Dhivehi: The Language of the Maldives PDF
Preview Dhivehi: The Language of the Maldives
Amalia E. Gnanadesikan Dhivehi Mouton-CASL Grammar Series Editors Anne Boyle David Claudia M. Brugman Thomas J. Conners Amalia E. Gnanadesikan Volume 3 Amalia E. Gnanadesikan Dhivehi | The Language of the Maldives Edited by Anne Boyle David This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, with funding from the United States Government. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Maryland, College Park and/or any agency or entity of the United States Government. ISBN 978-1-61451-304-9 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-1-61451-234-9 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-1-5015-0076-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb. © 2017 University of Maryland. All rights reserved. Cover photo: A thun’du kunaa, a traditional Maldivian mat. Photo by Gitanjali Gnanadesikan Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printing on acid free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Foreword Itisremarkablethat,inthisageofunprecedentedglobalcommunicationandinterac- tion,themajorityoftheworld’slanguagesareasyetnotadequatelydescribed.With- outbasicgrammarsanddictionaries,theselanguagesandtheircommunitiesofspeak- ersareinarealsenseinaccessibletotherestoftheworld.Thisstateofaffairsisanti- theticaltotoday’sinterconnectedglobalmindset. Thisseries,undertakenasacriticalpartofthemissionoftheUniversityofMary- land Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL), is directed at remedying this problem. One goal of CASL’s research is to provide detailed, coherent descriptions oflanguagesthatarelittlestudiedorforwhichdescriptionsarenotavailableinEn- glish.Evenwheregrammarsfortheselanguagesdoexist,inmanyinstancestheyare decadesoutofdateorlimitedinscopeordetail. Whilethecriticalityoflinguisticdescriptionsisindisputable,thepainstakingwork ofproducinggrammarsforneglectedandunder-resourcedlanguagesisofteninsuffi- cientlyappreciatedbyscholarsandgraduatestudentsmoreenamoredofthelatestthe- oreticaladvancesanddebates.Yet,withoutthefoundationofaccuratedescriptionsof reallanguages,theoreticalworkwouldhavenomeaning.Moreover,withoutprofes- sionallyproducedlinguisticdescriptions,technologicallysophisticatedtoolssuchas thoseforautomatedtranslationandspeech-to-textconversionareimpossible.Such researchrequirestime-consuminglabor,meticulousdescription,andrigorousanaly- sis. Itishopedthatthisserieswillcontribute,howevermodestly,totheultimategoal ofmakingeverylanguageoftheworldavailabletoscholars,students,andlanguage loversofallkinds.IwouldliketotakethisopportunitytosalutethelinguistsatCASL andaroundtheworldwhosubscribetothisvisionastheirlife’swork.Itistrulyanoble endeavor. RichardD.Brecht FoundingExecutiveDirector UniversityofMarylandCenterforAdvancedStudyofLanguage Series Editors’ Preface Thisseriesaroseoutofresearchconductedonseveralunder-describedlanguagesat theUniversityofMarylandCenterforAdvancedStudyofLanguage.Incommencing our work, we were surprised at how many of the world’s major languages lack ac- cessibledescriptiveresourcessuchasreferencegrammarsandbilingualdictionaries. Among the ongoing projects at the Center is the development of such resources for variousunder-describedlanguages.Thisseriesofgrammarspresentssomeofthelin- guisticdescriptionwehaveundertakentofillsuchgaps. Thelanguagescoveredbytheseriesrepresentabroadrangeoflanguagefamilies andtypologicalphenomena.Theyarespokeninareasofinternationalsignificance, someinregionsassociatedwithpolitical,social,orenvironmentalinstability.Provid- ingresourcesfortheselanguagesisthereforeofparticularimportance. However,thesecircumstancesoftenmakeitdifficulttoconductintensive,in-coun- tryfieldwork.Incaseswheresuchfieldworkwasimpractical,theauthorsofthatgram- marhavereliedoncloseworkingrelationshipswithnativespeakers,and,wherepos- sible,corporaofnaturalisticspeechandtext.Theconditionsfordata-gathering—and