// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Madiya language say? It's spoken for itself.

Maria
Maria
Madiya
Native to	India
Native speakers	(365,000 cited 2000)
Language family	Dravidian South-Central Gondi–Kui Gondi languages Maria; ; ; ;
Writing system	Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; mrr – Garhchiroli Maria; daq – Dandami Maria
Glottolog	mari1414 Maria; dand1238 Dandami Maria

Madiya or Maria (IPA: [mɐɽijɐ]) is a Dravidian language spoken in India. It may be regarded as a dialect of Gondi, but is suspected to be mutually unintelligible with most other Gondi varieties.^[2]

Phonology

Phonology of Abhuj Maria:^[2]

Consonants
		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k
Plosive	voiced	b	d	ɖ		g
Affricate	voiceless				t͡ʃ
Affricate	voiced				d͡ʒ
Fricative			s
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Approximant		w	l	ɽ	j
Trill			r

Hill Maria has 3 additional consonants: a glottal stop /ʔ/, a retroflex nasal /ɳ/, and a uvular fricative /ʁ/.^[2]

In 2019, a former professor published the first book in the Madiya language.^[3]

↑ Garhchiroli Maria at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Dandami Maria at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 3 Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003). The Dravidian languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 25. ISBN 9780521771115.
↑ "First book on Madiya language released in city". 9 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2023-07-04.