The Ashokan Prakrit dialects reflected local forms of the Early Middle-Indo-Aryan language. Three dialect areas are represented: Northwestern, Western, and Eastern. The Central dialect of Indo-Aryan is exceptionally not represented; instead, inscriptions of that area use the Eastern forms. [3]: 50 [2] Ashokan Prakrit is descended from an Old Indo-Aryan dialect closely related to Vedic Sanskrit, on occasion diverging by preserving archaisms from Proto-Indo-Aryan.
Masica classifies Ashokan Prakrit as an Early Middle-Indo-Aryan language, representing the earliest stage after Old Indo-Aryan in the historical development of Indo-Aryan.[3]: 52
Dialects
There are three dialect groups attested in the Ashokan Edicts, based on phonological and grammatical idiosyncrasies which correspond with developments in later Middle Indo-Aryan languages:[4][5][6]
Western: The inscriptions at Girnar and Sopara, which: prefer r over l; do not merge the nasal consonants (n, ñ, ṇ); merge all sibilants into s; prefer (c)ch as the reflex of the Old Indo-Aryan thorn cluster kṣ; have -o as the nominative singular of masculine a-stems, among other morphological peculiarities. Notably, this dialect corresponds well with Pali, the preferred Middle Indo-Aryan language of Buddhism.[7]: 5 According to Turner, the inscription at Girnar is closer to Marathi than to Gujarati, and posits "Proto-Marathi" speakers previously had a more northernly presence.[8]
Northwestern: The inscriptions at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra written in the Kharosthi script: retain etymological r and l as distinct; do not merge the nasals; do not merge the sibilants (s, ś, ṣ); metathesis of liquids in consonant clusters (e.g. Sanskrit dharma > Shahbazgarhi dhrama). These features are shared with the modern Dardic languages.[9]
Eastern: The standard administrative language, exemplified by the inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugada and used in the geographical core of the Mauryan Empire: prefer l over r, merge the nasals into n (and geminate ṁn), prefer (k)kh as the reflex of OIA kṣ, have -e as the nominative singular of masculine a-stems, etc. Oberlies suggests that the inscriptions in the Central zone were translated from the "official" administrative forms of the Edicts.
this morality-rescript Khepiṅgala.LOC mountain.LOC Devānāṁpriya.INS Priyadarśin.INS king.INS write.CAUS.PTC
The dialect groups and their differences are apparent: the Northwest retains clusters but does metathesis on liquids (dhrama vs. other dhaṃma) and retains an earlier form dipi "writing" borrowed from Iranian.[11] Meanwhile, the l ~ r distinctions are apparent in the word for "king" (Girnar rāña but Jaugada lājinā).[citation needed]
References
^Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh K. (2003). The Indo-Aryan Languages. p. 164. The inscriptions of Asoka - a king of the Maurya dynasty who reigned, based in his capital Pataliputra, from 268 to 232 BC over almost the whole of India - were engraved in rocks and pillars, in various local dialects.
^ abThomas Oberlies. "Aśokan Prakrit and Pali". In George Cardona; Dhanesh Jain (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Languages. pp. 179–224.
^Jules Bloch (1950). Les inscriptions d'Aśoka, traduites et commentées par Jules Bloch (in French).
^Ashwini Deo (2018). "Dialects in the Indo-Aryan landscape". In Charles Boberg; John Nerbonne; Dominic Watt (eds.). The Handbook of Dialectology(PDF). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
^Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007-07-26). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 165.
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