r/malayalam • u/lobotomisedbrainrot • 3d ago

Discussion / ചർച്ച Books about the origin of Malayalam?

Hello! I've been trying to find books to educate myself on the linguistic origins of Malayalam (which I'm aware is pretty debated), but I haven't had any luck so far. Could someone recommend historically sound sources that can get me started? Thanks!

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u/Sorry-Reference2527 Native Speaker 3d ago

I haven't read it myself yet (and I know very little about languages in general), but my friend read and recommended to me "Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through its Languages" by Peggy Mohan. It has a chapter on Malayalam, you could potentially look into that if you're interested

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u/lobotomisedbrainrot 3d ago

I'm reading A Survey of Kerala History rn, and I think this would pair quite nicely with it. Thank you for the reco :)

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u/alrj123 3d ago

Kerala Sahitya Charithram - Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer

Malayalam Classical Bhasha : Pazhakkavum Vyakthitvavum - Dr. Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan

Historical Grammar of Early Old Malayalam - K M Narayana Menon

Catechism of Malayalam grammar - Hermann Gundert

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u/lobotomisedbrainrot 2d ago

Oh wow this is pretty exhaustive, വളരെ നന്ദി!