By Sifudheen Faroog 1st year Medical Student Al Faisal University

Consist of 1,192 islands 200 habited Population about 300000 people

Indo-Aryan with an admixture of African, Arab and Indonesian blood

100% Islamic -sunni

(DHIVEHI)

 Many languages have influenced the development of the Maldivian language through the ages, most importantly Arab ,also includes French, Persian, Portuguese, Urdu and English Our culture had a great impact on the language

Influences of other Languages on the Development of Dhivehi After the Maldives converted to Islam in 1153, Persian and Arabic made a significant impact on the Dhivehi language. Eg: religious terms such namdu prayer rda fasting, (Persian namzu, rza) kfaru infidel(Arabic kafir32)

 Portuguese influence during colonial power of the Portuguese in

the 16th century words such as lonsi hunting spear(Portuguese lana spear) mzu table (Portuguese mesa)

Maldivians going abroad to study in India, Pakistan and in some Arab countries bahru spring (bahru spring: Urdu), gulan garden (gulan garden:Urdu) As galan pen (qalam pen) and gams shirt (qams shirt:Arabic).

 how culture relate with the language Traditionally Maldivians were either fisherman or farmers who lived in small island Maldivians life was very much connected to their natural surroundings This strong link is reflected in the Dhivehi language

sea life
Dhivehi has many names for the different parts of the sea surrounding an island Eg mdu the shallow part of the sea near an island, vilu the deeper darker part of the sea away from the island, kandu deep sea.

Dhivehi has different names for different types of islands : ra island Finolu means small island without any coconut trees Faru means reef
Dhivehi also has names for a great variety of fish that are found in the waters of the Maldives.

fas ingilli ,, because it have 5 arms fansuru mas - pencil fish

MALDIVIAN FOOD ALSO HAVE NAMES , FROM OUR DHIvEHI EG: BAI - RICE MAS ( FISH)

Dhivehi oral literature, such as the raivaru poetry is also connected to the sea and the island environment.
RAIVARU A poetry of the Maldives which is a special type of Dhivehipoetry recited in a certain manner

Music and dance ,,, In early days only boduberu was played as a enjoyment . It is a drum played by hands , but due to the size of these drum s maldivian calls them bodu beru means big drum .

Traditional dress of maldives

craft-making (lacquer works )

MODERNISATION AND ERA of info.TECH The Government schools in Male (the capital) were teaching in English medium. Hence, Dhivehilanguage began to be greatly influenced by English. Seen in the great number of loan words from English. EXAMPLE , kru car car baiskalu bicycle isklu school

 Yumna Maumoon , A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THEDHIVEHI LANGUAGE , national centre for linguistic and historical researchmale,maldives 2008 Muhammad, Naseema, 1999. Dhivehi Writing Systems, National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research , Male, Maldives.