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{{Short description|Dialect of Malayalam written in a variant of Syriac alphabet}}
{{Infobox language family
|name = Suriyāni Malayalam
|region = [[South India]]
|familycolor = Dravidian
|fam2 = Southern
|fam3 = [[Tamil–Kannada]]
|fam4 = Tamil–Kodagu
|fam5 = Tamil–Malayalam
|fam6 = [[Malayalam languages]]
|glottorefname= Malayalamoid
}}
{{Infobox Writing system
| name = Suriyāni Malayalam alphabet
| type = [[Abjad]]
| languages = [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] ([[Syriac language|Classical Syriac]]), [[Malayalam]] (Syro-Malabarica),
| time =
| fam1 = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam2 = [[Proto-Sinaitic script]]
| fam3 = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam4 = [[Aramaic alphabet]]
| fam5 = [[Syriac alphabet]]
| sample =
| imagesize = 200px
| caption =
| iso15924 =
| iso15924 note =
| unicode = {{ublist |class=nowrap |[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0700.pdf U+0700–U+074F] {{smaller|Syriac}} |[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0860.pdf U+0860–U+086F] {{smaller|Syriac Supplement}}}}
}}

'''Suriyani Malayalam''' (സുറിയാനി മലയാളം, ܣܘܪܝܢܝ ܡܠܝܠܡ), also known as '''Karshoni''', '''Syro-Malabarica''' or '''Syriac Malayalam''', is a dialect of [[Malayalam]] written in a variant form of the [[Syriac alphabet]] which was popular among the [[Saint Thomas Christians]] (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of [[Kerala]] in [[India]].<ref name="Indian Express">{{cite web|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/Bengaluru-Youth-Learn-Dying-Language-Preserve-It/2016/05/09/article3422438.ece|title=City Youth Learn Dying Language, Preserve It|publisher=[[The New Indian Express]]|date=May 9, 2016|access-date=May 9, 2016}}</ref><ref name="nf">{{Cite web |title=The Effect of Coronavirus on the Casino Industry {{!}} Nasrani Foundation |url=http://nasranifoundation.org/articles/SyriacMalayalam.html |access-date=2022-07-16 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="thehin">{{Cite web |date=2008-08-16 |title=The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : A sacred language is vanishing from State |url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081164350500.htm |access-date=2022-07-16 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080816015450/http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081164350500.htm |archive-date=16 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="indtod">{{Cite web |date=August 4, 1997 |first=M. G. |last=Radhakrishnan |title=Tiny village in Kerala one of the last bastions of Syriac in the world |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/offtrack/story/19970804-tiny-village-in-kerala-one-of-the-last-bastions-of-syriac-in-the-world-831835-1997-08-04 |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref> It uses Malayalam grammar, the [[Syriac alphabet#East Syriac Maḏnḥāyā|Maḏnḥāyā]] or "Eastern" Syriac script with special [[orthography|orthographic]] features, and vocabulary from Malayalam and East Syriac. This originated in the South Indian region of the [[Malabar Coast]] (modern-day Kerala). Until the 19th century, the script was widely used by Syrian Christians in Kerala.

==Writing system==
There were numerous problems in writing Malayalam using the Syriac alphabet, which was designed for a [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]]. Only 22 letters were available from East Syriac orthography to render over 53 phonemes of Malayalam. Both the languages are not related to one another in any way except for religious causes. These problems were overcome by creating additional letters.<ref name=15156-syriac-malayalam>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15156-syriac-malayalam.pdf | title=Proposal to Encode Syriac Letters for Garshuni Malayalam}}</ref>
Basic Syriac ''ʾĀlap̄ Bēṯ'' based on form with corresponding [[Malayalam script|Malayalam letters]]
{|border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" width="500" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|-
| width="25%" |<big><big>ܕ</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>ܓ</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>ܒ</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>ܐ</big></big>
|-
!ദ്||ഗ്||ബ്, വ്||അ
|-
|<big><big>ܚ</big></big>||<big><big>ܙ</big></big>||<big><big>ܘ</big></big>||<big><big>ܗ</big></big>
|-
!ഹ്||സ്||വ്||ഹ്
|-
|<big><big>ܠ</big></big>||<big><big>ܟ</big></big>||<big><big>ܝ</big></big>||<big><big>ܛ</big></big>
|-
!ല്||ക്, ക്ക്||യ്||ത്
|-
|<big><big>ܥ</big></big>||<big><big>ܣ</big></big>||<big><big>ܢ</big></big>||<big><big>ܡ</big></big>
|-
!അ||സ്||ന്||മ്
|-
|<big><big>ܪ</big></big>||<big><big>ܩ</big></big>||<big><big>ܨ</big></big>||<big><big>ܦ</big></big>
|-
!റ്||ഖ്||സ്||പ്, വ്
|-
| || ||<big><big>ܬ</big></big>||<big><big>ܫ</big></big>
|-
! || ||ത്, സ്||ശ്
|}

Additional Malayalam letters
{|border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" width="500" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|-
| width="25%" |<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-TTA.png|15px]]</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-NYA.png|15px]]</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-JA.png|15px]]</big></big>|| width="25%" |<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-NGA.png|15px]]</big></big>
|-
!ട്||ഞ്||ജ്||ങ്
|-
|<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-RA.png|15px]]</big></big>||<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-BHA.png|15px]]</big></big>||<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-NNNA.png|15px]]</big></big>||<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-NNA.png|15px]]</big></big>
|-
!ര്||ഭ്||ഩ*||ണ്
|-
|<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-SSA.png|15px]]</big></big>||<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-LLLA.png|15px]]</big></big>||<big><big>[[File:SYRIAC-LETTER-MALAYALAM-LLA.png|15px]]</big></big>
|-
!ഷ്||ഴ്||ള്
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Malayalam alveolar nasal encoded as U+0D29 for scholarly purposes.

