Growing up in Kerala — the words for children, the language adults use with the young, and the ceremony in which a Malayali child is given the alphabet. 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 WORDS കുട്ടി - kutti - child കുഞ്ഞ് - kunju - baby, and a term of endearment for anyone smaller than you ആൺകുട്ടി - aankutti - boy പെൺകുട്ടി - penkutti - girl പയ്യൻ - payyan - a boy, a lad മകൻ / മകൾ - makan / makal - son / daughter THE TWO YOU WILL HEAR A HUNDRED TIMES A DAY മോൻ - mon - literally son മോൾ - mol - literally daughter Used constantly as affectionate address to any young person, and by older people to adults far younger than themselves. If a woman of seventy calls you മോനേ or മോളേ, you have been treated as family, and the correct response is to be pleased. THE GRAMMAR HIDING IN THAT — THE VOCATIVE Malayalam has a distinct form for calling to someone. It generally lengthens the final vowel into ഏ or ആ. മോൻ → മോനേ മോൾ → മോളേ ചേട്ടൻ → ചേട്ടാ അമ്മ → അമ്മേ You have been hearing it all along without being told it had a name. വിദ്യാരംഭം — THE GIVING OF THE ALPHABET On വിജയദശമി, small children are made to write their first letters, traditionally in a tray of rice, with an elder guiding the finger. It is one of the gentlest ceremonies anywhere: a culture treating the alphabet as something given, by a person, on a day worth remembering. Were you taught to write by someone holding your hand? Tell me who. #LearnMalayalam #Kerala #Malayalam