Malayalam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Malayalam |
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| മലയാളം malayāḷam മലയാണ്മ malayāṇma |
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Malayalam in Malayalam script
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| Native to | Primarily in the Indian state of Kerala | |||
| Region | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahé (Puducherry) | |||
| Ethnicity | Malayali | |||
| Native speakers | 38 million (2007) | |||
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| Writing system | Malayalam alphabet (Brahmic) Malayalam Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  Indian states:Kerala (State),Lakshadweep (Territory), Puducherry (Territory) |
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| Regulated by | Academy for Malayalam literature, Government of Kerala | |||
Malayalam-speaking area
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Malayalam is a language. Most people that speak Malayalam live in Kerala, in India. A speaker of Malayalam is called a Malayali.
Malayalam (/malayALam/) is the main language of the South Indian state of Kerala and also of the Lakshadweep Islands (Laccadives) of the west coast of India.
Malayalis (speakers of Malayalam), who - males and females alike - are almost totally literate, constitute 4 percent of the population of India and 96 percent of the population of Kerala (29.01 million in 1991).
In terms of the number of speakers, Malayalam ranks eighth among the 18 major languages of India.
Malyalam language has 52 phonemes. A few of the phonemes are unique for Malayalam.
The word /malayALam/ originally meant mountainous country (/mala/- mountain + /aLam/-place). Tamil Nadu is its neighbour on the south and east and Karnataka on the north and east.
Images for kids
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The Quilon Syrian copper plates (849/850 CE) is the available oldest 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.
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Malayalam script in mobile phone
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Copy of Ezhuthachan's stylus and Adhyatma Ramayanam preserved at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur
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A Malayalam signboard from Kannur, Kerala. Malayalam is official language in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery
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A medieval Tigalari manuscript (Bears high similarity with modern Malayalam script)
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A Chera era Grantha inscription
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Arabi Malayalam alphabet with Malayalam alphabet correspondences
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The Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University is situated at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur, Malappuram
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Malayalam letters on old Travancore Rupee coin
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See also
In Spanish: Idioma malabar para niños
