Editing Malayalam literature (section)

==Evolution of Malayalam==
{{main|Malayalam}}
[[File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD).jpg|thumbnail|The [[Quilon Syrian copper plates]] (849/850 CE) is the available oldest inscription written in [[Old Malayalam]].<ref name="adagadagudugudu">{{cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|title=Perumals of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy|publisher=CosmoBooks|isbn=9788188765072|location=Thrissur (Kerala)|pages=|orig-year=1972}}</ref> 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.<ref name="cereti">{{Cite book|last=Cereti|first=C. G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3gOdaiXNKkC&q=Exegisti+Monumenta:+Festschrift+in+Honour+of+Nicholas+Sims-+Williams|title=Exegisti Monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams|publisher=Harrassowitz|year=2009|isbn=9783447059374|editor-last=Sundermann|editor-first=W.|location=Wiesbaden|pages=|chapter=The Pahlavi Signatures on the Quilon Copper Plates|editor-last2=Hintze|editor-first2=A.|editor-last3=de Blois|editor-first3=F.}}</ref>]]

The western dialect of [[Old Tamil]] spoken in the southwestern [[Malabar Coast]] of [[India]] was known as ''Malanaattu Tamil''/''Malabar Tamil'' (Meaning the ''Tamil of the hilly region''/the ''Tamil of Malabar'') since the ancient [[Sangam period]] (300 BCE - 300 CE).<ref name="Malabar"/> Due to the geographical separation of the [[Malabar Coast]] from [[Tamil Nadu]], and the presence of [[Western Ghats]] mountain ranges in between these two geographical regions, the dialect of [[Tamil language|Tamil]] spoken in the territory of the western [[Malabar Coast]] of the ancient [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] kingdom was different from that spoken in the [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-mainland.<ref name="Malabar"/> The generally held view is that Malayalam was the western coastal dialect [[Middle Tamil]]<ref name="eb">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages |title=Dravidian languages – History, Grammar, Map, & Facts |access-date=22 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709173402/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages |archive-date=9 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> and started separation from Proto-Tamil-Malayalam sometime in the 8th century CE.{{sfn|Karashima|2014|loc=p. 6|ps=: Other sources date this split to the 7th and 8th centuries.}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Gopinathan Nair |first=B. |year=2009 |chapter=Malayalam |editor1=Keith Brown |editor2=Sarah Ogilvie |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |page=682 |quote="[...] Malayalam emerged from Proto-Tamil–Malayalam; divergence occurred over a period of four or five centuries, from the 8th century onward".}}</ref> The renowned poets of [[Old Tamil|Classical Tamil]] such as [[Paranar]] (1st century CE), [[Ilango Adigal]] (2nd-3rd century CE), and [[Kulasekhara Alvar]] (9th century CE) were [[Malayali|Keralites]].<ref name="Malabar"/> The [[Sangam literature]] can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam.<ref name="clt.1">{{Cite book|title=Mathrubhumi Yearbook Plus - 2019|publisher=P. V. Chandran, Managing Editor, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company Limited, Kozhikode|year=2018|location=Kozhikode|page=450|id={{ASIN|8182676444|country=in}} |edition=Malayalam }}</ref>

Some scholars however believe that both [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, 'Proto-Tamil-Malayalam', and that the notion of Malayalam being a 'daughter' of [[Tamil language|Tamil]] is misplaced.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Asher |first1=R. E. |last2=Kumari |first2=T. C. |title=Malayalam |date=1997 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-02242-2 |page=xxiv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFQG2DCaIsIC |language=en}}</ref> This is based on the fact that Malayalam and several [[Dravidian languages]] on the western coast have common archaic features which are not found even in the oldest historical forms of literary Tamil. However they share few striking innovations with Middle Tamil thus making independent descent impossible.<ref>A. Govindankutty (1972) – From proto-Tamil-Malayalam to West Coast dialects. Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. 14 No. (1/2), pp. 52–60</ref>

[[Old Malayalam]] (''Pazhaya Malayalam''), an inscriptional language found in [[Kerala]] from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century CE,<ref name="Narayanan2017">M. G. S. Narayanan. "Kozhikkodinte Katha". Malayalam/Essays. Mathrubhumi Books. Second Edition (2017) {{ISBN|978-81-8267-114-0}}</ref> is the earliest attested form of [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]].<ref name=":830">{{Cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|title=Perumals of Kerala|publisher=CosmoBooks|year=2013|isbn=9788188765072|location=Thrissur|pages=380–82}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ayyar|first=L. V. Ramaswami|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEvolutionOfMalayalamMorphology/The-Evolution-of-Malayalam-Morphology|title=The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology|publisher=Rama Varma Research Institute|year=1936|isbn=|edition=1st|location=Trichur|pages=3}}</ref> The start of the development of [[Old Malayalam]] from a western coastal dialect of [[Middle Tamil|contemporary Tamil]] ([[Middle Tamil]]) can be dated to c. 7th - 8th century CE.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-concise-history-of-south-india-9780198099772|title=A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-809977-2|editor-last=Karashima|editor-first=Noburu|location=New Delhi|pages=152–53}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Krishnamurti|first=Bhadriraju|date=|title=Malayalam language|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malayalam-language|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> It remained a west coast dialect until c. 9th century CE or a little later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Krishnamurti|first=Bhadriraju|date=5 July 2024|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages/Literary-languages#ref279622|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The origin of [[Malayalam calendar]] dates back to year 825 CE.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b5f_93.pdf |title=Kollam Era |publisher=Indian Journal History of Science |access-date=30 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527163650/http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b5f_93.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Broughton Richmond 1956 218"/><ref name="R. Leela Devi 1986 408"/> The formation of the language is mainly attributed to geographical separation of Kerala from the Tamil country.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":830" /> It is generally agreed that the western coastal dialect of Tamil began to separate, diverge, and grow as a distinct language, mainly due to the heavy influence of [[Sanskrit]] and [[Prakrit]], those became common prominent languages on [[Malabar Coast]], when the caste system became strong in Kerala under [[Nambudiri]] [[Brahmin]]s.<ref name="Malabar">കേരള ചരിത്രം, എ. ശ്രീധരമേനോൻ</ref>

The [[Old Malayalam]] language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the [[Chera Perumals of Makotai|Chera Perumal]] kings as well as on the village temples).<ref name=":830" /> Most of the inscriptions in [[Old Malayalam]] were found from the [[List of districts of Kerala|northern districts of Kerala]], those lie adjacent to [[Tulu Nadu]].<ref name=":830"/> [[Old Malayalam]] was mostly written in [[Vatteluttu|Vatteluttu script]] (with [[Grantha script|Pallava/Southern Grantha]] characters).<ref name=":830" /> [[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.<ref name=":830" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Veluthat|first=Kesavan|date=2018|title=History and Historiography in Constituting a Region: The Case of Kerala|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2348448918759852|journal=Studies in People's History|language=|volume=5|issue=1|pages=13–31|doi=10.1177/2348448918759852|s2cid=166060066|issn=2348-4489|via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|title=Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala|publisher=Kerala Historical Society|year=1972|isbn=|location=Kerala|pages=18}}</ref>

The [[Old Malayalam]] got gradually developed into [[Middle Malayalam]] (''Madhyakaala Malayalam'') by the 13th century CE.<ref name="Menon 1939">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9GbBVfrm4gC&q=%22middle+malayalam%22&pg=PA14|title=A Primer of Malayalam Literature|first=T. K. Krishna|last=Menon|date=1939|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120606036|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Malayalam literature also completely got diverged from [[Tamil literature]] by this period. ''Kannassa Ramayanam'' and ''Kannassa Bharatham'' by ''Rama Panikkar'' of the [[Niranam poets]] who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language.<ref>{{Citation|last=Kerala (India)|first=Dept. of Public Relations|title=District Handbooks of Kerala: Pathanamthitta (Volume 7 of District Handbooks of Kerala, Kerala (India). Dept. of Public Relations|year=2003}}</ref> The ''[[Champu]] Kavyas'' written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the ''Pathinettara Kavikal'' (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the [[Zamorin of Calicut]], also belong to Middle Malayalam.<ref name="Malabar"/><ref name="mlm"/> The literary works of this period were heavily influenced by [[Manipravalam]], which was a combination of contemporary Malayalam and [[Sanskrit]].<ref name="Malabar"/> The scripts of ''[[Kolezhuthu]]'' and ''[[Malayanma]]'' were also used to write [[Middle Malayalam]], in addition to ''Vatteluthu'' and [[Grantha script]] those were used to write [[Old Malayalam]].<ref name="Malabar"/>

The [[Middle Malayalam]] was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (''Aadhunika Malayalam'') by the 15th century CE.<ref name="Malabar"/> The poem ''[[Krishnagatha]]'' written by [[Cherusseri Namboothiri]], who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446 – 1475) of [[Kolathunadu]], is written in modern Malayalam.<ref name="mlm"/> The language used in ''Krishnagatha'' is the modern spoken form of Malayalam.<ref name="mlm"/> During the 16th century CE, [[Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan]] from the [[Kingdom of Tanur]] and [[Poonthanam Nambudiri]] from the [[Kingdom of Valluvanad]] followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The ''[[Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu]]'' and ''Mahabharatham [[Kilippattu]]'' written by Ezhuthachan and ''[[Jnanappana]]'' written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam.<ref name="mlm"/> 
[[Image:Tigalari script comparison chart..jpg|thumb|300px|right|alt=Image: scripts comparison|[[Grantha script|Grantha]], [[Tigalari script|Tigalari]], and [[Malayalam script]]s]]
It is [[Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan]] who is also credited with the development of [[Malayalam script]] into the current form through the intermixing and modification of the erstwhile scripts of ''[[Vatteluttu]]'', ''[[Kolezhuthu]]'', and [[Grantha script]], which were used to write the inscriptions and literary works of Old and Middle Malayalam.<ref name="mlm"/> He further eliminated excess and unnecessary letters from the modified script.<ref name="mlm"/> Hence, Ezhuthachan is also known as ''The Father of modern Malayalam''.<ref name="mlm"/> The development of modern [[Malayalam script]] was also heavily influenced by the [[Tigalari script]], which was used to write the [[Tulu language]].<ref name="mlm"/> The currently adopted [[Malayalam script]] is the only script in India that can be used to write any other [[Languages of India|language of India]] as it contain letters to denote both of the [[Voiced retroflex approximant]] (/ɻ/) (which is unique to Tamil and Malayalam in India) and the letters unique to [[Sanskrit]] (those are not there in the [[Tamil script]]). The language used in the [[Arabi Malayalam]] works of 16th-17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and [[Arabic language|Arabic]].<ref name="mlm"/> They follow the syntax of modern Malayalam, though written in a modified form of [[Arabic script]], which is known as [[Arabi Malayalam script]].<ref name="mlm"/>

[[Kunchan Nambiar]] introduced a new literary form called ''Thullal'', and [[Unnayi Variyar]] introduced reforms in ''[[Kathakali|Attakkatha literature]]''.<ref name="mlm"/> Modern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of [[Kumaran Asan]],<ref name="poemhunter.com"/> [[Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer]]<ref name="Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer - Ulloor"/> and [[Vallathol Narayana Menon]].<ref name="Vallathol Narayana Menon - Vallatho"/> The printing, prose literature, and [[Malayalam journalism]], developed after the latter-half of the 18th century CE.<ref name="mlm"/> In the second half of the 20th century, [[Jnanpith]] winning poets and writers like [[G. Sankara Kurup]], [[S. K. Pottekkatt]], [[Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai]], [[Edasseri Govindan Nair]], [[M. T. Vasudevan Nair]], [[O. N. V. Kurup]], and [[Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri]], had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.<ref name="google25"/><ref name="Accessions List, South Asia"/><ref name="Indian Writing Today"/><ref name="DattaAkademi1987"/><ref name="Malayalam Literary Survey"/> Later, writers like [[O. V. Vijayan]], [[Kamaladas]], [[M. Mukundan]], [[Arundhati Roy]], [[Vaikom Muhammed Basheer]], have gained international recognition.<ref name="MukundanPillai2004"/><ref name="Maheshwari2002"/><ref name="Chaudhuri2008"/> Malayalam has also borrowed a lot of its words from various foreign languages, mainly from the [[Semitic languages]] including [[Arabic]], and the [[Languages of Europe|European languages]] including [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], due to the long heritage of [[Indian Ocean trade]] and the Portuguese-Dutch colonisation in the [[Malabar Coast]]. 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples of vocabulary from various origins
{{Main|List of loanwords in Malayalam}}

! scope="col" | Word
! scope="col" | Original word
! scope="col" | Language of origin
! scope="col" | Meaning
|-
|{{lang|ml|കത്ത്}} ({{Transliteration|ml|Kattŭ}})
|{{Transliteration|ar|Khaṭ}}
|[[Arabic]]
|letter
|-
|{{lang|ml|ജനാല}} or {{lang|ml|ജനൽ}} ({{Transliteration|ml|Jaṉāla}} or {{Transliteration|ml|Jaṉal}})
|{{lang|pt|Janela}}
|[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
|window
|-
|{{lang|ml|കക്കൂസ്}} ({{Transliteration|ml|Kakkūsŭ}})
|{{lang|nl|Kakhuis}}
|[[Dutch language|Early Modern Dutch]]
|toilet
|}