Both languages belong to the Dravidian language family, specifically the South Dravidian branch. They are so closely related that they are often considered to be dialects of the same language by linguists.
Here's why:
* High Mutual Intelligibility: Speakers of Tamil and Malayalam can often understand each other to a significant degree, especially in written form.
* Shared Vocabulary and Grammar: The two languages share a large amount of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
* Historical Connection: Tamil and Malayalam are believed to have diverged from a common ancestor relatively recently.
While Malayalam is the closest, other South Dravidian languages like Kannada and Telugu are also closely related to Tamil. However, the similarities between Tamil and Malayalam are significantly greater.