Talk:Maithili language

Section on Books

In the section "Maithili Books, all the books and the images are of one single author. I do not think that wikipedia should be used by anyone to promote commercial interest. I strongly feel that the present contents of this section should be removed and list of books, specially those which have won Sahitya Kala Academy Awards or other awards should be mentioned here. Any attempts to gain commercial benefits from wikipedia should be strongly discouraged. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.16.140.84 (talk) 07:23, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi 2402:3A80:934:EBBC:0:0:B34F:E01 (talk) 04:27, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

It is wrongly written that the Maithili speaking population is 24 million. The actual number of Maithili speaking population is only 10 Lakh. Maithili language is spoken mainly in Darbhanga,Madhubani and part of Saharsa, Madhepura, and Supoul districts of Bihar. yes

I have recently created a page for Mithilakshar and now it is linked to this page. Please visit. It has the script uploaded.

Reply: The confusion regarding the number of speakers of Maithili is dual:

• The exact definition of Maithili language is vague and some times taken to include speakers of other related dialects which are sometimes classified under Magahi, Bhojpuri, Nepali or others.
• There are quite a substantial number of speakers of Maithili in Nepal. The wikipedia page of Nepal puts the figure to 12.1% of the Nepalese population which comes to about 3255960 ,ie 3.25 million.

Rohitcadz 13:37, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

User Language Template for Maithili-Wikipedia:Babel

I have (painstakingly!) edited the Wikipedia:Babel page and created a category for maithili and the templates. These are used in the user pages and make it easier to contact who communicate in a certain (eg maithili) language. All Maithili speakers (with varying degree of proficiencies) please add the relevant userbox to your user pages. Please also try to improve the user box as I am not very proficient at it. Rohitcadz 13:28, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

classified as a mother tongue of Hindi in the Census of India.

Somebody please explain this expression. Does it mean that Hindi is a dialect of or derived from Maithili? Is "mother tongue" the official term? O'RyanW (☺ ₪) 10:33, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Or does it mean (as I suspect) that the census counts Maithili speakers as Hindi speakers? --Haruo 19:27, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

This Census of India page for 1991 seems to say that 7,766,597 people reported themselves as native speakers of Maithili and as also speaking Hindi. Do I read it correctly? Is this the basis for th classified as a "mother tongue" of Hindi in the Census line in the first paragraph?

Does the census also elsewhere claim that all speakers of Maithili speak Hindi? I hve not yet found any other mention of Maithili in the 1991 census. I note that the infobox at the head of the article says total speakers come to 45 million while Ethnologue puts the "population count at 22,000,000 (1981) in India and 24,795,582 for all countries.

I have not found mention in the census of "mother tongue" in the (unusual) sense of etymological source language. The intent of the "mother tongue" statement in the lead paragraph remains unclear to me. In any case it should be clarified and brought in line with (and cite) whatever census claim it purports to report. O'RyanW (☺ ₪) 18:55, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

A "mother tongue" is basically a subset of a language. So Hindi includes Maithili and Awadhi and whatever else. john k (talk) 13:24, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Modern Maithili writers

