The mysterious languages of the East still excite the minds of the public, especially the harmonious Persian language, in which the greatest poets of antiquity wrote their poems. The oldest Persian dialect is included in the Iranian group of languages, the number of speakers of which reaches about 200 million. Who are these Eastern people who are members of the Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family? Details in this article!
Iranian language group
The name "Iranian languages" is dated to the middle of the XIX century. This group of languages is associated with Iran as with its ethnic group as close as possible, or, on the contrary, was far removed from it, retaining only some related features.
This situation relates primarily to the Persian language, which for many years was considered the leading language of the Iranian group.
By the very concept of “Iranian” one should understand not only Persian, but also a whole complex of linguistic dialects, which include the already mentioned Persian language.
Origin
The Iranian group of languages was formed in antiquity (II millennium BC), when the common Proto-Aryan language reigned in Central Asia, it was then that the Proto-Iranian dialect appeared - the progenitor of the modern "Iranian" dialect. Today in the same New Persian only echoes remained of him.
Standing out in a separate language from pan-Aryan, proto-Iranian acquired the following phonetic features:
- The loss of voiced consonants that were aspirated, for example, “bx” passed into simple “b”, “gx” - “g”, “dx” - “d”, etc.
- The fricativization of the deaf, for example, “pf”, has passed into the long “f”.
- The processes of palatalization, for example, the transition from “s” to “z”, “g” to “z”, etc.
- The development of aspiration from "c" to "n".
- The processes of dissimilation of "TT" in "ST", "DT" in "ZD".
The Iranian group of the Indo-European language family is on a par with the Albanian, Armenian, Baltic, Germanic and Aryan languages. The same group as the Iranian languages also includes such dead dialects as Anatolian, Illyrian, and Tohar. The first two were the languages of the Greek countries, and the latter has Balkan roots.
History and classification
Historically, the Iranian group of languages has existed for about 3000 years. In total there are three periods: ancient, middle and new. Most of all is known about the ancient language, which preserved all Aryan traditions and the inflected synthetic system.
The middle and new periods of the Iranian group of languages went the way of the destruction of inflectivity. These are the “great-grandsons” of the Aryan, who are becoming more analytical language languages. The latter type or New Iranian languages is a group of dialects that is now alive or has recently died out, since their last native speakers left the world.
A clearer sequence of development can be traced to the Persian, the most famous branch of the Iranian group of languages. It is also divided into Old Persian-Middle Persian and New Persian (Farsi).
Other Iranian branches either did not preserve their written sources at all, or became extinct long before their occurrence. That is why it is difficult to learn New Iranian languages, since there is a complete absence of genetic ties.
However, scholars studying the Iranian languages are not discouraged, collecting new facts from excavations in the places of former settlements. Each period should be described in more detail.
Ancient Iranian languages
This period has an approximate date from the IV-III century. BC. Territory - native speakers of the Iranian group of languages lived in the southwest from Zagros to China, Altai and the Northern Black Sea region in the northwest. Such a huge space contributed to a split within the linguistic group and served to the formation of individual languages of ancient Iran.
Documented and recorded according to the research of Orientalists are considered:
- The ancient Persian language is the dialect of the Achaemenid kings, the ancestor of the entire southwestern Iranian group, as well as the language of official inscriptions on monuments and historical monuments.
- Avestan language is the written or book language of the Avesta, which was the holy book of the Zoroastrians. This dialect was previously only verbal and was associated with the ancient Iranians exclusively with the religious component of their life. It is the language of parables, prayers and Zoroastrian songs.
- The Medes are the dialect of Medes, which has particles of the Aryan language. Presumably the Mead dialect is the ancestor of the western group of Iranian languages.
- The Scythian language is an adverb of Scythians and partially Sarmatians, demonstrating complex aspirated diphthongs - a visiting card of all Iranian languages. Scythians and Sarmatians lived in the steppes of the Caucasus and in the Northern Black Sea region. This dialect is one of the most mysterious and mysterious in the Iranian group; the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes are known only thanks to Greek sources. The Slavic group also met with the Scythian language, but at that time in the future territory of Russia there was only cuneiform writing, which represented the features and “cuts” - notches. Naturally, such a "letter" primitive at that time could not reflect any vivid phonetic features.
