Iranian languages

This article is about the language family. For languages spoken in Iran, see Languages of Iran. For the official language of Iran, see Persian language.
Iranian
Ethnicity: Iranian peoples
Geographic
distribution:		 Southwest Asia, Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and western South Asia
Linguistic classification:

Indo-European

Proto-language: Proto-Iranian
Subdivisions:
ISO 639-5: ira
Linguasphere: 58= (phylozone)
Glottolog: iran1269[1]


Countries and autonomous subdivisions where an Iranian language has official status or is spoken by a majority

The Iranian languages or Iranic languages[2][3] are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, which in turn are a branch of the Indo-European language family. The speakers of Iranian languages are known as Iranian peoples. Historical Iranian languages are grouped in three stages: Old Iranian (until 400 BCE), Middle Iranian (400 BCE – 900 CE), and New Iranian (since 900 CE). Of the Old Iranian languages, the better understood and recorded ones are Old Persian (a language of Achaemenid Iran) and Avestan (the language of the Avesta). Middle Iranian languages included Middle Persian (a language of Sassanid Iran), Parthian, and Bactrian.

As of 2008, there were an estimated 150–200 million native speakers of Iranian languages.[4] Ethnologue estimates there are 86 Iranian languages,[5][6] the largest amongst them being Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi.

Term

Iranian languages family tree

The term Iranian is applied to any language which descends from the ancestral Proto-Iranian language.[7] Iranian derives from the Persian and Sanskrit origin word Arya.

The use of the term for the Iranian language family was introduced in 1836 by Christian Lassen.[8] Robert Needham Cust used the term Irano-Aryan in 1878,[9] and Orientalists such as George Abraham Grierson and Max Müller contrasted Irano-Aryan (Iranian) and Indo-Aryan (Indic). Some recent scholarship, primarily in German, has revived this convention.[10][11][12][13]

Proto-Iranian

Historical distribution in 100 BC: shown is Sarmatia, Scythia, Bactria (Eastern Iranian, in orange); and the Parthian Empire (Western Iranian, in red)

All Iranian languages are descended from a common ancestor, Proto-Iranian. In turn, and together with Proto-Indo-Aryan and the Nuristani languages, Proto-Iranian descends from a common ancestor Proto-Indo-Iranian. The Indo-Iranian languages are thought to have originated in Central Asia. The Andronovo culture is the suggested candidate for the common Indo-Iranian culture ca. 2000 BC.

It was situated precisely in the western part of Central Asia that borders present-day Russia (and present-day Kazakhstan). It was in relative proximity to the other satem ethno-linguistic groups of the Indo-European family, like Thracian, Balto-Slavic and others, and to common Indo-European's original homeland (more precisely, the steppes of southern Russia to the north of the Caucasus), according to the reconstructed linguistic relationships of common Indo-European.

Proto-Iranian thus dates to some time after Proto-Indo-Iranian break-up, or the early second millennium BCE, as the Old Iranian languages began to break off and evolve separately as the various Iranian tribes migrated and settled in vast areas of southeastern Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Central Asia.

Innovations of Proto-Iranian compared to Proto-Indo-Iranian include (from Witzel, 2001):[14]

Old Iranian

The multitude of Middle Iranian languages and peoples indicate that great linguistic diversity must have existed among the ancient speakers of Iranian languages. Of that variety of languages/dialects, direct evidence of only two have survived. These are:

Indirectly attested Old Iranian languages are discussed below.

Old Persian is the Old Iranian dialect as it was spoken in south-western Iran by the inhabitants of Parsa, who also gave their name to their region and language. Genuine Old Persian is best attested in one of the three languages of the Behistun inscription, composed circa 520 BC, and which is the last inscription (and only inscription of significant length) in which Old Persian is still grammatically correct. Later inscriptions are comparatively brief, and typically simply copies of words and phrases from earlier ones, often with grammatical errors, which suggests that by the 4th century BC the transition from Old Persian to Middle Persian was already far advanced, but efforts were still being made to retain an "old" quality for official proclamations.

