Malvani is a dialect of
Konkani with significant
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
influences and loanwords. Although Malvani does not have a unique script, the
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
script is used by most speakers. Malvani is sometimes used for sarcastic newspaper articles and local folk stage dramas known as ''Dashavatar''.
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 Marathi.
Geographical distribution
Malvani is spoken only in the
Sindhudurg
Sindhudurg Fort (Marathi pronunciation: in̪d̪ʱud̪uɾɡ is a historical fort that occupies an island in the Arabian Sea, just off the coast of Maharashtra in Western India. The fort was built by Shivaji Maharaj.The fortress lies on the s ...
district of
Maharashtra. The language is also spoken in north Goa, especially
Pernem
Pernem or Pedne (pronounced ) is a town and a municipal council in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It is the capital of the Pernem Sub-District
Geography
Pernem is one of the twelve sub-districts of Goa. Pernem sub-district ...
taluka. The Census Board of India counts Malvani as a
Konkani dialect (which is official language of State of
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...
), and according to them, there are around 46851 Malvani 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 Sindhudurg district. It is a very famous dialect of
Konkani in the southern part of Konkan in Maharashtra.
Malvani in popular culture
The first ever Drama (Natak) was Vastraharan, which got huge popularity starring