Editing Hindi (section)

===Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi===
Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of [[Vedic Sanskrit]], through [[Shauraseni Prakrit]] and [[Apabhraṃśa|Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa]] (from Sanskrit ''apabhraṃśa'' "corrupt"), which emerged in the 7th century CE.<ref name="de">{{cite web|url=http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/hindi_orgin/briefhistory.html|work=Central Hindi Directorate|title=Brief History of Hindi|access-date=21 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306085510/http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/hindi_orgin/briefhistory.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref>

The sound changes that characterised the transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are:<ref>Masica, pp. 187–211</ref>
* [[Compensatory lengthening]] of vowels preceding [[geminate]] consonants, sometimes with spontaneous nasalisation: Skt. ''hasta'' "hand" > Pkt. ''hattha'' > ''hāth''
* Loss of all word-final vowels: ''rātri'' "night" > ''rattī'' > ''rāt''
* Formation of nasalised long vowels from nasal consonants (-VNC- > -V̄̃C-): ''bandha'' "bond" > ''bā̃dh''
* Loss of unaccented or unstressed short vowels (reflected in [[schwa deletion]]): ''susthira'' "firm" > ''sutthira'' > ''suthrā''
* Collapsing of adjacent vowels (including separated by a hiatus: ''apara'' "other" > ''avara'' > ''aur''
* Final ''-m'' to ''-ṽ'': ''grāma'' "village" > ''gāma'' > ''gāṽ''
* Intervocalic ''-ḍ-'' to ''-ṛ-'' or ''-l-'': ''taḍāga'' "pond" > ''talāv'', ''naḍa'' "reed" > ''nal''.
* ''v'' > ''b'': ''vivāha'' "marriage" > ''byāh''