Alternate Names: Mahili, Mahle, Mahli
Dialects: Possible dialect of Santhali ,. Lexical similarity: 69%–87% between varieties of Mahali, 68%–93% with Santhali ,, 53%–59% with Mundari ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 33,000 in India (2007), decreasing. Population total all countries: 36,000. Ethnic population: 278,000 (2007).
Language Use: Most in Jharkhand reported Santhali [sat], Sadri [sck] or Mundari [unr] as their mother tongue rather than Mahali. May be a threatened language. Home, village, private prayer for half the L1 speakers in Jharkhand. Also use Bengali [ben], Hindi [hin], Munda [unx], Mundari [unr], Oriya [ory], Santhali [sat].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 12% for Jharkhand (20% male, 4% female) (1981 census); 32% for Odisha (2001 census).
Nation of Origin: India
Other Comments: Mahli is a Scheduled Tribe, reported to speak Sadri , as L1 in Jharkhand, the Thar dialect of Dhatki , in Odisha, and Bengali in West Bengal. Hindu.