This article deals with the language family. For languages spoken on the territory of Iran, see Languages of Iran. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. This article deals with the languages found in Iran. The Iranian languages article deals with the linguistic branch of the Indo-European languages

Iranian
Geographic distribution:	Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and western South Asia
Genetic classification:	Indo-European  Indo-Iranian   Iranian
Subdivisions:	Western Iranian Eastern Iranian
ISO 639-2:	ira
Geographic distribution of the modern Iranian languages: Persian (yellow), Pashto (purple), Balochi (light green), and Kurdish (Green), as well as smaller communities of other Iranian languages (User-created map)

The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian mainy spoken by the Iranian Peoples. Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages Pashto ( Naskh: پښتو‎ pəʂ'to also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as Balochi (بلوچی also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. The Iranian people are a collection of Ethnic groups defined along linguistic lines as speaking Iranian languages. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language. Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta.

Today, there are an estimated 150-200 million native speakers of Iranian languages. ^[1] The 2005 SIL enumerates 87 varieties of Iranian languages, per number of native speakers, the largest are Persian (ca. SIL International (the official name of what was originally the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is a worldwide U 70 million), Pashto (ca. Pashto ( Naskh: پښتو‎ pəʂ'to also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as 40 million), Kurdish (35 million) and Balochi (ca. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. Balochi (بلوچی also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. 7 million); to compare these numbers against those for other languages, see list of languages by number of native speakers. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use

Name

The 'Iranian' languages branch is so named because its principal member languages, including Persian, have been spoken in the area of the Iranian plateau since ancient times, however, as a linguistic classification, 'Iranian' implies no relation with the country of Iran, for which see Languages of Iran. The Iranian Plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a Geological formation in Southwest Asia, Southern For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. This article deals with the languages found in Iran. The Iranian languages article deals with the linguistic branch of the Indo-European languages

Early Iranian languages

Historical distribution in 100 BC: shown is Sarmatia, Scythia, Bactria and the Parthian Empire. The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae ( Old Iranian Sarumatah 'archer' Σαρμάτες In Classical Antiquity, Scythia ( Greek Skuthia) was the area in Eurasia inhabited by the Scythians, from the 8th "Bactrian" redirects here For the camel see Bactrian camel.

The Indo-Iranian languages are thought to have originated in Central Asia. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south The Andronovo culture is the suggested candidate for the common Indo-Iranian culture ca. Indo-Iranian originspng|thumb|300px|Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC) 2000 BC. The 20th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC

Together with the other Indo-Iranian languages, the Iranian languages are descended from a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-Iranian. Proto-Indo-Iranian, is the reconstructed Proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. This language split up into:

• Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, attested from the 2nd millennium BC; this group includes the Dardic languages of the northwestern Indian subcontinent
• Nuristani languages in northeast Afghanistan
• Iranian languages, including Avestan (dated to roughly 1000 BC) and Old Persian (attested from 519 BC onwards). The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. The Dardic languages are a group of Indo-Iranian languages spoken in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and in India in the region of Jammu The Nuristani languages are a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian language family, spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. The Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages (besides Avestan) Events and trends 519 BC — Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

Proto-Iranian thus dates to some time after Proto-Indo-Iranian breakup, or the early second millennium BC, 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. The Iranian Plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a Geological formation in Southwest Asia, Southern

Linguistically, the Old Iranian languages are divided into two major families and sub classes:

• The eastern group
• The western group
  • The southwestern group
  • The northwestern group

The eastern group includes the Sogdian, Khwarezmian, Saka, and Avestan, (formerly also known as Zend or Old Bactrian). The Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language that was spoken in Sogdiana ( Zarafshan River Valley located in modern day Uzbekistan Khwarezmian, also known as Khwarazmian or Chorasmian, is the name of an extinct northeastern Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. Saka is an extinct Iranian language which was spoken in Xinjiang, China Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. The northwestern branch includes Median, Parthian and Kurdish. The Median language (also Medean or Medic) is the language of the Iranian Medes. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. The southwestern group includes Persian.

Avestan is mainly attested through the Avesta, a collection of sacred texts connected to the Zoroastrian religion. The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings Old Persian is attested through inscriptions in the Old Persian cuneiform script. Old Persian cuneiform is the primary script used in Old Persian writings

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. The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Again, geographically, one can classify these into two main families, Western and Eastern. The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca

The former family includes the languages of Parthian (Arsacid Pahlavi) and Middle Persian, while Bactrian, Sogdian, Khwarezmian, Saka, and Old Ossetic (Scytho-Sarmatian) fall under the latter category. The Parthian language, also known as Arsacid Pahlavi, is a now-extinct ancient Northwestern Iranian language spoken in Parthia, a region of northeastern Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE became a Prestige dialect The Bactrian language is an extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria. The Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language that was spoken in Sogdiana ( Zarafshan River Valley located in modern day Uzbekistan Khwarezmian, also known as Khwarazmian or Chorasmian, is the name of an extinct northeastern Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. Saka is an extinct Iranian language which was spoken in Xinjiang, China The Scythian languages form a North Eastern branch of the Iranian language family and comprise the distinctive languagesspoken by the Scythian ( Sarmatian 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 retained some proximity to Avestan. They were inscribed in various Aramaic-derived alphabets, which had evolved from the Achaemenid Imperial Aramaic. The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of

Middle Persian (Pahlavi), was the official language of the Sassanids. The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty or Sassanian Dynasty (ساسانیان) is the name used for the third Iranian dynasty and the second Persian empire It was in usage from the 3rd century until the beginning of the 10th century. Pahlavi and Parthian were also the language of the Manichaeans, whose texts also survive in various non-Iranian languages, from Latin to Chinese. Manichaeism (in Modern Persian fa-Arab آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese zh 摩尼教 was one of the major Gnostic Religions originating The Imperial Aramaic script used in this era experienced significant maturation.

