Maldivian language

Dhivehi
Maldivian
ދިވެހި,dhivehi
"Dhivehi" written in the Thaana script
Pronunciation	[d̪iʋehi]
Native to	Maldives Minicoy Island (Maliku)
Ethnicity	Maldivians
Native speakers	500,000 (2022)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Southern Zone Insular Indo-Aryan Dhivehi–Sinhala Dhivehi
Early form	Old Dhivehi
Writing system	Thaana Dhives Akuruuntil the 19th century
Signed forms	Dhivehi Sign Language
Official status
Official language in	Maldives
Regulated by	Dhivehi Academy
Language codes
ISO 639-1	dv
ISO 639-2	div
ISO 639-3	div
Glottolog	dhiv1236
IETF	dv-MV
Maldives

Maldivian inCarl Faulmann'sDas Buch der Schrift,1880

DhivehiorDivehi(/dɪˈveɪhi/di-VAY-hee;Dhivehi:ދިވެހި,IPA:[d̪iʋehi]), is anIndo-Aryan languagespoken in theSouth Asianisland country ofMaldivesand onMinicoy Island,Lakshadweep,aunion territoryofIndia.

The Maldivian language has four notable dialects. The standard dialect is that of the capital city ofMalé.The greatest dialectal variation exists in the southern atolls ofHuvadhu,AdduandFuvahmulah.Each of these atolls has its own distinct dialect often thought to be interconnected with each other while being widely different from the dialect spoken in the northern atolls. The southern dialects are so distinct that those only speaking northern dialects cannot understand them.

The ethnic endonym for the language,Divehi,is occasionally found in English asDhivehi(spelled according to the locally usedMalé Latinfor theromanisationof the Maldivian language), which is the official spelling as well as the common usage in the Maldives. Dhivehi is written inThaanascript.

Dhivehi is a descendant ofElu Prakritand is closely related toSinhalese,but not mutually intelligible with it. Many languages have influenced the development of Dhivehi through the ages. They includeArabic,Hindi,Persian,Tamil,French,Portuguese,andEnglish.The English wordsatoll(a ring of coral islands or reefs) anddhoni(a vessel for inter-atoll navigation) are anglicised forms of the Maldivian wordsatoḷuanddōni.Before European colonization of the Southern Hemisphere, it was the southernmost Indo-European language.

Etymology

The origin of the word "Divehi" is from olderdivu-vesi,meaning "island dwelling".Divu(fromSanskritद्वीपdvīpa,'island') later becameދޫdū,which is currently present in many names of Maldivian islands, such asHanimādū,Mīdū,andDāndū.Vesicame from the Sanskrit suffix-वासिन्-vāsinand later becameވެހިvehi.ބަސްbas(from Sanskritभाषाbhāṣā) means "language", soދިވެހިބަސްdhivehi basmeans "islanders' language".

Wilhelm Geiger,a German linguist who undertook the first research on Maldivianlinguisticsin the early 20th century, also called the languageDivehi.Anhwas added to the name of the language— "Dhivehi" — in 1976, when the semi-official transliteration calledMalé Latinwas developed. Today the spelling withDhhas common and semi-official usage in the Maldives.

Origin

Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to theSinhaleselanguage ofSri Lanka.Maldivian represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language. Maldivian and Sinhalese together constitute a subgroup within the modern Indo-Aryan languages, calledInsular Indo-Aryan.However, they are not mutually intelligible.

Maldivian and Sinhalese are descended from theEluPrakrit of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka. ThesePrakritswere originally derived from Old Indo-Aryan vernaculars related toVedic Sanskrit.

Whereas formerly Maldivian was thought to be a descendant of Sinhalese, in 1969 Sinhalese philologist M. W. S. de Silva for the first time proposed that Maldivian and Sinhalese had branched off from a common mother language.

History

Main article:Old Dhivehi

12th-centurylōmāfānu,copper plates on which early Maldivian sultans wrote orders and grants

The earliest official writings were on thelōmāfānu(copper-plategrants) of the 12th and 13th centuries. Earlier inscriptions on coral stone have also been found. The oldest inscription found to date is an inscription on a coral stone, which is estimated to be from around the 6th-8th centuries.

Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language of the Sinhalese-Maldivian subfamily.It developed in relative isolation from other languages until the 12th century. Since the 16th century, Maldivian has been written in a unique script calledThaanawhich is written fromright to left,likeArabic(with which it shares several common diacritics for vowel sounds).

