Malayalam (not to be confused with Malay spoken in Malaysia) is a Dravidian language closely related to Tamil, although it is more influenced by Sanskrit than the latter. Speakers of Malayalam are called Malayalis. It is estimated that the ancestral language that gave rise to both Tamil and Malayalam split sometime in the 9th century AD, giving rise to Malayalam as a language distinct from Tamil. Tamil subsequently influenced the early development of Malayalam because it was the language of scholarship and administration. Later influences on Malayalam came from Sanskrit through religious sources.

The earliest writings in Malayalam are from the end of the 9th century, and the first literary text dates to 1125–1250 AD. The early literature of Malayalam included classical songs and poetry. Malayalam prose of different periods shows varying degrees of influence of other languages such as Tamil, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English. Modern Malayalam literature is rich in poetry, fiction, drama, biography, and literary criticism.

Status
Malayalam is spoken by 35 million people primarily in the state of Kerala and in the Laccadive Islands in southern India. It is one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also spoken in Bahrain, Fiji, Israel, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.

Today, Malayalam is coming into its own as the language of administration and as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges.

Malayalam is written with a syllabic alphabet in which all consonants have an inherent vowel. The vowel can be modified or suppressed by the use of diacritics. The script developed in the 13th century from a script known as "round writing", a descendant of the Brahmi script. A simplified version of the script was introduced in the 1970-1980 to facilitate printing. The main change involved writing consonants and diacritics linearly rather than as complex characters. The shapes of Malayalam letters closely resemble those of Tamil.

In Singapore and Malaysia, Malayalam is written with the Arabic script. The Arabic script is also used occasionally by Muslims in Kerala.

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Malayalam.

1. Can you recognize any words in the transliterated version?
2. Why do you think many of the words appear to be very long?
   

Malayalam words in English

Did you know that these English words came from Malayalam?

Listen to literary readings in Malayalam

Balachandran Chullikad, one of India's most admired and respected living poets, was born on July, 1957 at Paravoor, a small town in Ernakulam District in Kerala.
Click here to listen to him read excerpts from his poems.

M. Mukundan, one of the pioneers of modernity in Malayalam literature, was born in 1943 in the former French colony of Mahe.
Click here to listen to him read a chapter from one of his novels.

Malayalam Language Study Resources
UCLA Language Materials Project
Less Commonly Taught Languages Course Offerings
Your Friendly Malayalam Tutor
Malayalam Language Courses at the University of Pennsylvania
Dravidian Dictionaries