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. The languages belonging to this branch are widely spoken across a vast geographical area stretching to Anatolia in the west, the Caucasus in the north, southern Iran in the south and Tajikistan in the east. The most widely spoken Western Iranian language is Persian, which is a pluricentric language.
History From a diachronic perspective, the Iranian languages are stratified into three distinct historical stages: Old Iranian, Middle Iranian, and New Iranian. The diachronic classification of the Western Iranian languages also follows this tripartite developmental trajectory. Old Persian and Median constitute the earliest documented Western Iranian languages from the Old Iranian era. While a substantial corpus of Old Persian has been preserved, the textual evidence for Median is highly restricted, limited to a small number of lexical items attested in Old Persian inscriptions. The Persian language is the only Western Iranian language attested across all three stages of Iranian languages: Old, Middle, and New Iranian and is the only Iranian language for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian.: "The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Dari or Farsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Balochi, Pashto, etc., Old Persian, Middle Persian, and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran."
Old Iranian period The Old Iranian period languages consisted of the following languages: Northwest: Median† Southwest: Old Persian†
Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets and seals of the Achaemenid era ( to 300 BCE). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt,Kent, R. G. (1950) "Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon", p. 6. American Oriental Society. with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription (dated to 522 BCE). Median, on the other hand, is attested only by numerous loanwords in Old Persian. Nothing is known of its grammar, structurally, however, its phonological isoglosses align more closely with Avestan than with Old Persian. It is believed that during the brief period of Median rule, Median functioned, at least to some degree, as an official language within western Iran. Middle Iranian period The Middle Iranian period languages consisted of the following languages: Middle West Iranian Northwest: Parthian† Southwest: Middle Persian† Parthian was the official language of the Parthian state and the local language east of the Caspian Sea. The language was written in a distinct script derived from the Imperial Aramaic chancellery script of the Achaemenids, and later developed into the Pahlavi writing system. A direct successor to Old Persian, Middle Persian was the dominant language in the Sasanian Empire.
Modern period (Neo-Iranian) There is no consensus on the exact linguistic classification of the Iranian languages, and the traditional grouping between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian languages seems to become more ambiguous upon closer inspection of individual dialects and languages. This indicates that these language groups are not genetic entities.Agnes Korn. Isoglosses and subdivisions of Iranian. Journal of Historical Linguistics, 2019, 9 (2), pp.239-281.⟨10.1075/jhl.17010.kor⟩. ⟨halshs-02266255⟩ Primarily focused on phonology, Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr propose that the Western Iranian languages exist on "a scale of ‘Northwesternness’ or ‘Southwesternness’, on which each language is ‘more or less’ NW or SW.",Paul, Ludwig. 1998. The Position of Zazaki among West Iranian Languages. Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies held in Cambridge, 11th to 15th September 1995. Part I: Old and Middle Iranian Studies ed. by Nicholas Sims-Williams, 163–177. Wiesbaden: Reichert.Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). "INTRODUCTION TO THE IRANIAN LANGUAGES" in Windfuhr, Gernot. 2009. The Iranian languages. Oxon/New York: Routledge, p. 93 though this does not take into account linguistic convergence in grammar and other linguistic aspects.
Phonology Phonologically, overall, from Parthian, Gurani, Tati, Zaza and Talysh downward to Balochi, Kurdish and Persian, the Western Iranian languages are successively less archaic. Phonologically, Gurani, Tati, Zaza and Talysh occupy the westernmost fringe of the Western Iranian language continuum, whereas Persian and Kurdish are positioned at the eastern extreme, with Kurdish demonstrating the closest phonetic affinity and highest degree of phonological proximity to Persian, a southwestern Iranian language. Kurdish exhibits a transitional character aligned with Persian within the Western Iranian linguistic continuum: PIEParthianGuraniTatiZazaTalyshSemnaniCaspianCentral dia.BalochiKurdishPersian*ḱ/ĝs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zs/zh/d*k(u)pal-ž--ž--ž--ĵ--ž-ĵ,ž--ĵ--ĵ-,ž,z-ĵ--ž--z-*gu(h)palžžž (y-)ĵžĵ,žĵĵ,ž,zĵžz*kw29?sipisbesbasbespsesb?ss*tr/*tlhr(ya)r(h)r(hi)r(h)*r(h)rrrsss*d(h)wbbbbbbbbddd*rd/*rzr/rzl, rzr/rzr/rzrzl/l(rz)l/ll/l(rz)l/ll/ll/l*swwxwhwhx(u)x(u)x(u),fvx(w)x(u)*twfuuwhhhh(u)hhh*y-y-y-y-ĵ-ĵ-ĵ-ĵ-ĵ- (y-)ĵ-ĵ-ĵ-