The foundation of the historical linguistic analysis of both Maldivian andSinhalesewas laid byWilhelm Geiger(1856–1943). In Geiger's comparative study of Maldivian and Sinhalese, he assumes that Maldivian is a dialectal offspring of Sinhalese and therefore is a "daughter language" of Sinhalese. However, the material he collected was not sufficient to judge the "degree of relationship" of Maldivian and Sinhalese.

Geiger concludes that Maldivian must have split from Sinhalese not earlier than the 10th century CE. However, there is nothing in the history of these islands or Sinhalese chronicles, even in legendary form, that alludes to a migration of Sinhalese people which would result in such a connection. Maldives is completely absent from the pre-12th century records of Sri Lanka.

A rare Maliku Thaana primer written in the Maliku dialect, published byLakshadweep's administration during the time ofRajiv Gandhi's rule, was reprinted by Spanish researcherXavier Romero Fríasin 2003.

There is a holiday, theDhivehi Language Day,which is celebrated in the Maldives on 14 April, the birthday of the writerHusain Salahuddin.

Geographic distribution

Maldivian is spoken in theMaldivesand a variation of it inMinicoy.

Official status

Maldivian is the official language of theMaldivesand a semi-official language in theunion territoryofLakshadweep,India.

Dialects

The Maldivian language has multiple dialects due to the wide distribution of the islands, causing differences in pronunciation and vocabulary to develop during the centuries. The most divergent dialects of the language are to be found in the southern atolls, namelyHuvadhu,FuvahmulahandAddu.The other variants show less difference to the official dialect, including the dialects spoken in a few islands inKolhumaduluAtoll and the now obsolete dialect once spoken inGiraavaru,which are hardly recognised and known.

• Malé dialectis the mainstream Maldivian dialect (bahuruva) and is based on the dialect spoken in the capital of the Maldives, Malé.
• Haddhunmathee dialectspoken inHaddhunmathiAtoll.
• Maliku dialect(Mahl) spoken inMinicoy (Maliku)in union territory ofLakshadweep,India. The dialect spoken in Minicoy has fewer differences from the standard Maldivian than other dialects. It has some archaic forms of words andMalayalamloanwords.
• Mulaku dialectis a dialect of Maldivian spoken by the people ofFuvahmulah.Mulaku dialecthas word-final 'l' (laamu sukunލް), which is absent from the other dialects of Maldivian. Another characteristic is the 'o' sound at the end of words, instead of the final 'u' common in all other forms of Maldivian; e.g.fannoinstead offannu.Regarding pronunciation, the retroflex 'ṣ' (IPA [ʂ]), has a [ɽ̊~ɽ̊r̥] sound in theMulaku dialectand was once pronounced that way in official Maldivian. One of the most unusual features ofMulaku dialectis that, unlike other dialects, it distinguishes gender. Also, there are many remarkable differences in the dialect in place of thesukunsystem as well as the vowel or diacritical system following a distinctive set of rules. TheMulakudialect also hasnasal vowels,which are unique only to this dialect.
• Huvadhu dialect,spoken by the inhabitants of the large atoll ofHuvadhu,is another distinctive form of Maldivian. Because of the isolation from the Northern Atolls, and the capital of Malé,Huvadhu dialectmakes more use of the retroflex /ʈ/ than other variants.Huvadhu dialectalso retains oldSinhalesewords and is sometimes considered to be linguistically closer to Sinhalese than the other dialects of Maldivian. The Huvadhu dialect can be separated into two subdialects, the eastern and western Huvadhu dialects.
• Addu dialectis also quite different from the official form of Maldivian and has some affinities withMulaku dialect.In the past, Addu Atoll being a centre of education, the islanders from the three atolls of the south who acquired education there usedAddu dialectas their lingua franca. Hence, when for example one of these islanders of any of the Huvadhu islands met with someone from Fuvahmulah, they would useAddu dialectto talk to each other.Addu dialectis the most widespread of the dialects of Maldivian. However, the secessionist government of theSuvadives(1959–1963) usedMalé dialectin its official correspondence.
• Madifushi dialectis the lesser known dialect in the Madifushi island ofKolhumaduluand has some similarities withHuvadhu dialect.Word-final 'a' is often replaced with 'e' or 'o', and some final consonants also differ.

