Editing Malayalam (section)

=== Old Malayalam ===
[[Old Malayalam]] ({{Transliteration|ml|ISO|Paḻaya Malayāḷam}}), an inscriptional language found in [[Kerala]] from circa 9th to circa 13th century CE,<ref>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.<ref name="narayanan-2013">{{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 |access-date= 7 June 2021|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607091744/https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|url-status=live}}</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|edition=1st|location=Trichur|page=3}}</ref> The beginning of the development of [[Old Malayalam]] from a western coastal dialect of [[Middle Tamil]] can be dated to circa 8th century CE.{{sfn|Karashima|2014|pp=152–153}}<ref name="krishnamurti-2003" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Krishnamurti|first=Bhadriraju|title=Malayalam language|url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malayalam-language|url-status=live|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-date=16 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116043910/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malayalam-language}}</ref> It remained a west coast dialect until circa 9th century CE or a little later.<ref name= "krishnamurti">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Krishnamurti|first=Bhadriraju|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages/Literary-languages#ref279622|url-status=live |archive-date =7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607095036/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages/Literary-languages#ref279622|title = Dravidian Languages}}</ref>{{sfn |Karashima|2014|pp=152–153}} 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>{{Citation|title=Time measurement and calendar construction|author=Broughton Richmond|year= 1956 |page=218|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUlmAAAAMAAJ|access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=9 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609032538/https://books.google.com/books?id=gUlmAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Kerala|author=R. Leela Devi|publisher=Vidyarthi Mithram Press & Book Depot|year=1986|page=408|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pXpuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=9 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609032523/https://books.google.com/books?id=pXpuAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> It 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<ref name="krishnamurti" /> and the influence of [[Sanskrit]] and [[Prakrit]] from the [[Nambudiri]] [[Brahmin]]s of the [[Malabar Coast]].<ref name="narayanan-2013" /><ref name="sreedhara menon-2007" />

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 the [[Caste|upper-caste]] ([[Nambudiri]]) village temples).<ref name="narayanan-2013" /> 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="narayanan-2013" /> [[Old Malayalam]] was mostly written in [[Vatteluttu]] script (with [[Grantha script|Pallava/Southern Grantha]] characters).<ref name="narayanan-2013" /> [[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="narayanan-2013" /><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|volume=5|issue=1|pages=13–31|doi=10.1177/2348448918759852|s2cid=166060066|issn=2348-4489|access-date=7 June 2021|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913063330/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2348448918759852|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|title=Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala|publisher=Kerala Historical Society|year=1972|location=Kerala|page=18}}</ref> ''[[Ramacharitam]]'' and ''[[Thirunizhalmala]]'' are the possible literary works of [[Old Malayalam]] found so far.