The other directly attested Old Iranian dialects are the two forms of Avestan, which take their name from their use in the Avesta, the liturgical texts of indigenous Iranian religion that now goes by the name of Zoroastrianism but in the Avesta itself is simply known as vohu daena (later: behdin). The language of the Avesta is subdivided into two dialects, conventionally known as "Old (or 'Gathic') Avestan", and "Younger Avestan". These terms, which date to the 19th century, are slightly misleading since 'Younger Avestan' is not only much younger than 'Old Avestan', but also from a different geographic region. The Old Avestan dialect is very archaic, and at roughly the same stage of development as Rigvedic Sanskrit. On the other hand, Younger Avestan is at about the same linguistic stage as Old Persian, but by virtue of its use as a sacred language retained its "old" characteristics long after the Old Iranian languages had yielded to their Middle Iranian stage. Unlike Old Persian, which has Middle Persian as its known successor, Avestan has no clearly identifiable Middle Iranian stage (the effect of Middle Iranian is indistinguishable from effects due to other causes).

In addition to Old Persian and Avestan, which are the only directly attested Old Iranian languages, all Middle Iranian languages must have had a predecessor "Old Iranian" form of that language, and thus can all be said to have had an (at least hypothetical) "Old" form. Such hypothetical Old Iranian languages include Carduchi (the hypothetical predecessor to Kurdish) and Old Parthian. Additionally, the existence of unattested languages can sometimes be inferred from the impact they had on neighbouring languages. Such transfer is known to have occurred for Old Persian, which has (what is called) a "Median" substrate in some of its vocabulary.[16] Also, foreign references to languages can also provide a hint to the existence of otherwise unattested languages, for example through toponyms/ethnonyms or in the recording of vocabulary, as Herodotus did for what he called "Scythian".

Isoglosses

Conventionally, Iranian languages are grouped in "western" and "eastern" branches.[17] These terms have little meaning with respect to Old Avestan as that stage of the language may predate the settling of the Iranian peoples into western and eastern groups. The geographic terms also have little meaning when applied to Younger Avestan since it isn't known where that dialect (or dialects) was spoken either. Certain is only that Avestan (all forms) and Old Persian are distinct, and since Old Persian is "western", and Avestan was not Old Persian, Avestan acquired a default assignment to "eastern". Confusing the issue is the introduction of a western Iranian substrate in later Avestan compositions and redactions undertaken at the centers of imperial power in western Iran (either in the south-west in Persia, or in the north-west in Nisa/Parthia and Ecbatana/Media).

Two of the earliest dialectal divisions among Iranian indeed happen to not follow the later division into Western and Eastern blocks. These concern the fate of the Proto-Indo-Iranian first-series palatal consonants, *ć and *dź:[18]

As a common intermediate stage, it is possible to reconstruct depalatalized affricates: *c, *dz. (This coincides with the state of affairs in the neighboring Nuristani languages.) A further complication however concerns the consonant clusters *ćw and *dźw:

A division of Iranian languages in at least three groups during the Old Iranian period is thus implied:

It is possible that other distinct dialect groups were already in existence during this period. Good candidates are the hypothethical ancestor languages of Alanian/Scytho-Sarmatian subgroup of Scythian in the far northwest; and the hypothetical "Old Parthian" (the Old Iranian ancestor of Parthian) in the near northwest, where original *dw > *b (paralleling the development of *ćw).

Middle Iranian languages

What is known in Iranian linguistic history as the "Middle Iranian" era is thought to begin around the 4th century BCE lasting through the 9th century. Linguistically the Middle Iranian languages are conventionally classified into two main groups, Western and Eastern.

The Western family includes Parthian (Arsacid Pahlavi) and Middle Persian, while Bactrian, Sogdian, Khwarezmian, Saka, and Old Ossetic (Scytho-Sarmatian) fall under the Eastern category. The two languages of the Western group were linguistically very close to each other, but quite distinct from their eastern counterparts. On the other hand, the Eastern group was an areal entity whose languages retained some similarity to Avestan. They were inscribed in various Aramaic-derived alphabets which had ultimately evolved from the Achaemenid Imperial Aramaic script, though Bactrian was written using an adapted Greek script.

