātha.\nThe distinctive \"Malayalam\" named identity of this [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language) appears to have come into existence in Kerala only around the [16th century](https://bliptext.com/articles/16th-century), when it was known as \"Malayayma\" or \"Malayanma\"; the words were also used to refer to the [script](https://bliptext.com/articles/writing-system) and the [region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region).\nAccording to [Duarte Barbosa](https://bliptext.com/articles/duarte-barbosa), a Portuguese visitor who visited Kerala in the early 16th century CE, the people in the southwestern [Malabar coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) of India from [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in north to [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari) in south had a unique language, which was called \"Maliama\" by them.\nPrior to this [period](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-modern-period), the people of Kerala usually referred to their language as \"Tamil\", and both terms overlapped into the colonial [period](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-modern-period).\n\n# History\nDue to the geographical isolation of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) from the rest of the [Indian peninsula](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-subcontinent) due to the presence of the [Western Ghats](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-ghats) mountain ranges which lie parallel to the coast, the dialect of [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) spoken in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) was different from that spoken in [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu).\nThe mainstream view holds that Malayalam began to grow as a distinct literary language from the western coastal dialect of [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) and the linguistic separation completed sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries.\nThe renowned poets of [Classical Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) such as [Paranar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paranar) (1st century CE), [Ilango Adigal](https://bliptext.com/articles/ilango-adigal) (2nd–3rd century CE), and [Kulasekhara Alvar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kulasekhara-alvar) (9th century CE) were [Keralites](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali).\nThe [Sangam works](https://bliptext.com/articles/sangam-literature) can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.\nSome scholars however believe that both [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, \"Proto-[Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)-Malayalam\", and that the notion of Malayalam being a \"daughter\" of [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) is misplaced.\nThis is based on the fact that Malayalam and several [Dravidian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages) on the [Western Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-coastal-plains) have common archaic features which are not found even in the oldest historical forms of literary Tamil.\nDespite this, Malayalam shares many common innovations with Tamil that emerged during the early [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) period, thus making independent descent impossible.\nFor example, [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) lacks the first and second person plural pronouns with the ending .\nIt is in the Early Middle Tamil stage that first appears:\nIndeed, most features of Malayalam morphology are derivable from a form of speech corresponding to early Middle Tamil.\n[Robert Caldwell](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) vocabulary and lost the personal terminations of verbs.\nAs the language of scholarship and administration, Old-Tamil, which was written in [Tamil-Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-brahmi) and the Vatteluttu alphabet later, greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam as a literary language.\nThe [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) began to diverge from the [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) and the Western [Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) scripts in the 8th and 9th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nBy the end of the 13th century, a written form of the language emerged which was unique from the [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) script that was used to write Tamil on the eastern coast.\n# [The Quilon Syrian copper plates (849/850 CE) are considered as the oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam. Besides Old Malayalam, the copper plate also contains signatures in Arabic (Kufic script), Middle Persian (cursive Pahlavi script) and Judeo-Persian (standard square Hebrew) scripts. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Quilon///Syrian///copper///plates///%28849///AD%29.jpg]\n\n## Old Malayalam\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) (Paḻaya Malayāḷam), an inscriptional language found in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) from circa 9th to circa 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam.\nThe beginning of the development of [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) from a western coastal dialect of [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) can be dated to circa 8th century CE.\nIt remained a west coast dialect until circa 9th century CE or a little later.\nThe origin of [Malayalam calendar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-calendar) dates back to year 825 CE.\nIt is generally agreed that the western coastal dialect of Tamil began to separate, diverge, and grow as a distinct language due to geographical separation of Kerala from the Tamil country and the influence of [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit) from the [Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri) [Brahmins](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmin) of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast).\nThe [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the [Chera Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-perumals-of-makotai) kings, as well as the [upper-caste](https://bliptext.com/articles/caste) ([Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri)) village temples).\nMost of the inscriptions in [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) were found from the [northern districts of Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-districts-of-kerala), those lie adjacent to [Tulu Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu).\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) was mostly written in [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) script (with [Pallava/Southern Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) characters).\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) 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.\n[Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) and [Thirunizhalmala](https://bliptext.com/articles/thirunizhalmala) are the possible literary works of [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) found so far.\n\n## Middle Malayalam\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) gradually developed into [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) (Madhyakaala Malayalam) by the 13th century CE.\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) also completely diverged from [Tamil literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-literature) during this period.\nWorks including Unniyachi Charitham, Unnichiruthevi Charitham, and Unniyadi Charitham, are written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam), and date back to the 13th and 14th centuries of the [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nThe Sandesha Kavyas of 14th century CE written in [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam) language include [Unnuneeli Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnuneeli-sandesam).\nKannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatham by Rama Panikkar of the [Niranam poets](https://bliptext.com/articles/niranam-poets) who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language.\n[Ulloor](https://bliptext.com/articles/ulloor-s-parameswara-iyer) has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) that [Edmund Spenser](https://bliptext.com/articles/edmund-spenser) does in [English literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-literature).\nThe [Champu](https://bliptext.com/articles/champu) Kavyas written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the Pathinettara Kavikal (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the [Zamorin of Calicut](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin-of-calicut), also belong to Middle Malayalam.\nThe literary works of this period were heavily influenced by [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam), which was a combination of contemporary [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThe word Mani-Pravalam literally means Diamond-Coral or Ruby-Coral.\nThe 14th-century [Lilatilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/lilatilakam) text states Manipravalam to be a Bhashya (language) where \"Dravida and Sanskrit should combine together like ruby and coral, without the least trace of any discord\".\nThe scripts of [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) and [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) were also used to write [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam).\nIn addition to Vatteluthu and [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), those were used to write [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam).\nThe literary works written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) were heavily influenced by [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), while comparing them with the modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\n# [251x251px | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Copy///of///Ezhuthachan%27s///Adhyathma///ramayanam///Kilippattu.jpg]\n\n## Modern Malayalam\nThe [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (Aadhunika Malayalam) by 15th century CE.\nThe poem [Krishnagatha](https://bliptext.com/articles/krishnagatha) written by [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu), is written in modern Malayalam.\nThe language used in Krishnagatha is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.\nDuring the 16th century CE, [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) from the [Kingdom of Tanur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-tanur) and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) from the [Kingdom of Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad), followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems.\nThe [Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam-kilippattu) and Mahabharatham [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu), written by Ezhuthachan, and [Jnanappana](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanappana), written by Poonthanam, are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.\n[Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) is also credited with developing the [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) into the current form through the intermixing and modification of the erstwhile scripts of [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu), [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu), and [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), which were used to write the inscriptions and literary works of Old and Middle Malayalam.\nHe further eliminated excess and unnecessary letters from the modified script.\nHence, Ezhuthachan is also known as The Father of modern Malayalam.\nThe development of modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) was also heavily influenced by the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used to write [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit), due to the influence of [Tuluva Brahmins](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuluva-brahmin) in Kerala.\nThe language used in the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works of the 16th–17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language).\nThey follow the syntax of modern Malayalam, though written in a modified form of [Arabic script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-script), which is known as [Arabi Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam-script).\nP. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work [Keralolpathi](https://bliptext.com/articles/keralolpathi), which describes the [Parashurama](https://bliptext.com/articles/parashurama) legend and the departure of the final [Cheraman Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/thajuddin) king to [Mecca](https://bliptext.com/articles/mecca), to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.\n[Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar) introduced a new literary form called Thullal, and [Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar) introduced reforms in [Attakkatha literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/kathakali).\nThe printing, prose literature, and [Malayalam journalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-journalism), developed after the latter-half of the 18th century CE.\nModern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of [Kumaran Asan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumaran-asan), [Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer](https://bliptext.com/articles/ulloor-s-parameswara-iyer) and [Vallathol Narayana Menon](https://bliptext.com/articles/vallathol-narayana-menon).\nIn the second half of the 20th century, [Jnanpith](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith) winning poets and writers like [G. Sankara Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-sankara-kurup), [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt), [Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai), [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair), [O. N. V. Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-n-v-kurup), and [Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/akkitham-achuthan-namboothiri), had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.\nThe life and works of [Edasseri Govindan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/edasseri-govindan-nair) have assumed greater socio-literary significance after his death and Edasseri is now recognised as an important poet of Malayalam.\nLater, writers like [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [Kamaladas](https://bliptext.com/articles/kamaladas), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan), [Arundhati Roy](https://bliptext.com/articles/arundhati-roy), and [Vaikom Muhammed Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/vaikom-muhammed-basheer), have gained international recognition.\nMalayalam has also borrowed a lot of its words from various foreign languages: mainly from the [Semitic languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/semitic-languages) including [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic), and the [European languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-of-europe) including [Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language) and [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language), due to the long heritage of [Indian Ocean trade](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-ocean-trade) and the [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language)-[Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language) colonization of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast).\n\n# Dialects\nVariations in [intonation](https://bliptext.com/articles/intonation-linguistics) patterns, vocabulary, and distribution of grammatical and [phonological](https://bliptext.com/articles/phonology) elements are observable along the parameters of region, religion, community, occupation, social stratum, style and register.\nAccording to the Dravidian Encyclopedia, the regional [dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/dialect) of Malayalam can be divided into fifteen dialect areas.\nThey are as follows:\nAccording to Ethnologue, the dialects are: Malabar, Nagari-Malayalam, North Kerala, Central Kerala, South Kerala, Kayavar, [Namboodiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/namboodiri), [Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/nair), [Mappila](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam), [Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language), [Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri), [Yerava](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language), Pulaya, [Nasrani](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians), and [Kasargod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasargod).