Maldivian phonology: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:05, 21 May 2022

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The phonemic inventory of Maldivian consists of 29 consonants and 10 vowels. Like other modern Indo-Aryan languages the Maldivian phonemic inventory shows an opposition of long and short vowels, of dental and retroflex consonants as well as single and geminate consonants.

Vowels^[1]
	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Open	(æː)		a	aː

[æː] is developed as a sound from the diphthong /ai/.
The short open back vowel is phonetically central [ä].

Consonants^[1]
	Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m		n		ɳ		(ɲ)*
Stop/ Affricate	p	b ᵐb	t̪	d̪ ⁿd̪	ʈ	ɖ ᶯɖ	t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ	k	ɡ ᵑɡ
Fricative	f		s̪	z	ʂ		ʃ				h
Approximant		ʋ		l̪		ɭ		j
Tap						ɽ

The status of /ɲ/ as a phoneme is unclear. Except for two words, /ɲamɲam/ 'cynometra caulinora' (a kind of fruit) and /ɲaviyani/ 'Gnaviyani' (alphabet letter), the /ɲ/ only occurs as the result of the fusion of /n/ and /i/: /du:ni/ 'bird', /du:ɲɲek/ 'a bird'.
/ʋ/ can occasionally be heard as a fricative [v], it has a [w] allophone occurring between vowel sounds /a/ and /u/.

Dental and retroflex stops are contrastive in Maldivian. For example: maḍun means ‘quietly’ madun means ‘seldom’. The segments /t/ and /d/ are articulated just behind the front teeth. The Maldivian segments /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /ʂ/, and /ɭ/ are not truly retroflex, but apical, produced at the very rear part of the alveolar ridge.

Maldivian has the prenasalized stops /ᵐb/, /ⁿd/, /ᶯɖ/, and /ᵑɡ/. These segments occur only intervocalically: /haⁿdu/ ('moon') /haᶯɖuː/ ('uncooked rice') and /aᵑɡa/ ('mouth'). Maldivian and Sinhalese are the only Indo-Aryan languages that have prenasalized stops.

The influence of other languages has played a great role in Maldivian phonology. For example, the phoneme /z/ comes entirely from foreign influence:^{[citation needed]} /ɡaːziː/ ('judge') is from Persian, /maːziː/ ('past') is from Urdu.

The phoneme /p/ also occurs only in borrowed words in Modern Standard Maldivian: /ripoːtu/ ('report'). At one point, Maldivian did not have the phoneme /f/, and /p/ occurred in the language without contrastive aspiration. Some time in the 17th century, word initial and intervocalic /p/ changed to /f/. Historical documents from the 11th century, for example, show 'five' rendered as /pas/ whereas today it is pronounced /fas/.

In standard Maldivian when the phoneme /s/ occurs in the final position of a word it changes to [h] intervocalically when inflected. For example, /bas/ ('word' or 'language') becomes /bahek/ ('a word' or 'a language') and /mas/ ('fish') becomes /mahek/ ('a fish'). /s/ and /h/ still contrastive, though: initially /hiᵑɡaː/ ('operating') and /siᵑɡaː/ ('lion') and intervocalically /aharu/ ('year') and /asaru/ ('effect').

/ʂ/ is peculiar to Dhivehi among Indo-Aryan languages. In some dialects, it is pronounced as a [ ɽ̊ ]. The /ʂ/ is related historically and allophonically to /ʈ/ (but not to Sanskrit /ʂ/ or /ɕ/). Sometime after the 12th century, the intervocalic /ʈ/ became [ʂ] /raʈu/ 'island' (12th c.), [raʂu] 'island'. The /ʈ/ is retained in geminate clusters like /feʂuni:/ 'started', /faʈʈaifi/ 'has caused to start'. The contrast between /ʂ/ and /ʈ/ was made through loan words like /koʂani:/ 'cutting', /koʈari/ 'room'.^[2]

Borrowed phonemes[edit | edit source]

Modern Standard Maldivian has borrowed many phonemes from Arabic. These phonemes are used exclusively in loan words from Arabic, for example, the phoneme /x/ in words such as /xaːdim/ ('male servant'). The following table shows the phonemes that have been borrowed from Arabic/Persian together with their transliteration into Tāna and its original and Dhivehi pronunciation.

Tāna	Arabic / Persian	SAMT	IPA Original / Dhivehi^[3]
ޙ	ح	ḥ	[ħ] / [h]
ޚ	خ	x	[x] / [h]
ޜ	ژ	ʒ	[ʒ] / [ʒ]
ޢ	ع	‘	[ʕ] / -
ޣ	غ	ġ	[ɣ] / [g]
ޥ	و	w	[w] / [ʋ]
ޛ	ذ	ź	[ð] / [z̺]
ޠ	ط	ţ	[tˤ] / [t̪]
ޡ	ظ	ẓ	[zˤ] / [l~z̺]
ޘ	ث	ṡ	[θ] / [s̺]
ޤ	ق	q	[q] / [g]
ޞ	ص	ş	[sˤ] / [s̺]
ޟ	ض	ḑ	[dˤ] / [l~ɮ]
ޝ	ش	ś	[ʃ] / [ʃ~s̺]