Middle Persian (Pahlavi) was the official language under the Sasanian dynasty in Iran. It was in use from the 3rd century CE until the beginning of the 10th century. The script used for Middle Persian in this era underwent significant maturity. Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian were also used as literary languages by the Manichaeans, whose texts also survive in various non-Iranian languages, from Latin to Chinese. Manichaean texts were written in a script closely akin to the Syriac script.[19]

New Iranian languages

Dark green: countries where Iranian languages are official.
Teal: regional co-official/de facto status.

Following the Islamic Conquest of Persia (Iran), there were important changes in the role of the different dialects within the Persian Empire. The old prestige form of Middle Iranian, also known as Pahlavi, was replaced by a new standard dialect called Dari as the official language of the court. The name Dari comes from the word darbâr (دربار), which refers to the royal court, where many of the poets, protagonists, and patrons of the literature flourished. The Saffarid dynasty in particular was the first in a line of many dynasties to officially adopt the new language in 875 CE. Dari may have been heavily influenced by regional dialects of eastern Iran, whereas the earlier Pahlavi standard was based more on western dialects. This new prestige dialect became the basis of Standard New Persian. Medieval Iranian scholars such as Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa (8th century) and Ibn al-Nadim (10th century) associated the term "Dari" with the eastern province of Khorasan, while they used the term "Pahlavi" to describe the dialects of the northwestern areas between Isfahan and Azerbaijan, and "Pârsi" ("Persian" proper) to describe the Dialects of Fars. They also noted that the unofficial language of the royalty itself was yet another dialect, "Khuzi", associated with the western province of Khuzestan.

Geographic distribution of modern Iranian languages

The Islamic conquest also brought with it the adoption of Arabic script for writing Persian and much later, Kurdish, Pashto and Balochi. All three were adapted to the writing by the addition of a few letters. This development probably occurred some time during the second half of the 8th century, when the old middle Persian script began dwindling in usage. The Arabic script remains in use in contemporary modern Persian. Tajik script was first Latinised in the 1920s under the then Soviet nationality policy. The script was however subsequently Cyrillicized in the 1930s by the Soviet government.

The geographical regions in which Iranian languages were spoken were pushed back in several areas by newly neighbouring languages. Arabic spread into some parts of Western Iran (Khuzestan), and Turkic languages spread through much of Central Asia, displacing various Iranian languages such as Sogdian and Bactrian in parts of what is today Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In Eastern Europe, mostly comprising the territory of modern-day Ukraine, southern European Russia, and parts of the Balkans, the core region of the native Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans had been decisively been taken over as a result of absorption and assimilation (e.g. Slavicisation) by the various Proto-Slavic population of the region, by the 6th century AD. This resulted in the displacement and extinction of the once predominant Scythian languages of the region. Sogdian's close relative Yaghnobi barely survives in a small area of the Zarafshan valley east of Samarkand, and Saka as Ossetic in the Caucasus, which is the sole remnant of the once predominant Scythian languages in Eastern Europe proper and large parts of the North Caucasus. Various small Iranian languages in the Pamirs survive that are derived from Eastern Iranian.

