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Mahl (މަހަލް mahal), also known locally as Maliku Bas, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the people of Minicoy (Maliku), India. It is very similar to (and mutually intelligible with) Dhivehi, the official language of Maldives, but differentiated in name for political reasons.
Linguists agree that Mahl is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to Hindi, Marathi and its most closest sister is Sinhalese. Dhivehi represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language and even the southern most Indo-European language. Together with the closely related Sinhalese, Mahl (Divehi) establishes a special sub group within the West and Southwest group of the Modern Indo-Aryan languages.
History
Mahl first appeared in writing around 10th century AD.
Classification
Mahl belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European family of languages.
Geographic distribution
Most speakers of Mahl live in the Minicoy island of Lakshadweep, while a few reside in Kochi and elsewhere in the state of Kerala. It is also spoken by about 300,000 people in the Republic of Maldives.
Official status
Dhivehi is the official language of Maldives.Dialects
According to Sonja Fritz:"In many respects, the dialects of Divehi represent different diachronial stages in the development of the language. Especially in the field of morphology, the amount of archaich features steadily increase from the north to the south. Within the three southern most atolls (of the Maldives), the dialect of the Addu islands which form the southern tip of the whole archipelago is characterized by the highest degree of archaicity".
Sonja Fritz puts forward this theory based on research into the dialects of Addu and Fua Mulah. She is yet to do research on the dialect of Huvadhu Atoll. And even she has to do more research on both Addu and Fua Mulah dialect. Only then can she determine whether the dialects Fua Mulah and Huvadhu or that of Addu is more archaich. How ever from Male' (Maldives) to the south up to Huvadhu Atoll (Maldives) the amount of archaich features increase but from Huvadhu Atoll the amount of archaich features decrease towards south. And the dialect of Huvadhu is characterized by the highest degree of archaicity.
Fritz also adds:
"Thus the different classes of verb conjugation and nominal inflection are best preserved there, morphological simplifications and, as a consequence increasing from atoll to atoll towards north (in the Maldives)".
Other dialects of Dhivehi are, amongst others, Haddhunmathee bas, Huvadhoo bas, Moloki bas and Addu bas.
Modern standard
Modern standard Mahl is the standard language used in written Mahl.
Sound
The sound system of Mahl is similar to that of South Indian languages. Like other Modern Indo-Aryan languages the Mahl phonemic inventory shows an opposition of long and short vowels, of dental and retroflex consonants as well as single and geminate consonants.Nominal morphology
The nominal system of Mahl comprises nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals as parts of speech.Numerals
Mahl uses two numeral systems. Both of them are identical up to 30. After 30, however, one system places the unit numeral stem before the decade (for example: eh-thirees '31' lit. one and thirty) while the other combines the stem of the decade with the unit numeral (for example: thirees-ekeh '31' lit. thirty + one). The latter system also has numerals multiplied by ten for decades 70, 80 and 90.The decade fas dholhas '60' lit. five twelves, comes from a much older duodecimal or dozen system which has nearly disappeared.
Verbal morphology
The Mahl verbal system is characterized by a derivational relationship between active, causative and involitive/intransitive verb forms.Alphabet
Thaana alphabet
Mahl uses the Thaana alphabet for writing.
Devanagari script for Mahl
Though Mahl is written with Thaana alphabet, around 1950s a Devanagari script was modified to write Mahl Language.Grammar
Mahl grammar is like that of other Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the region.
Vocabulary
The Mahl language enriched with many words borrowed from other languages.
Word origins
The Mahl has borrowed words from Arabic (in particular many religious terms), Portuguese, Urdu, Hindi and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Some examples follow:- taareekh - date or history (from Arabic tarikh)
- zaraafaa - giraffe (from Arabic zarafah)
A lot of English words are commonly used in conversation and are practically a part of the Mahl vocabulary and they include - phone, note, radio.
Some common phrases
| Mahl Phrase | Latin Transliteration | English Translation |
| ސުވަސްތީ | Suvasthee | Welcome |
| ޝުކުރިއްޔާ | Shukuriyyaa | Thank you |
| ނޫން | Noon | No |
Mahl word box
| Mahl Word | Latin Transliteration | English Translation |
| ކަނީރު | Kaneeru | Oleander |
| ކަންފަތް | Kanfaiy | Ear |
| ކަނިފަށް | Kanifah | Barb |
| ކަންކުން | Kankun | Water spinach |
| ކުޑަ | Kuda | Umbrella |
Modern issues
Information technology issues
Typography
The Mahl Unit Press at Minicoy started functioning in 1984 onwards where all kinds of Mahl printing work is undertaken. The press also releases the Lakshadweep Times in three languages on a regular basis: Mahl, English and Malayalam. Presently this unit is functioning in the main Building which is constructed in 1998. For the first time in the history, Mahl Language was brought into the field of typography.Activities :
- Production of note books for the department of Education and Jawahar Navodaya School at Minicoy.