The letter Ṇaviyani (ޱ), which represented theretroflexnsound common to many Indic languages (Gujarati,Hindi,etc.), was abolished from official documents in by Muhammad Amin in 1950.Ṇaviyani's former position in the Thaana alphabet, between the letters Gaafu and Seenu, is today occupied by the palatal nasal Ñaviyani (ޏ). It is still seen in reprints of traditional old books like theBoḍu Tarutībuand official documents like theRādavaḷi.It is also used by people of southern atolls when writing songs or poetry in their language variant.

According to Sonja Fritz, "the dialects of Maldivian represent different diachronial stages in the development of the language. Especially in the field of morphology, the amount of archaic features steadily increase from the north to the south. Within the three southernmost 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".

However, the Huvadhu Atoll dialect is characterized by the highest degree of archaicity. From Huvadhu Atoll the archaic features decrease toward the south and north.

Fritz also adds that "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)".

Spoken and literary varieties

Maldivian presents another aspect with which English speakers are not too familiar:diglossia,the distinction between what is spoken and what is written. Every language that has a written form has this distinction to a greater or lesser degree, but many Asian languages, including Maldivian exhibit major differences between the two varieties of language. Malé dialect and Maliku dialect are the only dialects commonly used in writing.

Spoken Maldivian, for instance, has twenty-seven consonants. In contrast, written or literary Maldivian includes some Arabic sounds as well. Though these sounds are also used in speaking, their phonetics are not strictly observed. This results in pronunciation as close as possible to spoken Maldivian.

Regarding syntax, it may be said that every sentence in written Maldivian ends with the addition ofve,which is never used to end a sentence in spoken Maldivian. In usingvea strict word order also has to be maintained, but in spoken Maldivian word order is not considered to be very rigid.

One of the very important things one has to take into account in written Maldivian which is not so important in spoken Maldivian is the ‘sukun’ on the lettersalifandshaviyani.Sukunin general is a mark to indicate an abrupt stop (vowel deletion) on the sound of the letter on which it is placed. However, if it is on ashaviyanioralifand comes within the word, the following consonant is geminated; if it comes on ashaviyanioralifat the end of a word, it signifies the glottal stop; if it comes on athaa,the sound is replaced by a y off-glide; if it comes on anoonuat the end of a word, it indicates a velar nasal.

Writing system

Main articles:Maldivian writing systemsandThaana

The Maldivian language has had its own script since very ancient times, most likely over two millennia, when Maldivian Buddhist monks translated and copied the Buddhist scriptures. It used to be written in the earlier form (Evēla) of theDhives Akuru( "Dhivehi/Maldivian letters" ) which are written from left to right. Dhives Akuru were used in all of the islands between the conversion to Islam and until the 18th century. These ancient Maldivian letters were also used in official correspondence with Addu Atoll until the early 20th century. Perhaps they were used in some isolated islands and rural communities until the 1960s, but the last remaining native user died in the 1990s. Today Maldivians rarely learn the Dhives Akuru alphabet, for Arabic is favoured as the second script.

Maldivian is now written using a different script, called Taana or Thaana, written from right to left. This script is relatively recent.

The literacy rate of the Maldives is very high (98%) compared to other South Asian countries. Since the 1960s English has become the medium of education in most schools although they still have Maldivian language classes, but Maldivian is still the language used for the overall administration.

Maldivian uses mainly the Thaana script for writing. It is analphabet,with obligatory vowels derived from the vowel diacritics of theArabic abjad.It is a largelyphonemicscript: With a few minor exceptions, spelling can be predicted from pronunciation, and pronunciation from spelling.

The origins of Thaana are unique among the world's alphabets: The first nine letters (h–v) are derived from the Arabic numerals, whereas the next nine (m–d) were the local Indic numerals. (SeeHindu–Arabic numerals.) The remaining letters for loanwords (t–z) and Arabic transliteration are derived from phonetically similar native consonants by means of diacritics, with the exception of y (ޔ), which is derived from combining analifu(އ) and avaavu(ވ). This means that Thaana is one of the few alphabets not derived graphically from theoriginal Semitic alphabet– unless the Indic numerals were (seeBrahmi numerals). The Thaana alphabet (hā, shaviyani, nūnu, rā, bā,...) does not follow the ancient order of the other Indic scripts (like Tamil) or the order of the Arabic alphabet.

Thaana, like Arabic, is writtenright to left.It indicates vowels with diacritic marks derived from Arabic. Each letter must carry either a vowel or asukun,which indicates "no vowel". The only exception to this rule isnoonuwhich, when written without a diacritic, indicatesprenasalisationof a followingstop.