Comparison table

English Zaza Kurdish (Northern/Central) Pashto Tati Talyshi Balochi Mazandarani Persian Middle Persian Parthian Old Persian Avestan Ossetian
beautiful řind, delal, ciwan řind, nayab, bedew, delal/cwan x̌kūlay, x̌āista xojir ghashanq sharr, soherâ, mah rang xoşgel zibā/xuš-čehr(e) hučihr, hužihr hužihr naiba vahu-, srîra ræsughd
blood gunî xwîn/xwên wīna xevn xun hon xun xūn xōn gōxan vohuni- tug
bread nan nan ḍoḍəi, məṛəi nun nun nān, nagan nun nān nān nān dzul
bring ardene anîn/hênan/weranîn, hawirdin (rā)wṛəl vârden, biyordon varde âurten, yārag, ārag biyârden āwurdan, biyār ("(you) bring!") āwurdan, āwāy-, āwar-, bar- āwāy-, āwar-, bar- bara- bara, bar- xæssyn
brother bira brader, bra, bira wror bərâr bira, boli brāt, brās birâr barādar brād, brâdar brād, brādar brātar brātar- æfsymær
come amayene hatin rā tləl biyâmiyan ome āhag, āyag,hatin biyamona, enen, biyâmuen āmadan āmadan, awar awar, čām āy-, āgam āgam- cæwyn
cry berbayene girîn, giryan žəṛəl bərma berame, bame greewag, greeten birme gerīstan/gerīye griy-, bram- barmâdan kæwyn
dark tarî tarî/tarîk skəṇ, skaṇ, tyara ul, gur, târica, târek toki thár sîyo, sîyu tārīk tārīg/k tārīg, tārēn sâmahe, sâma tar
daughter kêna keç, kîj, qîz, dot/kiç, kîj, kenişk, düet (pehlewanî) lūr titiye, dətar kinə, kila dohtir, duttag kîjâ, deter doxtar duxtar duxt, duxtar duxδar čyzg (Iron), kizgæ (Digor)
day řoce/řoje/řoze řoj wrəd͡z (rwəd͡z) revj, ruz ruj roç ruz rūz rōz raucah- raocah- bon
do kerdene kirin/kirdin kawəl korden karde kanag, kurtin hâkerden kardan kardan kartan kạrta- kәrәta- kænyn
door ber, kêber/çêber derî, derge/derke, derga wər darvâca bə gelo, darwāzag dar, loş dar dar dar, bar duvara- dvara- dwar
die merdene mirin/mirdin mrəl bamarden marde mireg bamerden murdan murdan mạriya- mar- mælyn
donkey her ker xər astar, xar hə, hər har,her, kar xar xar xar xæræg
egg hak hêk/hêlke, tuxm hagəi merqâna, karxâ morqana, uyə heyg, heyk, ā morg merqâne, tîm , balî toxm, xāya ("testicle") toxmag, xâyag taoxmag, xâyag taoxma- ajk
earth erd zemîn, zewî, ʿerz, erd d͡zməka (md͡zəka) zemin zamin zemin zamîn, bene zamīn zamīg zamīg zam- zãm, zam, zem zæxx
evening şan êvar/êware māx̌ām (māš̥ām) nemâzi sar shav begáh nemâşun begáh ēvārag êbêrag izær
eye çim çav/çaw/çaş stərga coš čaş,gelgan ch.hem, chem çəş, bəj čashm čašm čašm čaša- čašman- cæst
father pî, baw, babî, bawk bav/bab, bawk, ba plār piya, piyar, dada piya, lala, po pit, piss pîyer pedar, pidar pidar pid pitar pitar fyd
fear ters tirs wēra (yara), bēra târs tars turs, terseg taşe-vaşe tars tars tars tạrsa- tares- tas
fiancé waşte, nîşanbîyaye xwestî, nîşankirî, dezgîran čənghol [masculine], čənghəla [feminine] numuzâ nomja nāmzād numze nāmzād - - usag
fine weş xweş x̌a (š̥a), səm,
ṭik (Urdu origin)		 xojir xoş wash, hosh xâr xoš, xūb, beh dārmag srîra xorz, dzæbæx
finger gişte, engişte, bêçike til/qamik, bêçî, pêçîk, engust, pence gwəta anquš anqiştə lenkutk, mordâneg,changol angus angošt angust dišti- ængwyldz
fire adir agir/awir, ahir wōr (ōr) taš otaş âch, âs taş ātaš, āzar âdur, âtaxsh ādur âç- âtre-/aêsma- art
fish mase masî kəb mâyi moy māhi, māhig mâhî māhi māhig māsyāg masya kæsag
food / eat werdene xwarin / xwardin xwāṛə, xurāk / xwaṛəl harden harde warag, warâk xerâk / baxârden xordan / xurāk / ġhazā parwarz / xwâr, xwardīg parwarz / xwâr hareθra / ad-, at- xærinag
go şîyayene çûn, řoştin, řoyiştin tləl šiyen, bišiyan şe jwzzegh, shutin şunen / burden raftan raftan ay- ai- ay-, fra-vaz cæwyn
god heq, homa Yezdan, xwedê, xuda, xodê, xwa(y) xwədāi xədâ Xıdo hwdâ xedâ xudā yazdān baga- baya- xwycaw
good baş, rind baş, řind/baş, çak x̌ə (š̥ə) xâr, xojir çok jawáin, šarr,zabr xâr xub, nīkū, beh xūb, nêkog vahu- vohu, vaŋhu- xorz
grass vaş giya/gya wāx̌ə (wāš̥ə) vâš alaf rem, sabzag vâş sabzeh, giyāh giyâ giya urvarâ kærdæg
great girs/gird, pîl, xişn mezin, gir/gewre, mezin lōy, stər pilla yol, yal, vaz,dıjd mastar, mazan,tuh gat bozorg,setabr wuzurg, pīl vazraka- uta-, avañt styr
hand dest dest, des lās bâl dast dast das, bāl dast dast dast dasta- zasta- k'ux / arm
head ser ser sər kalla sə, sər saghar,sar, sarag kalle sar sar sairi sær
heart zerrî dil/dił/dir(Erbil)/zil zṛə dəl dıl dil, hatyr del del dil dil aηhuš zærdæ
