Is Malayalam a mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit? Part 2

മലയാളത്തില്‍ വായിക്കാം!

Tamil and Tamilkam

The whole argument about the “Tamil origin” of Dravidian languages revolves around the meaning of the word Tamil. What this word meant in the past matters a lot when we approach Dravidian linguistics. The word Tamil in a historical sense had a much more elaborative meaning and wasn’t restricted to the boundaries of the Modern-day Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It was a collective term for a couple of South Dravidian language variants that were related to each other. In his work ‘Kerala Sahithya Charithram’, the great Malayalam poet Ullur discusses in detail the word meaning of Tamil. He states that Proto-Dravidian can also be referred to as Mutu Tamil (Old Tamil), not because Proto-Dravidian was today’s Tamil, but because of the word meaning. The word “Dravidian” and “Tamil” are of the same origin, the only debate among linguists is about which came first. Thus, the word Tamil is interchangeable with the word Dravidian.

Proto-Dravidian bifurcating into two major branches; North Dravidian and South Dravidian is a well-known fact in Dravidian linguistics. The Southern branch underwent further divisions. Among the South Dravidian I branches, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil shows propinquity when compared to other languages such as Tulu. The older form of Kannada, known as Halegannada cements this argument.

Cen Pandi Tamil

Pandi Tamil is the Tamil language that originated in Tamil Nadu. This Tamil is also known as ‘CenPandi’ Tamil where ‘cen’ means straight/proper/right, thus ‘Proper Tamil’. This is because Pandi Tamil, being the oldest known Dravidian literary, took its birth in the Pandyan Kingdom. The Sangam literature was patronised by the Pandyan Dynasty and the three Sangams (literary gatherings) took place at the Pandyan Capitals of Madurai and Kapatapuram.

The above line is sung by Avvaiyar (Sangam era) clarify that the literary language of Tamil was standardised in the country of Pandyas. It is a common phenomenon that when one language or variant is elevated to the position of a literary language, other variants would be viewed as less pristine. This became true for the “Other Tamil languages/variants” as well. Scholars began classifying other variants as Koduntamil, unrefined/extreme Tamil.

In Tholkappiyam, the oldest grammar thesis of a Dravidian language ever found, the author mentions about 12 regions of the ancient Tamil country had their speech varieties.

In Tholkappiyam words are classified into four; Iyarcol - words that both scholars and commoners can understand; tiricol - synonyms and homonyms; Ticaicol are words that are unique to different regions of ancient Tamilakam. Vaṭacol constitutes of tadbhava words (words of Sanskrit words). Examples: kāraṇam, kamalam, karam.

The 12 regions, including Centamil country, each have their own words in usage. In Tamil grammar thesis Nannul, 18 regions are mentioned where the Tamil language has no entry.

These places are identified as Sinhala — Sri Lanka, Yavana — Mediterranean, Java - Indonesia, China, Tulunad, Konkan, Kannada - Karnataka, Kollam (Kerala), Andhra-Telengana, Kalingam - Odisha, Mysure, Magadha, Bengal, Myanmar, Kosala. Since Nannul is a later work, it can be concluded that the politics of South India evolved to a much more sophisticated level.

Tamil and Malayalam - Comparitive study

It is mentioned in Tholkappiyam that -a ending changed to -ai in literary Tamil, “akaraṁ aikaramāy tirintu”. So in Tamil, it is talai (head) and malai (mountain), not tala and mala like in Malayalam or Telugu. In Kannada and Tulu, it became ‘-e’. Thus, it can be concluded that in an early form of Tamil, these words ended in ‘-a’

Also, the markers such ‘ā’ and ‘ī’ occurs only in Tamil poetry as per Tholkappiyam. But in Malayalam, these markers are used in both the literary and spoken forms.

eg: Malayalam: ā maram (that tree) ī maram (this tree)
Tamil: anta maram, inta maram
Kannada: ā mara, ī mara
Telugu: ā ceṭṭu, ī ceṭṭu

In addition to the above, Tamil out of all Dravidian languages has aytam eluttu which is denoted by three circular dots (ஃ). According to Ullur, this is a sort of influence from Sanskrit, which has a larger phonetic set compared to that of Tamil. This ayta eluttu is not seen in any writing system of Malayalam.

Besides, marking gender at the end of a verb is common in All Dravidian languages except a few like Malayalam. The trace of this gender marking is not found commonly in the oral tradition of Malayalam. However, it is found in various Early literary works. Now it should be noted that Centamil flourished as a literary language before Malayalam, thus its influence in literature was inevitable.

