The earliest references to grammatical structure of Malayalam are found in Liilaatilakam, a 14th century Sanskrit work on Manipravaalam language and poetics. The focus of the author of this work was not on grammar as such, but on defining Manipravaalam and elucidating its characteristics. No other grammatical treatise or references to linguistic aspects of Malayalam by native scholars have come down to us for nearly 400 years from the time of Liilaatilakam. Modern grammatical tradition of Malayalam starts in the 18th century with grammars by European Missionaries; the earliest known work in this genre is Gramatica Linguae Vulgaris ab Epsicopo Maleloponilo (1712) of Bishop Angelos Franciscus, an Italian missionary. Treatises on Malayalam by missionaries like Peet, Drummond, Frohnmeyer and Garthwaite seem to have continued this tradition, the high point of which was Gundert's grammar of Malayalam that came out in 1851. Except the work of Gundert which was a full-fledged grammar, missionary grammars were more like manuals for learning Malayalam meant for the use of Europeans. The earliest grammar by a native scholar is Malayaalmayute Vyaakaranam of George Mathen (1878). This was followed by Keerala Bhasaa Vyaakaranam (Vaikkom Pachu Muthathu 1876), Keerala Kaumudi (Kovunni Nedungadi 1878), Keerala Paaniniiyam (A.R. Rajaraja Varma 1896) and Vyaakarana Mitram (Seshagiri Prabhu 1904) and the revised Keerala Paaniniiyam (1916). Due to acquaintance with ideas of modern linguistics, a new trend began from about the 1930-s. K. Goda Varma and L.V. Ramaswamy Iyer were the pioneers of this trend. The establishment of the Department of Linguistics in University of Kerala, under Prof V.I. Subramoniam, an American-trained scholar ushered in an area of intense activity in linguistic research and studies on Malayalam. The research work done in the University of Kerala at that time concentrated mainly on three areas: (1) Dialect studies (E.g., Eranad dalect (G.K. Panikkar), Cochin dialect (P. Somasekharan Nair), Thiyya/ Ezhava dialect (C.J. Roy, R.V.K. Thampuran), Muslim dialect of Travancore (Mahilamma), Kanyakumari dialect (V.S. Vijayendra Bhas)); (2) Descriptive Grammars of old Malayalam literary works (E.g., Krsnagaatha (V.R. Prabodhachandran Nayar), Kaņņaśśa Raamaayanam (Puthusseri Ramachandran), Anantapura Varnanam (K. Retnamma), Adhyaatma Ramaayaņam (N.R. Gopinatha Pillai), Brahmaanda Puraanam (P.V. Velayudhan Pillai), Raamacaritam (Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan)); (3) Syntax of Malayalam (E.g. A.P. Andrewskutty and Radhakrishnan Mallaseri in transformational generative grammar, Sudha Bai in Case Grammar framework, Saraswathi Amma in Tagmemic framework). There have also been studies on other areas like language teaching, contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics and place name studies. The above works provide a substantial base of knowledge and ideas on Malayalam phonology, morphology and syntax. However, a comprehensive account of Malayalam remained as a lacuna. The grammars of M.S. Andronov (1996) and Asher and Kumari (1997) have served to fill this lacuna to a certain extent. They were able to collate the work already done in the modern period and merge it with their own framework to provide extensive description of Malayalam. In spite of these two prominent works, various aspects of Malayalam lack modern analysis and description. The present work by Ravi Sankar S. Nair is an attempt in this regard. Malayalam - A Descriptive Outline is perceived to be the nucleus of a work aimed at a larger goal a comprehensive description of Malayalam covering phonology, morphology and syntax. It is mainly focused on the syntax and semantics of the three word categories of Noun, Verb and Modifier of Malayalam. Each category is classified into a number of sub-classes and the syntactic and semantic characteristics of each class are described with suitable examples. The last chapter classifies and analyses the sentence structure of Malayalam and takes up different patterns under coordination and subordination. This work is a valuable contribution to Malayalam linguistics and also to Dravidian linguistics in general. The usefulness of this work for researchers in various fields, especially computational linguistics is self evident. The detailed classifications in the present work will provide a framework for revising Tag sets now used in computational linguistic work in Malayalam. I hope that Malayalam - A Descriptive Outline will be welcomed by the linguistic community in general and Dravidian linguists in particular.
