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Western Iranian
Geographic
distribution
Southwest Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus, and western South Asia
Linguistic classification Indo-European
Subdivisions
Glottolog nort3177  (Northwestern Iranian)
sout3157  (Southwestern Iranian)
Map of modern Iranian languages on the Persian plateau. The Western Iranian languages are shaded yellow/green.

The Western Iranian languages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC) and Median.

Languages

The traditional Northwestern branch is a convention for non-Southwestern languages, rather than a genetic group. The languages are as follows: [1] [2] [3]

Old Iranian period

Middle Iranian period

Modern period (Neo-Iranian)

There is also a recently described, and as yet unclassified, Batu'i language that is presumably Western Iranian. [1] Extinct Deilami is sometimes classified in the Caspian branch. An Iranian Khalaj language has been claimed, but does not exist; the Khalaj speak a Turkic language.

Many of the languages and dialects spoken in Markazi and Isfahan provinces are giving way to Persian in the younger generations. [5]

It is to note that the Caspian languages (incl. Adharic), the central dialects, and the Zaza-Gorani languages are likely descended from a later form of Median with varying amounts of Parthian substrata, [7] whereas the Semnani languages were likely descended from Parthian. [8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Erik Anonby, Mortaza Taheri-Ardali & Amos Hayes (2019) The Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI). Iranian Studies 52. A Working Classification
  2. ^ Gernot Windfuhr, 2009, "Dialectology and Topics", The Aryanic Languages, Routledge, pp. 12–15.
  3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Northwestern Aryan". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
    Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Southwestern Aryan". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ^ Anonby, Erik John (2021), "Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification", Languages of Iran, retrieved 25 May 2019
  5. ^ a b Central dialects, Gernot Windfuhr, Encyclopedia Iranica
  6. ^ Borjian, Habib, “Kerman Languages”, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Volume 16, Issue 3, 2017, pp. 301–315. [1]
  7. ^ Borjian, Habib (2019) Journal of Persianate Studies 2, Median Succumbs to Persian after Three Millennia of Coexistence: Language Shift in the Central Iranian Plateau, p. 70
  8. ^ Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, p. 297

Bibliography

  • Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag, 1989; p. 99.

Further reading

  • Kontovas, Nicholas. "Contact and the diversity of noun-noun subordination strategies among Western Iranic languages."
  • Hanaway Jr, William L. "Persian and West Iranic: History and State of Research: Part One: Persian Grammar.[Trends in Linguistics: State-of-the-Art Reports, No. 12]." (1982): 56–58.