• Late Ramji Chaudhary (19th century)
• Shri Vedanand Jha
• Dr. Mayanand Mishra
• Shri Nishi Kant Jha
• Shri Mahendra Malangia
• Parmeshwar Jha
• Sitaram Jha
• Kabishekhar Badrinath Jha
• Murali Jha
• Surendranath Jha Suman
• Kashikant Mishra Madhup
• Chandranath Mishra Amar
• Kanchinath Jha Kiran
• Prof. Hari Mohan Jha
• Acharya Sarvnarayan jha
• Dinesh Chandra Mishra
• Ishnath Jha
• Late Bal Govind Jha "Vyateeth"
• Shri Shambhu Nath Jha "Mahinathpur, Jaynagar"
• Brajkishore Verma "Manipadma"
• Dr. Binod Bihari Verma
• Prof. Radha Krishna Choudhary
• Dr. Prem Shankar Singh
• Suniti Kumar Chatterrjee
• Acharya Surendra Jha 'Suman'
• Baidyanath Mishra Yatri (Nagarjun)
• Sudhanshu Shekhar Choudhary
• Upendra Nath Jha Vyas
• Prof. Radha Kant Jha
• Mahamahopadhyay Umesh Mishra
• Dr. Jayamant Mishra
• Prof. Saryu Prasad Mishra 'Anand'
• Prof. Krishna Kant Mishra
• Kumar Ganganand Singh
• Dr Chandra Nath Jha(Mangarauni)
• Sri Gaya Nand Jha kaviji (Antour, Benipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency))
• Sri Hemant Kumar Jha (Antour, Benipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency))
• Sri Jiv Narayan Thakur
• Dr. Ramanath Jha
• Prof. Tantra Nath Jha
• Acharya Ramlochan Saran
• Dr. Laxman Jha Dr. Subhadra Jha
• Achutanand Dutt
• Bhola Lal Das
• Baidyanath Jha
• Yoganand Jha
• Narendra Das
• Rajeshwar Jha
• Arsi Prasad Singh
• Prof. Buddhidhari Singh Ramakar
• Late Damodar Lal Das
• Late Brahmadeo Lal Das (Co-author of 'Maithili Shubh Samskar—Vidhi Vidhan Va Geet')
• Sri Ratnesh Kumar Jha Kolkatiya
• Prof. Uma Nath Jha and many more.
• Man Mohan Jha
• Professor Vijay Kumar Jha (Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha)
• [Er. Sanjay Kumar Mishra "Rajesh" (Vill.- Ladari, Dist.- Darbhanga, State- Bihar, India-847121)]
• Smt Bindeshwari Das (Co-author of 'Maithili Shubh Samskar—Vidhi Vidhan Va Geet')
• Babuaji Jha Ajnat
• Shri Murali Madhusudan Thakur
• Shri Vinod Bihari Lal — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vikrant Phoenix (talk • contribs) 14:09, 26 May 2018 (UTC)
• Shri Vibhuti Anand Jha
• Shri Ratnesh Kumar Jha.
• Pt. Shri Deokant Mishra
• Indra Kant Lal
• Late Munshi Raghunandan Lal Das
• Vishnu Kumar
• Late Janardan Prasad Singh "Vaarid"
• Late Shree Vedanand Thakur, Kahra
• Parichay Das — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.180.233.34 (talk) 07:00, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

I have removed this section from the main body of the article and let the editors of this page first discuss it here (on the talk page) on whom to include in this section and on what criteria! This is a Wikipedia, an encyclopedia and not internet, or newspaper, or an self-publication board. Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 21:29, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Also, do we need this section? or do we modify it, so that those who are seeking self-gain should not be entertained?!?! Please discuss. Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 21:34, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Maithil vs Maithili

I am not a native speaker of Maithili (I don't speak Maithili at all and understand just a few words). However, in one of my textbooks, however, I remember that Maithili language was referred to as Maithil (without the tailing i). Is that correct or was that a typo or something? Does anyone refer to Maithili language as Maithil at all? Thanks Kushal (talk) 17:38, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

The article Maithil does shed some light on the matter. Kushal (talk) 17:40, 4 January 2009 (UTC) maithil are the people who speak maithili language or live in mithilanchal.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.253.84.180 (talk) 13:14, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, my aunt, a translator fluent in both Hindi/Urdu and Maithili, has always said "Maithili" for the language, "the Maithili people" for the demographic, and "Maithil(s)" for specific people. In the last edits the occurrences of Maithil, where it seemed to be referring to the culture or the literature, were changed to Maithili. Flipping Mackerel (talk) 04:03, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Maithili language template

If you are a native speaker of Maithili then you can help translate this template into your own language:

