LV
. 09-02-053
MLV.
53
The following table shows the estimated number of speakers of M
lv
in
the area in which it is a vernacular:-
| Indore Agency... |
|
|
183,750
|
| Eastern Mlv- |
|
|
|
| Kota... |
80,978
|
||
| Tonk (Chabra)... |
20,000
|
||
| Gwalior Agency... |
395,000
|
||
|
--------
|
|
495,978
|
|
| Bhopal Agency... |
1,800,000
|
||
| Bhopawar Agency... |
|
|
147,000
|
| Western Malwa Agency... |
1,241,500
|
|
|
| Tonk (Nimbahera)... |
4,000
|
|
|
|
--------
|
1,245,500
|
|
|
S   wr-
|
|
|
|
| Western Malwa... |
115,000
|
|
|
| Jhalawar (Chaumahla)... |
86,556
|
|
|
| Bhopal... |
2,000
|
|
|
|
--------
|
203,556
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,449,056
|
|
| Broken Mlv
of the Central Provinces- |
|
|
|
| Hoshangabad... |
126,523
|
|
|
| Betul... |
119,000
|
|
|
| Bhyar
of Chhindwara... |
11,000
|
|
|
Ka iy
of Chhindwara... |
18,000
|
|
|
Pa v
of Chanda... |
200
|
|
|
|
--------
|
|
274,723
|
|
|
|
TOTAL =
|
4,350,507
|
|
No figures are available to show the number of speakers of Mlv in
other parts of India. It is true that from a few districts some speakers of
R
g
are reported, but to give the number of these would only
be misleading. No doubt many persons who were returned as speaking Mrw
really spoke Mlv. As the main dialect of Central India, Mlv
has exercised considerable influence on the Dakhin Hindstn of
Hyderabad and Madras.
I do not know of any previous account of the Mlv dialect, or of any
literary works written in it.
The D
va-ngar character, usually in a corrupt form closely allied
to that used for Mrw, is employed for writing allv.
As Mwt represents Rjasthn merging into Braj Bhkh
and Panjb, so Mlv represents Rjasthn merging into
Bundl and Gujart. We may take the language of the Indore Agency
of Central India as the standard form of the dialect, and the specimens given,
on which the grammatical sketch which follows is based, come from the Junior
Branch of the Dewas State in that area.
As stated above, Mlv,
in the Malwa country, has two forms, viz.:-Rg
(properly spelt Rg)
or Rj-w,
spoken by Rajputs, and Mlv
(properly spelt Mlv),
sometimes called Ahr,
spoken by the rest of the population. There is not much difference between these
two forms of speech. When they do differ, Rg
shows a tendency to agree with the dialects of central Rajputana, Mrw
(under the form of Mw)
and Jaipur.