Dawiyani bas
I was quite perplexed when one of my kid cousins asked me recently if I knew "Dawiyani bas" (literal translation: dawiyani language). Dawiyani, being one of the letters of the Maldivian alphabet and never ever having heard of anything remotely close to such a dialect of Maldivian language, I answered with a puzzled "no!". The cousin then tickled my curiosity of this "bas" by telling me a little about how it is spoken.
Apparently, "dawiyani bas" is a method of speaking that inserts the letter "dawiyani" in between every letter in the normal Dhivehi language speech/text. Though this sounds utterly simple, I remained puzzled till she amazed me by successfully engaging me in meaningful replies to what I say with continuous speech in the said "dawiyani bas". So, to answer me for a question like "gadin kihaa ireh?", she would reply me immediately with almost a machine-gun fire reply of "midahaadaruda gadadinda edagaadarada jedahyda". The resulting speech comes out as meaningless gibberish and I was amused by the speed and ease with she was talking!
A little digging up about the origins of this neat speech trick turned up that this isn't something new. My cousin had learnt it from her mother, who in turn had learnt from her mother, who in turn still narrate vivid memories of how the children of her time engaged in this past time. It was a cute way of talking that amused children and children often found in it a practical method to speak to each other without being understood by the adults and/or other children. In fact, "dawiyani" was just one of the letters used. The letters "gaafu" and "tawiyani" is also said to have been a popular choice of letter to fill up the alternate character spaces - under the same principle with which the "dawiyani bas" operates.
Unless one has practiced and gotten used to this speech trick, decoding the "dawiyani bas" as it is spoken would rattle one's brain cells to and fro fast enough to result in utter confusion. It seriously is quite a tough operation. Anyway, maybe it is time to introduce a bit of ROT13 in the mix as a route towards an even more cryptic speech?
Apparently, "dawiyani bas" is a method of speaking that inserts the letter "dawiyani" in between every letter in the normal Dhivehi language speech/text. Though this sounds utterly simple, I remained puzzled till she amazed me by successfully engaging me in meaningful replies to what I say with continuous speech in the said "dawiyani bas". So, to answer me for a question like "gadin kihaa ireh?", she would reply me immediately with almost a machine-gun fire reply of "midahaadaruda gadadinda edagaadarada jedahyda". The resulting speech comes out as meaningless gibberish and I was amused by the speed and ease with she was talking!
A little digging up about the origins of this neat speech trick turned up that this isn't something new. My cousin had learnt it from her mother, who in turn had learnt from her mother, who in turn still narrate vivid memories of how the children of her time engaged in this past time. It was a cute way of talking that amused children and children often found in it a practical method to speak to each other without being understood by the adults and/or other children. In fact, "dawiyani" was just one of the letters used. The letters "gaafu" and "tawiyani" is also said to have been a popular choice of letter to fill up the alternate character spaces - under the same principle with which the "dawiyani bas" operates.
Unless one has practiced and gotten used to this speech trick, decoding the "dawiyani bas" as it is spoken would rattle one's brain cells to and fro fast enough to result in utter confusion. It seriously is quite a tough operation. Anyway, maybe it is time to introduce a bit of ROT13 in the mix as a route towards an even more cryptic speech?
