Indo-Aryan languages

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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.

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