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#46 Malayalam Cinema in Script — Why a Character Is Called a Story-Vessel
Description
Class 46, Malayalam Script Edition. Cinema and songs — the vocabulary in four blocks, in script.
THREE WORDS, THREE REGISTERS, ONE THING
സിനിമ (cinema) is the neutral word. പടം (padam) is the everyday one — നല്ല പടം (nalla padam), a good film. ചലച്ചിത്രം (chalachithram) is the formal literary word you will see in reviews, awards and newspapers and almost never hear in conversation.
THE CAST AND CREW
നായകൻ (naayakan) hero · നായിക (naayika) heroine · പ്രതിനായകൻ (prathinaayakan) the counter-hero, the villain · സംവിധായകൻ (samvidhaayakan) director · തിരക്കഥ (thirakkatha) screenplay · സംഭാഷണം (sambhaashanam) dialogue · അഭിനയം (abhinayam) acting · രംഗം (rangam) scene · ദൃശ്യം (drishyam) a visual · പ്രേക്ഷകൻ (prekshakan) viewer · കൈയടി (kaiyadi) applause, literally hand-striking.
കഥാപാത്രം (kathaapaathram) — a character. Literally a **story-vessel**, the container the story is poured into. That is a rather good metaphor for what a character is.
THE GENDER POINT WORTH UNDERSTANDING
Malayalam has NO grammatical gender. Nouns are not masculine or feminine. Adjectives do not agree. Verbs do not agree. It is one of the great mercies of this language.
But it does mark NATURAL gender on words for people. നായകൻ a male hero, നായിക a female one. ഗായകൻ (gaayakan) and ഗായിക (gaayika), singers. അധ്യാപകൻ (adhyaapakan) and അധ്യാപിക (adhyaapika), teachers.
So the distinction is semantic, not grammatical. Malayalam marks the sex of the person because it is relevant information — not because the noun belongs to a class. That is a genuinely different arrangement from Spanish or German, where a table and a spoon have genders for no reason whatsoever, and it is much closer to English's actor/actress, waiter/waitress.
AND THE DOUBLET AGAIN
പാട്ട് (paattu) song, the everyday word · ഗാനം (gaanam) song, the formal Sanskrit word used in titles and credits.
Taught by Dr. Reshmi R Nair.
Podcast Channel
The Story of Malayalam | History, Words and Linguistics
Author
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