\nThe community dialects are: [Namboodiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri), [Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/nair), [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam), Pulaya, and [Nasrani](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians).\nWhereas both the [Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri) and Nair dialects have a common nature, the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) is among the most divergent of dialects, differing considerably from literary Malayalam.\n[Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri) is a dialect of Malayalam spoken mainly in the Union territory of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) and [Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language) is spoken in [Tulu Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu) which are nearer to Kerala.\nOf 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](https://bliptext.com/articles/aranadan-language).\nThe dialects of Malayalam spoken in the districts like [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district), [Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur-district), [Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad), [Kozhikode](https://bliptext.com/articles/kozhikode), and [Malappuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/malappuram-district) in the former [Malabar District](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district) have few influences from [Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nFor example, the words those start with the sound \"V\" in Malayalam become \"B\" in these districts as in [Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nAlso the [Voiced retroflex approximant](https://bliptext.com/articles/voiced-retroflex-approximant) (/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nFor 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.\nSimilarly the Malayalam spoken in the southern districts of Kerala, i.e., [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram-district)-[Kollam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kollam-district)-[Pathanamthitta](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathanamthitta-district) area is influenced by Tamil.\nLabels 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.\nThe most outstanding features of the major communal dialects of Malayalam are summarized below:\n\n## External influences and loanwords\nMalayalam has incorporated many elements from other languages over the years, the most notable of these being [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and later, English.\nAccording to [Sooranad Kunjan Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/sooranad-kunjan-pillai) who compiled the authoritative Malayalam lexicon, the other principal languages whose vocabulary was incorporated over the ages were [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic), [Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language), [Hindustani](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindustani-language), [Pali](https://bliptext.com/articles/pali), [Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-language), [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language), [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), and [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language).\n\n# Geographic distribution and population\nMalayalam is a language spoken by the native people of southwestern India and the islands of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) in the [Arabian Sea](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabian-sea).\nAccording 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.\nThere were a further 701,673 (1.14% of the total number) in [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka), 957,705 (2.70%) in [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu), and 406,358 (1.2%) in [Maharashtra](https://bliptext.com/articles/maharashtra).\nThe number of Malayalam speakers in [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep).\nMalayalam was the most spoken language in erstwhile [Gudalur taluk](https://bliptext.com/articles/gudalur-taluk) (now Gudalur and Panthalur taluks) of [Nilgiris district](https://bliptext.com/articles/nilgiris-district) in Tamil Nadu which accounts for 48.8% population and it was the second most spoken language in [Mangalore](https://bliptext.com/articles/mangalore) and Puttur taluks of [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara) accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report.\n25.57% of the total population in the [Kodagu district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district) of [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka) are [Malayalis](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali), and they form the single largest linguistic group accounting for 35.5% in the [Virajpet](https://bliptext.com/articles/virajpet) Taluk.\nAround one-third of the [Malayalis](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) in [Kodagu district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district) speak the [Yerava dialect](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language) according to the 2011 census, which is native to Kodagu and [Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad).\nIn all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2011.\nOf 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.\nAs 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.\nJust before independence, [Malaya](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-malaya) attracted many [Malaya](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-malaya)lis.\nLarge numbers of Malayalis have settled in [Chennai](https://bliptext.com/articles/chennai), [Bengaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/bengaluru), [Mangaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/mangaluru), [Hyderabad](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyderabad-telangana), [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), Navi [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), [Pune](https://bliptext.com/articles/pune), [Mysuru](https://bliptext.com/articles/mysuru) and [Delhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/delhi).\nMany Malayalis have also emigrated to the [Middle East](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-east), the United States, and Europe.\nThere were 179,860 speakers of Malayalam in the United States, according to the 2000 census, with the highest concentrations in [Bergen County, New Jersey](https://bliptext.com/articles/bergen-county-new-jersey), and [Rockland County, New York](https://bliptext.com/articles/rockland-county-new-york).\nThere are 144,000 of Malayalam speakers in [Malaysia](https://bliptext.com/articles/malaysia).\nThere were 11,687 Malayalam speakers in Australia in 2016.\nThe 2001 [Canadian census](https://bliptext.com/articles/canadian-census) reported 7,070 people who listed Malayalam as their mother tongue, mainly in [Toronto](https://bliptext.com/articles/toronto).\nThe 2006 New Zealand census reported 2,139 speakers.\n134 Malayalam speaking households were reported in 1956 in [Fiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/fiji).\nThere is also a considerable [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) population in the [Persian Gulf](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-gulf) regions, especially in [Dubai](https://bliptext.com/articles/dubai), [Kuwait](https://bliptext.com/articles/kuwait) and [Doha](https://bliptext.com/articles/doha).\n\n# Phonology\nFor the consonants and vowels, the [International Phonetic Alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-alphabet) (IPA) symbol is given, followed by the Malayalam character and the [ISO 15919](https://bliptext.com/articles/iso-15919) transliteration.\nThe current Malayalam script bears high similarity with [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used for writing the [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language), spoken in [coastal Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu) ([Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Udupi](https://bliptext.com/articles/udupi-district) districts) and the northernmost [Kasargod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasargod-district) of Kerala.\nTigalari script was also used for writing [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district).\n# [Monophthongs of Malayalam, from Namboodiripad, Savithry (2016) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Malayalam///vowels.png]\n\n## Vowels\nMalayalam has also borrowed the [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) [diphthongs](https://bliptext.com/articles/diphthongs) of (represented in Malayalam as ഐ, ai) and (represented in Malayalam as ഔ, au) although these mostly occur only in [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) loanwords.\nTraditionally (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 (ഋ, , r̥), long vocalic r (ൠ, , r̥̄), vocalic l (ഌ, , l̥) and long vocalic l (ൡ, , l̥̄).\nExcept 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.\nSome 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\nVowel length is phonemic and all of the vowels have minimal pairs for example kaṭṭi \"thickness\", kāṭṭi \"showed\", koṭṭi \"tapped\", kōṭṭi \"twisted, stick, marble\", er̠i \"throw\", ēr̠i \"lots\"\nSome speakers also have /æː/, /ɔː/, /ə/ from English loanwords e.g. /bæːŋgɨ̆/ \"bank\" but most speakers replace it with /aː/, /eː/ or /ja/; /oː/ or /aː/ and /e/ or /a/.\n# [The first letter in Malayalam | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/malayalam.svg]\n\n## Consonants\n\n# Sample text\nThe following text is Article 1 of the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights](https://bliptext.com/articles/universal-declaration-of-human-rights).\n\n## English\nAll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.\nThey are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.\n\n## Malayalam\nമനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്‌.\nഅന്യോന്യം ഭ്രാതൃഭാവത്തോടെ പെരുമാറുവാനാണ്‌ മനുഷ്യന് വിവേകബുദ്ധിയും മനസാക്ഷിയും സിദ്ധമായിരിക്കുന്നത്‌.\n\n## Romanisation (ISO 15919)\nmanuṣyarellāvaruṁ tulyāvakāśaṅṅaḷōṭuṁ antassōṭuṁ svātantryattōṭuṅkūṭi janicciṭṭuḷḷavarāṇ‌ŭ.\nanyōnyaṁ bhrātr̥bhāvattōṭe perumāṟuvānāṇ‌ŭ manuṣyanŭ vivēkabuddhiyuṁ manasākṣiyuṁ siddhamāyirikkunnat‌ŭ.\n\n## IPA\n/manuʂjaɾellaːʋaɾum t̪uljaːʋakaːʃaŋŋaɭoːʈum an̪t̪assoːʈum sʋaːt̪an̪tɾjat̪t̪oːʈuŋkuːʈi d͡ʒanit͡ʃt͡ʃiʈʈuɭɭaʋaɾaːɳɨ̆ ǁ anjoːnjam bʱraːt̪rɨ̆bʱaːʋat̪t̪oːʈe peɾumaːruʋaːnaːɳɨ̆ manuʂjanɨ̆ ʋiʋeːkabud̪d̪ʱijum manasaːkʂijum sid̪d̪ʱamaːjiɾikkun̪ːat̪ɨ̆ ǁ/\n\n# Grammar\nMalayalam has a canonical word order of [SOV](https://bliptext.com/articles/subject-object-verb) (subject–object–verb), as do other [Dravidian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages).\nA rare [OSV](https://bliptext.com/articles/subject-object-verb) word order occurs in interrogative clauses when the interrogative word is the subject.\nBoth [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjective) and possessive [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjective) precede the [nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/noun) they modify.\nMalayalam has 6 or 7 [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-case).\nVerbs are conjugated for tense, mood and aspect, but not for person, gender nor number except in archaic or poetic language.\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\n\n## Nouns\nThe [declensional](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) paradigms for some common nouns and pronouns are given below.\nAs 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.\n[Alveolar plosives](https://bliptext.com/articles/alveolar-plosive) and [nasals](https://bliptext.com/articles/alveolar-nasal) (although the modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) does not distinguish the latter from the [dental nasal](https://bliptext.com/articles/dental-nasal)) are underlined for clarity, following the convention of the [National Library at Kolkata romanization](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-library-at-kolkata-romanization).\n\n## Personal pronouns\n[Vocative](https://bliptext.com/articles/vocative-case) forms are given in parentheses after the [nominative](https://bliptext.com/articles/nominative), as the only pronominal vocatives that are used are the third person ones, which only occur in compounds.\n\n## Other nouns\nThe following are examples of some of the most common declension patterns.\n\n## Words adopted from Sanskrit\nWhen words are adopted from Sanskrit, their endings are usually changed to conform to Malayalam norms:\n\n### Nouns\n\n# Writing system\nAside from the Malayalam script, the Malayalam language has been written in other scripts like [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script), [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) and [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam).\n[Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) was used by [Saint Thomas Christians](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians) (also known as Nasranis) until the 19th century.\nArabic scripts particularly were taught in [madrasahs](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrasah) in Kerala and the [Lakshadweep Islands](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep-islands).\n\n## Malayalam script\nHistorically, several scripts were used to write Malayalam.\nAmong these were the Vatteluttu, [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) and [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) scripts.\nBut it was the [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), another [Southern Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-brahmi) variation, which gave rise to the modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script).\nThe modern Malayalam script bears high similarity to [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used for writing [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [Coastal Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara) ([Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Udupi](https://bliptext.com/articles/udupi-district) districts) and the northernmost [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) of Kerala.\nIt 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.\nIn the 1960s Malayalam dispensed with many special letters representing less frequent conjunct consonants and combinations of the vowel /u, u:/ with different consonants.\nMalayalam script consists of a total of 578 characters.\nThe script contains 52 letters including 16 vowels and 36 consonants, which forms 576 syllabic characters, and contains two additional diacritic characters named [anusvāra](https://bliptext.com/articles/anusv-ra) and [visarga](https://bliptext.com/articles/visarga).\nThe earlier style of writing has been superseded by a new style as of 1981.\nThis new script reduces the different letters for typesetting from 900 to fewer than 90.\nThis was mainly done to include Malayalam in the keyboards of typewriters and computers.\nIn 1999 a group named \"Rachana Akshara Vedi\" produced a set of free [fonts](https://bliptext.com/articles/typeface) containing the entire character repertoire of more than 900 [glyphs](https://bliptext.com/articles/glyph).\nThis was announced and released along with a [text editor](https://bliptext.com/articles/text-editor) in the same year at [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram), the capital of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala).\nIn 2004, the fonts were released under the [GPL](https://bliptext.com/articles/gnu-general-public-license) license by [Richard Stallman](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-stallman) of the [Free Software Foundation](https://bliptext.com/articles/free-software-foundation) at the [Cochin University of Science and Technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/cochin-university-of-science-and-technology) in Kochi, Kerala.\n# [A Malayalam signboard from Kannur, Kerala. Malayalam is official language in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/St///angelo///fort///Arakkal///Museum.JPG]\n# [A Board in Malayalam which uses the complex letters in traditional script | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Malayalam///board///with///old///style///Malayalam///letter///%28cropped%29.jpg]\n\n## Chillu letters\nA chillu (ചില്ല്, ), or a chillaksharam (ചില്ലക്ഷരം, ), is a special consonant letter that represents a pure consonant independently, without help of a [virama](https://bliptext.com/articles/virama).\nUnlike a consonant represented by an ordinary consonant letter, this consonant is never followed by an inherent vowel.\n[Anusvara](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [visarga](https://bliptext.com/articles/) fit this definition but are not usually included.\nISCII and Unicode 5.0 treat a chillu as a glyph variant of a normal (\"base\") consonant letter.\nIn Unicode 5.1 and later, chillu letters are treated as independent characters, encoded atomically.