Actual Number of Speakers

As per Ethnologue no. of Maithili Speakers in the year 2000 is 31,900,000. As per the 2001 census of India,no. of Maithili Speakers 12,179,122. Which one is REALISTIC?? Various organizations have strongly argued that the actual number of Maithili speakers is much less than the official data suggests.Yes, I Dr. Dhanakar Thakur,MBBS,MD(Gen Med), DCH, Founder president, Antarrashtriy Maithili Parishad put the answer- A logical calculation of Maithili speaker would be a figure of around 43.8 million in Maithili speaking districts of Bihar ( Standard Maithili- Madhubani, Darnhanga,Supaul, Saharsa,. Madhepura districts; Southern Standard- Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria districts + Naugachhia subdivision of Bhagalpur; Eastern standard- Purnea , katihar, Araria, Kishanganj districts; Western standard- Sitamarhi, Sheohar,Muzaffarpur,Vaishali districtsd; Chika-Chiki or southern - Munger, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Bhaglpur, Banka,) and Jharkhand ‘s Godda, Deoghar and also parts of Sahebganj, Dumka, Jamtara ) and over all population of Maithili speakers in India should be 47.9 million ( which in 2001 census was recorded only 12.179122 million ; linguistic data of 2011 is awaited); It is derived from the 4.67 times rise in the figure of 1,02,63,357 based on 1891 census of India, computed by George A. Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India in early 20th century before 1912 when Bihar was carved out from Bengal,(Ref. If we dilate his figures based on 1891 census (given on page 17 of the Linguistic Survey of India, Vol.5, Part II). If we go through the Census Statistics for Bihar, we will find that in 1891 Bihar’s total population was 28.2 million which in 2011 has grown to 103.8 million and of Jharkhand’s 32.9 millions i.e. 136.7 millions meaning a 4.67 times rise till 2011.

The discrepancy is because of the anti-Maithili attitude of the Govt. of Bihar in particular and non-Maithili speaking Biharis in general which has presented a shoddy picture. The language from Tripura(via Bengladesh) to Bengal and Jharkhand/ Bihar’s border about 600 km apart is Bangla but from Deoghar to Darbhanga in 230 km is changed to Angika and Vajjika before it is called Maithili! It is the greatest linguistic fraud in past one century in the history of India and has halted the formation of a homogenous Mithila state and thwarted the progress and prosperity of Maithili language and its various dialects as well as the region by the Hindi chuvnistics on the policy of ‘divide and rule’ while Maithils always aliked to replace English for official work and are of the view that simplified Sanskrit be declared ‘National Language of India.’ </ref> Could someone like lo explain these contradiction..please?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angpradesh (talk • contribs) 18:37, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

maiई प्रयोक्ता मैथिली भाषाके मातृभाषी छी ।

Edit

--Amazonien (talk) 04:48, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

In accordance with WP:RS we can include any estimated number of speakers that are reported in Reliable Sources, and perhaps note variations in estimates with a note (eg 'the census used a narrower definition of a speaker'). We should not include the results of our own research WP:NOR or analysis in the wiki entry.Martinlc (talk) 13:19, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

History - copyvio

Much of the history section is a copyvio of LIS-India and therefore needs to be rewritten or removed. Martinlc (talk) 12:09, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Mis-classification?

The article seems to be pushing a non-standard POV with respect to classification. It contends that the classification of Maithili as a Bihari language is a mistake perpetrated by 19th century linguists. But Ethnologue classifies Maithili as a Bihari language, along with Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Angika, and others. Britannica refers to Maithili as a Bihari language along with Bhojpuri and Magadhi. Is Maithili nationalist POV pushing going on in this article? john k (talk) 13:28, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

It would be better if the different versions were sourced , so that "early linguistic.... but later scholars eg have said..." Please fix itMartinlc (talk) 19:14, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

I tried to source different versions but some casteist/ racist ids like Akshat38, MithilaDesham, Vikas11004315 and many created by one or two persons are hell bent upon giving wikipedia articles casteist/ racist tinge. These pseudo nationalists are damaging articles related to Mithila and Maithili, and I sometimes fear that there is a system failure at wikipedia. I day and night tries to translate English into Maithili (localization for wikipedia article), but these people seem to be here at wikipedia for deletion. whenever I am away for a week or fortnight they start vandalism, and putting unsourced extremism.

