Kanji is kañji in #Tamil, kaññi in #Malayalam.

The loan could be from either, although Portuguese etymological dictionaries attribute it to Malayalam - to be fair, what is now Kerala had significantly more contact with the Portuguese.#Portuguese <j> is now the fricative /ʒ/— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) June 16, 2020 http://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1272901152120737792

A lovely ex of proactive (and progressive) migrant centric language policy in action is Kerala's Project Roshni, designed to help the children of migrant children achieve both confidence and proficiency in #Malayalam. It's showing promising results.https://t.co/zfLIMK0S4U
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) November 22, 2020

http://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1330500165308968960

Thread on Islamic terminology in #Malayalam, #Tamil where native #Dravidian roots and #Sanskrit are both freely employed. #Eid ul Fitr in particular is called perunāḷ/perunnāḷ, lit. big day. #EidMubarak https://t.co/SaMa6jYYJg
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) June 5, 2019

http://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1392784375318663172

RT @TianChengWen: To add to this, #Ramzan itself is called Ṟamaḷān in #Malayalam, a direct borrowing from Arabic Ramaḍān as opposed to from Persian Ramazān, used across most of South Asia. The Malayalam usage of ḷ actually reflects an older Arabic pronounciation, now archaic. #Ramadan https://t.co/2S1nPRaR0c
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 3, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1510518870582304768

RT @TianChengWen: The amount of argument the entire Ramzan vs Ramadan debate sparks every year overlooks other linguistic traditions in South Asia for an Urdu centric perspective. #Malayalam Ṟamaḷān, as we've seen, is the linguistic product of unique coastal South Indian forms of Islam.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 3, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1510519103177383937

RT @TianChengWen: Instead of rozā, the #Persian term for Islamic fasting (itself a translation of #Arabic ṣawm) used in #Urdu, #Bengali, #Gujarati etc, #Tamil & #Malayalam speaking Muslims use nōmpu, lit. ceremonial fasting. The word is from a proto #Dravidian root meaning to do penance. #Ramadan
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 3, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1510539059420008449

#Malayalam has two distinct, contrasting r sounds. One is a tapped r, where the tongue flicks against the roof of the mouth, while incorporating a secondary y sound. This r is written ര (r). The other is a trilled r, where the tongue creates friction. This r is written റ (ṟ).
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 22, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1517537741776384000

I find it super cool how #Malayalam preserves, with their original semantic sense, two of the most recognisable Old Tamil words — akam and puṟam (inside, outside), the names of two genres of Sangam Tamil poetry. Akam deals with matters of the heart, puṟam with man in society.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 28, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1519569805740679168

In #Malayalam, the inflected forms akattu and puṟattu are used as adverbs to mean inside, outside (akam, puṟam are nouns). There seem to be a bunch of archaic/literary compound words using aka- and puṟa- too, to denote additional interior, exterior senses.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 28, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1519623869308407809

While all other major Dravidian languages (+ most smaller ones) use descendants of proto Dravidian *nīr- for "water" (Tamil tanni, Telugu nīḷḷu, Kannada nīru), #Malayalam uses a word from a diff etymological root altogether — veḷḷam. A strange exception for a word so basic.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 30, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1520271467648151553

But here's where it gets interesting. The cognates of veḷḷam in other Dravidian languages, including closely related Tamil, mean "flood, inundation". Much of the #Malayalam speaking region, esp central areas, were partially submerged by water until around 1200 years ago.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Apr 30, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1520273465630085120

RT @TianChengWen: The ritual sighting of the moon to determine the day of #EidUlFitr - ceṟiya (small) perunnāḷ in #Malayalam - is called māsam kāṇuka, lit. "to see (the) moon". #Eid prayers - offered at a paḷḷi, mosque - are called perunnāḷ niskāram. #EidMubarak https://t.co/Yyl8PxTkE7
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) May 2, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1520984742346125312

On the distinctive religious vocab used by #Malayalam speaking Muslims (Mappiḷḷa), featuring words from native Dravidian roots, Sanskrit, and Arabic. Eid is perunnāḷ (lit. "big day"), today features perunnaḷ niskāram (Eid prayers, niskāram from namaskāra). #EidMubarak2022 https://t.co/aQa97RdlNH
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) May 2, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1520992961294610437

Although a distinct #Malayalam socio-linguistic and literary identity took shape in the late medieval era, the language as a linguistic entity can clearly be traced to a much older source — Old Tamil, the language of the Sangam poets. As such, the linguistic core of Malayalam ..
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) May 15, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1525819948865466369

.. descends from Old Tamil itself. Dialects of Old Tamil on the west coast, east of the (western) ghats, and in Sri Lanka all evolved concurrently, in diff directions, over many centuries. But on the western coast, a distinct literary culture arose — #Malayalam literature.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) May 15, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1525819951394615296

Many characteristic phonemes of Old Tamil (described in the Old Tamil grammar treatise, the Tolkāppiyam) for ex, survive in #Malayalam (+ Sri Lanka, Kanyakumari), but not across the ghats in most of Tamil Nadu. You'll hear them in Kollam (or Jaffna), but not Madurai or Trichy.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) May 15, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1525822114829283328

#Malayalam kāppīri "African" is a southerly counterpart to #Konkani khāprī. In modern Kerala it's often a slur for dark skinned people. Just like in Goa, the word reached Kerala via contact w/ Portuguese traders & colonialists, who kept African slaves. https://t.co/U4F7pus5zO
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Jun 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1537777015138287621

Old Tamil had three plural markers for "rational" (ie animate, human) nouns — -ar, -ir, and -mār. Of these, -mār has become the default plural marker for animate nouns in #Malayalam, as in "MP"-mār ("Members of Parliament"), cēcimār ("older sisters").
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Nov 15, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1592443704710942722

RT @SandalBurn: My last two projects were on the typographic evolution of the #Malayalam script in print for @typotheque (out soon), and an essay in @thecaravanindia on Mahatma Phule's place in Marathi print culture. I'm looking for new projects, please reach out if you'd like to work together!
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Dec 11, 2022

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1601859666019254273

It was surprising to hear #Konkani here — most of Kerala is linguistically homogenous & #Malayalam speaking, linguistic minorities primarily exist in border taluks like northern Kasaragod, eastern Idukki. Konkani speakers are the largest linguistic minority in central Kerala.
— Indian Linguistics | Bhāṣāśāstra (@TianChengWen) Jan 6, 2023

https://twitter.com/TianChengWen/status/1611365928410959873