Suriyani Malayalam
Dialect of Malayalam written in a variant of Syriac alphabet
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Literature
Vedatharkam written by Kariattil Mar Ousep is one of the famous books written in Suriyani Malayalam. Large number of documents written in Suriyani Malayalam are found among the Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis of Kerala. These documents include an alternate set of the Canons of the Synod of Diamper. At present the dialect is not in popular usage. However it survives in historical literature of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations. Thomas Koonammakkal is one of the most notable experts in Garshuni Malayalam studies.
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Loanwords
Over the centuries, Malayalam borrowed Eastern Syriac words. A few of them are given below:
Writing system
There were numerous problems in writing Malayalam using the Syriac script, which was designed for a Semitic language. Only 22 letters were available from the East Syriac alphabet to render 53 or so phonemes of Malayalam. This problem were overcome by adopting letters from the Malayalam script. Basic Syriac ʾĀlap̄ Bēṯ based on form with corresponding Malayalam letters.
Augmented letters from Malayalam script
* Malayalam alveolar nasal encoded as U+0D29 for scholarly purposes.
Vowels
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
The Unicode block for Syriac is U+0700–U+074F:
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:
Sample Text
The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Karshoni
ܐܘܿࡥ̱ܵܡ ܒ݂ܲܟܘܼܦ̱: ܡܲࡥܘܼࡪܝܲࡧܸܠ̱ܵܒ݂ܲࡧܘܼܡ ܬܘܼܠܝܵܒ݂ܲܟܵܫܲࡠ̱ܲࡨܘܿࡣܘܼܡ ܐܲࡥܬܲܣ̱ܘܿࡣܘܼܡ ܣܒ݂ܵܬܲࡥܬࡧܝܲܬ̱ܘܿࡣܘܼܡܟܘܼࡣܝܼ ࡡܲࡥܝܼܫ݁ܝܼࡣ̱ܘܼࡨ̱ܲܒ݂ܲࡧܵࡤ. ܐܲࡥܝܘܿࡥܝܲܡ ࡦࡧܵܬܪܲࡦܵܒ݂ܲܬ̱ܘܿࡣܸ ܦܸࡧܘܼܡܵܪܘܼܒ݂ܵࡥܵࡤ ܡܲࡥܘܼࡪܝܲࡥ ܒ݂ܝܼܒ݂ܹܟܲܒܘܼܕܕ̃ܝܼܝܘܼܡ ܡܲࡥܲܣܵܟࡪܝܼܝܘܼܡ ܣܝܼܕܕ̃ܲܡܵܝܝܼࡧܝܼܟ̱ܘܼࡥ̱ܲܬ܀
Malayalam
ഒന്നാം വകുപ്പ്: മനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്. അന്യോന്യം ഭ്രാതൃഭാവത്തോടെ പെരുമാറുവാനാണ് മനുഷ്യന് വിവേകബുദ്ധിയും മനസാക്ഷിയും സിദ്ധമായിരിക്കുന്നത്.
Romanisation (ISO 15919)
onnāṁ vakuppŭ: manuṣyarellāvaruṁ tulyāvakāśaṅṅaḷōṭuṁ antassōṭuṁ svātantryattōṭuṅkūṭi janicciṭṭuḷḷavarāṇŭ. anyōnyaṁ bhrātr̥bhāvattōṭe perumāṟuvānāṇŭ manuṣyanŭ vivēkabuddhiyuṁ manasākṣiyuṁ siddhamāyirikkunnatŭ.