All of these languages, and those that have been lost, can only be restored by the method of comparative historical linguistics.
Ancient Iranian languages were characterized by disagreement, as well as longitude and voicing of consonants.
Middle Iranian languages
The second period, or Central Iranian, is dated IV - IX centuries BC. e. Such a chronology is somewhat arbitrary, since only historical documents of the ancient Persians help to compile it. The situation of the study is further complicated by the fact that the Central Iranian period did not leave any new Iranian “descendants”. That is why this time is called the dead period in the development of the Iranian group of languages.
The inflectional features of the language are even more destroyed, and words are formed not with the help of endings, but in an analytical way.
It is interesting! In the languages of western Iran, the inflectional system collapsed to the end, and only verb conjugation remained.
Territory coverage and distribution
The area of distribution of Iranian languages began to have a clearer separation of Western and Eastern groups. The dividing line passed along the border of Parthia and Bactria.
In total, oriental scientists, judging by the found written monuments, distinguish the following Central Iranian languages:
- The Middle Persian language is the dialect of Sassanid Iran or "Pahlavi". This is a well-known Zoroastrian language with rich writing - many literary monuments of that era are written in this language, which was used even on the coins of the kings of Fars.
- Parthian language - the dialect of Parthia, which is a follower of the Medes. This is the language of the state of Arshakids. This dialect was lost around the 5th century, when ancient Persian spread everywhere.
- The Bactrian language is the dialect of Kushans and Ephtalites using Greek writing. This dialect was supplanted in the 9th-10th centuries. in. New Persian.
- Sak language is one of the most mysterious dialects of the Iranian group of languages. Saksky belongs to the linguistic group of Khotan dialects associated with Buddhist culture and, accordingly, with its linguistic features. Therefore, in this dialect, a lot of monuments of Buddhist literature were found. Saksky was supplanted by the Turkic Uyghur language.
- Sogdian - an adverb of Sogdian colonists from the central part of Asia. Sogdian dialect left many literary monuments. In the X century, it was supplanted by the New Persian and Turkic. However, according to scientists, he still has a descendant - this is the Yagnob language.
- The Khorezm language is the dialect of Khorezm, which did not exist long and was supplanted by the Turkic language.
- The Sarmatian language is the Sarmatian dialect, which completely replaced the Scythian language throughout the Northern Black Sea region. This is the steppe dialect of the eastern tribes, which were the longest speakers of this language of the Middle Iranian period, almost until the XIII century. Later, the Sarmatian language became the progenitor of Alan.
New Iranian languages
The peoples of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family today have many varieties of ancient Iranian dialects. The New Iranian period began after the conquest of Iran by the Arabs and continues its tradition at the present time.
New Iranian languages have a large dialectic practice, which is most often characterized by a lack of written language. Many dialects arise and disappear so quickly that Orientalists do not have time to thoroughly fix even the source. Because of this spontaneity, many linguistic communities are deprived of their own literature, and indeed they are a sub-dialectic form of a language with an undefined status.
Of course, the Arabic dialect had a great influence on the New Iranian language. New Persian, the official language of Iran, is coming to the fore today. On the periphery, in the mountainous regions of Greater Iran, one can also find non-Persian dialects, for example, Kurdish and Balochi. The most famous among non-Persian dialects is the dialect of Ossetians, who are descendants of the ancient Alans.
Modern Iranian language family
The Iranian language group includes:
- Novopersidsky, divided into subsidiary literary forms: Farsi, Dari and Tajik.
- Tatsky.
- Luro-Bakhtiyar.
- Dialects of Fars and Lara.
- Kurdshuli.
- Kumzari.
- Kurdish, with its dialectal forms: kurmanji, sorani, feyli and varnishes.
- Delemite.
- Caspian.
- Turkic.
- Semnansky.
- Balochi.
- Pashutu and Vanetsi are the dialects of Afghanistan.
- Pamir dialect group.
- Yagnob language.
- Ossetian.
Thus, the peoples of the Iranian language group inherit interesting dialectal features. The main language of Iran today is New Persian, however, in the territory of this vast state - Greater Iran - you can find many mysterious dialects and daughter literary forms, ranging from Farsi to Ossetian.