\n\n## Number system and other symbols\n\n## Numerals\nMalayalam numbers and fractions are written as follows.\nThese are archaic and no longer used.\nInstead, the common [Hindu-Arabic numeral system](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindu-arabic-numeral-system) is followed.\nThere is a confusion about the glyph of Malayalam digit zero.\nThe correct form is oval-shaped, but occasionally the glyph for 1/4 (൳) is erroneously shown as the glyph for 0.\nNumber \"11\" is written as \"൰൧\" and not \"൧൧\".\n\"32\" is written as \"൩൰൨\" similar to the [Tamil numeral system](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-numerals).\nFor example, the number \"2013\" is read in Malayalam as രണ്ടായിരത്തി പതിമൂന്ന്.\nIt is split into:\nCombine them together to get the Malayalam number '''൨൲൰൩.\n'''\nAnd 1,00,000 as \"൱൲\" = hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (100×1000), 10,00,000 as \"൰൱൲\" = ten(൰), hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (10×100×1000) and 1,00,00,000 as \"൱൱൲\" = hundred(൱), hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (100×100×1000).\nLater 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 ൧൦൦൦൦൦൦.\n\n## Fractions\nIn Malayalam you can transcribe any fraction by affixing after the denominator followed by the numerator, so a fraction like 7/10 would be read as **പത്തിൽ ഏഴ്** 'out of ten, seven' but fractions like 1/2 1/4 and 3/4 have distinct names and 1/8 'half quarter'.\n\n## Vattezhuthu alphabet\nVatteluttu (, \"round writing\") is a script that had evolved from [Tamil-Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-brahmi) and was once used extensively in the southern part of present-day [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu) and in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala).\nMalayalam was first written in Vattezhuthu.\nThe [Vazhappally](https://bliptext.com/articles/vazhappally) inscription issued by [Rajashekhara Varman](https://bliptext.com/articles/rajashekhara-varman) is the earliest example, dating from about 830 CE.\nDuring the medieval period, the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script) that was used for writing [Tulu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara), and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in the adjacent [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district), had a close similarity to the modern Malayalam script.\nIn the Tamil country, the modern [Tamil script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-script) had supplanted Vattezhuthu by the 15th century, but in the [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) region, Vattezhuthu remained in general use up to the 17th century, or the 18th century.\nA variant form of this script, [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu), was used until about the 19th century mainly in the [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district)-[Cochin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-cochin) area.\nVatteluttu was in general use, but was not suitable for literature where many Sanskrit words were used.\nLike [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)-Brahmi, it was originally used to write [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language), and as such, did not have letters for voiced or aspirated consonants used in Sanskrit but not used in [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language).\nFor this reason, Vatteluttu and the Grantha alphabet were sometimes mixed, as in the [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam).\nOne of the oldest examples of the Manipravalam literature, Vaishikatantram (വൈശികതന്ത്രം, Vaiśikatantram), dates back to the 12th century, 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.\nAnother variant form, [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma), was used in the south of [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram).\nBy the 19th century, old scripts like Kolezhuthu had been supplanted by Arya-eluttu – that is the current Malayalam script.\nNowadays, it is widely used in the press of the Malayali population in Kerala.\n# [A medieval Tigalari manuscript (Bears high similarity with modern Malayalam script) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Tigalari-sanskrit-manuscript.jpg]\n\n## Grantha\nAccording to [Arthur Coke Burnell](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-coke-burnell), one form of the Grantha alphabet, originally used in the [Chola dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/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.\nIt later evolved into Tigalari-Malayalam script was used by the [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali), Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only applied to write [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThis script split into two scripts: Tigalari and Malayalam.\nWhile Malayalam script was extended and modified to write vernacular language Malayalam, the Tigalari was written for Sanskrit only.\nIn Malabar, this writing system was termed Arya-eluttu (ആര്യ എഴുത്ത്, Ārya eḻuttŭ), meaning \"Arya writing\" (Sanskrit is [Indo-Aryan language](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-aryan-languages) while Malayalam is a [Dravidian language](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages)).\n# [251x251px | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/9th///century///Tamil///Grantha///script///Sanskrit///Chera///era///font.jpg]\n\n## Karshoni\n[Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) (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](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-alphabet) which was popular among the [Saint Thomas Christians](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians) (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) in [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/india).\nIt uses Malayalam grammar, the [Maḏnḥāyā](https://bliptext.com/articles/madnhaya) or \"Eastern\" Syriac script with special [orthographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography) features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac.\nThis originated in the South Indian region of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) (modern-day Kerala).\nUntil the 20th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.\n# [East Syriac Script Thaksa (Chaldean Syrian Church, Thrissur, Kerala, India) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/East///Syriac///Script///Thaksa.jpg]\n\n## Ponnani script\nThe [Arabi Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam-script), otherwise known as the [Ponnani](https://bliptext.com/articles/ponnani) script, is a writing system – a variant form of the [Arabic script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-script) with special [orthographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography) features – which was developed during the early medieval period and used to write [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) until the early 20th century CE.\nThough the script originated and developed in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala), today it is predominantly used in [Malaysia](https://bliptext.com/articles/malaysia) and [Singapore](https://bliptext.com/articles/singapore) by the migrant [Muslim](https://bliptext.com/articles/muslim) community.\n# [Arabi Malayalam alphabet with Malayalam alphabet correspondences | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/ArabiMalayalam///alphabet.png]\n\n# Literature\nThe [Sangam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/sangam-literature) can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.\nAccording to [Iravatham Mahadevan](https://bliptext.com/articles/iravatham-mahadevan), the earliest Malayalam inscription discovered until now is the Edakal-5 inscription (ca. late 4th century – early 5th century) reading ( 'this is old').\nAlthough this has been disputed by many scholars who regard it as a regional dialect of Old Tamil.\nThe use of the pronoun and the lack of the literary Tamil ending are archaisms from Proto-Dravidian rather than unique innovations of Malayalam.\nThe early literature of Malayalam comprised three types of composition:\nMalayalam Nada, Tamil Nada and Sanskrit Nada.\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) has been profoundly influenced by poets [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan), and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri), in the 15th and the 16th centuries of Common Era.\n[Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar), a probable 17th–18th century poet, and [Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar), a poet of 18th century, also greatly influenced [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) in its early form.\nThe words used in many of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works those date back to 16th–17th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era) are also very closer to the modern Malayalam language.\nThe prose literature, criticism, and [Malayalam journalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-journalism) began after the latter half of 18th century CE.\nContemporary [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) deals with social, political, and economic life context.\nThe tendency of the modern poetry is often towards [political radicalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-radicalism).\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) has been presented with six [Jnanapith awards](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith-award), the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.\n[Malayalam poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-poetry) to the late 20th century betrays varying degrees of the fusion of the three different strands.\nThe oldest examples of Pattu and Manipravalam, respectively, are Ramacharitam and Vaishikatantram, both from the 12th century.\nThe earliest extant prose work in the language is a commentary in simple Malayalam, Bhashakautalyam (12th century) on [Chanakya](https://bliptext.com/articles/chanakya)'s [Arthashastra](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthashastra).\n[Adhyatmaramayanam](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam) by [Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ramanujan-ezhuthachan) (known as the father of modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature)) who was born in [Tirur](https://bliptext.com/articles/tirur), one of the most important works in [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\n[Unnunili Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnunili-sandesam) written in the 14th century is amongst the oldest literary works in Malayalam language.\n[Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri) of 15th century ([Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur)-based poet), [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) of 16th century ([Perinthalmanna](https://bliptext.com/articles/perinthalmanna)-based poet), [Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar) of 17th–18th centuries ([Thrissur](https://bliptext.com/articles/thrissur)-based poet), and [Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar) of 18th century ([Palakkad](https://bliptext.com/articles/palakkad)-based poet), have played a major role in the development of [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) into current form.\nThe words used in many of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.\nThe basin of the river [Bharathappuzha](https://bliptext.com/articles/bharathappuzha), which is otherwise known as [River Ponnani](https://bliptext.com/articles/ponnani), and its tributaries, have played a major role in the development of modern Malayalam Literature.\nBy the end of the 18th century some of the [Christian missionaries](https://bliptext.com/articles/christian-missionaries) from Kerala started writing in Malayalam but mostly travelogues, dictionaries and religious books.\n[Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam) (1778), written by [Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) is considered to be the first travelogue in an Indian language.\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\n\n## Folk Songs\nFor the first 600 years of the [Malayalam calendar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-calendar), Malayalam literature remained in a preliminary stage.\nDuring this time, Malayalam literature consisted mainly of various genres of songs (Pattu).\nFolk songs are the oldest literary form in Malayalam.\nThey were just oral songs.\nMany of them were related to agricultural activities, including Pulayar Pattu, Pulluvan Pattu, Njattu Pattu, Koythu Pattu, etc. Other [Ballads](https://bliptext.com/articles/ballad) of Folk Song period include the [Vadakkan Pattukal](https://bliptext.com/articles/vadakkan-pattukal) (Northern songs) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) region and the Thekkan Pattukal (Southern songs) in [Southern Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-division-travancore).\nSome of the earliest [Mappila songs](https://bliptext.com/articles/mappila-song) (Muslim songs) were also folk songs.\n\n## Old and Middle Malayalam\nThe earliest known poems in Malayalam, [Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) and [Thirunizhalmala](https://bliptext.com/articles/thirunizhalmala), dated to the 12th to 14th century, were completed before the introduction of the Sanskrit alphabet.\nIt 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.\nHowever the claim that it was written in Southern Kerala is expired on the basis of new discoveries.\nOther experts, like Chirakkal T Balakrishnan Nair, K.M. George, M. M. Purushothaman Nair, and P.V. Krishnan Nair, state that the origin of the book is in [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) region.\nThey cite the use of certain words in the book and also the fact that the manuscript of the book was recovered from [Nileshwaram](https://bliptext.com/articles/nileshwaram) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar).\nThe influence of [Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) is mostly seen in the contemporary literary works of Northern Kerala.\nThe words used in Ramacharitam such as Nade (Mumbe), Innum (Iniyum), Ninna (Ninne), Chaaduka (Eriyuka) are special features of the dialect spoken in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) ([Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod)-[Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur) region).\nFurthermore, the [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram) mentioned in Ramacharitham is not the [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram) in Southern Kerala.\nBut it is [Ananthapura Lake Temple](https://bliptext.com/articles/ananthapura-lake-temple) of [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in the northernmost [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) of Kerala.\nThe word Thiru is used just by the meaning Honoured.\nToday it is widely accepted that Ramacharitham was written somewhere in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) (most likely near [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod)).\nBut the period of the earliest available literary document cannot be the sole criterion used to determine the antiquity of a language.\nIn 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.\nIt mixed poetry with prose and used a vocabulary strongly influenced by Sanskrit, with themes from epics and Puranas.\nThe works including Unniyachi Charitham, Unnichirudevi Charitham, and Unniyadi Charitham, are written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam), those date back to 13th and 14th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nThe Sandesha Kavyas of 14th century CE written in [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam) language include [Unnuneeli Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnuneeli-sandesam) The literary works written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) were heavily influenced by [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), while comparing them with the modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\nThe word Manipravalam literally means Diamond-Coral or Ruby-Coral.\nThe 14th-century [Lilatilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/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\".\nThe [Champu](https://bliptext.com/articles/champu) Kavyas written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the Pathinettara Kavikal (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the [Zamorin of Calicut](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin-of-calicut), also belong to Middle Malayalam.\n\n## Modern Malayalam\nThe poem [Krishnagatha](https://bliptext.com/articles/krishnagatha) written by [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu), is written in modern Malayalam.\nThe language used in Krishnagatha is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.