| Also Known As: Malayal,Maliyad,Alealum,Mopla,Malayali,Malayalani,Mallealle,Malean,Malayalam
Description:
Malayalam (മലയാളം malayāḷaṁ) is a Dravidian language used predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. It is one of the 22 official languages of India, and it is used by around 36 million people. Malayalam is also widely used in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Mahé, the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, and Dakshina Kannada, and Kodagu districts of Karnataka. It is also used by a large population of Indian expatriates living in Arab States, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
Malayalam formed out of Proto-Dravidian rather late and began developing a body of literature by the 9th century CE. Before Malayalam came into being, Proto-Dravidian was used in literature and courts of a region called Tamilakam. The modern Tamil language also developed from this Proto-Dravidian.
Malayalam uses a large proportion of Sanskrit vocabulary. Loans have also been made from Portuguese, Arabic, Syriac, and in more recent times English.
The term "Malayalam" comes from the words mala (Mountain), alam (Place). Hence malayali means Mountain people who lived beyond the Western Ghats, and Malayalam the language that was spoken there.
Another etymology is that it comes..... full article at Wikipedia |
Location of Malayalam Language Speakers
<googlemap zoom="1" width=400 height=300 lat="35.802936" lon="92.346037" type="map">
21.767890, 78.871761, India
49.837982, 105.820313, Asia</googlemap>
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