Misplaced Pages

#738261

65-630: Thaana , Tãnaa , Taana or Tāna (  ތާނަ ) is the present writing system of the Maldivian language spoken in the Maldives . Thaana has characteristics of both an abugida (diacritics, vowel-killer strokes ) and a true alphabet (all vowels are written), with consonants derived from indigenous and Arabic numerals, and vowels derived from the vowel diacritics of the Arabic abjad . Maldivian orthography in Thaana

130-602: A vaavu ( ވ ). This means that Thaana is one of the few alphabets not derived graphically from the original Semitic alphabet – unless the Indic numerals were (see Brahmi 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 written right to left . It indicates vowels with diacritic marks derived from Arabic. Each letter must carry either

195-517: A /ⁿʔ/ . Prenasalized stops may be distinguished from post-oralized or post-stopped nasals (orally released nasals), such as the [mᵇ nᵈ ɲᶡ ŋᶢ] of Acehnese and similar sounds (including voiceless [mᵖ] ) in many dialects of Chinese. (At least in the Chinese case, nasalization, in some dialects, continues in a reduced degree to the vowel, indicating that the consonant is partially denasalized , rather than actually having an oral release.) No language

260-520: A noonu at the end of a word, it indicates a velar nasal. 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 the Dhives Akuru ("Dhivehi/Maldivian letters") which are written from left to right. Dhives Akuru were used in all of

325-407: A Maldivian inscription towards the beginning of the 17th century in a crude initial form known as Gabulhi Thaana which was written scripta continua . This early script slowly developed, its characters becoming more graceful and oblique, and adding spaces between words. As time went by it gradually replaced the older Dhives Akuru alphabet . The oldest written sample of the Thaana script is found in

390-581: A glottal stop. Gemination of nasals, however, is indicated by noonu + sukun preceding the nasal to be geminated. Maldivian is also written in " Malé Latin " (most commonly used, such as when romanising place names). IAST transliteration is also sometimes used, and also the Devanāgarī script (almost never used in Maldives, but used in Minicoy ) Towards the mid-1970s, during President Ibrahim Nasir 's tenure,

455-522: A prenasalized stop in his name, as does the capital of Chad , N'Djamena (African prenasalized stops are often written with apostrophes in Latin script transcription although this may sometimes indicate syllabic nasals instead). The sound [ g͡b] can also be found in approximately 90 languages in Africa. In Southern Min languages, such as Teochew , prenasalized stops are also found. The prenasalized stops in

520-980: 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 The sound system of Maldivian is similar to that of Dravidian languages. 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 and geminate consonants but no aspirates. Nouns in Maldivian inflect for definiteness , number and case. Definiteness may be one of definite, indefinite or unspecified. Number may be singular or plural. Case may be one of nominative , dative , ablative , genitive , locative , instrumental or emphatic . The nominal system of Maldivian comprises nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals as parts of speech. Maldivian uses two numeral systems. Both of them are identical up to 30. After 30, however, one system places

585-504: A subgroup within the modern Indo-Aryan languages, called Insular Indo-Aryan . However, they are not mutually intelligible. Maldivian and Sinhalese are descended from the Elu Prakrit of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka. These Prakrits were originally derived from Old Indo-Aryan vernaculars related to Vedic Sanskrit . Whereas formerly Maldivian was thought to be a descendant of Sinhalese, in 1969 Sinhalese philologist M. W. S. de Silva for

650-501: A vowel or a sukun , which indicates "no vowel". The only exception to this rule is noonu which, when written without a diacritic, indicates prenasalisation of a following stop . The vowels are written with diacritical signs called fili . There are five fili for short vowels (a, i, u, e, o), with the first three being identical to the Arabic vowel signs ( fatha, kasra and damma ). Long vowels (aa, ee, oo, ey, oa) are denoted by doubled fili , except oa, which

715-543: A way similar to tally marks.) The order of the Thaana alphabet ( ha, shaviyani, noonu, raa, baa, etc. ) does not follow the order of other Indic scripts or of the Arabic script. There is no apparent logic to the order; this has been interpreted as suggesting that the script was scrambled to keep it secret from average islanders. The script was originally used primarily to write magical ( fanḍita ) incantations. These included Arabic quotations, written from right to left. Maldivian learned men, who were all well versed in sorcery, saw

