The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA; attested through Vedic Sanskrit) and the predecessors of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu),

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

. The Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) stage is thought to have spanned more than a millennium between 600 BC and 1000 AD, and is often divided into three major subdivisions. * The early stage is represented by the

Ardhamagadhi Ardhamagadhi Prakrit was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit thought to have been spoken in modern-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and used in some early Buddhist and Jain drama. It was likely a Central Indo-Aryan language, related t ...

of the

Edicts of Ashoka The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expre ...

(c. 250 BC) and

Jain Agamas Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the c ...

, and by the

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhi ...

of the Tripitakas. * The middle stage is represented by the various literary Prakrits, especially the

Shauraseni language Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though ...

and the

Maharashtri Maharashtri or Maharashtri Prakrit ('), is a Prakrit language of ancient as well as medieval India and the ancestor of Marathi and Konkani. Maharashtri Prakrit was commonly spoken until 875 CEV.Rajwade, ''Maharashtrache prachin rajyakarte''

and

Magadhi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name deriv ...

Prakrits. The term Prakrit is also often applied to Middle Indo-Aryan languages (''prākṛta'' literally means 'natural' as opposed to ''saṃskṛta'', which literally means 'constructed' or 'refined'). Modern scholars such as Michael C. Shapiro follow this classification by including all Middle Indo-Aryan languages under the rubric of "Prakrits", while others emphasise the independent development of these languages, often separated from Sanskrit by social and geographic differences.Shapiro, Michael C. (2001), "Hindi", in: ''Facts About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present'', eds. Jane Garry and Carl Rubino: New England Publishing Associates. * The late stage is represented by the

Apabhraṃśa Apabhraṃśa ( sa, अपभ्रंश, , Prakrit: , ta, அவப்பிரஞ்சனம், , ) is a term used by '' vaiyākaraṇāḥ'' (native grammarians) since Patañjali to refer to languages spoken in North India before the ris ...

s of the 6th century AD and later that preceded early Modern Indo-Aryan languages (such as

Braj Bhasha The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominan ...

History

The Indo-Aryan languages are commonly assigned to three major groups: Old Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan languages and Early Modern and Modern Indo-Aryan languages. The classification reflects stages in linguistic development, rather than being strictly chronological. The Middle Indo-Aryan languages are younger than the Old Indo-Aryan languages but were contemporaneous with the use of Classical Sanskrit, an Old Indo-Aryan language used for literary purposes. According to Thomas Oberlies, a number of morphophonological and lexical features of Middle Indo-Aryan languages show that they are not direct continuations of Vedic Sanskrit. Instead they descend from other dialects similar to, but in some ways more archaic than Vedic Sanskrit.

Early phase (3rd century BC)

*Ashokan Prakrits (regional dialects of the 3rd century BC) *

Gandhari Gandhari may refer to: * Gandhari (Mahabharata), a character in the Indian epic ''Mahabharata'' * Gandhari khilla, a hill fort near Bokkalagutta, Telangana, India * Gandhari language, north-western prakrit spoken in Gāndhāra **Kharosthi, or Gand ...

(a Buddhist canonical language) *

(a Buddhist canonical language) *early

(language of the oldest Jain sutras)

Middle phase (200 BC to 700 AD)

*Niya Prakrit *Ardhamagadhi (later Jain canon) * Dramatic Prakrits ( Maurya period) **

Shauraseni Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though ...

* Sinhalese Prakrit *

Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to the language used in a class of Indian Buddhist texts, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. BHS is classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language. It is sometimes called "Bu ...

