Indo-Aryan languages

From Food & Medicine Encyclopedia

Indo-Aryan languages are a major group of the Indo-European languages, spoken by at least 1.5 billion people primarily in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. They form a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, themselves a branch of the larger Indo-European family.

History[edit]

The earliest evidence of the group is from Vedic Sanskrit, the language of the ancient Vedic religion in the late 2nd millennium BCE. The most widely spoken Indo-Aryan languages today are Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Assamese, Odia, and Nepali.

Classification[edit]

The Indo-Aryan languages are traditionally divided into three main groups: Old Indo-Aryan (1500–600 BCE), Middle Indo-Aryan (600 BCE–1000 CE) and New Indo-Aryan (1000 CE–present). Each of these groups consists of several subgroups and individual languages.

Old Indo-Aryan[edit]

The Old Indo-Aryan stage is represented by Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit. The Rigveda, a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, is one of the oldest texts in any Indo-European language.

Middle Indo-Aryan[edit]

The Middle Indo-Aryan stage is represented by various Prakrit languages like Pali, Ardhamagadhi Prakrit, and Shauraseni Prakrit, and by the Apabhramsha stage of these languages.

New Indo-Aryan[edit]

The New Indo-Aryan stage is represented by the modern Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Assamese, Odia, and Nepali.

Phonology[edit]

Indo-Aryan languages have a rich and complex phonological system, with a large number of distinct vowel and consonant sounds. They also have a complex system of pitch accent, which is used to distinguish meaning in words.

Grammar[edit]

Indo-Aryan languages have a highly inflected grammar, with a complex system of noun declensions and verb conjugations. They also have a rich system of tense, aspect, mood, and voice in their verbs.

Writing systems[edit]

Most Indo-Aryan languages are written in one of several Brahmic scripts, including Devanagari, Bengali script, Gurmukhi, Gujarati script, Odia script, Sinhalese script, and Thaana.

See also[edit]

Indo-Iranian languages
Indo-Aryan languages
Historical
Early Medieval
Classical
Modern
Dialects and Creoles
This Indo-Aryan languages related article is a stub.




Iranian languages
Major branches
Eastern Iranian
Western Iranian
Extinct languages
Related topics
This Iranian languages related article is a stub.




Nuristani languages
Major Languages
Minor Languages and Dialects
Language Features
Related Topics
Research and Studies
This Nuristani languages related article is a stub.



Languages of Asia
Central Asia
Kazakh • 
 Kyrgyz • 
 Tajik • 
 Turkmen •
Uzbek
East Asia
South Asia
Bengali • 
 Hindi • 
 Maldivian • 
 Nepali • 
 Sinhala • 
 Tamil •
Urdu
Southeast Asia
Burmese • 
 Filipino • 
 Indonesian • 
 Khmer • 
 Lao • 
 Malay • 
 Thai •
Vietnamese
Western Asia
This Languages of Asia related article is a stub.


  • Indo-Aryan Languages Tree
    Indo-Aryan Languages Tree
  • Indo-European migrations
    Indo-European migrations

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