Malvi

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
mup
Alternate Names
Malavi, Mallow, Malwada, Malwi
Autonym
मालवी‎ (Malvi)
User Population

5,440,000 (2011 census). 1,110,000 monolinguals.

Location

Madhya Pradesh state: Bhopal, Dewas, Dhar, Guna, Indore, Mandsaur, Nimuch, Rajgarh, Rathlam, Sehore, Shajapur, and Ujjain districts; Rajasthan state: Jhalawar district. Sondwari dialect geographically isolated from the others.

Language Maps
Language Status

5* (Developing).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Intermediate Divisions, Western, Rajasthani, Unclassified
Dialects

Ujjaini (Avanthika, Malvi Proper), Rajawadi, Umadwadi, Sondwari (Sondhwadi, Soudhwari). Considered the standard variety, Southeastern Rajasthani Nimadi [noe] is reportedly most similar language with 70% intelligibility. 88%–92% intelligibility of Ujjaini dialect by other dialects. Lexical similarity: 65%–89% among dialects. A member of macrolanguage Rajasthani [raj].

Typology

SOV; nontonal.

Language Use

Vigorous. Home, village, religion. Positive attitudes. Most also use Hindi [hin]. Also use English [eng].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 58% for rural Madhya Pradesh (2001 census). Government project discontinued due to low response. Literature. Radio. Dictionary. NT: 1826.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Malvi
Writing

Devanagari script [Deva].

Other Comments

Hindu, Muslim.