This is a note about traders' jargon that I think is relevant for one of the terms
episode 4 of Njanga Ninga, and about the Malayalam spoken by Dalits. p. 19-20 of the 1997 book ദളിത് ഭാഷ [d̪əˈɭid̪ɯ ˈbʱaːʃa] 'Dalit language' by Kaviyoor Murali include the following note:
"കച്ചവടക്കാർക്ക് അവരുടേതായ ചില കോഡുകളും ഉണ്ട്...ഇതെല്ലാം ഇന്നുമുണ്ട്."
[kət͡ʃəʋəɖəˈkaːrk əʋəɾɯɖeːˈd̪aːja t͡ʃɛˈla ˈkoːɖɯgəɭum ˈɔɳɖɯ]...[jid̪elˈlaːm in̪ˈn̪umɔɳɖɯ].
'Businessmen have some code words of their own...All of these are still there today.'
Footnote #1 of p. 20 lists the following code words:
ചാ [t͡ʃaː] - 'one', normally ഒന്ന് [ˈon̪n̪ɯ] in Malayalam. I think this was just translated with the numeral "1"
തങ്കാൻ [t̪əŋˈgaːn] - 'two', normally രണ്ട് [ˈɾəɳɖɯ]
വട്ടം [ʋəˈʈəm] - ചക്രം [ˈt͡ʃəkrəm], literally 'wheel' but here referring to
a now-obsolete kind of coin. വട്ടം in Malayalam normally just means 'circle'
വെളള [ˈʋeɭɭa] - 'rupee', I think listed in the book as just "Rs." Normally രൂപാ [ɾuːˈbaː] in Malayalam. വെള്ളി [ˈʋeɭɭi] literally means 'silver';
rupee and രൂപാ also come from the Sanskrit word for 'silver'. വെളള more often means 'white', especially as an adjective in poetry and as a noun when referring to eggs (egg white)
ചാവെളള [ˈt͡ʃaːʋeɭɭa] - 'one rupee' (I think defined as just "Rs. 1" in the book), normally ഒരു രൂപാ [oˈɾu ɾuːˈbaː]
ചാവട്ടം [ˈt͡ʃaːʋəʈəm] - 'one chakram', i.e. ഒരു ചക്രം [oˈɾu ˈt͡ʃəkrəm]
തങ്കാൻവെളള [t̪əŋˈgaːnʋeɭɭa] - 'two rupees' ("Rs. 2"), i.e. രണ്ട് രൂപ [ˈɾəɳɖɯ ˈɾuːba]
തങ്കാൻ വട്ടം [t̪əŋˈgaːn ʋəˈʈəm] - 'two chakrams', i.e. രണ്ട് ചക്രം [ˈɾəɳɖɯ ˈt͡ʃəkrəm]
ചാത്തങ്കാൻ [t͡ʃaːt̪əŋˈgaːn] - 'half of a rupee', i.e. അര രൂപാ [əˈɾa ɾuːˈbaː]
കൊളച്ചി [kɔˈɭət͡ʃi] - 'three rupees' ("Rs. 3"), i.e. മൂന്ന് രൂപ [ˈmuːn̪n̪ɯ ˈɾuːba]
മുക്കൊളച്ചി [muˈkɔɭət͡ʃi] - 'three-fourths of a rupee' ("3/4 രൂപാ"), i.e. മുക്കാൽ രൂപാ [muˈkaːl ɾuːˈbaː]. Note that കാൽ
[kaːl] means 'quarter', and മുക്കാൽ [muˈkaːl] means 'three quarters', yet കൊളച്ചി means 'three rupees', and മുക്കൊളച്ചി means not *'nine rupees' but rather 'three quarters of a rupee'!
