ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 shows the evidence provided by the modern Indo-Aryan languages for dividing modern Indo-Aryan into two sociolinguistic regions, which can be called the inner (or North–Central) and the outer (or South–Eastern). The present chapter explores the possibilities of reconciling this conclusion with other historical knowledge, namely:
the previous linguistic history of Indo-Aryan, that is, OIA and MIA (6.1–6.2);
the prehistory and social history of the region (6.3).
