External Influences
Variations in intonation patterns, vocabulary, and distribution of grammatical and phonological elements are observable along the parameters of region, religion, community, occupation, social stratum, style and register. The influence of Sanskrit is very prominent in formal Malayalam used in literature. Malayalam has a substantially high amount of Sanskrit loan words. Loan words and influences also from Hebrew, Syriac and Ladino abound in the Jewish Malayalam dialects, as well as English, Portuguese, Syriac and Greek in the Christian dialects, while Arabic and Persian elements predominate in the Muslim dialects. The Muslim dialect known as Mappila Malayalam is used in the Malabar region of Kerala. Another Muslim dialect called Beary bashe is used in the extreme northern part of Kerala and the southern part of Karnataka.
The regional dialects of Malayalam can be divided into thirteen dialect areas. They are as follows:
| South Travancore | Central Travancore | West Vempanad |
| North Travancore | Kochi (Cochin) | South Malabar |
| South Eastern Palghat | North Western Palghat | Central Malabar |
| Wayanad | North Malabar | Kasaragod |
| Lakshadweep |
According to Ethnologue, the dialects are:
Malabar, Nagari-Malayalam, South Kerala, Central Kerala, North Kerala, Kayavar, Namboodiri, Nair, Moplah (Mapilla), Pulaya, Nasrani, and Kasargod.
The community dialects are: Namboodiri, Nair, Moplah (Mapilla), Pulaya, and Nasrani.
Whereas both the Namboothiri and Nair dialects have a common nature, the Mapilla dialect is among the most divergent of dialects, differing considerably from literary Malayalam.
For a comprehensive list of loan words, see Loan words in Malayalam.
Read more about this topic: Malayalam
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