horse estor hesp/esp, hês(t)ir ās [male], aspa [female] asb, astar asp asp as, asb asp asp, stōr asp, stōr aspa aspa- bæx
house keye mal/mał, xanu, xang kor kiya ka log, dawâr,ges sere, xene xāna xânag demâna-, nmâna- xædzar
hunger vêşan birçî/birsî lwəga vašnâ, vešir, gosna vahşian shudhagh veşnâ gorosna gursag, shuy strong
language (also tongue) ziwan, zon ziman, ziwan žəba zobun, zəvân zivon zevān, zobān zebun, zivun zabān zuwān izβān hazâna- hizvā- ævzag
laugh huyayene kenîn/pêkenîn, kenîn xandəl/xənda xurəsen, bexandastan sıre khendegh, hendeg rîk, baxendesten xandidan xandīdan, xanda karta Syaoθnâvareza- xudyn
life cu/cuye, jewiyaene jiyan žwəndūn, žwənd zindәgi jimon zendegih, zind zindegî zendegi zīndagīh, zīwišnīh žīwahr, žīw- gaêm, gaya- card
man merd, lacek merd, mêr, pîyaw səṛay, mēṛə mardak, miarda merd merd mard(î) mard mard mard martiya- mašîm, mašya adæjmag
moon aşme, meng (for month) heyv, meh/mang (for month) spūgməi (spōẓ̌məi) mâng mang, owşum máh ma, munek mâh māh māh mâh- måŋha- mæj
mother maye, daye, dayike dayek, dayk, daye, mak mōr mâr, mâya, nana moa, ma, ina mât, mâs mâr mâdar mâdar dayek mâtar mâtar- mad
mouth fek dev, fek/dem xūla (xʷəla) duxun, dâ:ân gəv dap dâhun, lâmîze dahân dahân, rumb åŋhânô, âh, åñh dzyx
name name nav/naw, nam, nêw nūm num nom nâm num nâm nâm nâman nãman nom
night şewe şev/şew špa šö, šav şav šap, shaw şow shab shab xšap- xšap- æxsæv
open akerdene vekirin/kirdinewe prānistəl vâ-korden okarde pabožagh, paç vâ-hekârden bâz-kardan abâz-kardan, višādag būxtaka- būxta- gom kænyn
peace aştî aştî, aramî rōɣa, t͡sōkāləi dinj aşiş ârâm âştî âshti, ârâmeš, ârâmî âštih, râmīšn râm, râmīšn šiyâti- râma- fidyddzinad
pig xoz, xonz beraz, soḍər, xənd͡zir (Arabic) xu, xuyi, xug xug khug xî xūk xūk hū xwy
place ja jî, jih, je(jega), ga d͡zāi yâga vira hend, jâgah jâ jâh/gâh gâh gâh gâθu- gâtu-, gâtav- ran
read wendene xwendin/xwêndin lwastəl, kōtəl baxânden hande, xwande wánagh baxinden, baxundesten xândan xwândan kæsyn
say vatene gotin/gutin, witin wayəl vâten, baguten vote gushagh baowten goftan, gap(-zadan) guftan, gōw-, wâxtan gōw- gaub- mrû- dzuryn
sister waye xweh, xweşk, xoşk, xuşk, xoyşk xōr (xʷōr) xâke, xâv, xâxor, xuâr hova gwhâr xâxer xâhar/xwâhar xwahar x ̌aŋhar- "sister" xo
small qic/qicik, wurdî/hurdî biçûk, giçke, qicik, hûr kūčnay, waṛ(ū)kay qijel, qolâ hırd gwand, hurd peçik, biçuk, xurd kuchak, kam, xurd, rîz kam, rangas kam kamna- kamna- chysyl
son qij, lac/laj kur, law/kuř d͡zoy (zoy) pur, zâ zoə, zurə baç, phusagh piser/rîkâ pesar, baça pur, pusar puhr puça pūθra- fyrt
soul gan gan, giyan, rewan, revan sā rəvân con rawân ravân rūwân, gyân rūwân, gyân urvan- ud
spring wisar/wesar/usar behar, bihar, wehar spərlay vâ:âr əvəsor, bahar bhârgâh vehâr bahâr wahâr vâhara- θūravâhara-
tall berz bilind/berz lwəṛ, ǰəg pilla barz, bılınd bwrz, borz bilen(d) boland / bârez buland, borz bârež barez- bærzond
ten des deh/de ləs da da deh da dah dah datha dasa dæs
three hîrê sê, sisê drē so se, he sey se se sê hrē çi- θri- ærtæ
village dewe gund, dêhat, dê kəlay döh, da di helk, kallag, dê dih, male deh, wis wiž dahyu- vîs-, dahyu- vîs qæw
want waştene xwastin, xwestin, wîstin ɣ(ʷ)ux̌təl begovastan, jovastan piye lotagh bexâsten xâstan xwâstan fændyn
water awe av/aw obə/ūbə âv, ö ov, wat(orandian dialect) âp ow âb/aw âb aw âpi avô- don
when key kengê/key, kengê kəla key keyna kadi,ked ke key kay ka čim- kæd
wind va ba, wa (pehlewanî) siləi vâ vo gwáth vâ bâd wâd wa vâta- dymgæ / wad
wolf verg gur/gurg, wurg lewə, šarmux̌ (šarmuš̥) varg varg gurkh verg gorg gurg varka- vehrka birægh
woman cenî jin x̌əd͡za (š̥əd͡za) zeyniye, zenak jen, jiyan jan,jinik zan zan zan žan gǝnā, γnā, ǰaini-, sylgojmag / us
year serre sal/sał kāl sâl sor, sal sâl sâl sâl sâl θard ýâre, sarәd az
yes / no ya, belê / ne, ney erê, bełê, a / na, ne Hao, ao, wō / na, ya ahan / na ha / ne, na ere / na are / nâ baleh, ârē, hā / na, née ōhāy / ne hâ / ney yâ / nay, mâ yâ / noit, mâ o / næ
yesterday vizêr duh/dwênê, duêke parūn azira, degiru zir, zinə zí dîruz diruz dêrûž diya(ka) zyō znon
English Zaza Kurdish (Northern/Central) Pashto Tati Talyshi Balochi Mazandarani Persian Middle Persian Parthian Old Persian Avestan Ossetian

