A Grammar of the Malayalam Language 9781463214937

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A GRAMMAR OF T H E MALAYALAM LANGUAGE

A GRAMMAR OF THE MALAYALAM LANGUAGE

JOSEPH PEET

GORGIAS PRESS

2008

First Gorgias Press Edition, 2008 The special contents of this edition are copyright © 2008 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press LLC, New Jersey

This edition is a facsimile reprint of the original edition published by the C.M. Press, Cottayam, 1860

ISBN 978-1-59333-997-5 ISSN 1935-3162

GORGIAS PRESS 46 Orris Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress.com

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standards. Printed in the United States of America

P R E F A C E. — • + * • + —

By making minor alterations; omitting the explanatory introduction to his First Edition ; and using small Type ; the Author has,—on economical grounds,—reduced the size of the present Grammar. The young student's attention is requested to the two following cautionary statements. I That no native Malayalim Grammar has ever been written, and therefore it will occasion no surprise to find that, until within the last 25, or 30 years, no native written purely Malayalim Work can be found. There does indeed exist a written conglomerate called B&sha, or common Dialect; but nearly all, and, entirely all termed good native writings of the kind, are in slogums; in which Sense is sacrified to Sound. These writings are, for the most part made up of Provincialisms, mixed with words, ideas, and illustrations from Sanscrit, Tamil and their Cognate languages ; so that, without an Interpreter, they are a dead letter, even to a native reader. Indeed they were partly composed upon the ancient Brahminical principle "Amuse but Impose" Hence all such works require a Glossary, and living Expositor, and without such aids the native reader is much more be-wildered than an Englishman at Paris, who finds in Newspapers, Eating Houses, and Shop Windows notices for his special information, and guidance, composed of such English as the following, "Bifstiks Rosbiff .English spoken et cuit k point." or

H

PREFACE.

"Drap, bon marché, presque pour rein English spoken à 4 francs la mètre;" or "Two violins very seldom." For the European Reader, the key will be enough "Deux violons très rares." The native Reader is requested to act, as with his own native writings. Get a Glossary, and a living Expounder. ] | . The plan, and style of this work have been regulated by the object that more particularly induced the writer to consent to its being published ; viz, First; to assist strangers desirous of acquiring a knowledge of the Malayalim language. Secondly; to assist and encourage Native Gentlemen acquainted with English to cultivate the study of their own language, with the ultimate view of promoting general education, in the vernacular tongue, through the means of Native agency. T o the learned European, who may have occasion to study Malayalim, this work, may appear open to objection with respect to its arrangement and style. In reply it is to be observed that the object of the Author has been to produce a Grammar in which the genius of the language is especially attended to ; to accomplish which, he has in many instances ventured to arrange his work upon an original plan : at the same time be freely acknowledges, that had this Grammar been written for Europeans only, a different plan and style would have been adopted. But knowing that most of the Natives, who may « A friend of mine, after studying thi> kind of Malayalim to hi* own, and hi* moonshee's satisfaction ; when he began to put his learning into practice found that he had acquired enough to get laughed a t ; but not to be understood ; he ha>

94 98 106 107 113 114 118 125 126 127 128 131 132 133 134 138 ;

Line. 16

In the column of the medial vowels put 61 * instead of ® , P u t ' next to " i n t o " instead of 1. 25 For practise say practice. 29 For these say that day. 8 O m i t ' after to avoid. 13 For baffalo say baffaloe16 34 P u t as after whereas. 5 Instead of for say or. For proceeding spell preceding. 27 24 For conjunction say conjugation. 25 Say e^snjro for aaojro. 28 For tha the say that he. 22 P u t participles for participle. 25 P u t Negatives for Negative. 23 Spell dissolve for desolve. P u t no>oc+ before oruooocajlceacni oaeTn*. 27 22 Spell "clothe" twice for cloth. 35 For Causa read CausalFor (gala» urag®» read (g^«0»V™17 For tilings read thing. 20 Add or accusative after nominative. 13 Read fifties for fiifties. 25 Read sea for see. 24 6 Note Read s a o i A a a m for aoo>a»§&fB^flflsrarcjj for flntaOTJng. 29 8 Caste for Cast. 31 sense for senes. irr3(3.... like y in (?)

yarn.

as r soft.

V e r y great attention

is necessary to acquire

the correct pronunciation of this character. £J.... like I in lane. OJ.... as w in

wife.

Many persons learning

Malayolim

give

the Tamil sound of c to this letter which is incorrect. ^C/8

like t a .

In

pronouncing

must be depressed so

this character

that

the

the tip of it fall

tongue below

the front teeth in the lower j a w . ^ cBa ^ pro

liks th in shoe. like t in so. is a compound of and rfik and pronounced by the Malabar Brahmins

ktkar

but in common, like cl'.a

strongly aspirated. no

something like h in hoop, but pronounccd more forcibly.

O

like r in

en

like » in canal. From the T a m i l GC~. Never occurs as an

rough.

initial. "When pronounced, the tongne must be raised so that the tip of it touch the upper part of the front teeth in the upper j a w ;

care

being taken not to raise the tongue too high, or the sound will be confounded with that of the letter 6 T ) : thus ^0£i monday,—tinkelâricha. dhC/SOJob potter,

—kus'àtvën.

2nd. , when beginning a word, is to be pronounced as directed in the table : when it occurs as a medial, very soft, something like gh: when doubled, very strong like hk. Great attention should bej lid to this rule, as in many cases, the difference between Neuter, Active, and Causal Verbs, cannot be distinguished if t h i s character be not correctly pronounced; thus (6»5)th. Consonants often combine, so as to form a syllable of themselves ; in such cases all the consonants except the one placed last in combination, drop their inherent vowel sounds, but retain and unite the consonantal sounds of the several letters of which the syllable is composed . and are to be pronounced according to the order in which the letters stand: that is, the sound of that letter placed first in the order of the combination is to be uttered first: thus, 3 Ntha. 11th. OO and a make 0 3 Nda. lJth. CO and rn>, cnn Nta. The remaining consonants, in combination, retain their original form; or in the very few cases where alterations take place, they are so trifling as to prevent the possibility of mistaking the different characters; thus, CO) and LQ combine thus, 0rua. 6*"0 and Oju,

60U).

89 and 6*0),

efct».

15th. Many of the consonants are tripled and compounded in various ways: but this, after the explanations already given, will occasion the student no difficulty: the following examples will best illustrate this subject. (6n_Jai2iOOJ Brahma. Hit Excellency, the Tecchtr. «or^o^jl Butt of Athet. Cr\XJ3(5)(£^o Liberty. Stat comb Conqueror of death; one of the namet of Shetva. OF THE FINAL

CONSONANTS.

16th. Some few of the consonants become, in certain cases, finals i. e. they close a word, and can have no vowel affixed to them, or pronounced after them: when this occurs they undergo a little alteration in their form: as, Conionantt that clote a word. Finalt of the above.

6*~0, CO, it), fiJ, 3; as tiP33a?f6)S g w ^ f , from (Sflnepa.), §OJ3CO/S)^ ,.

When combined with negative sentences it corresponds to the glish words neither,

En-

nor.

2nd. (5)6innn is the accusative

singular

of the reflective pronoun

self i see para 59 on the subject of personal pronouns; but used as a particle it follows nouns and pronouns in all cases and numbers ; and is

24

A CRAMMAR

OF

THE

also affixed to other particles : in such connexions it signifies truth, and words of a similar import ; as,

very, in

era>ao6 i»re(