Maithili's place in the family of languages

The line of descent — Indo-Aryan → the eastern (Māgadhan) branch → Māgadhī Apabhraṃśa → Maithili. Its nearest relatives are therefore not Hindi's western dialects but Magahi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese and Odia.

Grierson's 'Bihari' — George Abraham Grierson, a civil servant in Bihar, grouped Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri together as the Bihari languages, separate from Hindi.

Eastern features Maithili shares with its neighbours

• ›little or no gender in the verb
• ›a genitive that does not change with the noun that follows
• ›verbs that carry the respect due to the people in the sentence

The trap: by descent Maithili belongs with Bengali and Assamese in the eastern branch — its closeness to Hindi is a matter of contact and shared script, not of a common parent dialect.

The dialects of Maithili

The disputed borders

Why it matters — 'dialect or language' is decided as much by literature, identity and politics as by linguistics; a teacher should present both positions.

The trap: Aṅgikā and Bajjikā were treated as varieties of Maithili by Grierson, but their status is now debated — an answer that calls either one simply 'a dialect' or simply 'a separate language' misses the point.

The word stock (शब्द-भंडार)

Reading the tadbhav changes — the same rules seen in the Prakrits run on into Maithili: clusters simplify (मत्स्य → मच्छ → माछ), and long words shrink (पुष्करिणी → पोखरि).

Literary and spoken registers — formal Maithili prose leans on tatsam words; village speech and folk song prefer tadbhav and deshaj ones, which is why the songs feel so close to everyday talk.

The trap: माछ and पोखरि are tadbhav words — developed from Sanskrit मत्स्य and पुष्करिणी — not deshaj ones, though they sound entirely local.

The verb that agrees with its object

The dictionary form — Maithili verbs are cited in the verbal noun in -ब: पढ़ब (to read), जाएब (to go), देखब (to see), खाएब (to eat).

Agreement beyond the subject — at the advanced level, the Maithili verb marks not only the subject but also the respect due to the object or to a third person involved:

The oblique pronouns — ओकरा (plain) and हुनका (respectful) are the object forms of ओ; the choice between them sets the verb ending.

Other verb patterns

• ›causative — पढ़ब → पढ़ाएब (to teach), देखब → देखाएब (to show)
• ›compound verbs — खा लेब (eat up), चलि गेल (went away), बैसि रहल (stayed seated)

The trap: in हम हुनका देखलियनि, the ending -यनि shows respect for the object (the person seen) — the subject हम is the same as in the plain sentence.

Points to Remember

• ›descent — eastern (Māgadhan) Indo-Aryan, Māgadhī Apabhraṃśa; nearest kin Magahi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese, Odia
• ›Grierson — 'Bihari' = Maithili, Magahi, Bhojpuri · Maithili grammar 1881–82 · Seven Grammars 1883–87 · Linguistic Survey 1903–28
• ›eastern features — little gender in the verb, unchanging genitive, respect in the verb
• ›dialects — standard (Darbhanga, Madhubani), southern, eastern, Ṭheṭhī (Kosi), Nepal's Maithili
• ›Bajjikā (Muzaffarpur, Vaishali) and Aṅgikā (Bhagalpur) — status debated
• ›word stock — tatsam, tadbhav (मत्स्य → माछ, पुष्करिणी → पोखरि, ग्राम → गाम), deshaj, videshi (कागज, स्कूल, चाबी)
• ›dictionary form — -ब (पढ़ब, जाएब)
• ›object agreement — ओकरा देखलिऐक (plain) · हुनका देखलियनि (respected)
• ›causative — पढ़ाएब, देखाएब · compound — खा लेब, चलि गेल
• ›Exam tip: when a Maithili verb ending is asked, look at the object pronoun too — ओकरा or हुनका decides the ending as much as the subject does