Malvi language

Not to be confused with the Malwai dialect of Punjabi.

Malvi
माळवी
Native to	India
Region	Malwa region (parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan)
Native speakers	5.4 million (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Western Rajasthani Malvi
Writing system	Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mup
Glottolog	malv1243  Malvi

Malvi or Malwi^[2] (माळवी भाषा) is an Indo-Aryan language, spoken in the Malwa region of India, in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Writing system

In India, Malvi is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida which is written from left to right. Earlier, the Mahajani script, or Modiya, was used to write Rajasthani. The script is also called as Maru Gurjari in a few records.^[3][4]

The dialects of Malvi are as follows:

• Malvi
  • Ujjani (Ujjain, Dhar, Indore, Dewas, Shajapur, Sehore, Agar Malwa districts)

Ujjani is an elite dialect of the Malvi language.

Some sample translations

Standard Rajasthani (Marwari)	Ujjani	Meaning
अठै (atthai)	यां (yaan)	Here
वठै/उठै (vatthai/utthai)	वां (vaan)	There
कोनी (koni)	नी(nee)	No
आवैलो/आवैली (availo/availi)	आवेगो/आवेगी (avego/avegi)	Will come

• • Rajawadi (Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam districts)

Rajwadi dialect of Malvi is influenced by Mewari and Marwari

Some sample translations

Standard Rajasthani (Marwari)	Rajwadi	Meaning
अठै (atthai)	अटे(atte)	Here
वठै/उठै (vatthai/utthai)	वटे (vatte)	There
कोनी (koni)	कोनी(koni)	No
आवैलो/आवैली (availo/availi)	आवेगा/आवेगा (avega/avega) neutral in this condition	Will come

• • Umathwadi (Rajgarh district)

Umathwadi is Malvi with some features of Hadauti

• • Sondhwadi (Jhalawar district, Ujjain, Agar Malwa)
  • Bhoyari/Pawari (Betul, Chhindwara, Padhurna, Wardha Districts)^[5]

About 75% of the Malvi population can converse in Hindi, which is the official language of the Madhya Pradesh state. The literacy rate in Hindi is approximately 40% among Malvi speaker. Many unpublished Malvi literature works have been created over the years, with limited mainstream recognition.

See also

• Rangri dialect (Malvi)

Which is spoken by Rajputs of Malwa and it sounds similar to Rajwadi Dialect

References

1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
2. Martial races of undivided India. Gyan Publishing House. 2009. ISBN 978-81-7835-775-1.
3. "Goaria". Ethnologue. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
4. "Dhatki". Ethnologue. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
5. "pg no 293,296".