F W Ellis's 1815 Dissertation on Malayalam

DISSERTATION THE SECOND.

ON THE MALAYALMA LANGUAGE. (3 pages)

The country of Malayalam, lying on the west coast of the Indian Peninsula, is, according to the Ceral'otpati, divided into four Chandam or Provinces. The most Northern, commencing at Gocarnam and extending southward to Perumbuzha, near Mangalore, is called Tulu-rajyam, the Kingdom of Tidu: from Perumbuzha to Pudupat'tanam, near Nileswaram, the Country is called Cupa-rajyam ; thence to Cannetti near Collam(Quilon), lies Cirata-rajyam ; and thence toCanyacumari (cape Comorin) JMushipa-rqjyam, TheMalayal'a, or more properly the Malayal'ma, is at present the language of the two last provinces. It is spoken, likewise, in Ciipamj but in this province and in Tulu, which constitute the district, on which in recent times the name of Canara has been imposed, the Tuluva, a-distinct dialect, though of the same derivation as the Malayal'ma, prevails among the Aborigines and a variety of tongues among the Ilaiga, Concana, Cannad'a, Telugu and other Tribes who have k>og colonized .the country. -There is a certain variation in dialect between the language of Ceral'am andMushicam, and, indeed,. in the several' Nadus into which they are divided, but none of sufficient importance to require particular notice: in the latter province affairs of state are conduct- . ed in the Tamil language, which is there, consequently, much more prevalent then in the former.

'The Malayal'ma is, like the Codun-Tamizh, an immediate dialect of the Shen-Tamizh : it differs from the parent language generally in the same manner as the Codun.; it differs from the Codun, in pronunciation and idiom, but more especially in retaining terms and forms of the ShenTamizh, which, in the former, are obsolete. But it’s most material variation from it’s cognate dialects is, that, though deriving from a language superfluously abounding in verbal forms, it’s verbs are entirely devoid of personal terminations, the person being always indicated by the pronoun. It is this peculiarity which cheifly constitutes the Malayal'ma a distinct tongue and distinguishes it in a peculiar manner from all other dialects of Tamil origination.

The Malayal'ma is written in three different characters, namely the Ariyam, the Col’Ezhutta, and the Vet't’Ezhutta, or, as it is called in the more Southern districts, Malayal'a Tamizh. The Ariyam, a variation of the Grantham, has, the same number of letters as the Nagari and is derived intermediately from the Tamil Alphabet : in this character all books, whether Sanscrit or Malayal'ma,' are written, correspondence conducted, and business transacted. It is considerably varied in the form and mode of writing in different parts of the country : to the south of Calicut, it written .square and distinct, and then, with the exception of a few characters, approaches nearer to theGrant ( ham : as written to the north of Calicut, however, it’s variation form it's primitive form is very considerable ; tbe angles are rounded and the vowel signs and compound consonants more irregularly connected, j so that a person acquainted with Grant,ham and, consequently, able to read tbe square Ary am, character can scarcely decypher the round hand. As the Grant,ham was originally formed for writing the Sanscrit ouly, all letters purely Tamil and, consequently not found in the N&gari, were rejected, but these have been necessarily restored in the Bryant and retain nearly their proper Tamil form: .these letters are SVr R (/»), and JV*(«) only used as a final, or in connection with .ft (/£>), Separate forms, which do not exist in the Grantham, have, also, been devised for the finals R (/?) L (£>), andi(on) on account of their frequent occurrence.*

• The Col’ Ezhutta is, as it’s name imports, the writing of the Palace, coin in Tamil being equivalent to the Hindustani term durbar ; in this character all grants, patents, decrees, and, in genera), all papers that can be considered records of Government are drawn up. While Ceralam was independent these papers were in the Malavallna, butinMushicam,thecountry at present under the dominion of the Travancore Government, Tamil is and always has been used for this purpose. The Vet't'EzhuUa, the clipped, or abreviated letter, is the writing of the forum; conveyances, bonds, legal instruments, and, generally, all transactions between man and man, necessary to be recorded, are written in this character. The two characters have ealch the same number of letters as the Tamil alphabet ; the forms of the letters are nearly the same in both and are either variations, all angles being rounded. or, as the name oftlie latter imports, abreviations of the Tamil, but they differ from each other and from the Tamil very materially in the mode of joining tke signs of the vowels to the consonants, and in the manner of writing.*

To exhibit with precision the difference between the MalayaTma and the Shcn and Codun Tamil, I shall make the following comparisons : Of terms derived in the two modern dialects from the pure or ancient Tamil: Of words derived from the Sauscrit : Of the declension of the noun : of the conjugation of the verb : Of idiom. Tbisarrangment will comprehend every variation, whether in the pronunciation or forms of words, in the idiom, or in the use of terms by those w hich are obsolete in one dialect being retrained in the other..

I

Comparison of terms- in tiie two dialects derived from pure Tamil •

Like the other dialects of Southern India, the terms of the Malaval'ina might be arranged under the three principled classes of Tatsamam, pure Sanscrit terms, Tadbhavam, Sanscrit derivatives, and Desyam, native terms, and the latter might be again subdivided into Tamil Tatsamam, pure Tamil terms, and Tamil Tadb havam, Tamil derivatives. In the dissertation on the Telugu, the Tadb ( havam terms of that Language are distributed into classes, according as they are derived direct or through the medium of the several Pracrits; of the latter there are few, if any, in Malayal'ma, and the former do not abound. Those which occur may be more properly referred to the Tamil than the Malayal'ma; thus simh^uh the sign Leo, becomes in Tamil, by the necessary substitution of g for h, the latter letter not being found in the language, singam, and in Malayal'ma singam and chingam ; thus, also, vrishabhah by. the usual Tamil substitutions of i for ri and d' for sh becomes id'abam and in Malayal'ma id’avam . In these instances, however, and in most others of a similar nature, the proper Tatsamam term may be optionally used for the derivative.