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
| Middle Gujarati | |
|---|---|
| Era | Developed around 14th century and gave rise to Modern Gujarati by the 19th century |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
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