Native to India Writing system Devanagari | Native speakers 870,000 (date missing) | |
Pronunciation malvaɳi (standard)
malvani (popular) Region Konkan, Malvan, Maharashtra, Goa Language family Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Southern Zone
Marathi–Konkani
Konkani
Malvani | ||
Malvani (Northern Konkani) is a dialect of Konkani with significant Marathi influences and loanwords. Though Malvani does not have a unique script, scripts of the other languages native to the regions its speakers inhabit are used. Devanagari is used by most of the speakers. Malvani is very popular language used for newspaper articles and dramas. Pure dialect of Malvani is spoken by only Upper Caste (Goud Saraswat Brahmins from Sindhudurg District). But however, Konkanastha Brahmins(Chitpavans) have given up speaking this dialect and have adopted proper Marathi instead. Malvani is still safe from 'language death', particularly due to locals of lower-caste communities (Marathas, Bhandaris, Vanies, Kundbis, Daivajnas (Sonaar), etc.) who tirelessly continue to preserve this traditional dialect. It is also known as Kudali.
Contents
Difference from standard Marathi
All pronouns have a change from la to ka. Words in Marathi for "yes", "this", "that", "where", "here", "there", have different Malvani counterparts. Other grammatical nuances differ from standard-spoken Marathi.
Geographical distribution
Malvani is spoken in the southern part of Konkan Vibhag i.e. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts; chiefly in the towns of Ratnagiri, Rajapur, Devgad, Malvan, Kudal, Kankavli, Sawantwadi and Vengurla. The language is also spoken in North Goa, especially Pernem taluka. The Census Board of India counts Malvani as a Konkani dialect (which is official language of State of Goa). According to Census Board of India, there are around 46851 Malwani speakers throughout the country, with 24 Lakh (2.4 million) Konkani living speakers. According to unofficial reports, around 8,68,825 (868,825) Malvani speakers live throughout the Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.