Thevowelsare written with diacritical signs calledfili.There are fivefilifor short vowels (a, i, u, e, o), with the first three being identical to theArabic vowel signs(fatha, kasraanddamma). Long vowels (aa, ee, oo, ey, oa) are denoted by doubledfili,except oa, which is a modification of the shortobofili.

The letteralifurepresents theglottal stop.It has three different purposes: It can act as a carrier for a vowel, that is, a word-initial vowel or the second part of adiphthong;when it carries asukun,it indicatesgeminationof the following consonant; and ifalifu+sukunoccurs at the end of a word, it indicates that the word ends in a glottal stop. Gemination of nasals, however, is indicated bynoonu+sukunpreceding the nasal to be geminated.

Maldivian is also written in "Malé Latin"(most commonly used, such as when romanising place names).IASTtransliteration is also sometimes used, and also theDevanāgarīscript (almost never used in Maldives, but used inMinicoy)

Latin transliteration

Main article:Malé Latin

Towards the mid-1970s, during PresidentIbrahim Nasir's tenure, the Maldivian government introducedtelexmachines in the local administration. This was viewed as great progress, but the local Thaana script was deemed to be an obstacle because messages on thetelex machinescould only be written in theLatin script.

Following this, in 1976 the government approved a new official Latin transliteration,Dhivehi Latin,which was quickly implemented by the administration. Booklets were printed and dispatched to all Atoll and Island Offices, as well as schools and merchant liners. This was seen by many as the effective demise of the Thaana script. Clarence Maloney, an American anthropologist who was in the Maldives at the time of the change, lamented the inconsistencies of the "Dhivehi Latin" which ignored all previous linguistic research on the Maldivian language done by H.C.P. Bell and Wilhelm Geiger. He wondered why the modernStandard Indic transliterationhad not been considered. Standard Indic is a consistent script system that is well adapted to writing almost all languages of South Asia.However, this scheme lacks a few sounds used in Maldivian.ISO 15919has been used byXavier Romero-Friasto romanize Maldivian in his bookThe Maldive Islanders - A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom.

The government reinstated the Thaana script shortly after PresidentMaumoontook power in 1978. There was widespread relief in certain places, especially rural areas, where the introduction of Latin had been regarded with suspicion. However, the Latin transcription of 1976 continues to be widely used.

Dictionary

The 412-page hard-back English–Maldivian dictionary,A Maldivian Dictionary,written byChristopher Hanby Baillie Reynolds,was published on 22 July 2003 byRoutledgeand contains about 5000 individual entries.

Different islands due to distance have a slight variation in speech.Such as the huvadhu accent which from islands from thinadhoo to gadhoo have differences even though it's the same accent

Phonology

Main article:Maldivian phonology

The sound system of Maldivian is similar to that ofDravidianlanguages. Like other modern Indo-Aryan languages the Maldivian phonemic inventory shows an opposition of long and short vowels, of dental and retroflex consonants, and of single andgeminateconsonants but no aspirates.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Open	(æː)		a	aː

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɳ	(ɲ)
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t̪	ʈ	t͡ʃ	k
	voiced	b	d̪	ɖ	d͡ʒ	ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪	ᶯɖ		ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s̪	ʂ	ʃ		h
	voiced		z
Approximant		ʋ	l̪	ɭ	j
Tap				ɽ

Grammar

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns in Maldivian inflect fordefiniteness,number and case. Definiteness may be one of definite, indefinite or unspecified. Number may be singular or plural. Case may be one ofnominative,dative,ablative,genitive,locative,instrumentaloremphatic.

Nominal morphology

The nominal system of Maldivian comprises nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals as parts of speech.

Numerals

Maldivian 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' ( "thirty + one" ). The latter system also has numerals multiplied by ten for decades 70, 80 and 90. The decadefas dholhas'60' ( "five twelves" ), comes from a much olderduodecimal,or dozen-based, system which has nearly disappeared.

Verbal morphology

The Maldivian verbal system is characterised by a derivational relationship between active, causative and involitive/intransitive verb forms.

Word order

Theword orderin Maldivian is not as rigid as in English, though changes in the order of words in a sentence may convey subtle differences in meaning. To ask for some fish in a market, one uses the following words:mashah(to me)mas(fish)vikkaa(sell), which may be put in any of the following orders without a change in meaning:

1)

mashah

to.me

mas

fish

vikkaa

sell

mashah mas vikkaa

to.me fish sell

Sell me fish.

