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Malto (Malto:[maːlʈoː],English:/ˈmæltoʊ/MAL-toh^[2]) orPaharia (/pəˈhɑːriə/pə-HAR-ee-ə^[3]), or rarelyRajmahali,^[4] is aNorthern Dravidian language spoken primarily inEast India by theMalto people.

There are two varieties of Malto that are sometimes regarded as separate languages,Kumarbhag Paharia (Devanagari: कुमारभाग पहाड़िया) andSauria Paharia (Devanagari: सौरिया पहाड़िया). The former is spoken in theJharkhand andWest Bengal states ofIndia, and tiny pockets ofOdisha state,^[5] and the latter in theWest Bengal,Jharkhand, andBihar states of India.^[6] Thelexical similarity between the two is estimated to be 80%.

Mal Paharia language may have a Malto-basedsubstrate.^[7]

The 2001 census found 224,926 speakers of Malto, of which 83,050 were labelled as speakingPahariya, and 141,876 spoke other mother tongues (dialects).^[8]

Malto has a typical Dravidian vowel system of 10 vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/ and their lengthened forms. Malto also does not have any vowel clusters or diphthongs.^[9]

• The cluster /ŋʁ/ is pronounced [ɴɢ].^[10]
• Southern and western dialects have /ʔ/ instead of /q/ and /h/ instead of /ʁ/ and /ŋʁ/. Coda /ð/ is an allophone of /d̪/.^[10]
• /ʁ/ may actually be avoiced uvular stop [ɢ]. (Das 1973)

The general grammar of the language is not dissimilar from that of the surrounding communities. One interesting aspect of their culture influencing the syntax of the language is present in its assignment of gender to nouns.

The gender of words in the Malto language is classified as either being masculine, feminine, or neutral. The masculine form is present when denoting anything related to man or vicious deities. Likewise the feminine form is present for nouns denoting women, the Supreme Being, and minor deities. Although the colloquial term for father 'abba' is a traditionally feminine noun, it is meant to show respect. Coupled with the Supreme Being also being feminine, the respect for the women of the community is evident through their grammar. Otherwise nouns are referred to with neutral gender, which by far makes it the most popular form.

Seeing as how the literacy rates amongst the Malto people is very low, it makes sense that the language is not a traditionally written language. When the language had first been memorialized in writing (by Ernest Droese in 1884) it shared theDevanagari writing system as with many languages in India. The written portion of the language being supplemented much later on in its life, gives the effect of Malto remaining authentic through the dialogue of their culture.

Sample Text (taken from Source 11): నబిర్కి కెతబెనొ కుర్క్పెథ్ ఇణ్య్ కోడిథ్ టున్డ ఏన్ ఎణ్గ్కి ఛాక్రియన్ నిణ్గ్ అగ్దు తెయిన్: ఆహ్ నిణ్గ్ అగ్ అగ్దు నిణ్గ్ పావె మేన్జెహ్. డడెనొ ఒర్త్ కూక్రుకి సడిథ్, గొసణ్యికిపావెసర్యెత్ర​, అథికిగొట్డాన్డిన్ సొహ్జెత్ర ఆణ్య్ అవ్డప్ ఛొవ్, యొహన్నహ్ డడెనొ బప్తిస్మెఛహ్, అన్తె పాపెకి మాపి లగ్కి గుమెనారెకి బప్తిస్మ సబాన్ మెన్త్ర్ సెగ్యహ్. అన్తె యిహుదియ​.

Malto Story Audio Taken from Source 12:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ByAodEbhV34

11.https://www.omniglot.com/writing/malto.htm

12:https://globalrecordings.net/en/program/38320

• Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003),The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge University Press,ISBN 0-521-77111-0
• Droese, Ernest (1884),Introduction to the Malto Language, Agra: Secundra Orphanage Press
• Frawley, William J. (2003).International encyclopedia of linguistics (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 468.ISBN 0195139771. Retrieved11 May 2015.
• Comrie, Bernard (November 2000). "Reviewed Work:The Dravidian Languages by Sanford B. Steever".Journal of Linguistics.36 (3). Cambridge University Press:640–644.JSTOR 4176629.
• Tuttle, Edwin H. (1923). "Dravidian Z".The American Journal of Philology.44 (1). The Johns Hopkins University Press:71–72.doi:10.2307/289648.JSTOR 289648.
• Kobayashi, Masato (2017),The Kurux Language: Grammar, Texts and Lexicon, BRILL,ISBN 9789004347663

• About the Malto tribe
• Malto basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Endangered Languages Project

• Agglutinative languages
• Dravidian languages
• Languages of Bangladesh
• Languages of India
• Endangered languages of India
• Languages written in Devanagari

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles lacking in-text citations from May 2015
• All articles lacking in-text citations
• ISO language articles citing sources other than Ethnologue
• Pages with Sauria Paharia IPA
• Pages with English IPA