\nIt appears to be the first literary work written in the present-day language of Malayalam.\nDuring the 16th century CE, [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) from the [Kingdom of Tanur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-tanur) and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) from the [Kingdom of Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad) followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems.\nThe [Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam-kilippattu) and Mahabharatham [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu) written by Ezhuthachan and [Jnanappana](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanappana) written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.\nThe words used in most of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries, are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.\nP. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work [Keralolpathi](https://bliptext.com/articles/keralolpathi), which describes the [Parashurama](https://bliptext.com/articles/parashurama) legend and the departure of the final [Cheraman Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/legend-of-cheraman-perumals) king to [Mecca](https://bliptext.com/articles/mecca), to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.\n[Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar), the founder of Thullal movement, was a prolific literary figure of the 18th century.\n# [The Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University is situated at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur, Malappuram | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/THUNCHAN///MEMORIAL.jpg]\n\n### Impact of European scholars\nThe British printed Malabar English Dictionary by Graham Shaw in 1779 was still in the form of a Tamil-English Dictionary.\n[Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) wrote the first Malayalam travelogue called [Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam) in 1789.\n[Hermann Gundert](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermann-gundert), (1814–1893), a German missionary and scholar of exceptional linguistic talents, played a distinguishable role in the development of Malayalam literature.\nHis 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.\nHe lived in [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) for around 20 years.\nHe learned the language from well established local teachers Ooracheri Gurukkanmar from Chokli, a village near [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) and consulted them in works.\nHe also translated the Bible into Malayalam.\nIn 1821, the [Church Mission Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-mission-society) (CMS) at [Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) in association with the [Syriac Orthodox Church](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-orthodox-church) started a seminary at [Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) in 1819 and started printing books in Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey, an [Anglican](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglican) priest, made the first Malayalam types.\nIn addition, he contributed to standardizing the prose.\n[Hermann Gundert](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermann-gundert) from [Stuttgart](https://bliptext.com/articles/stuttgart), Germany, started the first Malayalam newspaper, Rajya Samacaram in 1847 at [Talasseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery).\nIt was printed at [Basel Mission](https://bliptext.com/articles/basel-mission).\nMalayalam and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) were increasingly studied by Christians of [Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) and [Pathanamthitta](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathanamthitta).\nThe [Marthomite](https://bliptext.com/articles/marthomite) movement in the mid-19th century called for replacement of [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language) by Malayalam for liturgical purposes.\nBy the end of the 19th century Malayalam replaced [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language) as language of [Liturgy](https://bliptext.com/articles/liturgy) in all Syrian Christian churches.\n\n### 1850–1904\n[Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/vengayil-kunhiraman-nayanar), (1861–1914) from [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) was the author of first Malayalam short story, Vasanavikriti.\nAfter him innumerable world class literature works by was born in Malayalam.\n[O. Chandu Menon](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-chandu-menon) wrote his novels \"Indulekha\" and \"Saradha\" while he was the judge at Parappanangadi Munciff Court.\nIndulekha is also the first Major Novel written in Malayalam language.\n.\nThe 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.\nThe major poets of the [Venmani School](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-school) were [Venmani Achhan Nambudiripad](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-achhan-nambudiripad) (1817–1891), [Venmani Mahan Nambudiripad](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-mahan-nambudiripad) (1844–1893), [Poonthottam Achhan Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthottam-achhan-nambudiri) (1821–1865), [Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthottam-mahan-nambudiri) (1857–1896) and the members of the [Kodungallur Kovilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodungallur-kovilakam) (Royal Family) such as [Kodungallur Kunjikkuttan Thampuran](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodungallur-kunjikkuttan-thampuran).\nThe 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](https://bliptext.com/articles/velutheri-kesavan-vaidyar) (1839–1897) and Perunlli Krishnan Vaidyan (1863–1894).\nThe 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.\n# [Malayalam letters on old Travancore Rupee coin | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Travancore///Rupee///-///Reverse.jpg]\n# [Shakuntala writes to Dushyanta. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma. The poetry was translated by Kerala Varma as Abhijnanasakuntalam | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Shakuntala///RRV.jpg]\n\n## Twentieth century\nIn the second half of the 20th century, [Jnanpith](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith) winning poets and writers like [G. Sankara Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-sankara-kurup), [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt), [Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai), [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair), [O. N. V. Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-n-v-kurup), [Edasseri Govindan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/edasseri-govindan-nair) and [Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/akkitham-achuthan-namboothiri), had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.\nLater, writers like [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [Kamaladas](https://bliptext.com/articles/kamaladas), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan), [Arundhati Roy](https://bliptext.com/articles/arundhati-roy), and [Vaikom Muhammed Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/vaikom-muhammed-basheer), have gained international recognition.\n\n### Prose\nThe travelogues written by [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt) were turning point in the travelogue literature.\nThe writers like [Kavalam Narayana Panicker](https://bliptext.com/articles/kavalam-narayana-panicker) have contributed much to Malayalam drama.\n[Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai) turned away from party politics and produced a moving romance in [Chemmeen](https://bliptext.com/articles/chemmeen-novel) (Shrimps) in 1956.\nFor [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt) and [Vaikom Muhammad Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu) (My Grandpa had an Elephant, 1951).\nThe non-political social or domestic novel was championed by [P. C. Kuttikrishnan (Uroob)](https://bliptext.com/articles/uroob) with his [Ummachu](https://bliptext.com/articles/ummachu) (1955) and [Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum](https://bliptext.com/articles/sundarikalum-sundaranmarum) (Men and Women of Charm, 1958).\nIn 1957 Basheer's [Pathummayude Aadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathummayude-aadu) (Pathumma's Goat) brought in a new kind of prose tale, which perhaps only Basheer could handle with dexterity.\nThe fifties thus mark the evolution of a new kind of fiction, which had its impact on the short stories as well.\nThis was the auspicious moment for the entry of [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair) and [T. Padmanabhan](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-padmanabhan) upon the scene.\nFront runners in the post-modern trend include [Kakkanadan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kakkanadan), [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [E. Harikumar](https://bliptext.com/articles/e-harikumar), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan) and [Anand](https://bliptext.com/articles/anand-writer).\n[Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) has the [highest media exposure in India](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-states-ranking-by-media-exposure) with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly [English](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-language) and Malayalam.\n\n### Poetry\nContemporary Malayalam poetry deals with social, political, and economic life context.\nThe tendency of the modern poetry is often towards [political radicalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-radicalism).\n\n# Sources","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T17:34:07.555Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T17:34:07.555Z","search_vector":"'malayalam':1","search_content":" \n \n**Name:** Malayalam \n**Pronunciation:** ; \n**States:** [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-of-india) \n**Region:** [Southern India](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-india) · [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) · [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu) ([Kanyakumari district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari-district) and other districts bordering with kerala) · [Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/puducherry-union-territory) ([Mahé](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-district)) · [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) · [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka) (in the district of [Dakshina](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Kodagu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district)) \n**Ethnicity:** [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) \n**Speakers Label:** Speakers \n**Speakers:** [L1](https://bliptext.com/articles/l1-speakers): million \n**Date:** 2011 \n**Speakers 2:** [L2](https://bliptext.com/articles/l2-speakers): \n**Familycolor:** Dravidian \n**Fam 2:** Southern \n**Fam 3:** [Southern I](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-dravidian-languages) \n**Fam 4:** Tamil–[Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada-dialects) \n**Fam 5:** Tamil–[Kota](https://bliptext.com/articles/kota-language-india) \n**Fam 6:** Tamil–[Toda](https://bliptext.com/articles/toda-language) \n**Fam 7:** Tamil–Irula \n**Fam 8:** Tamil–[Kodava](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodava-language)–[Urali](https://bliptext.com/articles/urali-language) \n**Fam 9:** [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamiloid-languages)–[Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalamoid-languages) \n**Fam 1 0:** [Malayalamoid](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalamoid-languages) \n**Ancestor:** [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil-language) \n**Ancestor 2:** [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil-language) \n**Ancestor 3:** [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) \n**Ancestor 4:** [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) \n**Dialects:** [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) [Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad) [Kozhikode](https://bliptext.com/articles/kozhikode) [Eranad](https://bliptext.com/articles/eranad) [Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad) ([South Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-malabar)) [Palakkad](https://bliptext.com/articles/palakkad) [Thrissur](https://bliptext.com/articles/thrissur)-[Kochi](https://bliptext.com/articles/kochi) North [[[Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore) West [Vembanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/vembanad) Central [[[Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore) South [[[Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore) [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) [Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language) [Ravula](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language) [Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri) [Arabi](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) [Suriyani](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) [Judeo-Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/judeo-malayalam) [Byari](https://bliptext.com/articles/byari-dialect) \n**Script:** [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) ([Brahmic](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmic-scripts)) · [Malayalam Braille](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-braille) · [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu-alphabet) (historical) · [Koleluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) (historical) · [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) (historical) · [Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-alphabet) (historical) · Arabi [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) (mostly historical) · [Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) (historical) · [Hebrew script](https://bliptext.com/articles/hebrew-script) · [Latin script](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script) (informal) \n**Nation:** [Official languages of India](https://bliptext.com/articles/official-languages-of-india) · [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) · [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) · [Mahé, Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-puducherry) \n**Agency:** [Kerala Sahitya Akademi](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-sahitya-akademi) · [Government of Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/government-of-kerala) \n**Iso 1:** ml \n**Iso 2:** mal \n**Iso 3:** mal \n**Imagecaption:** Malayalam in [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) \n**Lingua:** 49-EBE-ba \n**Map:** Malayalam_language_(ml,_Q36236)_distribution.svg \n**Mapcaption:** Blue = majority or plurality speak Malayalam · Light blue = A significant minority speak Malayalam or Malayalam languages are spoken alongside other languages \n**Glotto:** mala1464 \n**Glottorefname:** Malayalam \n**Notice:** IPA \n**Notice 2:** Indic \n \n\n# \n**Malayalam** is a [Dravidian language](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages) spoken in the Indian state of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) and the union territories of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) and [Puducherry](https://bliptext.com/articles/puducherry-union-territory) ([Mahé district](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-district)) by the [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) people.\nIt is one of 22 [scheduled languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-with-official-status-in-india) of India.\nMalayalam was designated a \"[Classical Language of India](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-languages-of-india)\" in 2013.\nMalayalam has [official language](https://bliptext.com/articles/official-language) status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry ([Mahé](https://bliptext.com/articles/mah-puducherry)), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep.\nMalayalam is spoken by 35 million people in India.\nMalayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the [Kodagu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu) and [Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) districts of [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka), and [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari-district), [Coimbatore](https://bliptext.com/articles/coimbatore-district) and [Nilgiris](https://bliptext.com/articles/nilgiris-district) district of Tamil Nadu.\nIt is also spoken by the [[Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) Diaspora](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali-diaspora) worldwide, especially in the [Persian Gulf countries](https://bliptext.com/articles/arab-states-of-the-persian-gulf), due to the large populations of [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) expatriates there.\nThey are a significant population in each city in [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/india) including [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), [Bengaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/bengaluru), [Chennai](https://bliptext.com/articles/chennai), [Delhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/delhi), [Hyderabad](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyderabad) etc.\nThe origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars.\nThe mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from a western coastal dialect of early [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) and separated from it sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries.\nA 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.\nThe [Quilon Syrian copper plates](https://bliptext.com/articles/quilon-syrian-copper-plates) of 849/850 CE are considered by some to be the oldest available inscription written in [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam).\nHowever, the existence of Old Malayalam is sometimes disputed by scholars.\nThey regard the [Chera Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-perumals-of-makotai) inscriptional language as a diverging dialect or variety of contemporary [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language).\nThe oldest extant literary work in Malayalam distinct from the Tamil tradition is Ramacharitam (late 12th or early 13th century).\nThe earliest script used to write Malayalam was the [Vatteluttu script](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu-alphabet).\nThe current [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) letters to adopt [Indo-Aryan](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-aryan-languages) loanwords.\nIt bears high similarity with the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), a historical script that was used to write the [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara), and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in the adjacent [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district).\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\nThe first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam [Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam), written by [Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) in 1785.\n[Robert Caldwell](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-caldwell) describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from the vicinity of [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in the north where it supersedes with [Tulu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) to [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari) in the south, where it begins to be superseded by [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language), beside the inhabited islands of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) in the [Arabian Sea](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabian-sea).\n\n# Etymology\nIn a 7th century poem written by the Tamil poet [Sambandar](https://bliptext.com/articles/sambandar) the people of Kerala are referred to as malaiyāḷar (mountain people).\nThe word is also said to originate from the words, meaning '[[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain)](https://bliptext.com/articles/[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain))', and , meaning '[region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region)' or '-ship' (as in \"township\"); thus translates directly as 'the [[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain)](https://bliptext.com/articles/[mountain](https://bliptext.com/articles/mountain)) [region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region)'.\nThe term [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) 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.\nThe term originally referred to the western hilly [land](https://bliptext.com/articles/land) of the [Chera dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-dynasty) (later [Zamorins](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin) and the [Kingdom of Cochin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-cochin)), [Kingdom of Ezhimala](https://bliptext.com/articles/mushika-dynasty) (later [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu)), and [Ay kingdom](https://bliptext.com/articles/ay-kingdom) (later [Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/travancore)), and only later became the name of its language.\nThe language Malayalam was alternatively called, , , , , , , and until the early 19th century CE.\nThe earliest extant [literary](https://bliptext.com/articles/literary) works in the regional [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language) of present-day [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) probably date back to as early as the [12th century](https://bliptext.com/articles/12th-century).\nAt that time, the language was differentiated by the name Kerala Bhasha.\nThe earliest mention of Malayalam as a language is found outside of Kerala in the 15th century [Telugu](https://bliptext.com/articles/telugu-language) work Śrībhīmēśvarapurāṇamu by Śrīnātha.\nThe distinctive \"Malayalam\" named identity of this [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language) appears to have come into existence in Kerala only around the [16th century](https://bliptext.com/articles/16th-century), when it was known as \"Malayayma\" or \"Malayanma\"; the words were also used to refer to the [script](https://bliptext.com/articles/writing-system) and the [region](https://bliptext.com/articles/region).\nAccording to [Duarte Barbosa](https://bliptext.com/articles/duarte-barbosa), a Portuguese visitor who visited Kerala in the early 16th century CE, the people in the southwestern [Malabar coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) of India from [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in north to [Kanyakumari](https://bliptext.com/articles/kanyakumari) in south had a unique language, which was called \"Maliama\" by them.\nPrior to this [period](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-modern-period), the people of Kerala usually referred to their language as \"Tamil\", and both terms overlapped into the colonial [period](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-modern-period).\n\n# History\nDue to the geographical isolation of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) from the rest of the [Indian peninsula](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-subcontinent) due to the presence of the [Western Ghats](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-ghats) mountain ranges which lie parallel to the coast, the dialect of [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) spoken in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) was different from that spoken in [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu).\nThe mainstream view holds that Malayalam began to grow as a distinct literary language from the western coastal dialect of [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) and the linguistic separation completed sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries.\nThe renowned poets of [Classical Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) such as [Paranar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paranar) (1st century CE), [Ilango Adigal](https://bliptext.com/articles/ilango-adigal) (2nd–3rd century CE), and [Kulasekhara Alvar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kulasekhara-alvar) (9th century CE) were [Keralites](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali).\nThe [Sangam works](https://bliptext.com/articles/sangam-literature) can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.\nSome scholars however believe that both [[Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, \"Proto-[[Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)-Malayalam\", and that the notion of Malayalam being a \"daughter\" of [[Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) is misplaced.\nThis is based on the fact that Malayalam and several [Dravidian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages) on the [Western Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-coastal-plains) have common archaic features which are not found even in the oldest historical forms of literary Tamil.\nDespite this, Malayalam shares many common innovations with Tamil that emerged during the early [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) period, thus making independent descent impossible.\nFor example, [Old Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-tamil) lacks the first and second person plural pronouns with the ending .\nIt is in the Early Middle Tamil stage that first appears:\nIndeed, most features of Malayalam morphology are derivable from a form of speech corresponding to early Middle Tamil.\n[Robert Caldwell](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) vocabulary and lost the personal terminations of verbs.\nAs the language of scholarship and administration, Old-Tamil, which was written in [Tamil-Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-brahmi) and the Vatteluttu alphabet later, greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam as a literary language.\nThe [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) began to diverge from the [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) and the Western [Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) scripts in the 8th and 9th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nBy the end of the 13th century, a written form of the language emerged which was unique from the [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) script that was used to write Tamil on the eastern coast.\n# [The Quilon Syrian copper plates (849/850 CE) are considered as the oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam. Besides Old Malayalam, the copper plate also contains signatures in Arabic (Kufic script), Middle Persian (cursive Pahlavi script) and Judeo-Persian (standard square Hebrew) scripts. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Quilon///Syrian///copper///plates///%28849///AD%29.jpg]\n\n## Old Malayalam\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) (Paḻaya Malayāḷam), an inscriptional language found in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) from circa 9th to circa 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam.\nThe beginning of the development of [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) from a western coastal dialect of [Middle Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-tamil) can be dated to circa 8th century CE.\nIt remained a west coast dialect until circa 9th century CE or a little later.\nThe origin of [Malayalam calendar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-calendar) dates back to year 825 CE.\nIt is generally agreed that the western coastal dialect of Tamil began to separate, diverge, and grow as a distinct language due to geographical separation of Kerala from the Tamil country and the influence of [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit) from the [Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri) [Brahmins](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmin) of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast).\nThe [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the [Chera Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/chera-perumals-of-makotai) kings, as well as the [upper-caste](https://bliptext.com/articles/caste) ([Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri)) village temples).\nMost of the inscriptions in [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) were found from the [northern districts of Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-districts-of-kerala), those lie adjacent to [Tulu Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu).\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) was mostly written in [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu) script (with [Pallava/Southern Grantha](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script) characters).\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) 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.\n[Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) and [Thirunizhalmala](https://bliptext.com/articles/thirunizhalmala) are the possible literary works of [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) found so far.\n\n## Middle Malayalam\n[Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam) gradually developed into [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) (Madhyakaala Malayalam) by the 13th century CE.\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) also completely diverged from [Tamil literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-literature) during this period.\nWorks including Unniyachi Charitham, Unnichiruthevi Charitham, and Unniyadi Charitham, are written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam), and date back to the 13th and 14th centuries of the [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nThe Sandesha Kavyas of 14th century CE written in [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam) language include [Unnuneeli Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnuneeli-sandesam).\nKannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatham by Rama Panikkar of the [Niranam poets](https://bliptext.com/articles/niranam-poets) who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language.\n[Ulloor](https://bliptext.com/articles/ulloor-s-parameswara-iyer) has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) that [Edmund Spenser](https://bliptext.com/articles/edmund-spenser) does in [English literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-literature).\nThe [Champu](https://bliptext.com/articles/champu) Kavyas written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the Pathinettara Kavikal (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the [Zamorin of Calicut](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin-of-calicut), also belong to Middle Malayalam.\nThe literary works of this period were heavily influenced by [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam), which was a combination of contemporary [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language) and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThe word Mani-Pravalam literally means Diamond-Coral or Ruby-Coral.\nThe 14th-century [Lilatilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/lilatilakam) text states Manipravalam to be a Bhashya (language) where \"Dravida and Sanskrit should combine together like ruby and coral, without the least trace of any discord\".\nThe scripts of [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) and [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) were also used to write [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam).\nIn addition to Vatteluthu and [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), those were used to write [Old Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-malayalam).\nThe literary works written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) were heavily influenced by [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), while comparing them with the modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\n# [251x251px | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Copy///of///Ezhuthachan%27s///Adhyathma///ramayanam///Kilippattu.jpg]\n\n## Modern Malayalam\nThe [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (Aadhunika Malayalam) by 15th century CE.\nThe poem [Krishnagatha](https://bliptext.com/articles/krishnagatha) written by [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu), is written in modern Malayalam.\nThe language used in Krishnagatha is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.\nDuring the 16th century CE, [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) from the [Kingdom of Tanur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-tanur) and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) from the [Kingdom of Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad), followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems.\nThe [Adhyathmaramayanam [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu)](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam-kilippattu) and Mahabharatham [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu), written by Ezhuthachan, and [Jnanappana](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanappana), written by Poonthanam, are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.\n[Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) is also credited with developing the [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) into the current form through the intermixing and modification of the erstwhile scripts of [Vatteluttu](https://bliptext.com/articles/vatteluttu), [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu), and [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), which were used to write the inscriptions and literary works of Old and Middle Malayalam.\nHe further eliminated excess and unnecessary letters from the modified script.\nHence, Ezhuthachan is also known as The Father of modern Malayalam.\nThe development of modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) was also heavily influenced by the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used to write [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit), due to the influence of [Tuluva Brahmins](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuluva-brahmin) in Kerala.\nThe language used in the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works of the 16th–17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language).\nThey follow the syntax of modern Malayalam, though written in a modified form of [Arabic script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-script), which is known as [Arabi Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam-script).\nP. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work [Keralolpathi](https://bliptext.com/articles/keralolpathi), which describes the [Parashurama](https://bliptext.com/articles/parashurama) legend and the departure of the final [Cheraman Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/thajuddin) king to [Mecca](https://bliptext.com/articles/mecca), to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.\n[Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar) introduced a new literary form called Thullal, and [Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar) introduced reforms in [Attakkatha literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/kathakali).\nThe printing, prose literature, and [Malayalam journalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-journalism), developed after the latter-half of the 18th century CE.\nModern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of [Kumaran Asan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumaran-asan), [Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer](https://bliptext.com/articles/ulloor-s-parameswara-iyer) and [Vallathol Narayana Menon](https://bliptext.com/articles/vallathol-narayana-menon).\nIn the second half of the 20th century, [Jnanpith](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith) winning poets and writers like [G. Sankara Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-sankara-kurup), [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt), [Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai), [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair), [O. N. V. Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-n-v-kurup), and [Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/akkitham-achuthan-namboothiri), had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.\nThe life and works of [Edasseri Govindan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/edasseri-govindan-nair) have assumed greater socio-literary significance after his death and Edasseri is now recognised as an important poet of Malayalam.\nLater, writers like [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [Kamaladas](https://bliptext.com/articles/kamaladas), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan), [Arundhati Roy](https://bliptext.com/articles/arundhati-roy), and [Vaikom Muhammed Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/vaikom-muhammed-basheer), have gained international recognition.\nMalayalam has also borrowed a lot of its words from various foreign languages: mainly from the [Semitic languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/semitic-languages) including [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic), and the [European languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/languages-of-europe) including [Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language) and [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language), due to the long heritage of [Indian Ocean trade](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-ocean-trade) and the [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language)-[Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language) colonization of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast).\n\n# Dialects\nVariations in [intonation](https://bliptext.com/articles/intonation-linguistics) patterns, vocabulary, and distribution of grammatical and [phonological](https://bliptext.com/articles/phonology) elements are observable along the parameters of region, religion, community, occupation, social stratum, style and register.\nAccording to the Dravidian Encyclopedia, the regional [dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/dialect) of Malayalam can be divided into fifteen dialect areas.\nThey are as follows:\nAccording to Ethnologue, the dialects are: Malabar, Nagari-Malayalam, North Kerala, Central Kerala, South Kerala, Kayavar, [Namboodiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/namboodiri), [Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/nair), [Mappila](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam), [Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language), [Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri), [Yerava](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language), Pulaya, [Nasrani](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians), and [Kasargod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasargod).\nThe community dialects are: [Namboodiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri), [Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/nair), [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam), Pulaya, and [Nasrani](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians).\nWhereas both the [Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/nambudiri) and Nair dialects have a common nature, the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) is among the most divergent of dialects, differing considerably from literary Malayalam.\n[Jeseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/jeseri) is a dialect of Malayalam spoken mainly in the Union territory of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) and [Beary](https://bliptext.com/articles/beary-language) is spoken in [Tulu Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu) which are nearer to Kerala.\nOf 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](https://bliptext.com/articles/aranadan-language).\nThe dialects of Malayalam spoken in the districts like [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district), [Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur-district), [Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad), [Kozhikode](https://bliptext.com/articles/kozhikode), and [Malappuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/malappuram-district) in the former [Malabar District](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district) have few influences from [Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nFor example, the words those start with the sound \"V\" in Malayalam become \"B\" in these districts as in [Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nAlso the [Voiced retroflex approximant](https://bliptext.com/articles/voiced-retroflex-approximant) (/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannada).\nFor 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.\nSimilarly the Malayalam spoken in the southern districts of Kerala, i.e., [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram-district)-[Kollam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kollam-district)-[Pathanamthitta](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathanamthitta-di strict) area is influenced by Tamil.\nLabels 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.\nThe most outstanding features of the major communal dialects of Malayalam are summarized below:\n\n## External influences and loanwords\nMalayalam has incorporated many elements from other languages over the years, the most notable of these being [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and later, English.\nAccording to [Sooranad Kunjan Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/sooranad-kunjan-pillai) who compiled the authoritative Malayalam lexicon, the other principal languages whose vocabulary was incorporated over the ages were [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic), [Dutch](https://bliptext.com/articles/dutch-language), [Hindustani](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindustani-language), [Pali](https://bliptext.com/articles/pali), [Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-language), [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language), [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), and [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language).\n\n# Geographic distribution and population\nMalayalam is a language spoken by the native people of southwestern India and the islands of [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep) in the [Arabian Sea](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabian-sea).\nAccording 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.\nThere were a further 701,673 (1.14% of the total number) in [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka), 957,705 (2.70%) in [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu), and 406,358 (1.2%) in [Maharashtra](https://bliptext.com/articles/maharashtra).\nThe number of Malayalam speakers in [Lakshadweep](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep).\nMalayalam was the most spoken language in erstwhile [Gudalur taluk](https://bliptext.com/articles/gudalur-taluk) (now Gudalur and Panthalur taluks) of [Nilgiris district](https://bliptext.com/articles/nilgiris-district) in Tamil Nadu which accounts for 48.8% population and it was the second most spoken language in [Mangalore](https://bliptext.com/articles/mangalore) and Puttur taluks of [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara) accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report.\n25.57% of the total population in the [Kodagu district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district) of [Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/karnataka) are [Malayalis](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali), and they form the single largest linguistic group accounting for 35.5% in the [Virajpet](https://bliptext.com/articles/virajpet) Taluk.\nAround one-third of the [Malayalis](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) in [Kodagu district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodagu-district) speak the [Yerava dialect](https://bliptext.com/articles/ravula-language) according to the 2011 census, which is native to Kodagu and [Wayanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/wayanad).\nIn all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2011.\nOf 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.\nAs 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.\nJust before independence, [Malaya](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-malaya) attracted many [Malaya](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-malaya)lis.\nLarge numbers of Malayalis have settled in [Chennai](https://bliptext.com/articles/chennai), [Bengaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/bengaluru), [Mangaluru](https://bliptext.com/articles/mangaluru), [Hyderabad](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyderabad-telangana), [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), Navi [Mumbai](https://bliptext.com/articles/mumbai), [Pune](https://bliptext.com/articles/pune), [Mysuru](https://bliptext.com/articles/mysuru) and [Delhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/delhi).\nMany Malayalis have also emigrated to the [Middle East](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-east), the United States, and Europe.\nThere were 179,860 speakers of Malayalam in the United States, according to the 2000 census, with the highest concentrations in [Bergen County, New Jersey](https://bliptext.com/articles/bergen-county-new-jersey), and [Rockland County, New York](https://bliptext.com/articles/rockland-county-new-york).\nThere are 144,000 of Malayalam speakers in [Malaysia](https://bliptext.com/articles/malaysia).\nThere were 11,687 Malayalam speakers in Australia in 2016.\nThe 2001 [Canadian census](https://bliptext.com/articles/canadian-census) reported 7,070 people who listed Malayalam as their mother tongue, mainly in [Toronto](https://bliptext.com/articles/toronto).\nThe 2006 New Zealand census reported 2,139 speakers.\n134 Malayalam speaking households were reported in 1956 in [Fiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/fiji).\nThere is also a considerable [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali) population in the [Persian Gulf](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-gulf) regions, especially in [Dubai](https://bliptext.com/articles/dubai), [Kuwait](https://bliptext.com/articles/kuwait) and [Doha](https://bliptext.com/articles/doha).\n\n# Phonology\nFor the consonants and vowels, the [International Phonetic Alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-alphabet) (IPA) symbol is given, followed by the Malayalam character and the [ISO 15919](https://bliptext.com/articles/iso-15919) transliteration.\nThe current Malayalam script bears high similarity with [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used for writing the [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language), spoken in [coastal Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-nadu) ([Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Udupi](https://bliptext.com/articles/udupi-district) districts) and the northernmost [Kasargod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasargod-district) of Kerala.\nTigalari script was also used for writing [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district).\n# [Monophthongs of Malayalam, from Namboodiripad, Savithry (2016) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Malayalam///vowels.png]\n\n## Vowels\nMalayalam has also borrowed the [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) [diphthongs](https://bliptext.com/articles/diphthongs) of (represented in Malayalam as ഐ, ai) and (represented in Malayalam as ഔ, au) although these mostly occur only in [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) loanwords.\nTraditionally (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 (ഋ, , r̥), long vocalic r (ൠ, , r̥̄), vocalic l (ഌ, , l̥) and long vocalic l (ൡ, , l̥̄).\nExcept 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.\nSome 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\nVowel length is phonemic and all of the vowels have minimal pairs for example kaṭṭi \"thickness\", kāṭṭi \"showed\", koṭṭi \"tapped\", kōṭṭi \"twisted, stick, marble\", er̠i \"throw\", ēr̠i \"lots\"\nSome speakers also have /æː/, /ɔː/, /ə/ from English loanwords e.g. /bæːŋgɨ̆/ \"bank\" but most speakers replace it with /aː/, /eː/ or /ja/; /oː/ or /aː/ and /e/ or /a/.\n# [The first letter in Malayalam | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/malayalam.svg]\n\n## Consonants\n\n# Sample text\nThe following text is Article 1 of the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights](https://bliptext.com/articles/universal-declaration-of-human-rights).\n\n## English\nAll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.\nThey are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.\n\n## Malayalam\nമനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്‌.\nഅന്യോന്യം ഭ്രാതൃഭാവത്തോടെ പെരുമാറുവാനാണ്‌ മനുഷ്യന് വിവേകബുദ്ധിയും മനസാക്ഷിയും സിദ്ധമായിരിക്കുന്നത്‌.\n\n## Romanisation (ISO 15919)\nmanuṣyarellāvaruṁ tulyāvakāśaṅṅaḷōṭuṁ antassōṭuṁ svātantryattōṭuṅkūṭi janicciṭṭuḷḷavarāṇ‌ŭ.\nanyōnyaṁ bhrātr̥bhāvattōṭe perumāṟuvānāṇ‌ŭ manuṣyanŭ vivēkabuddhiyuṁ manasākṣiyuṁ siddhamāyirikkunnat‌ŭ.\n\n## IPA\n/manuʂjaɾellaːʋaɾum t̪uljaːʋakaːʃaŋŋaɭoːʈum an̪t̪assoːʈum sʋaːt̪an̪tɾjat̪t̪oːʈuŋkuːʈi d͡ʒanit͡ʃt͡ʃiʈʈuɭɭaʋaɾaːɳɨ̆ ǁ anjoːnjam bʱraːt̪rɨ̆bʱaːʋat̪t̪oːʈe peɾumaːruʋaːnaːɳɨ̆ manuʂjanɨ̆ ʋiʋeːkabud̪d̪ʱijum manasaːkʂijum sid̪d̪ʱamaːjiɾikkun̪ːat̪ɨ̆ ǁ/\n\n# Grammar\nMalayalam has a canonical word order of [SOV](https://bliptext.com/articles/subject-object-verb) (subject–object–verb), as do other [Dravidian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages).\nA rare [OSV](https://bliptext.com/articles/subject-object-verb) word order occurs in interrogative clauses when the interrogative word is the subject.\nBoth [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjective) and possessive [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjective) precede the [nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/noun) they modify.\nMalayalam has 6 or 7 [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-case).\nVerbs are conjugated for tense, mood and aspect, but not for person, gender nor number except in archaic or poetic language.\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\n\n## Nouns\nThe [declensional](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) paradigms for some common nouns and pronouns are given below.\nAs 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.\n[Alveolar plosives](https://bliptext.com/articles/alveolar-plosive) and [nasals](https://bliptext.com/articles/alveolar-nasal) (although the modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script) does not distinguish the latter from the [dental nasal](https://bliptext.com/articles/dental-nasal)) are underlined for clarity, following the convention of the [National Library at Kolkata romanization](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-library-at-kolkata-romanization).\n\n## Personal pronouns\n[Vocative](https://bliptext.com/articles/vocative-case) forms are given in parentheses after the [nominative](https://bliptext.com/articles/nominative), as the only pronominal vocatives that are used are the third person ones, which only occur in compounds.\n\n## Other nouns\nThe following are examples of some of the most common declension patterns.\n\n## Words adopted from Sanskrit\nWhen words are adopted from Sanskrit, their endings are usually changed to conform to Malayalam norms:\n\n### Nouns\n\n# Writing system\nAside from the Malayalam script, the Malayalam language has been written in other scripts like [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script), [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) and [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam).\n[Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) was used by [Saint Thomas Christians](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians) (also known as Nasranis) until the 19th century.\nArabic scripts particularly were taught in [madrasahs](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrasah) in Kerala and the [Lakshadweep Islands](https://bliptext.com/articles/lakshadweep-islands).\n\n## Malayalam script\nHistorically, several scripts were used to write Malayalam.\nAmong these were the Vatteluttu, [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu) and [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma) scripts.\nBut it was the [Grantha script](https://bliptext.com/articles/grantha-script), another [Southern Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-brahmi) variation, which gave rise to the modern [Malayalam script](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-script).\nThe modern Malayalam script bears high similarity to [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script), which was used for writing [Tulu language](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [Coastal Karnataka](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara) ([Dakshina Kannada](https://bliptext.com/articles/dakshina-kannada) and [Udupi](https://bliptext.com/articles/udupi-district) districts) and the northernmost [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) of Kerala.\nIt 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.\nIn the 1960s Malayalam dispensed with many special letters representing less frequent conjunct consonants and combinations of the vowel /u, u:/ with different consonants.\nMalayalam script consists of a total of 578 characters.\nThe script contains 52 letters including 16 vowels and 36 consonants, which forms 576 syllabic characters, and contains two additional diacritic characters named [anusvāra](https://bliptext.com/articles/anusv-ra) and [visarga](https://bliptext.com/articles/visarga).\nThe earlier style of writing has been superseded by a new style as of 1981.\nThis new script reduces the different letters for typesetting from 900 to fewer than 90.\nThis was mainly done to include Malayalam in the keyboards of typewriters and computers.\nIn 1999 a group named \"Rachana Akshara Vedi\" produced a set of free [fonts](https://bliptext.com/articles/typeface) containing the entire character repertoire of more than 900 [glyphs](https://bliptext.com/articles/glyph).\nThis was announced and released along with a [text editor](https://bliptext.com/articles/text-editor) in the same year at [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram), the capital of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala).\nIn 2004, the fonts were released under the [GPL](https://bliptext.com/articles/gnu-general-public-license) license by [Richard Stallman](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-stallman) of the [Free Software Foundation](https://bliptext.com/articles/free-software-foundation) at the [Cochin University of Science and Technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/cochin-university-of-science-and-technology) in Kochi, Kerala.\n# [A Malayalam signboard from Kannur, Kerala. Malayalam is official language in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/St///angelo///fort///Arakkal///Museum.JPG]\n# [A Board in Malayalam which uses the complex letters in traditional script | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Malayalam///board///with///old///style///Malayalam///letter///%28cropped%29.jpg]\n\n## Chillu letters\nA chillu (ചില്ല്, ), or a chillaksharam (ചില്ലക്ഷരം, ), is a special consonant letter that represents a pure consonant independently, without help of a [virama](https://bliptext.com/articles/virama).\nUnlike a consonant represented by an ordinary consonant letter, this consonant is never followed by an inherent vowel.\n[Anusvara](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [visarga](https://bliptext.com/articles/) fit this definition but are not usually included.\nISCII and Unicode 5.0 treat a chillu as a glyph variant of a normal (\"base\") consonant letter.\nIn Unicode 5.1 and later, chillu letters are treated as independent characters, encoded atomically.\n\n## Number system and other symbols\n\n## Numerals\nMalayalam numbers and fractions are written as follows.\nThese are archaic and no longer used.\nInstead, the common [Hindu-Arabic numeral system](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindu-arabic-numeral-system) is followed.\nThere is a confusion about the glyph of Malayalam digit zero.\nThe correct form is oval-shaped, but occasionally the glyph for 1/4 (൳) is erroneously shown as the glyph for 0.\nNumber \"11\" is written as \"൰൧\" and not \"൧൧\".\n\"32\" is written as \"൩൰൨\" similar to the [Tamil numeral system](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-numerals).\nFor example, the number \"2013\" is read in Malayalam as രണ്ടായിരത്തി പതിമൂന്ന്.\nIt is split into:\nCombine them together to get the Malayalam number '''൨൲൰൩.\n'''\nAnd 1,00,000 as \"൱൲\" = hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (100×1000), 10,00,000 as \"൰൱൲\" = ten(൰), hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (10×100×1000) and 1,00,00,000 as \"൱൱൲\" = hundred(൱), hundred(൱), thousand(൲) (100×100×1000).\nLater 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 ൧൦൦൦൦൦൦.\n\n## Fractions\nIn Malayalam you can transcribe any fraction by affixing after the denominator followed by the numerator, so a fraction like 7/10 would be read as **പത്തിൽ ഏഴ്** 'out of ten, seven' but fractions like 1/2 1/4 and 3/4 have distinct names and 1/8 'half quarter'.\n\n## Vattezhuthu alphabet\nVatteluttu (, \"round writing\") is a script that had evolved from [Tamil-Brahmi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-brahmi) and was once used extensively in the southern part of present-day [Tamil Nadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-nadu) and in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala).\nMalayalam was first written in Vattezhuthu.\nThe [Vazhappally](https://bliptext.com/articles/vazhappally) inscription issued by [Rajashekhara Varman](https://bliptext.com/articles/rajashekhara-varman) is the earliest example, dating from about 830 CE.\nDuring the medieval period, the [Tigalari script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tigalari-script) that was used for writing [Tulu](https://bliptext.com/articles/tulu-language) in [South Canara](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-canara), and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) in the adjacent [Malabar region](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district), had a close similarity to the modern Malayalam script.\nIn the Tamil country, the modern [Tamil script](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-script) had supplanted Vattezhuthu by the 15th century, but in the [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) region, Vattezhuthu remained in general use up to the 17th century, or the 18th century.\nA variant form of this script, [Kolezhuthu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolezhuthu), was used until about the 19th century mainly in the [Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-district)-[Cochin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-cochin) area.\nVatteluttu was in general use, but was not suitable for literature where many Sanskrit words were used.\nLike [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language)-Brahmi, it was originally used to write [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language), and as such, did not have letters for voiced or aspirated consonants used in Sanskrit but not used in [Tamil](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamil-language).\nFor this reason, Vatteluttu and the Grantha alphabet were sometimes mixed, as in the [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam).\nOne of the oldest examples of the Manipravalam literature, Vaishikatantram (വൈശികതന്ത്രം, Vaiśikatantram), dates back to the 12th century, 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.\nAnother variant form, [Malayanma](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayanma), was used in the south of [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram).\nBy the 19th century, old scripts like Kolezhuthu had been supplanted by Arya-eluttu – that is the current Malayalam script.\nNowadays, it is widely used in the press of the Malayali population in Kerala.\n# [A medieval Tigalari manuscript (Bears high similarity with modern Malayalam script) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Tigalari-sanskrit-manuscript.jpg]\n\n## Grantha\nAccording to [Arthur Coke Burnell](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-coke-burnell), one form of the Grantha alphabet, originally used in the [Chola dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/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.\nIt later evolved into Tigalari-Malayalam script was used by the [Malayali](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayali), Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only applied to write [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThis script split into two scripts: Tigalari and Malayalam.\nWhile Malayalam script was extended and modified to write vernacular language Malayalam, the Tigalari was written for Sanskrit only.\nIn Malabar, this writing system was termed Arya-eluttu (ആര്യ എഴുത്ത്, Ārya eḻuttŭ), meaning \"Arya writing\" (Sanskrit is [Indo-Aryan language](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-aryan-languages) while Malayalam is a [Dravidian language](https://bliptext.com/articles/dravidian-languages)).\n# [251x251px | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/9th///century///Tamil///Grantha///script///Sanskrit///Chera///era///font.jpg]\n\n## Karshoni\n[Suriyani Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/suriyani-malayalam) (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](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-alphabet) which was popular among the [Saint Thomas Christians](https://bliptext.com/articles/saint-thomas-christians) (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) in [India](https://bliptext.com/articles/india).\nIt uses Malayalam grammar, the [Maḏnḥāyā](https://bliptext.com/articles/madnhaya) or \"Eastern\" Syriac script with special [orthographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography) features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac.\nThis originated in the South Indian region of the [Malabar Coast](https://bliptext.com/articles/malabar-coast) (modern-day Kerala).\nUntil the 20th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.\n# [East Syriac Script Thaksa (Chaldean Syrian Church, Thrissur, Kerala, India) | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/East///Syriac///Script///Thaksa.jpg]\n\n## Ponnani script\nThe [[Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam-script), otherwise known as the [Ponnani](https://bliptext.com/articles/ponnani) script, is a writing system – a variant form of the [Arabic script](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-script) with special [orthographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography) features – which was developed during the early medieval period and used to write [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) until the early 20th century CE.\nThough the script originated and developed in [Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala), today it is predominantly used in [Malaysia](https://bliptext.com/articles/malaysia) and [Singapore](https://bliptext.com/articles/singapore) by the migrant [Muslim](https://bliptext.com/articles/muslim) community.\n# [Arabi Malayalam alphabet with Malayalam alphabet correspondences | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/ArabiMalayalam///alphabet.png]\n\n# Literature\nThe [Sangam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/sangam-literature) can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.\nAccording to [Iravatham Mahadevan](https://bliptext.com/articles/iravatham-mahadevan), the earliest Malayalam inscription discovered until now is the Edakal-5 inscription (ca. late 4th century – early 5th century) reading ( 'this is old').\nAlthough this has been disputed by many scholars who regard it as a regional dialect of Old Tamil.\nThe use of the pronoun and the lack of the literary Tamil ending are archaisms from Proto-Dravidian rather than unique innovations of Malayalam.\nThe early literature of Malayalam comprised three types of composition:\nMalayalam Nada, Tamil Nada and Sanskrit Nada.\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) has been profoundly influenced by poets [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan), and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri), in the 15th and the 16th centuries of Common Era.\n[Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar), a probable 17th–18th century poet, and [Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar), a poet of 18th century, also greatly influenced [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) in its early form.\nThe words used in many of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works those date back to 16th–17th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era) are also very closer to the modern Malayalam language.\nThe prose literature, criticism, and [Malayalam journalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-journalism) began after the latter half of 18th century CE.\nContemporary [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) deals with social, political, and economic life context.\nThe tendency of the modern poetry is often towards [political radicalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-radicalism).\n[Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) has been presented with six [Jnanapith awards](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith-award), the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.\n[Malayalam poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-poetry) to the late 20th century betrays varying degrees of the fusion of the three different strands.\nThe oldest examples of Pattu and Manipravalam, respectively, are Ramacharitam and Vaishikatantram, both from the 12th century.\nThe earliest extant prose work in the language is a commentary in simple Malayalam, Bhashakautalyam (12th century) on [Chanakya](https://bliptext.com/articles/chanakya)'s [Arthashastra](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthashastra).\n[Adhyatmaramayanam](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam) by [Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ramanujan-ezhuthachan) (known as the father of modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature)) who was born in [Tirur](https://bliptext.com/articles/tirur), one of the most important works in [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\n[Unnunili Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnunili-sandesam) written in the 14th century is amongst the oldest literary works in Malayalam language.\n[Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri) of 15th century ([Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur)-based poet), [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) of 16th century ([Perinthalmanna](https://bliptext.com/articles/perinthalmanna)-based poet), [Unnayi Variyar](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnayi-variyar) of 17th–18th centuries ([Thrissur](https://bliptext.com/articles/thrissur)-based poet), and [Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar) of 18th century ([Palakkad](https://bliptext.com/articles/palakkad)-based poet), have played a major role in the development of [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature) into current form.\nThe words used in many of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.\nThe basin of the river [Bharathappuzha](https://bliptext.com/articles/bharathappuzha), which is otherwise known as [River Ponnani](https://bliptext.com/articles/ponnani), and its tributaries, have played a major role in the development of modern Malayalam Literature.\nBy the end of the 18th century some of the [Christian missionaries](https://bliptext.com/articles/christian-missionaries) from Kerala started writing in Malayalam but mostly travelogues, dictionaries and religious books.\n[Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam) (1778), written by [Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) is considered to be the first travelogue in an Indian language.\nThe modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book [Kerala Panineeyam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala-panineeyam) written by [A. R. Raja Raja Varma](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-r-raja-raja-varma) in late 19th century CE.\n\n## Folk Songs\nFor the first 600 years of the [Malayalam calendar](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-calendar), Malayalam literature remained in a preliminary stage.\nDuring this time, Malayalam literature consisted mainly of various genres of songs (Pattu).\nFolk songs are the oldest literary form in Malayalam.\nThey were just oral songs.\nMany of them were related to agricultural activities, including Pulayar Pattu, Pulluvan Pattu, Njattu Pattu, Koythu Pattu, etc. Other [Ballads](https://bliptext.com/articles/ballad) of Folk Song period include the [Vadakkan Pattukal](https://bliptext.com/articles/vadakkan-pattukal) (Northern songs) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) region and the Thekkan Pattukal (Southern songs) in [Southern Travancore](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-division-travancore).\nSome of the earliest [Mappila songs](https://bliptext.com/articles/mappila-song) (Muslim songs) were also folk songs.\n\n## Old and Middle Malayalam\nThe earliest known poems in Malayalam, [Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) and [Thirunizhalmala](https://bliptext.com/articles/thirunizhalmala), dated to the 12th to 14th century, were completed before the introduction of the Sanskrit alphabet.\nIt 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.\nHowever the claim that it was written in Southern Kerala is expired on the basis of new discoveries.\nOther experts, like Chirakkal T Balakrishnan Nair, K.M. George, M. M. Purushothaman Nair, and P.V. Krishnan Nair, state that the origin of the book is in [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) region.\nThey cite the use of certain words in the book and also the fact that the manuscript of the book was recovered from [Nileshwaram](https://bliptext.com/articles/nileshwaram) in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar).\nThe influence of [Ramacharitam](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramacharitam) is mostly seen in the contemporary literary works of Northern Kerala.\nThe words used in Ramacharitam such as Nade (Mumbe), Innum (Iniyum), Ninna (Ninne), Chaaduka (Eriyuka) are special features of the dialect spoken in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) ([Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod)-[Kannur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kannur) region).\nFurthermore, the [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram) mentioned in Ramacharitham is not the [Thiruvananthapuram](https://bliptext.com/articles/thiruvananthapuram) in Southern Kerala.\nBut it is [Ananthapura Lake Temple](https://bliptext.com/articles/ananthapura-lake-temple) of [Kumbla](https://bliptext.com/articles/kumbla) in the northernmost [Kasaragod district](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod-district) of Kerala.\nThe word Thiru is used just by the meaning Honoured.\nToday it is widely accepted that Ramacharitham was written somewhere in [North Malabar](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-malabar) (most likely near [Kasaragod](https://bliptext.com/articles/kasaragod)).\nBut the period of the earliest available literary document cannot be the sole criterion used to determine the antiquity of a language.\nIn 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.\nIt mixed poetry with prose and used a vocabulary strongly influenced by Sanskrit, with themes from epics and Puranas.\nThe works including Unniyachi Charitham, Unnichirudevi Charitham, and Unniyadi Charitham, are written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam), those date back to 13th and 14th centuries of [Common Era](https://bliptext.com/articles/common-era).\nThe Sandesha Kavyas of 14th century CE written in [Manipravalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/manipravalam) language include [Unnuneeli Sandesam](https://bliptext.com/articles/unnuneeli-sandesam) The literary works written in [Middle Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-malayalam) were heavily influenced by [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) and [Prakrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/prakrit), while comparing them with the modern [Malayalam literature](https://bliptext.com/articles/malayalam-literature).\nThe word Manipravalam literally means Diamond-Coral or Ruby-Coral.\nThe 14th-century [Lilatilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/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\".\nThe [Champu](https://bliptext.com/articles/champu) Kavyas written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the Pathinettara Kavikal (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the [Zamorin of Calicut](https://bliptext.com/articles/zamorin-of-calicut), also belong to Middle Malayalam.\n\n## Modern Malayalam\nThe poem [Krishnagatha](https://bliptext.com/articles/krishnagatha) written by [Cherusseri Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/cherusseri-namboothiri), who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446–1475) of [Kolathunadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kolathunadu), is written in modern Malayalam.\nThe language used in Krishnagatha is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.\nIt appears to be the first literary work written in the present-day language of Malayalam.\nDuring the 16th century CE, [Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan](https://bliptext.com/articles/thunchaththu-ezhuthachan) from the [Kingdom of Tanur](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-tanur) and [Poonthanam Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthanam-nambudiri) from the [Kingdom of Valluvanad](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingdom-of-valluvanad) followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems.\nThe [Adhyathmaramayanam [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu)](https://bliptext.com/articles/adhyathmaramayanam-kilippattu) and Mahabharatham [Kilippattu](https://bliptext.com/articles/kilippattu) written by Ezhuthachan and [Jnanappana](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanappana) written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.\nThe words used in most of the [Arabi Malayalam](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabi-malayalam) works, which dates back to 16th–17th centuries, are also very closer to modern Malayalam language.\nP. Shangunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work [Keralolpathi](https://bliptext.com/articles/keralolpathi), which describes the [Parashurama](https://bliptext.com/articles/parashurama) legend and the departure of the final [Cheraman Perumal](https://bliptext.com/articles/legend-of-cheraman-perumals) king to [Mecca](https://bliptext.com/articles/mecca), to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.\n[Kunchan Nambiar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kunchan-nambiar), the founder of Thullal movement, was a prolific literary figure of the 18th century.\n# [The Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University is situated at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur, Malappuram | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/THUNCHAN///MEMORIAL.jpg]\n\n### Impact of European scholars\nThe British printed Malabar English Dictionary by Graham Shaw in 1779 was still in the form of a Tamil-English Dictionary.\n[Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/paremmakkal-thoma-kathanar) wrote the first Malayalam travelogue called [Varthamanappusthakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/varthamanappusthakam) in 1789.\n[Hermann Gundert](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermann-gundert), (1814–1893), a German missionary and scholar of exceptional linguistic talents, played a distinguishable role in the development of Malayalam literature.\nHis 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.\nHe lived in [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) for around 20 years.\nHe learned the language from well established local teachers Ooracheri Gurukkanmar from Chokli, a village near [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) and consulted them in works.\nHe also translated the Bible into Malayalam.\nIn 1821, the [Church Mission Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-mission-society) (CMS) at [[Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam)](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) in association with the [Syriac Orthodox Church](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-orthodox-church) started a seminary at [[Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam)](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) in 1819 and started printing books in Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey, an [Anglican](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglican) priest, made the first Malayalam types.\nIn addition, he contributed to standardizing the prose.\n[Hermann Gundert](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermann-gundert) from [Stuttgart](https://bliptext.com/articles/stuttgart), Germany, started the first Malayalam newspaper, Rajya Samacaram in 1847 at [Talasseri](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery).\nIt was printed at [Basel Mission](https://bliptext.com/articles/basel-mission).\nMalayalam and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) were increasingly studied by Christians of [Kottayam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kottayam) and [Pathanamthitta](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathanamthitta).\nThe [Marthomite](https://bliptext.com/articles/marthomite) movement in the mid-19th century called for replacement of [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language) by Malayalam for liturgical purposes.\nBy the end of the 19th century Malayalam replaced [Syriac](https://bliptext.com/articles/syriac-language) as language of [Liturgy](https://bliptext.com/articles/liturgy) in all Syrian Christian churches.\n\n### 1850–1904\n[Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar](https://bliptext.com/articles/vengayil-kunhiraman-nayanar), (1861–1914) from [Thalassery](https://bliptext.com/articles/thalassery) was the author of first Malayalam short story, Vasanavikriti.\nAfter him innumerable world class literature works by was born in Malayalam.\n[O. Chandu Menon](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-chandu-menon) wrote his novels \"Indulekha\" and \"Saradha\" while he was the judge at Parappanangadi Munciff Court.\nIndulekha is also the first Major Novel written in Malayalam language.\n.\nThe 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.\nThe major poets of the [Venmani School](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-school) were [Venmani Achhan Nambudiripad](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-achhan-nambudiripad) (1817–1891), [Venmani Mahan Nambudiripad](https://bliptext.com/articles/venmani-mahan-nambudiripad) (1844–1893), [Poonthottam Achhan Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthottam-achhan-nambudiri) (1821–1865), [Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/poonthottam-mahan-nambudiri) (1857–1896) and the members of the [Kodungallur Kovilakam](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodungallur-kovilakam) (Royal Family) such as [Kodungallur Kunjikkuttan Thampuran](https://bliptext.com/articles/kodungallur-kunjikkuttan-thampuran).\nThe 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](https://bliptext.com/articles/velutheri-kesavan-vaidyar) (1839–1897) and Perunlli Krishnan Vaidyan (1863–1894).\nThe 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.\n# [Malayalam letters on old Travancore Rupee coin | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Travancore///Rupee///-///Reverse.jpg]\n# [Shakuntala writes to Dushyanta. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma. The poetry was translated by Kerala Varma as Abhijnanasakuntalam | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Shakuntala///RRV.jpg]\n\n## Twentieth century\nIn the second half of the 20th century, [Jnanpith](https://bliptext.com/articles/jnanpith) winning poets and writers like [G. Sankara Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-sankara-kurup), [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt), [Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai), [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair), [O. N. V. Kurup](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-n-v-kurup), [Edasseri Govindan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/edasseri-govindan-nair) and [Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri](https://bliptext.com/articles/akkitham-achuthan-namboothiri), had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.\nLater, writers like [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [Kamaladas](https://bliptext.com/articles/kamaladas), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan), [Arundhati Roy](https://bliptext.com/articles/arundhati-roy), and [Vaikom Muhammed Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/vaikom-muhammed-basheer), have gained international recognition.\n\n### Prose\nThe travelogues written by [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt) were turning point in the travelogue literature.\nThe writers like [Kavalam Narayana Panicker](https://bliptext.com/articles/kavalam-narayana-panicker) have contributed much to Malayalam drama.\n[Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai](https://bliptext.com/articles/thakazhi-sivasankara-pillai) turned away from party politics and produced a moving romance in [Chemmeen](https://bliptext.com/articles/chemmeen-novel) (Shrimps) in 1956.\nFor [S. K. Pottekkatt](https://bliptext.com/articles/s-k-pottekkatt) and [Vaikom Muhammad Basheer](https://bliptext.com/articles/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](https://bliptext.com/articles/ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu) (My Grandpa had an Elephant, 1951).\nThe non-political social or domestic novel was championed by [P. C. Kuttikrishnan (Uroob)](https://bliptext.com/articles/uroob) with his [Ummachu](https://bliptext.com/articles/ummachu) (1955) and [Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum](https://bliptext.com/articles/sundarikalum-sundaranmarum) (Men and Women of Charm, 1958).\nIn 1957 Basheer's [Pathummayude Aadu](https://bliptext.com/articles/pathummayude-aadu) (Pathumma's Goat) brought in a new kind of prose tale, which perhaps only Basheer could handle with dexterity.\nThe fifties thus mark the evolution of a new kind of fiction, which had its impact on the short stories as well.\nThis was the auspicious moment for the entry of [M. T. Vasudevan Nair](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-t-vasudevan-nair) and [T. Padmanabhan](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-padmanabhan) upon the scene.\nFront runners in the post-modern trend include [Kakkanadan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kakkanadan), [O. V. Vijayan](https://bliptext.com/articles/o-v-vijayan), [E. Harikumar](https://bliptext.com/articles/e-harikumar), [M. Mukundan](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-mukundan) and [Anand](https://bliptext.com/articles/anand-writer).\n[Kerala](https://bliptext.com/articles/kerala) has the [highest media exposure in India](https://bliptext.com/articles/indian-states-ranking-by-media-exposure) with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly [English](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-language) and Malayalam.\n\n### Poetry\nContemporary Malayalam poetry deals with social, political, and economic life context.\nThe tendency of the modern poetry is often towards [political radicalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-radicalism).\n\n# Sources","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}