Malto language
| Malto | |
|---|---|
| Paharia | |
| Region | Jharkhand; West Bengal; Bangladesh |
| Ethnicity | Malto; Sauria Paharia |
|
Native speakers
|
74,000 (2003) to 117,000 (2015) |
|
Dravidian
|
|
| Bengali script, Devanagari script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: kmj – Kumarbhag Paharia mjt – Sauria Paharia |
| Glottolog | malt1248 |
Malto /ˈmæltoʊ/ or Paharia /pəˈhɑːriə/ is a Northern Dravidian language spoken primarily in East India.
There are two varieties of Malto that are sometimes regarded as separate languages, Kumarbhag Paharia (Devanagari: कुमारभाग पहाड़िया) and Sauria Paharia (Devanagari: सौरिया पहाड़िया). The former is spoken in the Jharkhand and West Bengal states of India, and tiny pockets of Orissa state, and the latter in the West Bengal states of India, and some pockets of Bangladesh. The lexical similarity between the two is estimated to be 80%.
Although there is a high lexical similarity between the two languages, inherent intelligibility is inadequate. The similarities of the two sister languages do not translate into their current states being comparable. For instance, Sauria Paharia has thousands more speakers of the language and thus can sustain four different dialects: Litipara, Godda, Hiranpur, and Sahibganj. Being that the population of speakers of Kumarbhag Paharia is relatively miniature, the language has no prominent dialects. However, the language, where used, is used in all domains and the speakers have a positive attitude about the cultural ties of the language as well as its continued existence.
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