Abahattha
Abahattha | |
---|---|
Region | India |
Extinct | 14th century |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
Glottolog | None |
Abahaṭṭha, Abahatta or Avahaṭṭha (Prakrit: abasaṭṭa, ultimately from Sanskrit apaśabda 'meaningless sound'[1]) is a stage in the evolution of the Eastern group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The eastern group consists of languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, and Odia. Abahatta is considered to follow the Apabhraṃśa stage, i.e. those Apabhraṃśas derived from Magadhi Prakrit.
After different business and trading classes such as the Jains gained in power in the end of ninth century, the dominant position of classical Sanskrit waned; Apabhransa and Abahatta became very popular, especially among common people. It functioned as a lingua franca throughout the northern half of the Indian subcontinent.[2] Abahatta, which existed from the 6th century to the 14th century, was contemporaneous with some Apabhraṃśas as well as the early modern languages such as
The Abahattha stage is characterized by:
- Loss of affixes and suffixes
- Loss of grammatical gender
- Increased usage of short vowels
- Nasalisation at the end or in the middle of words
- The substitution of h for s
References
- ^ Deshpande, Madhav, Sanskrit and Prakrit, p. 32.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-272-1679-3.
- ISBN 978-93-86906-12-0.
External links
- Bhowmik, Dulal (2012). "Abahattha". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.