Mazandarani (Mazanderani:مازِرونی,Mazeruni; also calledMazani (مازنی) orTabari (تبری); also calledTaveri,Mazeruni,Tati,Geleki andGaleshi[8])[9] is anIranian language of theNorthwestern branch spoken by theMazanderani people. As of 2023[update], there were 1.35 million native speakers. The language appears to be decreasing, as it is threatened, and due to the majority of its speakers shifting toIranian Persian.[10] As a member of the Northwestern branch (the northern branch of Western Iranian), etymologically speaking, it is rather closely related toGilaki and also related toPersian, which belongs to the Southwestern branch. Though the Mazani and Persian languages have both influenced each other to a great extent, both are independent languages with different origins in the Iranian plateau.[11][12]
The nameMazanderani (and variants of it) derives from the name of the province ofMazandaran (Mazerun in Mazanderani), which was part of the historical region ofTapuria. People traditionally call their languageTabari, as the Tabari themselves do.[18]: 289–291
The nameTapuri /Tabari (which was the name of an ancient language spoken somewhere in former Tapuria) is now used in preference to the nameMazandarani by the young.
However, both Gilan and Mazanderan formed part of the region known as Tapuria.
The earliest references to the language of Mazandaran, called Tabari, are to be found in the works of the early Muslim geographers.Al-Muqaddasī (or Moqaisi, 10th century), for example, notes: "The languages ofKomish andGurgan are similar, they usehā, as inhā-dih andhāk-un, and they are sweet [to the ear], related to them is the language of Tabaristan, [similar] save for its speediness."[18]: 291
History
Among the livingIranian languages, Mazanderani has one of the longest written traditions, from the tenth to the fifteenth century. This status was achieved during the long reign of the independent and semi-independent rulers ofMazandaran in the centuries after the Arab invasion.[19]
The rich literature of this language includes books such asMarzban Nameh (later translated into Persian) and the poetry of Amir Pazevari. Use of Mazanderani, however, has been in decline for some time. Its literary and administrative prominence had begun to diminish in favor of Persian by the time of the integration ofMazandaran into the national administration in the early seventeenth century.[20]
Classification
The Mazanderani language is closely related toGilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. In 1993, according toEthnologue, there were three million native Mazanderani speakers.[21]
Just as in other modernIranian languages, there is no distinction between the dative and accusative cases, and the nominative in the sentence takes almost no indicators but may be inferred from word order (depending on dialect it may end in a/o/e). Since Mazanderani lacksarticles, there is no inflection for nouns in the sentence (no modifications for nouns).For definition, nouns take the suffixe (me dətere meaningThe daughter of mine whileme dəter meansmy daughter). The indefinite article for single nouns isa-tā withtā for determination of number (a-tā kijā meaninga girl).There exist some remnants of old Mazanderani indicating that, in the nominative case, female nouns used to end ina, while male nouns ended ine (as injənā meaningthe woman andmərdē meaningthe man). Grammatical gender is still present in certain modern languages closely related to Mazandarani such asSemnani,Sangesari andZaza.