(later texts)

Late phase: Apabhraṃśa (700–1500)

* Abahatta (Magadhi Apabhraṃśa)

General characteristics

The following phonological changes distinguish typical MIA languages from their OIA ancestors: # The replacement of vocalic liquids 'ṛ' and 'ḷ' by 'a', 'i' or 'u' # The OIA diphthongs 'ai' and 'au' became the monophthongs 'e' and 'o' which were long in open syllables and short in closed syllables. # Long vowels become short in overweight and later pre/post-tonic heavy syllables. # The three sibilants of OIA are reduced to one, either 'ś' (Magadhi) or 's' (elsewhere). # OIA clusters either became geminates through assimilation (deletion if the output would violate phonotactics) or were split by vowel epenthesis. # Initially, intervocalic aspirated stops spirantised. Later, all other intervocalic stops were deleted, weakened, or voiced. # Dentals (and sometimes retroflexes) are palatalised if directly preceding /j/. # Most final consonants delete except in 'sandhi' junctions. Final 'm' became 'ṃ' instead, which was preserved. Note that not all of these changes happened in all MIA languages. Archaisms persisted in northwestern Ashokan prakrits like the retention of all 3 OIA sibilants, for example, retentions that would remain in the later Dardic languages. The following morphological changes distinguish typical MIA languages from their OIA ancestors: # The dual number in nominal declensions was lost. # Consonantal stems were thematicised. # The 'i-/u-' and 'ī-/ū-' declensions were merged into one 'ī-/ū-' declension. # The dative was eliminated and the genitive took on its former functions. # Many different case-endings could be used for one verbal paradigm. # The middle voice eventually disappeared. # 'Mahyaṃ' and 'tubyaṃ' became used for genitives and 'me' and 'te' for instrumentals. # New verbal forms based on the present stem coexisted with fossilized forms from OIA. # Active endings replaced passive endings for the passive voice. A Middle Indo-Aryan innovation are the

serial verb construction The serial verb construction, also known as (verb) serialization or verb stacking, is a syntactic phenomenon in which two or more verbs or verb phrases are strung together in a single clause.Tallerman, M. (1998). ''Understanding Syntax''. London: ...

s that have evolved into complex predicates in modern north Indian languages such as Hindi and

. For example, भाग जा (bhāg jā) 'go run' means run away, पका ले (pakā le) 'take cook' means to cook for oneself, and पका दे (pakā de) 'give cook' means to cook for someone. The second verb restricts the meaning of the main verb or adds a shade of meaning to it. Subsequently, the second verb was grammaticalised further into what is known as a light verb, mainly used to convey

lexical aspect In linguistics, the lexical aspect or Aktionsart (, plural ''Aktionsarten'' ) of a verb is part of the way in which that verb is structured in relation to time. For example, the English verbs ''arrive'' and ''run'' differ in their lexical aspect ...

distinctions for the main verb. The innovation is based on Sanskrit atmanepadi (fruit of the action accrues to the doer) and parasmaipadi verbs (fruit of the action accrues to some other than the doer). For example, पका दे (pakā de) 'give cook' has the result of the action (cooked food) going to someone else, and पका ले (pakā le) 'take cook' to the one who is doing the cooking.

Attested languages

Pāli

Pali is the best attested of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages because of the extensive writings of early Buddhists. These include canonical texts, canonical developments such as Abhidhamma, and a thriving commentarial tradition associated with figures such as

Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher. He worked in the Great Monastery (''Mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in t ...

. Early Pāli texts, such as the Sutta-nipāta contain many "Magadhisms" (such as ''heke'' for ''eke''; or masculine nominative singular in ''-e''). Pāli continued to be a living second language until well into the second millennium. The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by

T. W. Rhys Davids Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was an English scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies. ...

to preserve, edit, and publish texts in Pāli, as well as English translations.

Ardhamāgadhī

Known from a few inscriptions, most importantly the pillars and edicts of

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

found in what is now

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ...

.South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, By Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills, Routledge, 2003, p. 203

Gāndhārī

Many texts in Kharoṣṭhi script have been discovered in the area centred on the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing ...

in what was known in ancient times as Gandhara and the language of the texts came to be called Gāndhārī. These are largely Buddhist texts which parallel the Pāli Canon, but include Mahāyāna texts as well. The language is distinct from other MI dialects.

References

External links

Gāndhārī Language
entry in the Encyclopædia Iranica {{DEFAULTSORT:Middle Indo-Aryan Languages Medieval languages Languages of India Indo-Aryan languages Languages attested from the 6th century BC 6th-century BC establishments Languages extinct in the 10th century 10th-century disestablishments in Asia