AbstractDelimiting a given language group and defining its genetic position within a greater language area may be difficult, especially if the area consists of a number of vaguely characterized languages.¹ Such an area is that of the modern Indo-Aryan languages south of Kashmir. Parts of it constitute a kind of continuum where the separate languages merge into neighbouring languages with minute differences so that it is difficult or impossible to fix any boundary lines between them. The case is a different one when dealing with e.g. the Germanic languages because Germanic is clearly characterized by a number of features; one is never in doubt when dealing with a member of this group.