But I will try that these articles remain neutral.--Umeshberma (talk) 16:35, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Introductory section is too detailed

I moved lists of Maithili-speaking districts into its own section. Perhaps something similar can be done with more of the introduction to this article as it has become too long and detailed.

The first paragraph in the introduction launches into the evolution of the language. Doesn't this material belong in the History section? Also this part is full of unexplained and unreferenced words such as "Vedic Sanskrit", "Kaukik Sanskrit", "Pali", "Prakrit", etc. etc. A lay reader will soon become lost in this forest. This is a problem afflicting other parts of the article (see below).LADave (talk) 21:38, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Too many unfamiliar words that are unreferenced and unlinked!

This article has vast numbers of personal names, literary titles and other terms that are unfamiliar to the vast majority of readers living outside and perhaps even the majority of those living on the Indian subcontinent.

The purpose of Wikipedia is not for authors to show off their edification, but to widely share it! I hope the Maithili-speaking and -interested community will get busy and fix this. Some unreferenced terms actually already have Wikipedia articles that can easily be linked to. As for those that don't, perhaps articles need to be written. Stubs at least, to begin! Otherwise unfamiliar names, titles and terms that don't merit WP articles should be removed from this article. LADave (talk) 18:45, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Agree !! Haven't looked at the article in quite some time, and am somewhat disappointed about its shape now -- no longer clearly arranged nor properly referenced any more. I feel, this needs a severe cleanup and a {{multiple issues}} tag -- BhagyaMani (talk) 17:46, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your input, Bhagyamani. Can you do some of the work to fix up the article? I worked on the article a little in conjunction with other work on Nepal-related articles, but I actually don't know any Maithili at all. I am afraid to do more without better qualifications! Cheers, LADave (talk) 00:52, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi all, in particular Sitush and Ponyo! While I appreciate the protection log, I do not understand why Sitush reverted my contributions of yesterday. In the past years I edited this article every once in a while, always with the focus of verifying added unreferenced infos and finding relevant scientific sources. Sometimes this meant reverting false statements. I admit that the difference in my yesterday's first go is a bit difficult to track and comprehend but these changes are well sourced. So please explain what you think was wrong with that. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 08:29, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

Standard Maithili

Standard Maithili is only spoken in Capital of Ancient Mithila called Janakpur zone by Madhesi people. Maithili language was originated in Janakpurdham of Mithila, Nepal, Janakpur Zone. Theti is spoken in Madhubani, India. Standard maithili is only native to Janakpur zone. PLEASE CORRECT. (Standardmai (talk) 13:06, 6 November 2014 (UTC))

Location

I don't know why we have an edit war over where Maithili is spoken. If we had an article on modern Mithila, we could just link to that. But we do have an article for the Nepalese portion. Why is that a problem? — kwami (talk) 18:27, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

That Maithili is spoken in the eastern Terai is without doubt and well referenced. But to call this part of the Terai 'Mithila' is a political issue, and the naming of provinces or other administrative units in Nepal has not been finally decided. So as long as this is in limbo, I think using the NPOV term Terai and linking to Terai#Terai in Nepal is more appropriate. I'd like to know what others think. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 21:53, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 May 2016