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Iranian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  2. ↑ Toward a Typology of European Languages edited by Johannes Bechert, Giuliano Bernini, Claude Buridant
  3. ↑ Persian Grammar: History and State of its Study by Gernot L. Windfuhr
  4. ↑ Windfuhr, Gernot. The Iranian languages. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
  5. ↑ "Ethnologue report for Iranian". Ethnologue.com.
  6. ↑ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Report for Iranian languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Fifteenth ed.) (Dallas: SIL International).
  7. ↑ (Skjærvø 2006)
  8. ↑ Lassen, Christian. 1936. Die altpersischen Keil-Inschriften von Persepolis. Entzifferung des Alphabets und Erklärung des Inhalts. Bonn: Weber. S. 182.
    This was followed by Wilhelm Geiger in his Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie (1895). Friedrich von Spiegel (1859), Avesta, Engelmann (p. vii) used the spelling Eranian.
  9. ↑ Cust, Robert Needham. 1878. A sketch of the modern languages of the East Indies. London: Trübner.
  10. ↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan. 1989. History of northern areas of Pakistan. Historical studies (Pakistan) series. National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research.
    "We distinguish between the Aryan languages of Iran, or Irano-Aryan, and the Aryan languages of India, or Indo-Aryan. For the sake of brevity, Iranian is commonly used instead of Irano-Aryan".
  11. ↑ Lazard, Gilbert. 1977. Preface in: Oranskij, Iosif M. Les langues iraniennes. Traduit par Joyce Blau.
  12. ↑ Schmitt, Rüdiger. 1994. Sprachzeugnisse alt- und mitteliranischer Sprachen in Afghanistan in: Indogermanica et Caucasica. Festschrift für Karl Horst Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag. Bielmeier, Robert und Reinhard Stempel (Hrg.). De Gruyter. S. 168–196.
  13. ↑ Lazard, Gilbert. 1998. Actancy. Empirical approaches to language typology. Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015670-9, ISBN 978-3-11-015670-6
  14. ↑ Michael Witzel (2001): Autochthonous Aryans? The evidence from Old Indian and Iranian texts. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 7(3): 1–115.
  15. ↑ Roland G. Kent: "Old Persion: Grammar Texts Lexicon". Part I, Chapter I: The Linguistic Setting of Old Persian. American Oriental Society, 1953.
  16. ↑ (Skjaervo 2006) vi(2). Documentation.
  17. ↑ Nicholas Sims-Williams, Iranica, under entry: Eastern Iranian languages
  18. ↑ Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). "Dialectology and Topics". The Iranian Languages. Routledge. pp. 18–21.
  19. ↑ Mary Boyce. 1975. A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, p. 14.