Also, Leelathilkam need not be considered in this matter, as Ullur stated. Leelathilakam is a prescriptive grammar work on the macaronic language Manipravalam and not Malayalam. Since the objective of its author was to establish a standard for a literary style such as Manipravalam, it influenced Centamil.

Phonological aspects

According to Historical Grammar of Early Old Malayalam, a thesis by K. M. Narayamenon, the alveolar ḏ(ന്റ) shifted to dental ‘nta’ and ‘nna’ in the later stage of Malayalam. He also states that Tamil lost this archaic sound before Malayalam. This explains why words with ‘nn’ in Malayalam have a corresponding ‘ṉṟ’ in Tamil. These sounds are reconstructed in proto-Dravidian. Moreover, Malayalam still preserves the alveolar ‘ṯ’ (റ്റ) while in Tamil it became ‘ṭṟ’ and in spoken Tamil ‘tt’. However, a few regional variants of Tamil still preserve the ṯ like in Malayalam.

Another notable phonological aspect is the shift of ca sound. In Tamil, it became ‘sa’ and in Malayalam when it becomes ‘śa’ when not at the beginning of a word. eg: Mal - kāṟṟ vīśi (wind blew) Tam - kāṭṟu vīsiyatu

In Malayalam ‘ṅka’ as in tiṅkaḷ (moon) and ‘ṅṅa’ as in ‘tiṅṅaḷ’ existed side by side, but in Middle Malayalam, it completely changed to  ‘ṅṅa’. Words like tiṅkaḷ are exceptions. But in Tamil, ‘ṅṅa’ is not in common usage. The same applies to ñca and ñña.

Grammar

Sentence: He is coming from the temple.

Malayalam: avan ampalattil ninnum varunnu.
Standard Tamil: avan avar kōvilil iruntu varukiṟān
Spoken Tamil:avē kōyilila iruntu varān
Kannada: avanu dēvasthānandinda baruttiḍḍane

In the above examples, one can see that unlike in Tamil and Kannada Malayalam is not using the masculine suffix ‘an’ with the verb. In addition to that in places where Tamil uses ‘iruntu’ (from) Malayalam uses ‘ninnu’.

Malayalam : avaḷ nīḷamuḷḷa peṇṇ āṇ. Tamil: avaḷ uyaramāna peṇ Kannada: avaḷu ettarada huḍugi

In Malayalam, the word ‘ആണ്’ (āṇ) is widely used in sentence formation. This is similar to ‘is’ in English. But in Tamil and Kannada,  an equivalent is not widely used.

What is your name? Malayalam: tāṅkaḷuṭe pēr ent āṇ? Tamil: uṅkaḷ peyar eṉṉa? Kannada: ninna hesarēnu?

See the difference between Tamil and Malayalam even in basic sentence formation.

Now, let’s see how the tenses compare;

Past Tense

I went home

Malayalam: ñān vīṭṭilēkk pōyi Tamil: vīṭṭukku pōṉēn Kannada : nānu manege hōde

Present Tense

I’m going home

Malayalam: ñān vīṭṭil pōkunnu Tamil: nān vīṭṭirkku celkiṟēn Kannada: nānu manege hōguttunēne

Future Tense

Malayalam: ñān vīṭṭilēkk pōkuṁ Tamil: nān vīṭṭukku pōṟēn Kannada: nānu manege hōguttēne

From the examples shown above, one can see the relationship between Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, and at the same time the difference between them. Because no Sanskrit loan was used in the above Malayalam examples, it is clear that the language has a distinct identity, and one won’t get Tamil by removing Sanskrit from Malayalam.

Conclusion

Languages in close contact influence each other. Tamil and Sanskrit, as two of the oldest literary languages, influenced literary Malayalam over the centuries. But this doesn’t obfuscate the fact that Malayalam has its own identity and a long history of evolution. The Sanskrit and Tamil origin fallacies diminish the identity of other Dravidian languages as well. Linguistics have disapproved all these false theories through scientific analysis. However, the religious and political undercurrents deviate people from gaining proper knowledge. Misinformation is spread through educational institutions as well. Especially in the case of Malayalam, the bogus argument about it being a “mixed language” even flourishes at an academic level. Language is a subject of one’s identity and culture, thus it should be understood through proper education, not through political or religious propaganda.

Reference

• The Dravidian Languages, Bhadriraju Krishnamurthi
• A Grammar of Malayalim, Rev. George Matthan
• Tholkappiyam in English, Dr. V. Murugan, 2000
• Kerala Sahithya Charithram, Ullur
• Adibhasha, Chattambiswamikal
• Historical Grammar of Early Old Malayalam, K. M. Narayamenon

follow us on Instagram