Last Updated: 2020-06-29
Background
Language Family: Indo-European / Indo-Iranian / Indo-Aryan / Sinhalese-Maldivian
- Also referred to as Dhivehi, Maldivian is spoken in a multitude of places, but primarily in the Republic of Maldives, a country in South Asia southwest of Sri Lanka.
Phonology
Consonants
- Although the glottal stop appears in Maldivian, it is not considered phonemic (DeSilva 1969, 204). Rather, only appearing word-finally, it is treated as an allophone of /k/.
- The palatal nasal appears as well; however, DeSilva (1969) explains that it is not phonemic. Cain and Gair (2000) explain that it is a fusion of /n̪/ and /i/, and I have chosen to treat the corresponding grapheme as such.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Dental
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Retroflex
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Palatal
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Velar
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Glottal
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Stops (plain)
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p b
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t̪ d̪
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ʈ ɖ
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c ɟ
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k ɡ
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Stops (prenasalized)
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ᵐb
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ⁿd̪
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ᶯɖ
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ᵑɡ
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Fricatives
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f
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s̪ z̪
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ʂ
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n̪
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Flaps
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ɽ
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Approximants
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ʋ
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l̪
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ɭ
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j
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Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
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Vowels
- Vowel length is contrastive in Maldivian (DeSilva 1969, 204). Long vowels are indicated by duplicate vowel diacritics called fili.
- Although many diphthongs may occur (DeSilva 1969, 205), only /ai/ and /au/ are considered to be complex nuclei (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:11).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Mid
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e
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o
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- The Thaana script is used to represent Maldivian (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:9). It is read from right to left.
- Consonant graphemes do not carry an inherent vowel (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:9). The vowels are represented as diacritics above or below the consonant.
- Diphthongs are represented with an inflected alifu ⟨އ⟩ following a consonant with a fili, or with two fili on an alifu (one above and one below) (Gnanadesikan 2012, 94, 96).
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Consonant Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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ހ
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/h/
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ށ
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/ʂ/
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ނ
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/n̪/
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ރ
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/ɽ/
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ބ
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/b/
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ޅ
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/ɭ/
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ކ
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/k/
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އ
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called an alifu, this grapheme needs inflection from fili to have phonemic value (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:9)
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ވ
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/ʋ/
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މ
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/m/
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ފ
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/f/
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ދ
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/d̪/
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ތ
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/t̪/
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ލ
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/l̪/
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ގ
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/ɡ/
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ޏ
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/n̪i/
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ސ
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/s̪/
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ޑ
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/ɖ/
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ޒ
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/z̪/
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ޓ
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/ʈ/
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ޔ
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/j/
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ޕ
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/p/
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ޖ
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/ɟ/
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ޗ
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/c/
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Digraph
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ނބ
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/ᵐb/
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ނދ
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/ⁿd̪/
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ނޑ
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/ᶯɖ/
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ނގ
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/ᵑɡ/
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Vowel Grapheme
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އަ
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/a/
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އާ
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/aː/
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އި
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/i/
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އީ
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/iː/
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އު
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/u/
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އޫ
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/uː/
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އެ
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/e/
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އޭ
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/eː/
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އޮ
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/o/
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އޯ
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/oː/
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އް
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this grapheme is a geminate marker or /k/ word-finally (see Misc. Rules below)
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Vowel Diacritic
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ަ
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/a/
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ާ
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/aː/
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ި
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/i/
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ީ
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/iː/
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ު
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/u/
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ޫ
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/uː/
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ެ
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/e/
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ޭ
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/eː/
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ޮ
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/o/
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ޯ
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/oː/
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ް
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called a sukun, this diacritic indicates that the base character is vowel-less (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:9)
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Syllable Structure
- Syllables in Maldivian generally follow the order of CV (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:11); however, the following structures are present:
- Consonant clusters only appear word-medially (ibid.).
Lenition Rules
- /k/, /ʂ/, and /t̪/ debuccalize to glottal stops prepausally (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:11–12).
- /s̪/ becomes /h/ morpheme-finally preceding a vowel-initial suffix (Gnanadesikan 2016, 44).
Misc. Rules
- After /k/, /ʂ/, and /t̪/ debuccalize, the allophonic glottal stop becomes a velar nasal word-finally preceding word-initial vowels or /h/ (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:11–12).
- Consonants, except /f/, /ʂ/, and /h/, geminate (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:13). This is represented orthographically by duplicate graphemes, with a sukun on the first consonant (no inflection for vowel). They may also be represented by an alifu sukun followed by a consonant. Otherwise, the empty vowel marker with a sukun indicates a word-final /k/.
- Word-initial /ʋ/ becomes [w] preceding /a/ (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:7). It also becomes [w] following /u/.
- Nasals assimilate in place to following consonants (excluding /h/), even across word boundaries (Cain and Gair 2000, 63:12).
- Morpheme-final /u/ deletes preceding a vowel-initial suffix (Gnanadesikan 2016, 44).
- Consonants /t̪/, /d̪/, /ⁿd̪/, /n̪/, and /l̪/ palatalize preceding /i/ (Gnanadesikan 2016, 46). In doing so they become geminates.
- /h/ and /ʂ/ become geminated [s] and [t] preceding /i/ (Gnanadesikan 2016, 45–46).
References
Cain, Bruce D., and James W. Gair. 2000. Dhivehi (Maldivian). Vol. 63. Languages of the World/Materials. München: Lincom.
DeSilva, M. W. Sugathapala. 1969. “The Phonological Efficiency of the Maldivian Writing System.” Anthropological Linguistics.
Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. 2012. “Maldivian Thaana, Japanese Kana, and the Representation of Moras in Writing.” Writing Systems Research 4 (1). Informa UK Limited: 91–102. doi:10.1080/17586801.2012.693459.