Vowels
{|border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" width="300" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|-
|ܘ݁ ||ܹ ||ܸ ||ܘ݂ ||ܝ݂ ||ܵ ||ܲ
|-
!ഒ, ഓ||ഏ||എ||ഉ, ഊ||ഇ, ഈ||ആ||അ
|-
|ܟܘ݁||ܟܹ||ܟܸ||ܟܘ݂||ܟܝ݂||ܟܵ||ܟܲ
|-
!കൊ, കോ||കേ||കെ||കു, കൂ||കി, കീ||കാ||ക
|}

==Unicode==
The Syriac alphabet was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.
Additional letters for Suriyani Malayalam were added in June, 2017 with the release of version 10.0.

===Blocks===
{{Main article|Syriac (Unicode block)|Syriac Supplement|l2=Syriac Supplement (Unicode block)}}

The Unicode block for Syriac is U+0700–U+074F:

{{Unicode chart Syriac}}

The Syriac Abbreviation (a type of [[overline]]) can be represented with a special control character called the [[Syriac Abbreviation Mark]] (U+070F).

The Unicode block for Suriyani Malayalam specific letters is called the Syriac Supplement block and is U+0860–U+086F:

{{Unicode chart Syriac Supplement}}

==Loanwords==
Over the centuries, [[Malayalam]] borrowed Eastern Syriac words. A few of them are given below:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Original Syriac
! Suriyani Malayalam
! Meaning
|-
| Emma/Umm<ref name="Indian Express" /><ref>Mar Thomma Margam by Fr. Varghese Pathikulangara</ref>
| Umma or Amma
| Mother
|-
| Abba/Bava
| Appan, Aavan or Bava
| Father
|-
|Ara
|Aram
|Earth, foundation
|-
|Almaya
|Almayar, Almayan
|Laity
|-
| Nasraya, Nasrani
| Nasrani
| Follower of Nazareth Christ
|-
| Knā'nāya
| Knānāya
| Canaanite
|-
| Pesħa<ref name="indtod" />
| Pesaha
| Passover
|-
| Petturta
| Pethurtha
| First Sunday of Great Lent
|-
| Malakha<ref name="thehin" />
| Malakha
| Angel
|-
|Madbaha
|Madbaha
|Altar
|-
|Metran
|Metran
|Metropolitan
|-
|Malpana
|Malpan
|Teacher (ecclesiastical)
|-
| Qudasha<ref name="thehin" />
| Kudasha
| Sacrament
|-
|Qaddisha
|Qandisha, Qandishan
|The Holy one
|-
|-
|Rabban
|Ramban, Rambachan
|Monk
|-
|M'shamshana
|Shammashan, Shammachan
|Deacon
|-
| Mamoditha<ref name="thehin" /><ref name="indtod" />
| Mamodisa
| Baptism
|-
|Sahada
|Shahada
|Martyr
|-
| Sliva
| Sliva, Siluva, Sleeba
| Cross
|-
| Isho'<ref name="thehin" />
| Isho
| Jesus
|-
| [[Qurbana]]<ref name="thehin" />
| Qurbana
| Sacrifice/Peace Offering
|-
| M'shiħa<ref name="thehin" /><ref name="indtod" />
| Mishiha
| Anointed, Christ
|-
| Dukhrana
| Dukrana
| Remembrance
|-
| Qasisha
| Kathanar/Kasnar
| Syrian priest
|-
| [[Mar]]
| Mar
|Lord, Saint
|-
| Ruħa
| Ruha
| Holy Spirit
|-
| Yeldo
| Eldho, Yeldho
| Nativity
|-
| Shliħa
| Shliha
| Apostle
|}

==Literature==
''Vedatharkam'' written by [[Kariattil Mar Ousep]] is one of the famous books written in Suriyani Malayalam.<ref name="nf" /> Large number of documents written in Suriyani Malayalam are found among the Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis of Kerala.<ref name="nf"/> These documents include an alternate set of the Canons of the [[Synod of Diamper]].<ref>Perczel (2014), 266-8.</ref>
At present the dialect is not in popular usage. However it strives in historical literature of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations. [[Thomas Koonammakkal]] is one of the most notable experts in Garshuni Malayalam studies.{{sfnp|Perczel|2014}}

==See also==
* [[Judeo-Malayalam]]
* [[Arabi Malayalam]]
* [[Garshuni]]

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|title=An Introduction to Malayalam Karshon|journal=The Harp|volume=XV|year=2002|last=Koonammakkal|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Koonammakkal}}
* {{cite journal|journal=ARAM|volume=21|year=2009|pages=289–321|doi=10.2143/ARAM.21.0.2047097|last=Perczel |first=István|title=Classical Syriac as a Modern ''Lingua'' Francain South India between 1600 and 2006 |author1-link=István Perczel}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Perczel |first1=István |date= 2014 |title=Garshuni Malayalam: A Witness to an Early Stage of Indian Christian Literature |url=https://www.academia.edu/8456992 |journal=Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=263–323|doi=10.31826/hug-2015-170115 |s2cid=212688844 |author1-link=István Perczel |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal|title=Karshon: Malayalam in Syriac characters|journal=The Harp|volume=XXX|year=2016|last=Koonammakkal|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Koonammakkal}}
{{Dravidian languages}}
{{Topics related to Kerala}}

[[Category:Malayalam language]]
[[Category:Syriac alphabet]]

Suriyani Malayalam - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article