- Printing Mahl Text Book for I to IV Standards.
- Undertaking printing work from the public on a payment basis.
Text editors
Fthaana, Universal Word, Accent Express, Accent Special Edition are the most common word processors used. However now most of the people use MS Word to write Mahl.Fonts
Unicode support for Thaana characters
Thaana occupies Unicode codepoints 1920-1983 (hexadecimal 0780-07BF).| Grapheme | HTML Unicode | Name | Romanization | IPA value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ހ | HAA | h | |
| | ށ | SHAVIYANI | sh | |
| | ނ | NOONU | n | |
| | ރ | RAA | r | |
| | ބ | BAA | b | |
| | ޅ | LHAVIYANI | lh | |
| | ކ | KAAFU | k | |
| | އ | ALIFU | varies | see article |
| | ވ | VAAVU | v | |
| | މ | MEEMU | m | |
| | ފ | FAAFU | f | |
| | ދ | DHAALU | dh | |
| | ތ | THAA | th | |
| | ލ | LAAMU | l | |
| | ގ | GAAFU | g | |
| | ޏ | GNAVIYANI | gn | |
| | ސ | SEENU | s | |
| | ޑ | DAVIYANI | d | |
| | ޒ | ZAVIYANI | z | |
| | ޓ | TAVIYANI | t | |
| | ޔ | YAA | y | |
| | ޕ | PAVIYANI | p | |
| | ޖ | JAVIYANI | j | |
| | ޗ | CHAVIYANI | ch | |
| | ޘ | TTAA | Arabic-to-Dhivehi transliteration characters | |
| | ޙ | HHAA | ||
| | ޚ | KHAA | ||
| | ޛ | THAALU | ||
| | ޜ | ZAA | English-to-Dhivehi transliteration | |
| | ޝ | SHEENU | Arabic-to-Dhivehi transliteration characters | |
| | ޞ | SAADHU | ||
| | ޟ | DAADHU | ||
| | ޠ | TO | ||
| | ޡ | ZO | ||
| | ޢ | AINU | ||
| | ޣ | GHAINU | ||
| | ޤ | QAAFU | ||
| | ޥ | WAAVU | ||
| | ަ | ABAFILI | a | |
| | ާ | AABAAFILI | aa | |
| | ި | IBIFILI | i | |
| | ީ | EEBEEFILI | ee | |
| | ު | UBUFILI | u | |
| | ޫ | OOBOOFILI | oo | |
| | ެ | EBEFILI | e | |
| | ޭ | EYBEYFILI | ey | |
| | ޮ | OBOFILI | o | |
| | ޯ | OABOAFILI | oa | |
| | ް | SUKUN | varies | see article |
| | ޱ | NAA (Addu dialect) | ? | ? |
Mahl literature
- Main article: Mahl literature
Husain Salaahuddheen wrote Siyarathunnabaviyyaa which is the most famous religious literature. The poet Bandeyri Hasan Manikufaan ranks as the most important major literateur in the Mahl language. Bandeyri Hasan Manikufaan wrote Dhiyoage Raivaru.
Other prominent poets include Edhuru Umaru Maafaiy Kaleygefaanu, Mohamed Amin, and Assayyidhu Bodufenvalhugey Seedhee.
Mahl authors
- H. Salahuddin
- Maulavi M.I. Umari
- U. Easa
- A. Sadiq
- H.H. Habeeb
- F. Nahula
- A. Husain
- A. Faiza
- Ali Musthafa
- Ibrahim Shihab
- Mohamed Amin Didi
External links
- Ekumaafaanu forum discussing about Mahl Encyclopedia
- A Guide to Mahl Language
- Ethnologue report for India
- Mahl Unit Press Minicoy
- Literacy Programme in Mahl Language of Minicoy Island
- A Workshop for mother tongue teaching strategies for Mahl Language
- Mahl-English dictionary
- Unicode standard for Middle Eastern Scripts
Notes
Further reading
- Cain, Bruce D. (2000). Divehi (Maldivian): A Synchronic and Diachronic study, PhD thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at Cornell University.
- Fritz, Sonja. (2001). The Divehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of the Maldivian and its Dialects, Heidelberg.
"Mahl language"