Maldivian represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language. Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhalese language of Sri Lanka. Today the spelling with Dh has common and semi-official usage in the Maldives. An h was added to the name of the language- 'Dhivehi'- in 1976, when the semi-official transliteration called Malé Latin was developed. Wilhelm Geiger, a German linguist who undertook the first research on Maldivian linguistics in the early 20th century, also called the language Divehi. Bas (from Sanskrit bhāṣā) means 'language', so Dhivehi bas ( ދިވެހިބަސް) means 'islanders' language'. Divu (from Sanskrit dvīpa) later became the suffix - dū, which is currently present in many names of Maldivian islands, such as Hanimādū, Mīdū, and Dāndū. Vesi came from Sanskrit vāsin and later became vehi. The origin of the word 'Divehi' is from older divu+ vesi, meaning 'island dwelling'. Before European colonization of the Southern Hemisphere, it was the southernmost Indo-European language. The English words atoll (a ring of coral islands or reefs) and dhoni (a vessel for inter-atoll navigation) are anglicised forms of the Maldivian words atoḷu and dōni. They include Arabic, Urdu/ Hindustani, Persian, Tamil, French, Portuguese, and English. Many languages have influenced the development of Dhivehi through the ages. Dhivehi is written in Thaana script.ĭhivehi is a descendant of Elu Prakrit and is closely related to Sinhalese, but not mutually intelligible with it.

The ethnic endonym for the language, Divehi, is occasionally found in English as Dhivehi (spelled according to the locally used Malé Latin for romanisation of the Maldivian language), which is the official spelling as well as the common usage in the Maldives. The southern atoll dialects are so distinct that those only speaking northern dialects cannot understand them.

Each of those atolls has its own dialect closely related to each other but very different from the northern atolls.

The greatest dialectal variation is from the southern atolls Huvadu, Addu and Fuvahmulah of Maldives. The standard dialect is that of the capital city, Malé. The Maldivian language has notable dialects. Maldivian, also known by its endonym Dhivehi or Divehi ( / d ɪ ˈ v eɪ h i/ di- VAY-hee Dhivehi: ދިވެހި, Dhivehi pronunciation: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the South Asian island country of Maldives and on Minicoy Island, Lakshadweep, a union territory of India. Maldivian in Carl Faulmann 's Das Buch der Schrift, 1880 For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols.

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