Pronouns
In the Mazandarani language, independent personal pronouns have three cases: active, passive and possessive.[28]
Identification
Singular 1
Singular 2
Singular 3
Plural 1
Plural 2
Plural 3
Subject (Sari dialect)
mən
tə
və
əmâ
šəmâ
vəšún
Object (Sari dialect)
məre
təre
vəre
əmâre
šəmâre
vəšúnre
Possessive (Sari dialect)
me
te
ve
ame
šeme
vešúne
Conjugation
Conjugation (hākārden) "to work" in Mazandarani language (Sari dialect).[29]
Tense/person
Sg1
Sg2
Sg3
Pl1
Pl2
Pl3
Preterit
hâkârdeme
hâkârdi
hâkârde
hâkârdemi
hâkârdeni
hâkârdene
Pluperfect
hâkârde-bime
hâkârde-bi
hâkârde-bie
hâkârde-bimi
hâkârde-bini
hâkârde-bine
Past subjunctive
hâkârde-buem
hâkârde-bui
hâkârde-bue
hâkârde-buim
hâkârde-buin
hâkârde-buen
Pluperfect subjunctive
hâkârde-bai-buem
hâkârde-bai-bui
hâkârde-bai-bue
hâkârde-bai-buim
hâkârde-bai-buin
hâkârde-bai-buen
Imperfect (type 1)
kârdeme
kârdi
kârde
kârdemi
kârdeni
kârdene
Imperfect (type 2)
kândesseme
kândessi
kândesse
kândessemi
kândesseni
kândessene
Past progressive (type1)
dai(me)-kârdeme
dai(i)-kârdi
dai(e)-kârde
dai(mi)-kârdemi
dai(ni)-kârdeni
dai(ne)-kârdene
Past progressive (type 2)
dai(me)-kândesseme
dai(i)-kândessi
dai(e)-kândesse
dai(mi)-kândessemi
dai(ni)-kândesseni
dai(ne)-kândessene
Present
kâmbe/kândeme
kândi
kânde
kâmbi/kândemi
kândeni
kândene
Present progressive
dar(eme)-kâmbe
dar(i)-kândi
dar(e)-kânde
dar(emi)-kâmbi
dar(eni)-kândeni
dar(ene)-kândene
Subjunctive
hâkânem
hâkâni
hâkâne
hâkânim
hâkânin
hâkânen
Future
xâmbe hâkânem
xâni hâkâni
xâne hâkâne
xâmbi hâkânim
xânni hâkânin
xânne hâkânen
Usage
Function cases
Case
Position
Meaning
Sere -(a/o/e)
Nominative
The Home
Sere re
Accusative
(Action) the Home
Sere -(o/e)
Vocative
Home!
Sere şe
Genitive
Home's
Sere re
Dative
To the Home
Sere ye jä
Ablative/Instrumental
By the Home
Adjectives
Adjective
Position
Meaning
And-e Sere
Applicative
Gat-e Sere
Comparative
Great Home
Untä Sere
Determinative
That Home
Notable postpositions
Adpositions in Mazanderani are after words, while most of other languages including English and Persian have preposition systems in general. The only common postpositions that sometimes become preposition areŠe andtā. Frequently used postpositions are:
/w/ appears as an allophone of /v/ in word-final position. /ɾ/ may appear as a voiceless trill in word-final position [r̥]. An occasional glottal stop /ʔ/ or voiceless uvular fricative /ʁ/ or voiced plosive /ɢ/ may also be heard, depending on the dialect.[30][31][32]
Spoken in a territory sheltered by the high Alborz mountains, Mazanderani preserves many ancient Indo-European words no longer in common use in modernIranian languages such asPersian. Listed below are a few common Mazanderani words of archaic, Indo-European provenance with Vedic cognates.
Mazandarani is rich insynonyms, some such nouns also retaining the gender they possessed in Indo-European times: for instance the wordsmiš,gal,gerz all have the meaning ofmouse, although they are not all of the same gender. While many Indo-Iranian languages use a masculine noun taking such related forms asmuš ormuska ormušk, in Mazandarani the most commonly used name for the mouse is the feminine noungal.[vague]
Another example relates to the cow, the most important animal in the symbolism of Indo-European culture: in Mazanderani there are more than 1000 recognized words used for different types of cow. The table below lists some specimens of this rich vocabulary. In Mazandaran there are even contests held to determine those with the greatest knowledge of this bovine nomenclature.
The following verses are in an eastern Mazandarani dialect spoken in the Caspian littoral in northern Iran. They were transcribed and translated byMaryam Borjian andHabib Borjian.[36]
I was sitting [on] the heights, on the loftynefār; The nightingale brought the news that it is early spring. Tell the tree branches not to lament so much, I have a blasted heart for the care of the beloved.
bεlεnd-e bālxεnε, bεlεnd-e lamε vέne sar ništ bío Āl-e Mohammεd har ki mεn o tέrε bázunε tomεt vεšúnnε bákuše Darviš Mohammεd
Translation:
The lofty balcony, the long mat; On its top had sat the Dynasty of Muhammad. Whoever lay the blame on you and me, May Dervish Muhammad kill him (lit. 'them')!
