Phonological Significance
The Shaviyani sound is unique to the Dhivehi language and is most similar to the cerebral t (ඨ ) in Sinhalese. Wilhelm Geiger in his Maldivian Linguistic Studies states:
"The sound is very difficult to describe and to imitate. It varies between r, h and s: is rather soft,; and is, so far as I could observe uttered by putting the tip of the tongue in the highest part of the palate, and letting the breath escape sideways between the teeth".
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