SECTION 10

#1732897755739

780-492: 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 15919 has been used by Xavier Romero-Frias to romanize Maldivian in his book The Maldive Islanders - A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom . The government reinstated the Thaana script shortly after President Maumoon took power in 1978. There

845-400: 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 a shaviyani or alif and comes within the word, the following consonant is geminated; if it comes on a shaviyani or alif at the end of a word, it signifies the glottal stop; if it comes on a thaa , the sound is replaced by a y off-glide; if it comes on

910-413: Is a modification of the short obofili . The letter alifu represents the glottal 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 a diphthong ; when it carries a sukun , it indicates gemination of the following consonant; and if alifu + sukun occurs at the end of a word, it indicates that the word ends in

975-559: Is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the South Asian island country of Maldives and on Minicoy Island , Lakshadweep , a union territory of India . The Maldivian language has four notable dialects. The standard dialect is that of the capital city of Malé . The greatest dialectal variation exists in the southern atolls of Huvadhu , Addu and Fuvahmulah . Each of these atolls has its own distinct dialect often thought to be interconnected with each other while being widely different from

1040-540: 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 called Thaana which is written from right to left , like Arabic (with which it shares several common diacritics for vowel sounds). The foundation of

1105-409: Is believed to contrast the two types of consonant, which are distinguished primarily by a difference in timing (a brief nasal followed by longer stop, as opposed to a longer nasal followed by brief stop). The Bantu languages are famous for their prenasalized stops (the "nt" in "Bantu" is an example), but similar sounds occur across Africa and around the world. Ghana 's politician Kwame Nkrumah had

1170-466: Is characterised by a derivational relationship between active, causative and involitive/intransitive verb forms. The word order in 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

1235-411: 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

1300-473: Is inconsistent, and becoming less frequent as the spelling changes to reflect pronunciation by Maldivians, rather than the original Arabic pronunciation, as the words get absorbed into the Maldivian language. There are five vowel strokes or diacritical signs ( Dhivehi : ފިލި , romanized :  fili ) for short vowels (a, i, u, e, o). The first three are derived from the Arabic vowel signs , fatḥah, kasrah and ḍammah . The ebefili looks similar to and

1365-460: Is largely phonemic . H. C. P. Bell , the first serious researcher of Maldivian documents, used the spelling Tāna, as the initial consonant is unaspirated. The spelling Thaana was adopted in the mid-1970s, when the government of the Maldives embarked on a short period of Romanization; /t/ was transcribed ⟨th⟩ , as ⟨t⟩ was used for the voiceless retroflex plosive [ ʈ ] . The Thaana script first appeared in

SECTION 20

#1732897755739

1430-654: Is most likely modelled on the Urdu baṛī ye . Long vowels (aa, ee, oo, ey and oa) are denoted by double fili , with the exception of oa, which is a modification of the short obofili . Thaana was added to the Unicode Standard in September 1999 with the release of version 3.0. The Unicode block for Thaana is U+0780–U+07BF: Maldivian language Dhivehi or Divehi ( / d ɪ ˈ v eɪ h i / di- VAY -hee ; Dhivehi: ދިވެހި , IPA: [d̪iʋehi] ),

1495-419: Is one of only three languages reported to have a contrast between prenasalized consonants and their corresponding clusters, along with Fula and Selayarese , although the nature of this contrast is debated. For example, Sri Lankan Malay has been in contact with Sinhala a long time and has also developed prenasalized stops. The spectrograms on the right show the word gaambar with a prenasalized stop and

1560-807: Is spoken by people in Papua New Guinea who have similar phonologies in their languages, voiced consonants are prenasalized. For example, the preposition bilong (from English belong ) is pronounced [ᵐbiloŋ] by many Melanesians . The prenasalization behaves as a phonetic detail of voicing, rather than a separate segment. Prenasalized stops are also found in Australia. The Eastern Arrernte language has both prenasalized stops and prestopped nasals , but does not have any other word-initial consonant clusters . Compare [mʷarə] "good", [ᵐpʷaɻə] "make", [ᵖmʷaɻə] " coolamon ". When unambiguous, prenasalized consonants may simply be transcribed e.g. ⟨ mb ⟩. In