Please add Mr. Prabhas Kumar Chaudhary(1941-1998), winner of Sahitya Akademi in the year 1990 for Maithili language to the list of prominent writers of maithili in the modern era. He has authored at least 5 books in maithili and hindi and questions are frequently asked about his work in the Maithili language paper of the Union Public Service Commission examinations for the Indian Administrative services. A wikipedia page about him is in the works and should be live shortly. He is mentioned in the wikipedia page for winners of sahitya akademi award for maithili aand has been refered to By Radhakrishna Choudhary in his book A Survey of Maithili Literature (https://books.google.co.in/books?id=C0f898HDLAYC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=Prabhas+Kumar+Chaudhary&source=bl&ots=GAd4IiM0zr&sig=yvjmB6Uv_AnWkgr1BBAWq-0XwtM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYieah6-DMAhUHEpQKHd4JBzIQ6AEIJDAC#v=onepage&q=Prabhas%20Kumar%20Chaudhary&f=false) and also By K. M. George in Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems (https://books.google.co.in/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=Prabhas+Kumar+Chaudhary&source=bl&ots=uprb1_5tCK&sig=BjUc5xjEqP2OV4VqSKX54nhvnhI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRnbnk5ODMAhWIJ5QKHVzUCWwQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Prabhas%20Kumar%20Chaudhary&f=false) and at other notable places. Kartikeyathakur (talk) 10:23, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Not done: According to the page's protection level you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 21:07, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Andy M. Wang, it's best if they do it themselves, but they don't seem to be autoconfirmed yet [1], which is a bit odd. Uanfala (talk) 21:25, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

@Uanfala: It appears they are though. — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 21:26, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Oh, I see. But isn't that meant to also show up in the "User rights" link I gave? Uanfala (talk) 21:28, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

No I don't think it does. I don't think it shows up for me or you either. Extended confirmed, on the other hand, seems different — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 21:29, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Oh, I see, so that's what was tripping me up. Thanks! Uanfala (talk) 21:31, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Tirhuta

It is already mentioned in the article that Maithili was written in Mithilakshar (also called Tirhuta) in the past. No need to add same thing again. Please refrain from WP:OR. Thanks. Ind akash (talk) 17:21, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

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Deleting sources

@BhagyaMani: Could you please explain why are you deleting sources from the newspapers? Is it Wikipedia policy to remove sources from the newspapers. Thanks. — Jakichandan (talk) 02:45, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jakichandan. These refs do not have any author, hence are anonymous, and tited "archive copy" or alike, hence not even with a meaningful title. Do you think these are reliable? Maybe better to look for peer-reviewed sources that can be placed in the lead instead of such dubious ones? It would certainly improve the article, imo. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 03:16, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

@BhagyaMani: They are labeled as "archive copy" as they have been archived by a wiki editor. Archiving is often done to rescue sources. This doesn't make sources unreliable or dubious. Thanks. —Jakichandan (talk) 04:51, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

You seem to have misundestood: the "ref names" are of course irrelevant. But see the titles of ref nos. 1, 5, and 7: all "archive copy". this is not a proper title of an article. No author, no date of publication, no publisher mentioned. See Wikipedia:Citing sources, where you also find info how to cite newspaper sources. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 05:17, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

@BhagyaMani: These sources have not been archived by me but by PratyushSinha101 through this edit. May be they can explain why all the sources were labelled with same title i.e. "Archive copy". @PratyushSinha101: Please take a look. Thanks. —Jakichandan (talk) 05:44, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

@SpacemanSpiff: Admin help may be needed. Thanks. —Jakichandan (talk) 06:00, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Sorry, forgot SpacemanSpiff is not active recently. @Bbb23: May be you can take a look. Thanks. —Jakichandan (talk) 06:05, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

@BhagyaMani: I request you open the links and have a closer look at the sources which you removed. They include articles published by NDTV ([2]), Prabhat Khabar ([3]) and Hindustan ([4]) among others, which are reliable sources with date of publication of article being mentioned in each source. The authors are not mentioned but it is not an uncommon thing in Hindi language sources and should not be the reason to remove sources. Reliable sources should not be removed solely because they are not according to WP:CITE, although it is certainly preferable to follow the guideline. The name "archived copy" was added as a result of my semi-automated edit using IABot which I used to archive the links. IABot adds the default name "archived copy" to the bare links when it is used to archive those links. As for why I archived the links, please see WP:Link rot. I hope I was able to express myself clearly. Pratyush (talk) 09:06, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Then I suggest to edit these refs following the guidelines, i.e. change the title, date of publication, author etc. as provided in the original sources. This will improve quality of this article. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 12:21, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Status of Bajjika language in Nepal

Bajjika in Nepal should not be included as a dialect of Maithili. Bajjika in Nepal is accorded a distinct language status and has been given constitutional rights equal to Maithili I know this is not the case in India, but this article is not a POV of Indian Maithili either !