ത്വാവ് [ˈt̪ʋaːʋɯ] - 'four rupees' ("Rs. 4"), i.e. നാല് രൂപ [ˈn̪aːlɯ ˈɾuːba]
പുലുപ്പുലു [puˈlupulu] - 'one hundred rupees' ("Rs. 100"), i.e. നൂറ് രൂപ [ˈn̪uːrɯ ˈɾuːba]
ഗജം [gəˈd͡ʒəm] - 'estimate', i.e. ഉദ്ദേശം [ud̪ˈd̪eːɕəm]. ഗജം is the Sanskrit (loan)word for 'elephant', and I was very confused until my dad explained this just now because I thought ഉദ്ദേശം meant 'intention'. However, he says he has heard ഗജം being used this way to mean 'estimate'. I asked him, "What does that have to do with elephants?" He said, "I dunno, maybe they used to use elephants to measure something!" which seems like enough of a plausible explanation for me
ഒയത്തുക [oˈjət̪uga] - 'to achieve a net profit', i.e. സൂത്രത്തിൽ കാര്യലാഭമുണ്ടാക്കുക [ˈsuːt̪rət̪il kaːɾjəˈlaːbʱəmɔɳɖaːkuga]
ചാകുക [ˈt͡ʃaːguga] - 'to settle for the customer's proposed price', i.e. പറഞ്ഞ വില സമ്മതിക്കുക [pəˈrɛɲa ʋɛˈla ˈsəmməd̪ikʲuga]. ചാകുക is a verb normally used to describe an animal (or, pejoratively, a person) dying
Dalits speaking Malayalam often use more Dravidianized forms, non-standard forms, and Tamil words than higher-caste/higher-class people. On p. 31, the book lists the following words in Dalit Malayalam:
ചെവരക്കാരൻ [t͡ʃɛʋəɾəˈkaːɾɛn] - 'barber', presumably from the Standard Malayalam equivalent [ʈʃuˈɾəgɛn], a loanword from Sanskrit. The book includes the Tamil equivalent written in Malayalam script as നാവികൻ. I presume this is நாவிகன் in Tamil script and probably pronounced something like ?[ˈn̪aːʋihə̃]. If നാവികൻ were a word in Malayalam, it would instead be pronounced [ˈn̪aːʋigɛn]
പച്ചി-പക്കി (പറവ) [pət͡ʃiˈpəki] ([pəˈrəʋa]) - 'bird'. The Standard Malayalam equivalent is പക്ഷി (പറവ) [pəˈʈʃi] ([pəˈrəʋa]). [pəˈʈʃi] is another Sanskrit word, but [pəˈrəʋa] is a native Dravidian word. Tamil uses பறவை /paraʋai/
തിമ്കം [t̪imɯˈgəm] - 'lion', Dravidianization of സിംഹം [ˈsimhəm] (compare
Singh and
Sinhalese/
Sinhala)
കിട്ട്ണൻ [kɪˈʈɯɳɛn] - 'Krishna', Dravidianization of കൃഷ്ണൻ [ˈkrɯʃɳɛn]
On p. 23, two phrases are listed:
ചെറുമനേ [t͡ʃɛrɯmɛˈneː] - 'hey, kid!' translated as എടാ കുട്ടി! [eˈɖaː kuˈʈi]! but also literally as what I presume is its cognate, ചെറിയവനേ [t͡ʃɛrijəʋɛˈneː], literally 'oh small boy/male one!'
മണക്കാട് പോകായ്കിൽ നന്റ് [məɳəˈkaːɖɯ poːˈgaːjgil ˈn̪əndɯ] - 'It's best not to go to
Manakkad' (മണക്കാട് [məɳəˈkaːɖɯ] literally means 'fragrant forest'). The Standard Malayalam equivalent is given as മണക്കാട് പോകാതിരിക്കുന്നതാണ് നല്ലത് [məɳəˈkaːɖɯ poːˈgaːd̪iɾikʲun̪n̪əd̪aːɳɯ ˈn̪əlləd̪ɯ], literally 'it is (the act of) not going to Manakkad that is good'. For നന്റ് [ˈn̪əndɯ] apparently meaning 'good', compare Tamil நன்றி [ˈn̪andri] 'thanks'