Towards an Understanding of Micro-variations: Decoding the Hierarchical Module of Variation and the Correlates of Mappila Malayalam

Abstract

Language variation always indicates a social meaning attached to it, and this indexical process eventually contributes to the progression of linguistic change in progress. This paper provides a perspective of the underlying process of such micro-variations in languages by modelling the hierarchy of variation in Mappila Malayalam, one of the distinguishable sociolects of Malayalam. It describes how the process of language variation is affected in response to the linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The current study identifies two dominant phases of variation in Mappila Malayalam, denoted as first wave variation and second wave variation, and explores variations at different levels of linguistic expressions such as phonology and morphosyntax. The first wave variations are traced back from the literature and documented by tracing them from the most older generation speech samples available. The paper advances with the analysis of supportive empirical data that substantiates the second wave variation in Mappila Malayalam, which is in progress and derives a hierarchical order of variation. The paper identifies three significant domains influencing the hierarchy of language variation in its contexts and describes the interweaved system of layered hierarchy influenced by the level of linguistic expression, visibility of the variant and the progressive transition of variants. It also suggests a variation modelling based on the hierarchy that can be further extended to variations in other languages with similar contexts. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.