Census of Nepal 2011 treats Bajjika as a distinct language than Maithili. Hence the areas of Nepal where Bajjika is spoken cannot be included while elaborating dialects of Maithili. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scyfie (talk • contribs) 10:03, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

I added Bajjika's status as distinct language in Nepal, and also that it overlaps in vocabulary with Maithili dialects spoken in the eastern Terai districts. For any other changes, please provide reliable sources in future, instead of deleting referenced content. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 10:16, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

The word 'Maithili' in Tirhuta script

I find the word 'Maithili' in the infobox to be written in Bengali/Assamese script (মৈথিলী) instead of Tirhuta script in unicode (𑒧𑒻𑒟𑒱𑒪𑒲). Even when I edited the same, my change was reverted. -Bhargav Chowdhury (talk) 13:52, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

You seem to not have noticed the image file with Tirhuta script at the end of the infobox. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 13:59, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Yes, of course I have noticed as I myself have added that one below the Devanagari version. But how does it relate to this context? If you are using Bengali/Assamese script instead of proper Tirhuta, you would get an incorrect glyph for the Tirhuta letter 'La'. The Tirhuta letter 'La' (𑒪) isn't identical to the Bengali/Assamese letter 'La' (ল), rather it bears a close resemblance to the Bengali/Assamese letter 'Na' (ন). So, please do not use the Bengali/Assamese script to display Tirhuta texts. -Bhargav Chowdhury (talk) 16:19, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

100M?

It says that there may be ~100 million Maithili speakers. Is that really credible, given that just before that, it says that there are ~30-35 million speakers? Especially given that the 100M figure isn't sourced, as it should be.--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 02:26, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Merger discussion

Request received to merge articles: Begusarai Maithili into Maithili language; dated: August 2022. Proposer's Rationale: It seems that it does not have enough sources to write an article longer than a sentence. Discuss here. Dhoru 21 (talk・contribs) 12:22, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

Sources do exist (there's a 1976 book on the topic, listed in the "Further reading"), but it appears unlikely that the article will get expanded with decent content any time soon. Uanfala (talk) 12:26, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

I agree, but I'm not sure how this can be merged here Dhoru 21 (talk・contribs) 12:29, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

It seems that the merge was done Dhoru 21 (talk・contribs) 11:15, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Probably we can do the same with Thēthi. Apart from having an infobox and speakers numbers, there is no additional information in that mini-stub that isn't here as well. –Austronesier (talk) 13:12, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

That seems like a good idea as well. Dhoru 21 (talk・contribs) 13:16, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

Diphthongs

@Fdom5997, @Austronesier The vowel section lists 11-13 diphthongs, but the source given claims that Maithili only has 2 diphthongs /əi/ and /əu/ (but also says that the vowel clusters /əe/, /əo/, /a:i/, /a:u/, /a:e/, and /a:o/ may be realized as one syllable or coalesced to monophthongs). The diphthongs and examples shown in this article appear to come from the "Vowel Cluster" section of the source, but I think what the author calls "vowel clusters" are actually hiatuses- in fact, the author talks about "replacement of /əi/ and /əu/ by the diphthongs /əi/ and /əu/ [sic]", which is probably supposed to contrast the hiatuses [ə.i] and [ə.u] with the dipthongs [əi̯] and [əu̯]. It also says that /j/ and /w/ may be inserted into vowel clusters "to avoid hiatus". At the same time, the chart right above this section lists four diphthongs /əɪ̯/, /əe̯/, /əʊ̯/, and /əo̯/. So should this article list four diphthongs or two (or 8) (or perhaps I've misinterpreted the source and it does say that there are 13 diphthongs?) Tyrui (talk) 00:32, 4 August 2023 (UTC)