Maldivian language

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Maldivian
Dhivehi
ދިވެހި, Dhivēhī
The word "Dhivehi" in the Thaana script
Pronunciation	[d̪iʋehi]
Native to	Maldives Minicoy Island (Maliku)
Ethnicity	Maldivians
Native speakers	397,739[1][2] (2022)[3]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Southern Indo-Aryan Insular Indo-Aryan Maldivian
Early forms	Elu Old Dhivehi
Dialects	See § Dialects
Writing system	Thaana (official) Unofficial Latin (Maldivian alphabet) Historical Dhives Akuru (until the 19th century) Eveyla Akuru (ancient)
Signed forms	Signed Maldivian
Official status
Official language in	Maldives
Regulated by	Dhivehi Language Academy
Language codes
ISO 639-1	dv
ISO 639-2	div
ISO 639-3	div
Glottolog	dhiv1236
IETF	dv-MV
Orthographic projection of the Maldives
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Maldivian,^[a] also known by its endonym Dhivehi (ދިވެހި, Dhivēhī, [d̪iʋehi]),^[b] is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, primarily spoken by the Maldivian people native to the South Asian archipelagic state of the Maldives;^[8] as well as the neighbouring Minicoy Island within 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 the dialect spoken in the northern atolls. The southern dialects are so distinct that those only speaking northern dialects cannot understand them.^[8]

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 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 Malayalam, Arabic, Hindustani, 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 the Maldivian words atoḷu and dōni. Before European colonization of the Southern Hemisphere, it was the southernmost Indo-European language.

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