Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are 90 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi is the 4th most spoken language in India and the 15th most spoken language in world. Along with Bengali, Marathi is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about AD 1000.
Marathi is estimated to be over 1300 years old, and it is evolved from Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. Its grammar and syntax derive from Pali[citation needed] and Prakrit. In ancient times, Marathi was called Maharashtri, Marhatti, Mahratti etc.
Dakhini and Hyderabadi Urdu spoken in Hyderabad and some parts of Deccan are considerably influenced by Marathi. The grammar of Hyderabadi Urdu is adapted from Marathi. In fact, it is also called a creole between Marathi and Urdu with some Telugu words.
Kannada: especially the northern Karnataka Kannada has been heavily influenced by Marathi. E.g. the feature of aspiration, quite non-native to any Dravidian language, is found in northern Kannada. Also some kinship terms like vahini (brother's wife) are adapted from Marathi.
RE:General Information about Marathi...
by lakubo on Feb 07, 2008 11:53 AM Permalink
Marathi was influenced by Konkani, Konkani by Tulu, Tulu by Kannada and Sanskrit by Mandarin!!