1625-400: Is still the language used for the overall administration. Maldivian uses mainly the Thaana script for writing. It is an alphabet , with obligatory vowels derived from the vowel diacritics of the Arabic abjad . It is a largely phonemic script: With a few minor exceptions, spelling can be predicted from pronunciation, and pronunciation from spelling. The origins of Thaana are unique among

1690-641: The Hmong–Mien language family of Southern China and Southeast Asia. In dialects of northern Japan , standard voiced stops are prenasalized, and voiceless stops are voiced. For example, /itiɡo/ "strawberry" is [it̠͡ɕiɡo] in most of the south, but [id̠͡ʑɨᵑɡo] in much of the north. Prenasalized stops are also reconstructed for Old Japanese . In Greek the orthographic sequences μπ, ντ γκ and γγ are often pronounced as prenasalized voiced stops [ᵐb] , [ⁿd] , and [ᵑɡ] , respectively, especially in formal speech and among older speakers. Among younger Athenian speakers

1755-512: The telex machines could only be written in the Latin script . Following this, a rough Latin transliteration for Maldivian was officially approved by the Maldivian government in 1976 and was quickly implemented by the administration. Booklets were printed and dispatched to all Atoll and Island Offices, as well as schools and merchant liners. The Thaana script was reinstated by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom shortly after he took power in 1978, although

1820-425: The union territory of Lakshadweep , India. 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, namely Huvadhu , Fuvahmulah and Addu . The other variants show less difference to the official dialect, including

1885-466: The voiced retroflex nasal "ṇ" ( [ɳ] ) common to many Indic languages . This letter was abolished from Maldivian official documents around 1953. The letter's former position in the Maldivian alphabet was the sixteenth, between Gaafu and Seenu, instead of Gnaviyani (ޏ). The former position of Gnaviyani (ޏ) was 22nd. It is still seen in reprints of old books like the Bodu Tarutheebu, and it is used by

1950-456: 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 by Lakshadweep 's administration during

2015-411: The Latin transcription of 1976 continues to be widely used. Thaana, like Arabic, is written right to left. It indicates vowels with diacritic marks derived from Arabic. Each letter must carry either a vowel or a sukun (which indicates "no vowel"). The only exception to this rule is nūnu which, when written without a diacritic, indicates prenasalization of a following stop . For a sample text, see

Thaana - Misplaced Pages Continue

2080-527: The Maldives. Dhivehi is written in Thaana script. Dhivehi 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 Dhivehi through the ages. They include Arabic , Hindi , Persian , Tamil , French , Portuguese , 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

2145-532: The Maldivian government introduced telex machines in the local administration. This was viewed as great progress, but the local Thaana script was deemed to be an obstacle because messages on the telex machines could only be written in the Latin 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

2210-513: The Maldivian words atoḷu and dōni . Before European colonization of the Southern Hemisphere, it was the southernmost Indo-European language. The origin of the word "Divehi" is from older divu-vesi , meaning "island dwelling". Divu (from Sanskrit द्वीप dvīpa , 'island') later became ދޫ dū , which is currently present in many names of Maldivian islands, such as Hanimādū , Mīdū , and Dāndū . Vesi came from

2275-450: The Sanskrit suffix -वासिन् -vāsin and later became ވެހި vehi . ބަސް bas (from Sanskrit भाषा bhāṣā ) means "language", so ދިވެހިބަސް dhivehi bas means "islanders' language". Wilhelm Geiger , a German linguist who undertook the first research on Maldivian linguistics in the early 20th century, also called the language Divehi . An h was added to

2340-434: The addition of ve , which is never used to end a sentence in spoken Maldivian. In using ve a 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 letters alif and shaviyani . Sukun in general

2405-447: The advantages of writing in this simplified hidden script, and Thaana was gradually adopted for everyday use. Thaana nearly disappeared for a brief period in recent history. Towards the mid-1970s, during President Ibrahim Nasir 's reign, Telex machines were introduced by the Maldivian government in the local administration. The new telex equipment was viewed as a great progress, but Thaana was deemed to be an obstacle because messages on

