Malayalam is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé). It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is also recognized as one of the Classical Languages of India due to its rich literary heritage and history.

Primary Region: Kerala
Other Regions: Lakshadweep, Mahé (Puducherry), and significant communities in the Gulf countries due to expatriates.

Origins: Malayalam evolved from Tamil over a period of many centuries. The exact period of divergence is debated, but it is generally agreed that Malayalam became a distinct language around the 9th century AD.
Literature: The earliest known literary work in Malayalam is "Ramacharitam," a collection of poems from the 12th century. The language has a rich tradition of both prose and poetry, with classical works such as "Kudiyattam," "Kathakali," and "Manipravalam" (a mixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit).

Word Order: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) is the typical sentence structure.
Gender: Malayalam has natural gender, typically masculine, feminine, and neuter.
Cases: The language employs a system of suffixes to indicate case roles in sentences, such as nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, and locative.
Verbs: Verb conjugation in Malayalam is complex, involving tense, aspect, mood, and voice.