References
In dates given below, A.P. denotes theIranian calendar, the solar calendar (365 days per year) which is official in Iran and Afghanistan.
^Coon, "Iran:Demography and Ethnography" in Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume IV, E.J. Brill, pp. 10,8. Excerpt: "The Lurs speak an aberrant form of Archaic Persian" See maps also on page 10 for distribution of Persian languages and dialect
^Kathryn M. Coughlin, "Muslim cultures today: a reference guide," Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. p. 89: "...Iranians speak Persian or a Persian dialect such as Gilaki or Mazandarani"
^Windfuhr, G. L. (1989). "New Iranian languages: Overview". In Rüdiger Schmitt (ed.).Compendium linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert. p. 490.
^Fakhr-Rohani, Muhammad-Reza. 2004. She means only her 'husband': politeness strategies amongst Mazanderani-speakingrural women. (Conference abstract) CLPG Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland,PDF
^Yoshie, Satoko. 1996.Sārī Dialect. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Series: Iranian Studies; 10.
^Shokri, Guiti; Jahani, Carina; Barani, Hossein (2013).When Tradition Meets Modernity: Five Life Stories from the Galesh Community in Ziarat, Golestan, Iran. Uppsala Universitet.
^Borjian, Habib (2019).The Mazandarani Dialect of Kalijān Rostāq. Iranian Studies.
^Nasri-Ashrafi, Jahangir-e (ed.).Farhang-e vāžegān-e Tabarī [A Dictionary of Tabari]. v. 5, p. 5, Tehran: Eḥyā’-ketāb”: 2002/1381 A.P. A comparative glossary containing lexical units from almost all major urban and rural centers of the region of the three provinces ofGilan,Mazandaran, andGolestan. Reviewed inIran and the Caucasus, 2006, 10(2). Volume 4 contains a Persian-Mazanderani index of approximately 190 pp. Volume 5 includes a grammar of the Mazanderani language.
Borjian, Habib (2006). "The Oldest Known Texts in New Tabari: The Collection of Aleksander Chodzko".Archiv Orientální.74 (2):153–171.
Borjian, Habib (2006). "A Mazanderani account of the Babi Incident at Shaikh Tabarsi".Iranian Studies.39 (3):381–400.doi:10.1080/00210860600808227.
Borjian, Habib (2006). "Textual sources for the study of Tabari language. I. Old documents".Guyesh-shenâsi.4.
Borjian, Habib (2008). "Tabarica II: Some Mazanderani Verbs".Iran and the Caucasus.12 (1):73–82.doi:10.1163/157338408X326217.
Borjian, Habib (2008). "Two Mazanderani Texts from the Nineteenth Century".Studia Iranica.37 (1):7–50.doi:10.2143/SI.37.1.2032296.
Borjian, Habib; Borjian, Maryam (2007). "Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran: Mysterious Memories of a Woman".Iran and the Caucasus.11 (2):226–254.doi:10.1163/157338407X265469.
Borjian, Habib; Borjian, Maryam (2008). "The Last Galesh Herdsman: Ethno-Linguistic Materials from South Caspian Rainforests".Iranian Studies.41 (3):365–402.doi:10.1080/00210860801981336.S2CID162393586.
Le Coq, P. (1989). "Les dialects Caspiens et les dialects du nord-ouest de l'Iran". In Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.).Compendium linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert. pp. 296–312.
Nawata, Tetsuo (1984).Māzandarāni. Asian and African Grammatical Manual. Vol. 17. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
Shokri, Giti (1990). "Verb Structure in Sāri dialect".Farhang.6. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies:217–231.
Shokri, Giti (1995).Sārī Dialect. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.
Shokri, Giti (2006).Ramsarī Dialect. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.
Yoshie, Satoko (1996).Sārī Dialect. Iranian Studies. Vol. 10. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
