Jump to content

Middle Gujarati

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Middle Gujarati
EraDeveloped around 14th century and gave rise to Modern Gujarati by the 19th century
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone

Middle Gujarati (AD 1300–1800), split off from Rajasthani, and developed the phonemes ɛ and ɔ, the auxiliary stem ch-, and the possessive marker -n-.[2] Major phonological changes characteristic of the transition between Old and Middle Gujarati are:[3]

  • i, u develop to ə in open syllables
  • diphthongs əi, əu change to ɛ and ɔ in initial syllables and to e and o elsewhere
  • əũ develops to ɔ̃ in initial syllables and to ű in final syllables

These developments would have grammatical consequences. For example, Old Gujarati's instrumental-locative singular in -i was leveled and eliminated, having become the same as Old Gujarati's nominative/accusative singular in -ə.[3]

References

Works cited

  • Cardona, George; Suthar, Babu (2003), "Gujarati", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-77294-5
  • Mistry, P.J. (2003), "Gujarati", in Frawley, William (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press