The Malayalam languages are the
group of
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant im ...
most closely related to
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...
. In addition to Malayalam itself, they are:
*
Paniya
Paniya is one of the Malayalam languages spoken in India. It is spoken by the Paniya people, a scheduled tribe with a majority of its speakers in the state of Kerala. The language is also known as ''Pania'', ''Paniyan'' and ''Panyah''. It belon ...
,
Ravula
The Ravula (Adyar in Malayalam, Yerava in Kannada) are a tribal community in Karnataka and Kerala. Their common language is known as the Ravula language. They live predominantly the Kodagu district of Karnataka along with its adjacent regions ...
,
Beary
The Beary (also known as Byari) is a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka. They are an ethnic group of Indian Muslims with their own distinct cu ...
,
Aranadan,
Judeo-Malayalam
Judeo-Malayalam ( ml, links=no, യെഹൂദ്യമലയാളം, '; he, links=no, מלאיאלאם יהודית, ') is the traditional language of the Cochin Jews (also called Malabar Jews), from Kerala, in southern India, spoken today ...
,
Arabi Malayalam
Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional Dravidian language of the Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the Malabar Coast of Kerala state, sout ...
,
Suriyani Malayalam
Suriyani Malayalam (സുറിയാനി മലയാളം, ܣܘܪܝܢܝ ܡܠܝܠܡ), also known as Karshoni, Syro-Malabarica or Syriac Malayalam, is a dialect of Malayalam written in a variant form of the Syriac alphabet which was popular ...
,
Kadar,
Malapandaram,
Malaryan,
Malavedan,
Mannan,
Paliyan
The Paliyan, or Palaiyar or Pazhaiyarare are a group of around 9,500 formerly nomadic Dravidian peoples, Dravidian tribals living in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are tradit ...
,
Jeseri
Jeseri (also known as Jesri or Dweep Bhasha) is a dialect of Malayalam, spoken in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. The word 'Jeseri' derives from Arabic word Jazari (جزري) which means 'Islander' or 'of island'.
It is spoken on ...
,
Mullu Kurumba.
Unclassified
Malankuravan and
Kakkala may be Malayalam languages as well.
Internal classification
Glottolog classifies the Malayalam languages as follows:
References
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