2)

mas

fish

mashah

to.me

vikkaa

sell

mas mashah vikkaa

fish to.me sell

Sell me fish.

3)

mas

fish

vikkaa

sell

mashah

to.me

mas vikkaa mashah

fish sell to.me

Sell me fish.

4)

mashah

to.me

vikka

sell

mas

fish

mashah vikka mas

to.me sell fish

sell me fish

5)

vikka

sell

mas

fish

mashah

to.me

vikka mas mashah

sell fish to.me

sell me fish

6)

vikka

sell

mashah

to.me

mas

fish

vikka mashah mas

sell to.me fish

sell me fish

The wordmashah(to me) may be dropped wherever the context makes it obvious.

Loanwords

Speakers of Maldivian use a great many loanwords from many languages in their everyday conversation (see §Vocabulary). The extent to which loan words are used varies between speakers, depending on their contacts with that language. Thus, those who have had an English education will tend to use a larger number of English words, while an average speaker with little or no contact with English will tend to use just a few. Some of these adopted words have now become so much part of the Maldivian language that there seem to be no other words that could replace them.

There are different ways by which loanwords are naturalised in Maldivian. This depends on whether the loanword refers to a person, a thing, or some kind of action.

Words referring to persons

If the loanword refers to a person, the following suffixes can be used:

• eh:indefinite
• un:plural

waiter (veitar) + eh = a waiter (veitareh)

waiter (veitar) + un = waiters (veitarun)

Among some of the most common words of this kind are the following:

actor (ektaru), agent (ejentu), ambassador (embesedaru), architect (aakitektu), bodyguard (bodeegaadu), cashier (keyshiyaru), director (direktaru, dairektaru), doctor (daktaru), driver (duraivaru), guard (gaadu), inspector (inspektaru), manager (meneyjaru), minister (ministaru), operator (opareytaru), producer (purodiusaru), sergeant (saajentu), servant (saaventu)

Words referring to things

If the loanword refers to a thing, the suffixes are

• eh:indefinitesingular
• uthah:plural

car (kaar) +eh= a car (kaareh)

car (kaar) +uthah= cars (kaaruthah)

Some of the most commonly used words of this kind are the following:

bicycle (baisikalu), bill (bilu), cable (keybalu), cake (keyku), coat (koatu), counter (kauntaru), parcel (paarisalu/paarusalu), ticket (tiketu)

Words referring to actions

If the loanword refers to some kind of action, the Maldivian wordkure(present),kuranee(present continuous),koffi(present perfect),kuri(past) orkuraane(future) is added after it, if it is done intentionally, andve(present),vanee(present continuous),vejje(present perfect),vi(past) andvaane(future) is added after it, if it happens to be unintentional or passive. For example, usingkensal"cancel":

kensal+kurey= cancel (as an order)

kensal+kuranee= canceling

kensal+koffi= has been cancelled/cancelled

kensal+kuri= cancelled

kensal+kuraane= will cancel

kensal+vanee= canceling (on its own) i.e. getting cancelled

kensal+vejje= cancelled (on its own) i.e. got cancelled

kensal+vaane= will cancel (on its own) i.e. will get cancelled

Some examples:

book (buk)kuranee= booking

Levels of speech

Inherent in the Maldivian language is a form of elaborate class distinction expressed through three levels: The highest level, themaaiy bas,formerly used to address members of the royal family, is now commonly used to show respect. People use the second levelreethi basand third levelaadhaige basin everyday life.

Vocabulary

Maldivian contains manyloanwordsfrom other languages.

Word origins

After the arrival ofIslam in South Asia,Persian and Arabic made a significant impact on Maldivian. It borrowed extensively from both languages, especially terms related to Islam and the judiciary. Some examples follow:

• namādu– "prayer" (fromClassical Persiannamāz)
• rōda– "fasting" (fromClassical Persianrōza)
• hā– "yes"
• mēzu– "table" (fromClassical Persianmēz)
• kāfaru– "non-believer" (fromArabickāfir)
• tārīkh– "date" or "history" (fromArabictārīkh)
• zarāfā– "giraffe" (fromArabiczarāfah)

French origin:

• gili-gili– "tickle-tickle" (fromFrenchguili-guili)

Portuguese influence in the language can be seen from the period of Portuguese colonial power in the region:

• lonsi– "hunting spear" (fromPortugueselança)

Maldivian has also borrowed words fromUrdu,Hindiand more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms).