The Northwestern and Southwestern phonological differences of the Western Iranian languages are also reflected in the variations extending to their numeral systems and the phonology of cardinal numbers. The phonetic realization of the numeral three constitutes a critical criterion in taxonomically classifying Western Iranian languages within these Northwestern and Southwestern branches. In certain Western Iranian languages, the number of three is cognate with the Northwestern Iranian Parthian form hrē; conversely, in other Western Iranian languages, it exhibits cognatic alignment with the Southwestern Iranian Old Persian form se < *çaiiah. Among all Western Iranian languages, only in Zaza, Semnani (and its dialects such as Sorkhei, Lasgerdi, Biyabunaki) and Tati (and its dialects such as Harzandi, Kilit) the number three is cognate with Northwestern Iranian Parthian hry/hrē. Old Iranian /*θr/ further became /*hr/, in initial position acquired a supporting vowel here. On the other hand, languages such as Persian, Kurdish, Balochi, Luri and Laki utilize sa and its derivatives for three, which originate from Old Persian se < *çaiiah. Another phonological divergence between the Northwestern and Southwestern branches manifests in the v versus b and s versus h consonant shifts. While the Northwestern Iranian languages have preserved the consonants v and s, these sounds have shifted to b and h, respectively, within the Southwestern Iranian branch, e.g. vist and das in Zaza, Semnani, Tati, Parthian vs. bist and dah in Persian and Kurdish. As a rare linguistic feature, in Zaza, Semnani and Tati the number one, denoting the indefinite article, takes both masculine and feminine forms. In Avestan, which is an extinct Old Iranian language, numbers took gender specific forms. The diachronic distribution of Western Iranian cardinal systems and their phonological shifts are as follows:Lecoq, Pierre (1989). "Les Dialectes Caspiens Et Les Dialectes Du Nord-ouest De L'iran". In Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum (in French). Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. 303, 308. . onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetentwentythirtyfortyAvestanaēva/aēvā (masc/fem)dvaθrīčaθwarpancahšvašhaptaaštanavadasavīsatihrīsatčahwarsatParthianēwdōhrēčafārpanǰšwahhafthaštnahdaswisthrīstčāfarastZazažew/žû (masc/fem)dihīrēčahārpanǰšašhauthaštnawdasvisthīrisčāwrasTatiiv/iva (masc/fem)deherečö,čuārpanǰšošhofthaštnövdavistsičelSemnanii/iya (masc/fem)duheračārpanǰšašhafthaštnadasvistsičelSorkheiidoheréčārpanǰšašhafthaštnadasvistsičelLasgerdiidoheyréčārpanǰšašhafthaštnadasvistsičelBiyabunakiidūhäiräčāhārpahānǰšāšhāfthāštnādāsvistsičelHarzandiideheričupinǰšašhofthaštnovdavistsičelKilitividèvhečoypinǰšašhafthaštnavdahvistsičelTalyshi, yakdihe, sečopenǰšašhafthaštnavdavistsičilGuraniyakdu'ey'arečuārpanǰšišhawthaštnodawissičilGilakiyakdosečārpanǰšašhafthaštnedabistsičilMazanderaniyakdosečārpanǰšašhafthaštnedabistsičilBalochiyakdosečārpanǰšašhapthaštnohdahbistsičilLuriyakdosečārpanǰšašhafthaštnohdahbistsičelKurdishyakdusečārpenǰšašhafthaštnahdahbistsičilPersianyakdosečahārpanǰšašhafthaštnohdahbistsičehelTajikyakdusečorpanǰšašhafthaštnuhdahbistsičil
Grammar
Gender system While certain Northwestern Iranian languages have retained the grammatical gender inherited from the Old Iranian period, this feature has been lost in others. Grammatical gender has been extensively preserved in Zaza, Semnani, Sangsari and various Tati dialects. Additionally, numerous Central Iranian languages and dialects, such Delījāni, Jowšaqāni, Āmoraʾi, Abyānaʾi, Abūzaydābādi, have prominently preserved grammatical gender. On the other hand, grammatical gender has been lost in many dialects of Gurani, except for the more archaic Avromani dialect, which has preserved this feature. In Kurdish, the grammatical gender is only preserved in Northern Kurdish and only in singular nouns and not in plural, nominative and not in verbs and not in copula. Talysh, Balochi, the Caspian languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish, many Gurani dialects, Persian (Old Persian had grammatical gender), Luri and Laki have lost grammatical gender altogether.Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). 2009. The Iranian languages. Oxon/New York: Routledge, p. 22
Zaza, Tati, Semnani and numerous Central Iranian languages largely maintain the grammatical gender forms of Old Iranian, excluding the neuter, uniquely among Western Iranian languages. Zaza, Semnani and various Tati and central dialects are distinguished within Western Iranian by marking grammatical gender on verbs, representing a highly idiosyncratic typological feature. These languages preserve the morphological expressions of grammatical gender across direct and oblique cases, verbs, the third person singular, the numeral "one", and the copula: / / /Zaza -Ø + i + e + e + i / + un -o/-āTati -Ø + e + a + e + e / + on -e/-āSemnani -Ø + i + ā + en + i / + un -a/-e Zaza-Ø -o-e -āTati-Ø -e-a -āSemnani-Ø -a-ā -eSemnani-Ø -a-Ø -āSangsari-Ø -a-Ø -ö Kinship markers Talysh, Tati, Zaza, Sangsari and Semnani exhibit an identical oblique case marker (-r) for kinship terms, a feature that distinguishes these languages from all other Western Iranian languages. In Zaza and some Tati dialects, the oblique case of relationship terms /-r/ also has spread from relationship terms to other terms:
father father Zazapī pērTalyshpəpārTatipiapiarSemnanipiapiär
mother mother ZazamāmārTalyshmāmoārTatimâmârSemnanimemār
Case and personal enclitics