How do you define when one language begins and the other ends? If, for example, you say "Malayalam is an off-shoot of Tamil", at what point in history do you say "now it's Malayalam, not Tamil anymore"?
If it's a common root, at what point do you say "now both have diverged from the root"?
Also, the Tamil we speek today is as different from the Tamil of 1500 years ago, as Malayalam (ok, probably a bit less, but still). Do you consider that Tamil to be a different language from which both modern Tamil and Malayalam are derived?
To answer that, we first need an answer to the more basic question - what separates a language and a dialect. When do we consider to dialects to have become different languages?
>>> at what point in history do you say "now it's Malayalam, not Tamil anymore"? [GRS]It would not be a point, but a time period in history. Differences creep up over time.
>>> If it's a common root, at what point do you say "now both have diverged from the root"? [GRS]When they start developing independently from the 'root'. Adding/changing/borrowing words independently from each other.
>>Do you consider that Tamil to be a different language from which both modern Tamil and Malayalam are derived? [GRS]Isn't that question an implicit acceptance of evolution of languages :-) ? I am no lingual expert, however I have no problems in calling 'that tamil' different from the modern day tamil. After all we do call the early form of butterflies as caterpillar, frogs as tadpoles etc. But we do acknoledge them as the source of evolution.
Dear Raj, That Malayalam-Brahmi script itself dated 4-5th centuary C.E. So, possibly, the language is older than 4th century C.E.Also go through Writer Jeyamohan's reply to me :http://www.jeyamohan.in/?p=27970