The New Indo-Aryan <i>b</i> -future and the early Middle Indo-Aryan of Aśokan inscriptions

Abstract The paper is aimed at clarifying the phonology of the b- future evolvement in the eastern part of the New Indo-Aryan language area. Traditionally the New Indo-Aryan b- future is assumed to reflect the Old Indo-Aryan gerundive formed with -(i)tavya- . However, the suffix -(i)tavya- is believed to have secondarily developed into -(i)taviya- preciselly in the eastern part of early Middle Indo-Aryan according to the evidence provided by late 3 rd c. BCE Aśokan inscriptions. Since Middle Indo-Aryan -viya- cannot be assumed to yield -b- in eastern New Indo-Aryan, it has been proposed that the emergence of the eastern New Indo-Aryan b- future must be somehow due to an influence from western Indo-Aryan. This paper proposes a new scenario for the emergence of the New Indo-Aryan b- future. It starts from the observation that in Old Indo-Aryan the gerundive suffix usually transcribed as -(i)tavya- most probably ended in two vowels. It follows that -(i)taviya- in the eastern part of early Middle Indo-Aryan was not an innovation but rather an archaic trait, secondarily lost in the west of the language area. Accordingly, the development -(i)taviya- &gt; -(i)tavya- , which has to be assumed for westerrn Middle Indo-Aryan, may be also suggested to have occurred, at a later date, in the eastern part of the language area. Subsequently, -vy- would regularly yield -b- in the New Indo-Aryan b- future.