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 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 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 pazhuttho? - has this mango ripened? Which of these trees grows where you live? Comment below. #LearnMalayalam #Kerala #Malayalam