2470-408: The article on Qaumee salaam , the Maldives' national anthem. Even though it is not part of the alphabet, Arabic ligature Allah ﷲ is used for writing names in Thaana, for example އަބްދުﷲ (Abdullah). "Allah" is never written in thaana, with the ligature ﷲ used. The letter alifu (އ) is used for three different purposes other than acting as a normal consonant: it can act as a carrier for a vowel in

2535-514: The beginning of a word, but it does not allow other consonant sequences. Thus the prenasalized stops behave like ordinary consonants. In some Oceanic languages , prenasalisation of voiced consonants depends on the environment. For example, in Raga , b and d are prenasalized when the preceding consonant is nasal ( noⁿda "ours"), but not elsewhere ( gida "us"). Uneapa has prenasalization word-medially, but not word-initially ( goᵐbu "yam"). When Tok Pisin

2600-557: 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

2665-408: 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 as Dhivehi (spelled according to the locally used Malé Latin for the romanisation of the Maldivian language), which is the official spelling as well as the common usage in

Thaana - Misplaced Pages Continue

2730-523: The dialects spoken in a few islands in Kolhumadulu Atoll and the now obsolete dialect once spoken in Giraavaru , which are hardly recognised and known. The letter Ṇaviyani (ޱ), which represented the retroflex n sound 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

2795-732: 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

2860-400: The exception of yaa , which is of unknown origin. This means that Thaana is one of the few writing systems not derived graphically from the original Semitic alphabet —unless the Indic numerals were (see Brahmi numerals ). (The Ogham script used in 1st millennium AD Ireland is another example, which also has some relation to numbers, since most of its letters are differentiated from others in

2925-406: The first time proposed that Maldivian and Sinhalese had branched off from a common mother language. The following are some phonological features shared by Sinhala, or unique to Maldivian: The earliest official writings were on the lōmāfānu (copper-plate grants ) of the 12th and 13th centuries. Earlier inscriptions on coral stone have also been found. The oldest inscription found to date

2990-561: The following orders without a change in meaning: mashah to.me Prenasalized stop In most languages, when a prenasalized consonant is described as "voiceless", it is only the oral portion that is voiceless, and the nasal portion is modally voiced . Thus, a language may have "voiced" [ᵐb ⁿd ᶯɖ ᶮɟ ᵑɡ ᶰɢ] and "voiceless" [ᵐp ⁿt ᶯʈ ᶮc ᵑk ᶰq] . However, in some Southern Min (including Taiwanese ) dialects, voiced consonants are preceded by voiceless prenasalization: [ᵐ̥b ⁿ̥d ⁿ̥ɺ ᵑ̊ɡ] . Yeyi has prenasalized ejectives . Adzera has

3055-441: 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)". Maldivian presents another aspect with which English speakers are not too familiar: diglossia ,

3120-487: The historical linguistic analysis of both Maldivian and Sinhalese was laid by Wilhelm 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

3185-672: The island of Kanditheemu in Northern Miladhunmadulu Atoll . It is inscribed on the door posts of the main Hukuru Miskiy (Friday mosque) of the island and dates back to 1008 AH (AD 1599) and 1020 AH (AD 1611) when the roof of the building was built and then renewed during the reigns of Ibrahim Kalaafaan (Sultan Ibrahim III) and Hussain Faamuladeyri Kilege (Sultan Hussain II) respectively. The origins of Thaana are unique among

3250-455: 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

3315-509: 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 the Boḍu Tarutību and official documents like the Rādavaḷi . 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

SECTION 50

#1732897755739

3380-537: The name of the language— "Dhivehi"— in 1976, when the semi-official transliteration called Malé Latin was developed. Today the spelling with Dh has common and semi-official usage in the Maldives. Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhalese language of Sri Lanka . Maldivian represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language, as well as the southernmost Indo-European language prior to European colonization. Maldivian and Sinhalese together constitute