Notes

  • Bailey, H. W. (1979). Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge University Press. 1979. 1st Paperback edition 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-14250-2.
  • Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.) (1989). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum (in German). Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 3-88226-413-6. 
  • Sims-Williams, Nicholas (1996). "Iranian languages". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Costa Mesa: Mazda. pp. 238–245. 
  • Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.) (1996). "Iran". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Costa Mesa: Mazda. 
  • Frye, Richard N. (1996). "Peoples of Iran". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Costa Mesa: Mazda. 
  • Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1995). "Cases in Iranian languages and dialects". Encyclopedia Iranica 5. Costa Mesa: Mazda. pp. 25–37. 
  • Lazard, Gilbert (1996). "Dari". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Costa Mesa: Mazda. 
  • Henning, Walter B. (1954). "The Ancient language of Azarbaijan". Transactions of the Philological Society 53 (1): 157. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1954.tb00282.x. 
  • Rezakhani, Khodadad (2001). "The Iranian Language Family". 
  • Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2006). "Encyclopædia Iranica" 13.  |contribution= ignored (help)
  • Delshad, Farshid (2010). Georgica et Irano-Semitica (PDF). Ars Poetica. Deutscher Wissenschaftsverlag DWV. ISBN 978-3-86888-004-5. 
  • Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929668-2 

External links

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