Arab conquest of Persia

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 Islamic conquest of Persia (633–656 led to the end of the Sassanid Empire and the eventual extirpation of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. 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 darbar (دربار), which refers to the royal court, where many of the poets, protagonists, and patrons of the literature flourished (See Persian literature). Persian literature ( spans two and a half millennia though much of the pre- Islamic material has been lost The Saffarid dynasty in particular was the first in a line of many dynasties to officially adopt the new language in 875CE. The Saffarid dynasty ( Persian: سلسله صفاریان ruled a empire in Sistan, which is a historical region now in southeastern Iran and southwestern Dari is believed to 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 ancestor of modern Standard 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 (see Ancient Azari language), and "Parsi" ("Persian" proper) to describe the dialects of Fars. Abdullah Ibn Dhadawayh ( Persian: عبدالله ابن دادویه) also known as Rouzbeh pur-e Dādvayh ( Persian: روزبه پور دادوَيه Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Ishaq al-Nadim ( Arabic: ابو الفرج محمد بن إسحاق النديم whose father was known as al-Warraq (Arabic الورّاق Azerbaijan ( English; Azərbaycan officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Respublikası is the largest and most populous country in the South Azari, also spelled Adari, Adhari, is the name used for the Iranian language composed of groups of dialects which were spoken in Azerbaijan Fars (pronounced/fɑː(ɹs ( Persian: فارس Fârs) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. They also noted that the unofficial language of the royalty itself was yet another dialect, "Khuzi", associated with the western province of Khuzestan. Khūzestān (خوزستان is one of the 30 provinces of Iran.

The Islamic conquest also brought with it the adoption of Arabic script for writing Persian, 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 aforementioned script remains in use in contemporary modern Persian. Tajik script was first Latinised in the 1920s under the then Soviet nationality policy. In literature Latinisation is the practice of writing a name in a Latin style when writing in Latin so as to more closely emulate Latin authors or to present a more impressive Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar The script was however subsequently Cyrillicized in the 1930s under plans by USSR's government in Central Asia. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south

The geographical area in which Iranian languages were spoken was 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. Khūzestān (خوزستان is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. The Turkic languages constitute a Language family of some thirty languages spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the The Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language that was spoken in Sogdiana ( Zarafshan River Valley located in modern day Uzbekistan The Bactrian language is an extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria. Turkmenistan ( Türkmenistan; also known as Turkmenia) is a Turkic country in Central Asia. Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Tajikistan (təˈdʒɪkɨstæn or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/ Тоҷикистон tɔʤikɪsˈtɔn or, Persian تاجیکستان‎ taajikestaan officially the Republic of Sogdian barely survives in a small area of the Zarafshan valley east of Samarkand, and Saka (as Sariqoli) in parts of southern Xinjiang as well as Ossetic in the Caucasus. The Sakas ( English form of Old Iranian Sakā, Nominative plural masculine case; Ancient Greek Σάκαι, Various small Iranian languages in the Pamirs survive that are derived from Eastern Iranian. Turkic also displaced the Persian language spoken in Azerbaijan. Azari, also spelled Adari, Adhari, is the name used for the Iranian language composed of groups of dialects which were spoken in Azerbaijan

Classification

Main article: List of Iranian languages

Iranian languages are divided into Eastern and Western subfamilies, totalling about 84 languages (SIL estimate). The Iranian languages include some 84 ( SIL estimate languages and dialects spoken by about many people in Asia; this language family is a part of the The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC Of the most widely-spoken Iranian languages, Kurdish, Persian, and Balochi are all Western Iranian languages, while Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. Balochi (بلوچی also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. Pashto ( Naskh: پښتو‎ pəʂ'to also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as

Comparison table

See also

• List of Iranian languages
• Iran
• Iranian peoples
• History of Iran
• Indo-Iranian Languages

Bibliography

Footnotes

Notations

• Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed. ) (1989). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 3-88226-413-6.  
• Sims-Williams, Nicholas (1996). "Iranian languages". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Cosa Mesa: Mazda. 238-245.  
• Yarshater, Ehsan (ed. ) (1996). "Iran". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Cosa Mesa: Mazda.  
• Frye, Richard N. (1996). "Peoples of Iran". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Cosa Mesa: Mazda.  
• Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1995). "Cases in Iranian languages and dialects". Encyclopedia Iranica 5. Cosa Mesa: Mazda.  
• Lazard, Gilbert (1996). "Dari". Encyclopedia Iranica 7. Cosa Mesa: Mazda.  
• Henning, Walter B. (1954). "The Ancient language of Azarbaijan". Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1954.tb00282.x. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.  
• Rezakhani, Khodadad (2001). The Iranian Language Family.

External links

• erani.tk Lists of many similarities between some Iranian languages, in English and Turkish
• Society for Iranian Linguistics
• [1] Iranian EFL Journal