henceourapproachtoit—varywiththeparticularsituation. Wefoundthedescriptivestateofeachlanguageintheseriestobedifferentfrom thatoftheothers:insomecases,muchworkhadbeendone,buthadneverbeencol- lectedintoasingleoverview;inothercases,virtuallynomaterialsinEnglishexisted. Similarly,theavailabilityofsourcematerialinthetargetlanguagevarieswidely:in somecases,literacyandmediaareverysparse,whileforothercommunitiesplentiful writtentextsexist.Theauthorshaveworkedwiththeavailableresourcestoprovide descriptionsascomprehensiveasthesematerials,thenativespeakerconsultants,and theirowncorporaallow. Oneofourgoalsisforthesegrammarstoreachabroadaudience.Forthatreason theauthorshaveworkedtomakethevolumesaccessiblebyprovidingextensiveex- emplificationandtheoreticallyneutraldescriptionsorientedtolanguagelearnersas wellastolinguists.Allgrammarsintheseries,furthermore,includethenativeorthog- raphy,accompaniedwhererelevantbyRomanization.Whiletheyarenotintendedas pedagogicalgrammars,werealizethatinmanycasestheywillsupplythatroleaswell. Each of the grammars is presented as a springboard to further research, which foreverylanguagecontinuestobewarranted.Wehopethatourempiricalworkwill provideabasefortheoretical,comparative,computational,andpedagogicaldevelop- mentsinthefuture.Welookforwardtothepublicationofmanysuchworks. ClaudiaM.Brugman ThomasJ.Conners AnneBoyleDavid AmaliaE.Gnanadesikan Preface When I first came to the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Lan- guage(CASL),ItoldmynewcolleaguesthatIwantedtoconcentrateonaSouthAsian language.IhaddabbledinvariousSouthAsianlanguagesbefore,butIwantedtodo betterthanthat—Iwantedtoreallylearnonethistime.DavidCoxsuggestedIwork onDhivehiandmadeitpossibleformetodoso—thankyou!Theresulthasbeena fascinatingride.IcannotsaythatIhavemasteredtheDhivehilanguage,butIhave learnedanewanduniquescript,cudgeledmybrainintoprocessinganewsetofsyn- tacticstructures,studiedtheMaldiviannewspapers,andeatenrihaakuru(fishpaste) andgarudhiya(fishsoup).Ihaveevenmadesomeprogressonidentifyingthemany stagesofcoconutdevelopmentandcometoseeatulipasakindofatree(ސ ް ގަ gas). AlongthewayIhavehadtheprivilegeofgettingtoknowsomeMaldiviansandofben- efitingfromtheirkindness.IamespeciallygratefultoDr.MaryamMariya,whohas servedasaconsultant,answeringcountlessquestionsaswellasfacilitatingmymeet- ingswithotherDhivehispeakersbothinNewZealandandinMalé.Mythanksalsoto DeanAbdulRasheed(Absy)Ali,whoprovidedmewithworkingspaceattheFaculty ofArtsatMaldivesNationalUniversity.TheotherDhivehispeakerswhogenerously sharedtheirlanguagewithmemustremainanonymousduetoIRB(InstitutionalRe- viewBoard)ethicsrulesontheuseofhumansubjects,butIalwaysrememberthem andthefriendshiptheyextendedtomewithgratitude. ThisgrammarhasalsobenefitedfromtheinputofmanypeopleattheUniversity ofMaryland.AnneDavidhasservedastheeditorforthisvolume,catchingtypos,bad prose,poorformatting,andfuzzythinkingalike.MikeMaxwellandTomConnershave alsomadeeditorialcontributions.AricBills,MikeMaxwell,SeanSimpson,Stephanie Kramer,andNateClairhaverenderedtechnicalassistance.SpecialthankstoAricBills formakingthemapandtheotherfigures.Earlierversionsofthisworkbenefitedfrom theproofreadingskillsofRebeccaMcGowan,theformattingskillsofMelissaFox,and theindexingskillsofEvelynBrowne,allofwhichweresadlymissedinlaterversions. Mythankstoallofthem. AtdeGruyter-MoutonmythanksareduetoLaraWysongandherteamforshep- herdingthebookthroughthepublicationprocess.ThanksalsotoJonathonLumand ananonymousreviewerwhosecarefulcommentshelpedtoimprovethefinaltext.None oftheaforementionedpeoplebearanyresponsibilityfortheerrorsthatmustsurelyre- maininthiswork.AdefinitivegrammarofDhivehiremainstobewritten,butIhope thatthecurrentbookrepresentsastepinthatdirection. AmaliaE.Gnanadesikan
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