Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam[1][2] and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditionalMalayalam dialect[3] of theMappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in theMalabar Coast of Kerala state, southern India. The form can be classified as a regional dialect in northern Kerala, or as a class or occupational dialect of the Mappila community. It can also be called avernacular in general, or as a provincialpatois, with the latter label being increasingly applicable in Colonial times. All the forms of Malayalam, including the Mappila dialect, are mutually intelligible.[4][5]
The Mappila form shows some lexical admixture from Arabic and Persian.[5][6]
The variety Arabi Malayalam is also used by lower castes non-Muslims in northern Kerala, Muslims inDakshina Kannada, and different Mappila migrant communities in South East Asia.[7]
A multilingual advertisement with a catalogue of books and textiles available from a shop in Ponnani in 1908. Text on the left hand side isArabi-Tamil, text on the right hand side, Arabi Malayalam script
Arabi Malayalam came into being as Malayalam written in the Arabic script. The Malayalam language was mainly used to spread the ideas and practices of Islam in Kerala. Creating Arabi Malayalam made it easier for the Arabs who migrated to Kerala to spread the religion without a language barrier getting in the way.[12]
^Subramoniam, V. I. (1997).Dravidian Encyclopaedia. Vol. 3, Language and literature. Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): International School of Dravidian Linguistics. pp. 508-09.[1]
^Krishna Chaitanya.Kerala. India, the Land and the People. New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 1994.[2]
^Upadhyaya, U. Padmanabha.Coastal Karnataka: Studies in Folkloristic and Linguistic Traditions of Dakshina Kannada Region of the Western Coast of India. Udupi: Rashtrakavi Govind Pai Samshodhana Kendra, 1996. pp. 63-83.
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