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Mygurudu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mygurudu is a Malayalam-based secret language developed in Northern Kerala during the Malabar Rebellion of 1921.[1][2] Prisoners used this coded language to pass messages without getting leaked.

Concepts

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The fundamental idea behind Mygurudu involves the swapping of Malayalam alphabets. For example, Mygurudu uses ‘Ra’ instead of ‘Cha’, and ‘Pa’ instead of ‘Na’.

Current State

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Mygurudu had about 400 speakers before 2020, however, the number of speakers has reached 900, and 2,500+ people are learning right now. This is mostly due to online platforms increasing accessibility to language learning resources. [1] The Speech Science Research Forum of the Department of Linguistics of Kerala University has digitized and documented the structure of Mygurudu and other dying languages.[2]

The scheme

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The following tables give the transposition scheme used in the Mygurudu code.

Vowels

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Clear text അം അഃ
Cipher text സാ സി സീ സു സൂ സൃ സെ സേ സൈ സൊ സോ സൗ സം സ:

Consonants

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Clear text ണ്ട ങ്ക മ്പ ന്ത
Cipher text റ്റ ഞ്ച


Mnemonic

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The users had developed a mnemonic to learn and remember this language. The mnemonic was very similar to Sanskrit slokas.

കമ ങയ ചര വട ണ്ടഷ

പന റണ ഞള ങ്കറ്റ മ്പഞ്ച

ന്തഹ ബജ


Examples

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Clear text എന്താ പേര് എവിടാ വീട് ഒരു ചായ വേണം കടി വേണോ വേണ്ട
Cipher text സെഹാ നേച്ച് സെടീവാ ടീവ് സൊചു രാങ ടേറം മവി ടേറോ ടേഷ

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Shafeeq, Alingal (2017-04-27). "Mygurudu! The jail lingo is vocal again". Express News Service, The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  2. ^ a b "Project to digitise dying languages embarked". PTI, The Economic Times. 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2017-11-17.