#literally ammayi broke me i spent like 10 minutes watching my world suddenly fall into place

[guillemelgat]

So here’s the gist of the family vocab included in the book, I’m not going to super explain stuff/go into dialectal variation atm because I was planning to do that for a separate post. If you’re confused then survival Malayalam you need to know the words for mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, child, older brother, and older sister – these are ones that I hear a lot (well, at least the variants that my family uses which I’m not going to put here). Other Malayalees, please share what you use/distinctions you make, (especially if you’re not Nayars since that’s what my family is).

കുടുംബം /kuṭumbam/ - family

തറവാട് /taṟavātŭ/ - family house*

അമ്മ /amma/ - mother

അച്ഛൻ /acchan/ - father

മുത്തച്ഛൻ /muttacchan/ - grandfather

മുത്തശ്ശി /muttaśśi/ - grandmother

ചിറ്റപ്പൻ /ciṟṟappan/ - father's younger brother

ഭാര്യ /bhārya/ - wife

ഭര്ത്താവ് /bhartāvŭ/ - husband

കുട്ടി /kuṭṭi/ - child

ആണ്കുട്ടി /ānkuṭṭi/ - boy (lit. male child)

പെണ്കുട്ടി /peṇkuṭṭi/ - girl (lit. female child)

മകൻ /makan/ - son

മകൾ /makaḷ/ - daughter

ചേട്ടൻ /cēṭṭan/ - older brother

അനിയൻ /aniyan/ - younger brother

ചേച്ചി, ചേടത്തി /cēcci, cēṭatti/ - older sister

ചേടത്തി അമ്മ /cēṭatti amma/ - wife of oldest brother**

അമ്മാവൻ, അമ്മാമൻ /ammāvan, ammāman/ - uncle

അമ്മാവി, അമ്മായി /ammāvi, ammāyi/ - aunt

മരുമകൻ /marumakan/ - nephew or son-in-law

അളിയൻ /aḷiyan/ - brother-in-law

* - Here's Wikipedia's explanation of what this is

** - the wife of the head of the Tharavad/family house, since Nayars are matriarchal she's very important