Malayalam is written in a non-Latin script. Malayalam text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the ISO 15919 standard.
The grammar shows similarities to Mainland Malayalam.
Nouns
Case endings
The case endings for nouns and pronouns are generally as follows:
Nominative: nil;
Accusative: a, na
Genitive: aa, naa, thaa;
Dative: kk, n, oon;
Communicative: oda, aa kooda, naa kooda;
Instrumental: aa kond, naa kond;
Locative: nd, naa ul, l (only in traces);
Ablative: nd;
Vocative: e, aa;
Pronouns
singular
plural
1st person
exclusive
naan
nanga
inclusive
noo, namma, laaba
2nd person
née
ninga
3rd person
proximate
masculine
ben
iba
feminine
bel
neuter
idh
remote
masculine
on
aba
feminine
ol
neuter
adh
thaan: self;
Verbs
The conjugations of verbs are similar to Mainland Malayalam.
The verb 'kaanu' - meaning 'see', the same as in Mainland Malayalam, is illustrated here.
There are three simple tenses.
Present: suffix added is nna (mostly nda); so kaanunna/kaanunda - sees, is seeing.
Past: the stem of the verb may change as in Mainland Malayalam. For 'kaanu', past is kanda - saw.
Future: the suffix added is 'um'. So, kaanum - will see.
The negatives of these tenses show some differences:
For present tense, the negative is formed by adding vela (ppela for some verbs) to the stem. Not only that, a present negative may also function as a future negative. So, kaanuvela - is not seeing, does not see, will not see.
For past tense, the negative is formed by suffixing ela to the past stem. So, kandela - did not see, has not seen.
For the future tense, the old Malayalam poetic suffix 'aa' may be used (kaanaa).
The interrogative forms are made by suffixing 'aa' with some changes effected.
So, kaanundyaa (does/do ... see?) for kaanunda (sees), kandyaa (did ... see?) for kanda (saw), and kaanumaa/kaanunaa/kaanungaa (will ... see?) for kaanum (will see).
References
^Kōyammakkōya, Eṃ (2012). Lakshadweep Pradesikabhasha Nighandu (Translation: Lakshadweep Regional Language Dictionary), Editor: Dr. Koyammakoya M. Sāhityapr̲avarttaka Sahakaraṇasaṅghaṃ, Nāṣaṇal Bukkȧ St̲āḷ. ISBN978-81-922822-9-9.
^Subramoniam, V. I. (1997). Dravidian Encyclopaedia. Vol. 3, Language and literature. Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): International School of Dravidian Linguistics. pp. 508-09. [1]