The grammatical tradition in Malayalam, compared to the three other major Dravidian languages, is neither extensive nor ancient. Liilaatilakam dated to the closing years of 14th century is generally considered as the earliest treatise referring to grammatical structures of Malayalam. This however is not a work of grammar as such, but is more concerned with elucidation of the features of Maniprvaalam, a literary language that was an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit. Except some brief treatises in Portuguese, Latin and English authored by missionaries, up to 19th century Malayalam did not have a proper grammar. Hermann Gundert's Malayala bhaşaa vyaakaranam first published in 1851 and the revised and enlarged version coming out in 1868 was the first proper grammatical treatise of Malayalam. Rev. George Mathen's Malayaalmayuțe vyaakaranam (1863), Pachu Mootthatu's Keeralabhaasaa vyaakaranam, A.R Rajaraaja Varma's Keerala paaniniiyam (originally published in 1896; revised and enlarged edition in 1917) and M. Seshagiri Prabhu's Vyaakaranamitram (1904) followed. Grammatical literature from this point of time was essentially focused on Keerala paaniniiyam, which came to enjoy almost the status of an 'authorised grammar of Malayalam. While Rajaraja Varma's work stands out by its breadth of coverage and rigorous analysis, it cannot be denied that grammatical tradition in Malayalam has remained too long within the ambit of a grammar written nearly a century back. A common grammatical tradition drawing on various grammars failed to evolve and consequently the framework of Keerala paaniniiyam continued as the sole grammatical model in Malayalam. The grammars written in the post- Keerala paaniniiyam period are essentially explanatory treatises on Rajaraja Varma's work. While a few grammarians have suggested alternative analyses in some areas, the grammars Varma. For a themselves faithfully follow the basic framework of Rajaraja period of more than 80 years from Keerala paaniniiyam, no grammarian attempted either to extend the Keerala paaniniiyam model to produce a more comprehensive treatment of Malayalam or to analyze the grammatical structure of Malayalam using alternative models of grammatical description. Keerala paaniniiyam and other traditional grammars have extensively covered the morphology of the language. However, there is precious little in them about syntax and semantics. Having to deal with the structure of a modern language like Malayalam using a restricted grammatical model has had serious repercussions in many fields. Researchers in the fields of Computational Linguistics, speech pathology and language teaching very often lament the absence of a more modern and comprehensive grammar of Malayalam, especially one that adequately covers syntactic and semantic aspects. From the 60's researchers in modern linguistics have published in many journals pertinent analyses on various aspects of Malayalam grammar. A modern full-fledged grammar of Malayalam was however, not attempted until 1997 when Asher and Kumari published Malayalam under the Descriptive Grammars series edited by Bernard Comrie. This work represents the most comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Malayalam available. Syntax, morphology and phonology of Malayalam are extensively covered drawing on the traditional views as well as modern linguistic analyses. Though not of the same scale, M.S Andrononv's Malayalam Grammar in Historical Treatment (1996) was also a siginificant attempt. In spite of these major works, various syntactic and semantic features associated with categories and structures of Malayalam remained to be analyzed. Vaakyadarśanam of Ravi Sankar S. Nair (Kerala Bhasha Institute 2011) was an attempt in this direction. The basic categories and structures of Malayalam are defined in this work followed by analyses of the syntactic and semantic features of each. Sentence structures and word formation mechanisms are also analyzed. The present work draws on Vaakyadarsanam. The first three chapters on Noun, Verb and Modifiers describe the semantic and syntactic features of each of these word classes. The sub-categories are extensively classified. The last chapter provides a description of the different sentence types in Malayalam. It is hoped that the present work will serve as foundation for more comprehensive and in-depth studies of various aspects of the grammar of Malayalam.
The author places on record his gratitude to the Council of Direction of the International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram for taking up this work for publication. The author is also thankful to Prof. G.K Panikkar, Hon. Director of ISDL for reviewing the manuscript and offering his comments and suggestions.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist