Plants and trees in Malayalam — the coconut, the mango, the jackfruit, the homestead garden every Kerala house sits inside, and one of the most elegant word patterns in the language. I am Dr. Reshmi R. Nair, an applied linguist from Kerala. I have taught hundreds of learners to speak Malayalam as it is actually spoken. THE LAND AROUND THE HOUSE പറമ്പ് (parambu) - not a lawn and not a garden: the working farm the house sits in A traditional പറമ്പ് (parambu) grows food in vertical layers — coconut on top, jackfruit and mango at middle height, pepper vines up the trunks, banana and tapioca at ground level, tubers underneath. Agricultural scientists call it a homegarden, and Kerala's version is studied worldwide as one of the most species-dense examples anywhere. One household plot can carry forty useful plants. THE PATTERN: THE TREE AND THE FRUIT ARE DIFFERENT WORDS English builds the tree from the fruit — mango, mango tree. Malayalam keeps two separate roots. തെങ്ങ് (thengu) - coconut palm തേങ്ങ (thenga) - the coconut മാവ് (maavu) - mango tree മാങ്ങ (maanga) - the mango പ്ലാവ് (plaavu) - jackfruit tree ചക്ക (chakka) - the jackfruit കവുങ്ങ് (kavungu) - areca palm അടയ്ക്ക (adaykka) - the areca nut വാഴ (vaazha) - banana plant ഏത്തയ്ക്ക (ethaykka) - the cooking banana A language keeps two separate roots only for things its speakers have handled for a very long time. THE COCONUT, WHICH IN KERALA IS AN ECONOMY കരിക്ക് (karikku) - the tender green drinking coconut. Ask for തേങ്ങ (thenga) and you will be handed something you cannot drink. കൊപ്ര (kopra) - the dried kernel sold for oil ചകിരി (chakiri) - the husk, from which coir is made ഓല (ola) - the palm frond that roofed houses for centuries RIPENING മൂക്കുക (mookkuka) - to mature while still green പഴുക്കുക (pazhukkuka) - to ripen, to turn sweet ഈ മാങ്ങ പഴുത്തോ? (ee maanga pazhutho?) - has this mango ripened? Which of these trees grows where you live? Comment below. #LearnMalayalam #Kerala #Malayalam