The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. ==Etymology== The word originated from the words , meaning 'mountain', and , meaning 'region' or '-ship' (as in "township"); thus translates directly as 'the mountain region'.
For example: Robert Caldwell, in his 1856 book "A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages", opined that Malayalam branched from Classical Tamil and over time gained a large amount of Sanskrit vocabulary and lost the personal terminations of verbs.
Malayalam was the most spoken language in erstwhile Gudalur taluk(now Gudalur and Panthalur taluks) of Tamilnadu state which accounts for 48.8% population and it was the second most spoken language in Mangalore and Puttur taluks of Karnataka state accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report. In all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2011.
Thus for example, the survey of the Ezhava dialect of Malayalam, results of which have been published by the Department in 1974, has brought to light the existence of twelve major dialect areas for Malayalam, although the isoglosses are found to crisscross in many instances.
As per the 1991 census data, 28.85% of all Malayalam speakers in India spoke a second language and 19.64% of the total knew three or more languages. Large numbers of Malayalis have settled in Chennai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Mysuru and Delhi.
There were 179,860 speakers of Malayalam in the United States, according to the 2000 census, with the highest concentrations in Bergen County, New Jersey, and Rockland County, New York.
According to the Indian census of 2011, there were 32,413,213 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala, making up 93.2% of the total number of Malayalam speakers in India, and 97.03% of the total population of the state.
Malayalam was the most spoken language in erstwhile Gudalur taluk(now Gudalur and Panthalur taluks) of Tamilnadu state which accounts for 48.8% population and it was the second most spoken language in Mangalore and Puttur taluks of Karnataka state accounting for 21.2% and 15.4% respectively according to 1951 census report. In all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2011.
Of the total 34,713,130 Malayalam speakers in India in 2011, 33,015,420 spoke the standard dialects, 19,643 spoke the Yerava dialect and 31,329 spoke non-standard regional variations like Eranadan.
Malayalam was designated a "Classical Language in India" in 2013.
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Page generated on 2021-08-05