English words are also commonly used in the spoken language, for example "phone", "note", "radio", andsoatu( "shorts" ).

Some common phrases

Maldivian phrase	Transliteration	English
ޝުކުރިއްޔާ	Shukuriyyaa	Thank you
ނޫން	Noon	No
އެކުވެރިޔާ	Ekuveriyaa	Friend

Sample

The following is a sample text in Maldivian, Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(by the United Nations):

މާއްދާ 1 - ހުރިހާ އިންސާނުން ވެސް އުފަންވަނީ، ދަރަޖަ އާއި ޙައްޤު ތަކުގައި މިނިވަންކަމާއި ހަމަހަމަކަން ލިބިގެންވާ ބައެއްގެ ގޮތުގައެވެ. އެމީހުންނަށް ހެޔޮ ވިސްނުމާއި ހެޔޮ ބުއްދީގެ ބާރު ލިބިގެން ވެއެވެ. އަދި އެމީހުން އެކަކު އަނެކަކާ މެދު މުއާމަލާތް ކުރަންވާނީ އުޚުއްވަތްތެރި ކަމުގެ ރޫހެއް ގައެވެ.

Romanization (ISO 15919):

māddā 1 - hurihā insānun ves ufanvanī, darajaʾāi ḥaqqu takugai minivankamāi hamahamakan libigenvā baʾegge gotugaʾeve. Emīhunnaʾ heyo visnumāi heyo buddīge bāru libigenveʾeve. Adi emīhun ekaku anekakā medu muāmalāt kuranvānī uk͟huvvatteri kamuge rūheʾ gaʾeve.

Gloss (word-for-word):

Article 1 – All human-beings also are born, ranking and rights' in freedom and equality acquired people like. Them to good thinking and good brain's endowment acquired is. And they one another to communicate do should brotherhood's spirit with.

Translation (grammatical):

Article 1 – All human beings are born free and equal in ranking and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Information technology

Typography

Founded in 1984, the Mahal Unit Press atMinicoyprints texts in Maldivian, among other languages. The press also publishes theLakshadweep Timesin three languages on a regular basis: Maldivian, English andMalayalam.This unit is based in the main building, constructed in 1998. For the first time in the history of Lakshadweep, Maldivian was brought into the field of typography.

Activities:

• Production of note books for the department of Education and Jawahar Navodaya School at Minicoy.
• Printing Maldivian textbooks for Standards I to IV.
• Undertaking printing work from the public on a payment basis.

Fonts

Freely downloadableopen-source Unicode typefacesfeaturing Thaana letters includeFreeSerifand MPH 2B Damase.

Text editors

A variety of word processors are used to write Maldivian. Among them, the most popular isMicrosoft Word.

See also

• Maldives Sign Language

Bibliography

• De Silva, M W S (1970). "Some Observations on the History of Dhivehi".Transactions of the Philological Society, London..
• Fritz, Sonja (2002),The Divehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of the Maldivian and its Dialects,Heidelberg{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Vitharana, V (1987),Sri Lanka – Maldivian Cultural Affinities,Academy of Sri Lankan Culture.

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.
• Crystal, David (2000),Language Death,Cambridge University Press.
• Geiger, Wilhem (2001). "Maldivian Linguistic Studies".Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Colombo..
• Manik, Hassan Ahmed (2000),A Concise Etymological Vocabulary of Dhivehi Language,The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, p. xxiv, 261.
• Muhammad, Naseema (1999),Dhivehi Writing Systems,National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research, Malé.
• Reynolds,Christopher Hanby Baillie (1974). "Buddhism and the Maldivian Language".Buddhist Studies in Honour of I. B. Horner, Dordrecht..
• Reynolds, Christopher Hanby Baillie (2003),A Maldivian Dictionary,Routledge,London, p. 412,ISBN9780415298087.
• Romero-Frias,Xavier (1999),The Maldive Islanders: A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom,Nova Ethnographia Indica,ISBN84-7254-801-5.
• Romero-Frias, Xavier (2012),Folk Tales of the Maldives,NIAS Press,ISBN978-87-7694-105-5.
• Wijesundera; et al. (1988),Historical and Linguistic Survey of the Dhivehi Language,Final Report. University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

External links

• English–Dhivehi Dictionary(archived)
• Dhivehi Academy
• Mahal Unit Press Minicoy(archived)
• Unicode standard for Middle Eastern scripts