3445-432: The nasal to be geminated. Originally, each letter had the name "consonant+ a + viyani ". The suffix - viyani originated from the word viyana which came from Sanskrit व्यञ्जन vyáñjana . For example, haa was originally called haviyani . The names of consonants which had equivalent sounds in Arabic were changed to the Arabic names for the sounds (excepting gaafu , which is a Persian name). Naviyani (ޱ) represents

3510-417: The people of Addu Atoll and Fuvahmulah when writing songs or poetry in their dialects as the sound is still present in their spoken dialects. These additional letters ( thikijehi thaana ) were added to the Thaana alphabet by adding a nukuthaa (dot) to existing letters, to allow for transliteration of Arabic loanwords, as previously Arabic loanwords were written using the Arabic script. Their usage

3575-483: The prenasalization often disappears and in fast speech the voiced stop may be replaced by a fricative. The Guaraní language has a set of prenasalized stops which are alternate allophonically with simple nasal continuants; they appear only within a word, to the left of a stressed vowel that is oral. The Indo-Aryan languages Sinhala and Dhivehi have prenasalized stops. Sinhala script has prenasalized versions of / g / , / ʥ /, / ɖ / , / d̪ / and / b / . Sinhala

3640-429: The second part of a diphthong (if there is a preceding consonant with a vowel); when it carries a sukun , it indicates gemination (lengthening) of the following consonant (even if the consonant is at the beginning of another word); and if alifu + sukun occurs at the end of a word, it indicates that the word ends in a glottal stop . Gemination of nasal consonants , however, is indicated by noonu + sukun preceding

3705-468: The syllabification of sambal sam.bal. An example of the unitary behavior of prenasalized stops is provided by Fijian . In this language, as in many in Melanesia and also reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic , there is a series of voiceless stops, [p, t, k] , and a series of prenasalized stops, [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] , but there are no simple voiced stops, [b, d, ɡ] . In addition, Fijian allows prenasalized stops at

3770-529: The time of Rajiv Gandhi 's rule, was reprinted by Spanish researcher Xavier Romero Frías in 2003. There is a holiday, the Dhivehi Language Day , which is celebrated in the Maldives on 14 April, the birthday of the writer Husain Salahuddin . Maldivian is spoken in the Maldives and a variation of it in Minicoy . Maldivian is the official language of the Maldives and a semi-official language in

3835-480: 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 decade fas dholhas '60' ("five twelves"), comes from a much older duodecimal , or dozen-based, system which has nearly disappeared. The Maldivian verbal system

3900-619: The vernacular readings of Southern Min languages evolved not from the different Middle Chinese initials and thus are historically different from the voiced obstruents found in Wu and Xiang languages. Prenasalized consonants are widely utilized in the Loloish languages of the Lolo–Burmese family, such as Yi and Naxi . The following table illustrates the prenasalized consonants in northern Yi. The prenasalized stops also occur in several branches of

3965-514: The word sambal with a sequence of nasal+voiced stop, yet not prenasalized. The difference in the length of the [m] part is clearly visible. The nasal in the prenasalized word is much shorter than the nasal in the other word. This phonetic information is complemented by phonological evidence: The first vowel in gaambar is lengthened, which only happens in open syllables in Sri Lanka Malay. The syllabification of gaambar must be gaa.mbar then, and

SECTION 60

#1732897755739

4030-435: 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. (See Hindu–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 an alifu ( އ ) and

4095-434: The world's writing systems: The first nine letters ( h ṣ n r b ḷ k ʔ v ) are derived from the Arabic numerals, whereas the next nine ( m f d t l g ṇ s ḍ ) were the local Indic numerals. (See Hindu–Arabic numerals .) The remaining letters for loanwords ( z ṭ y p j c ñ ) and Arabic transliteration ( h̤ ḵ ž ʕ ġ w ẕ t̤ ẓ s̱ q s̤ ż ś ) are derived from phonetically similar native consonants by means of diacritics (like nuqta ), with

4160-423: 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 modern Standard Indic transliteration had not been considered. Standard Indic

4225-460: 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. The 412-page hard-back English–Maldivian dictionary, A Maldivian Dictionary , written by Christopher Hanby Baillie Reynolds , was published on 22 July 2003 by Routledge and contains about 5000 individual entries. Different islands due to distance have

#738261