Book
Traces of language contact in Niya Prakrit. Bactrian and other foreign elements
Niya Prakrit, a dialect of Central Asian Gāndhārī, served as the administrative language of the former Shanshan kingdom (3rd–4th century CE; Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Northwest China). In this book, the author presents the first comprehensive study of language contact in Niya Prakrit, highlighting the profound influence exerted by Iranian languages.
- Author
- Niels Schoubben
- Date
- 06 May 2026
- Links
- Harrassowitz Verlag
Through a systematic analysis of over 100 loanwords, Niels Schoubben demonstrates that most Iranian elements derive from Bactrian, a Middle Iranian language formerly spoken in present-day Afghanistan. He further argues that Bactrian also influenced Niya Prakrit’s grammatical structure, particularly its past tense constructions. Earlier claims of substrate influence from an unattested sister language of Tocharian A and B (the so-called “Tocharian C”) are reassessed and found to be unconvincing. Instead, the author proposes that Niya Prakrit acquired its distinctive features through its use as a chancellery idiom by Kushan officials who spoke Bactrian as a native language. The volume concludes with three appendices and detailed indices and will be of interest to Indologists, Iranianists, Indo-Europeanists, and historians of Central Asia.