Marathi language

Marathi (English: /məˈrɑːti/;[5] Marāṭhī, Marathi: [məˈɾaːʈʰiː] (listen)) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and a co-official language in Goa state and the territory of Damaon, Diu & Silvassa. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, with 83 million speakers as of 2011. Marathi ranks 10th in the list of languages with most native speakers in the world. Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindi and Bengali.[6] The language has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages.[7] The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect.[8]

Marathi
Marāṭhī
मराठी
The word "Marathi" in Devanagari script
Pronunciation	[məˈɾaːʈʰiː]
Native to	India
Region	Maharashtra
Ethnicity	Marathis
Native speakers	83 million (2011)[1] L2 speakers: 12 million[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Southern Indo-Aryan Marathi-Konkani Marathi
Early form	Maharashtri Prakrit
Dialects	Maharashtrian Konkani Varhadi Marathi Thanjavur Marathi East Indian Marathi Judeo-Marathi
Writing system	Devanagari (official) Devanagari Braille Modi script (historical) [2][3]
Signed forms	Indian Signing System
Official status
Official language in	India Maharashtra Goa (additional)[4] Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu[4]
Regulated by	Ministry of Marathi Language and various other institutions
Language codes
ISO 639-1	mr
ISO 639-2	mar
ISO 639-3	Either: mar – Modern Marathi omr – Old Marathi
Linguist List	omr Old Marathi
Glottolog	mara1378  Modern Marathi oldm1244  Old Marathi
Linguasphere	59-AAF-o
regions where Marathi is the language of the majority or plurality   regions where Marathi is the language of a significant minority
Marathi is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Marathi distinguishes inclusive and exclusive forms of 'we' and possesses a three-way gender system, that features the neuter in addition to the masculine and the feminine. In its phonology, it contrasts apico-alveolar with alveopalatal affricates and alveolar with retroflex laterals ([l] and [ɭ] (Marathi letters ल and ळ respectively).[9]