The Sound of the Dhivehi / Maldivian language (UDHR, Numbers, Greetings, Words & Story)

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 16:51:58 +0000

Welcome to my channel! This is Andy from I love languages. Let's learn different languages/dialects together. For today's video, let's hear the beautiful sound of the Dhivehi language. Please feel free to subscribe to see more of this. I hope you have a great day! Stay happy! Please support me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16809442. (Recorded by I love languages team & friends)

Special Thanks to Shifaan Thowfeequ
Narrator: Mizy Musthafa

Native to: The Maldives, Minicoy Island (Maliku)
Native speakers 340,000 (2012)
Language family: Indo-European

Maldivian, also known by its endonym Dhivehi or Divehi (Dhivehi: ދިވެހި, Dhivehi pronunciation: [d̪iˈʋehi]), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the South Asian island country of the Maldives and on Minicoy Island, Lakshadweep, union territory of India.

Maldivian language has notable dialects. The standard dialect is that of capital city, Malé. The greatest dialectal variation is from the southern atolls Huvadu, Addu and Fuvahmulah of Maldives. Each of those atolls has its own dialect closely related to each other but very different from the northern atolls. The southern atoll dialects are so distinct that those only speaking northern dialect cannot understand them.

The ethnic endonym for the language, Divehi, is occasionally found in English as Dhivehi (spelled according to the locally used Malé Latin for romanization of the Maldivian language), which is the official spelling as well as the common usage in the Maldives. Maldivian is written in Thaana script.

Maldivian is a descendant of Elu Prakrit and is closely related to Sinhalese, but not mutually intelligible with it. Many languages have influenced the development of Maldivian through the ages. They include Arabic, French, Persian, Portuguese, Hindustani, and English. 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.