Phonotactics[edit | edit source]

Native Maldivian words do not allow initial consonant clusters; the syllable structure is (C)V(C) (i.e. one vowel with the option of a consonant in the onset and/or coda). This affects the introduction of loanwords, such as /is.kuːl/ from English school.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. (2017). Dhivehi: The Language of the Maldives. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–25.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
↑ Dhivehi (Maldivian) by Bruce Dwayne Cain (2000)
↑ ThatMaldivesBlog: Dhivehi Lesson 1: Script and Pronunciation

Template:Language phonologies

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. (2017). Dhivehi: The Language of the Maldives. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–25.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

[2] Dhivehi (Maldivian) by Bruce Dwayne Cain (2000)

[3] ThatMaldivesBlog: Dhivehi Lesson 1: Script and Pronunciation

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{refimprove|date=July 2021}}
+{{Short description|Sounds and pronunciation of the Maldivian language}}
 {{IPA notice}}
 The [[phoneme|phonemic]] inventory of [[Maldivian language|Maldivian]] consists of 29 consonants and 10 vowels. Like other modern [[Indo-Aryan languages]] the Maldivian phonemic inventory shows an opposition of long and short vowels, of dental and retroflex consonants as well as single and geminate consonants.
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 |-
 ![[Close vowel|Close]]
-|{{IPA|i}}
+|{{IPA link|i}}
-|{{IPA|iː}}
+|{{IPA link|iː}}
 |
 |
-|{{IPA|u}}
+|{{IPA link|u}}
-|{{IPA|uː}}
+|{{IPA link|uː}}
 |-
 ![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
-|{{IPA|e}}
+|{{IPA link|e}}
-|{{IPA|eː}}
+|{{IPA link|eː}}
 |
 |
-|{{IPA|o}}
+|{{IPA link|o}}
-|{{IPA|oː}}
+|{{IPA link|oː}}
 |-
 ![[Open vowel|Open]]
-| colspan="2" |{{IPA|(æː)}}
+| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|æ|(æː)}}
-|{{IPA|a}}
+|{{IPA link|a}}
-|{{IPA|aː}}
+|{{IPA link|aː}}
 |
 |
@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 |-
 ! <small>[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]</small>
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|m}}
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|m}}
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|n}}
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|n}}
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɳ}}
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɳ}}
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPAlink|ɲ}})*
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPA link|ɲ}})*
 | width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |
 | colspan="2" |
 |-
 ! <small>[[Stop consonant|Stop]]/<br>[[Affricate]]</small>
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|p}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|b}}<br>{{IPA|ᵐb}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|p}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|b}}<br>{{IPA link|ᵐb}}
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|t̪|t}}<br>&nbsp;|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|d̪|d}}<br>{{IPA|ⁿd}}
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|t̪|t̪}}<br>&nbsp;|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|d̪|d̪}}<br>{{IPA link|ⁿd̪}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ʈ}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɖ}}<br>{{IPA|ᶯɖ}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ʈ}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɖ}}<br>{{IPA link|ᶯɖ}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|tʃ}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|dʒ}}<br>&nbsp;
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}<br>&nbsp;
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|k}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɡ}}<br>{{IPA|ᵑɡ}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|k}}<br>&nbsp;|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɡ}}<br>{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
 | colspan="2" |
 |-
 ! <small>[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]</small>
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|f}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|f}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|s}} || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|z̪|z}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|s̪|s̪}} || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|z̪|z}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ʂ}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ʂ}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
-| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ʃ}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
+| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ʃ}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
 | colspan="2" |
-| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|h}}|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |
+| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|h}}|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |
 |-
 !<small>[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]</small>
-| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ʋ}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ʋ}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|l̪|l}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|l̪|l̪}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɭ}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɭ}}
-| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|j}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|j}}
 | colspan="2" |
 | colspan="2" |
@@ Line 89: / Line 89: @@
 | colspan="2" |
 | colspan="2" |
-| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɽ}}
+| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɽ}}
 | colspan="2" |
 | colspan="2" |
@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 The influence of other languages has played a great role in Maldivian phonology. For example, the phoneme {{IPA|/z/}} comes entirely from foreign influence:{{citation needed|date=August 2007}} {{IPA|/ɡaːziː/}} ('judge') is from [[Persian language|Persian]], {{IPA|/maːziː/}} ('past') is from [[Urdu language|Urdu]].
 The phoneme {{IPA|/p/}} also occurs only in borrowed words in Modern Standard Maldivian: {{IPA|/ripoːtu/}} ('report'). At one point, Maldivian did not have the phoneme {{IPA|/f/}}, and {{IPA|/p/}} occurred in the language without contrastive aspiration. Some time in the 17th century, word initial and intervocalic {{IPA|/p/}} changed to {{IPA|/f/}}. Historical documents from the 11th century, for example, show 'five' rendered as {{IPA|/pas/}} whereas today it is pronounced {{IPA|/fas/}}.
 In standard Maldivian when the phoneme {{IPA|/s/}} occurs in the final position of a word it changes to {{IPA|[h]}} intervocalically when inflected. For example, {{IPA|/bas/}} ('word' or 'language') becomes {{IPA|/bahek/}} ('a word' or 'a language') and {{IPA|/mas/}} ('fish') becomes {{IPA|/mahek/}} ('a fish'). {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/h/}} still contrastive, though: initially {{IPA|/hiᵑɡaː/}} ('operating') and {{IPA|/siᵑɡaː/}} ('lion') and intervocalically {{IPA|/aharu/}} ('year') and {{IPA|/asaru/}} ('effect').
-{{IPA|/ɽ/}}, a voiceless retroflex flap, is peculiar to Maldivian among the Indo-Aryan languages. But some people pronounce it as {{IPA|[ʐ]}} a retroflex grooved fricative.
+/ʂ/ is peculiar to Dhivehi among Indo-Aryan languages. In some dialects, it is pronounced as a [ ɽ̊ ]. The /ʂ/ is related historically and allophonically to /ʈ/ (but not to Sanskrit /ʂ/ or /ɕ/). Sometime after the 12th century, the intervocalic /ʈ/ became [ʂ] /raʈu/ 'island' (12th c.), [raʂu] 'island'. The /ʈ/ is retained in geminate clusters like /feʂuni:/ 'started', /faʈʈaifi/ 'has caused to start'. The contrast between /ʂ/ and /ʈ/ was made through loan words like /koʂani:/ 'cutting', /koʈari/ 'room'.<ref>Dhivehi (Maldivian) by Bruce Dwayne Cain (2000)</ref>
 ==Borrowed phonemes==
-Modern Standard Maldivian has borrowed many phonemes from [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. These phonemes are used exclusively in loan words from Arabic, for example, the phoneme {{IPA|/x/}} in words such as {{IPA|/xaːdim/}} ('male servant').  The following table shows the phonemes that have been borrowed from Arabic/Persian together with their transliteration into Tāna.
+Modern Standard Maldivian has borrowed many phonemes from [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. These phonemes are used exclusively in loan words from Arabic, for example, the phoneme {{IPA|/x/}} in words such as {{IPA|/xaːdim/}} ('male servant').  The following table shows the phonemes that have been borrowed from Arabic/Persian together with their transliteration into Tāna and its original and Dhivehi pronunciation.
 {| class="wikitable"
@@ Line 116: / Line 116: @@
 ! [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] / [[Persian alphabet|Persian]]
 ! [[Standard Alphabet of Mahal Transliteration|SAMT]]
-! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
+! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]<br>Original / Dhivehi<ref>[https://thatmaldivesblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/dhivehi-lesson-1-script-and-pronunciation/ ThatMaldivesBlog: Dhivehi Lesson 1: Script and Pronunciation]</ref>
 |-
 | ޙ
 | ح
 | ḥ
-| {{IPA|/ħ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|ħ}} / {{IPAblink|h}}
 |-
 | ޚ
 | خ
 | x
-| {{IPA|/x/}}
+| {{IPAblink|x}} / {{IPAblink|h}}
 |-
 | ޜ
 | ژ
 | ʒ
-| {{IPA|/ʒ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|ʒ}} / {{IPAblink|ʒ}}
 |-
 | ޢ
 | ع
 | ‘
-| {{IPA|/ʕ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|ʕ}} / -
 |-
 | ޣ
 | غ
 | ġ
-| {{IPA|/ɣ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|ɣ}} / {{IPAblink|g}}
 |-
 | ޥ
 | و
 | w
-| {{IPA|/w/}}
+| {{IPAblink|w}} / {{IPAblink|ʋ}}
 |-
 | ޛ
 | ذ
 | ź
-| {{IPA|/ð/}}
+| {{IPAblink|ð}} / {{IPAblink|z̺}}
 |-
 | ޠ
 | ط
 | ţ
-| {{IPA|/tˤ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|tˤ}} / {{IPAblink|t̪}}
 |-
 | ޡ
 | ظ
 | ẓ
-| {{IPA|/zˤ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|zˤ}} / [{{IPAlink|l}}~{{IPAlink|z̺}}]
 |-
 | ޘ
 | ث
 | ṡ
-| {{IPA|/θ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|θ}} / {{IPAblink|s̺}}
 |-
 | ޤ
 | ق
 | q
-| {{IPA|/q/}}
+| {{IPAblink|q}} / {{IPAblink|g}}
 |-
 | ޞ
 | ص
 | ş
-| {{IPA|/sˤ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|sˤ}} / {{IPAblink|s̺}}
 |-
 | ޟ
 | ض
 | ḑ
-| {{IPA|/dˤ/}}
+| {{IPAblink|dˤ}} / [{{IPAlink|l}}~{{IPAlink|ɮ}}]
+|-
+| ޝ
+| ش
+| ś
+| {{IPAblink|ʃ}} / [{{IPAlink|ʃ}}~{{IPAlink|s̺}}]
 |}