Malayalam is the language of the mountain land, and that name explains almost everything about how it became a separate language. This class goes back to the start: മലയാളം as മല (mountain) plus an old word for land, and Kerala's position between the Western Ghats and the sea. You place Malayalam in the Dravidian family beside Tamil, Kannada and Tulu, and hear how the speech west of the mountains drifted away from Tamil between roughly the ninth and fourteenth centuries. The split comes down to one structural change: Malayalam dropped verb agreement, so പോകുന്നു stays the same for every person. It ends with where Malayalam sits on the FSI difficulty scale, and its status as a classical language. Words and phrases in this class: മലയാളം (malayaalam) – Malayalam, the language of the mountain land മല (mala) – mountain, hill മാല (maala) – necklace (the long-vowel pair of mala) ഞാൻ പോകുന്നു (njaan pokunnu) – I am going നീ പോകുന്നു (nee pokunnu) – you are going (intimate) അവൻ പോകുന്നു (avan pokunnu) – he is going അവൾ പോകുന്നു (aval pokunnu) – she is going അവർ പോകുന്നു (avar pokunnu) – they are going നമ്മൾ പോകുന്നു (nammal pokunnu) – we are going (including you) ഞാൻ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നു (njaan malayaalam padikkunnu) – I am learning Malayalam നീ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നു (nee malayaalam padikkunnu) – you are learning Malayalam അവൾ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നു (aval malayaalam padikkunnu) – she is learning Malayalam അവർ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നു (avar malayaalam padikkunnu) – they are learning Malayalam In this class: • The name മലയാളം, and why the Western Ghats explain Kerala's history • The Dravidian family, its four branches and the Brahui outlier in Pakistan • How and when Malayalam separated from Tamil, and the earliest written evidence • The lost verb agreement, the FSI difficulty ranking and classical-language status Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.