Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Middle Gujarati

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Glottolog
  
None

Era
  
Developed into Modern Gujarati by the 19th century

Language family
  
Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Western Gujarati languages Middle Gujarati

Early forms
  
Gurjar Apabhraṃśa Old Gujarati

Middle Gujarati (AD 1500–1800), split off from Rajasthani, and developed the phonemes ɛ and ɔ, the auxiliary stem ch-, and the possessive marker -n-. Major phonological changes characteristic of the transition between Old and Middle Gujarati are:

  • 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.

    References

    Middle Gujarati Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA