| Gilaki | |
|---|---|
| گیلٚکی زٚوان (Gilɵki Zɵvon) | |
 | |
| Native to | Iran, province ofGilan and parts of the province ofMazandaran andQazvin alsoAlborz |
| Region | Southwest coast of theCaspian Sea |
| Ethnicity | 4.8 millionGilaks (2023)[1] |
Native speakers | 1.6 million (2023)[2] |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | glk |
| Glottolog | gila1242 |
| Linguasphere | 58-AAC-eb |
 Areas where Gilaki is spoken as the mother tongue | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Gilaki (گیلٚکي زٚوؤنromanized:Gilɵki Zɵvon) is anIranian language belonging to theCaspian subgroup of theNorthwestern branch, spoken in south ofCaspian Sea byGilak people. Gilaki is closely related toMazandarani.[3] The two languages of Gilaki andMazandarani have similar vocabularies.[4][5][6][7] The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages)[8] share certain typological features withCaucasian languages (specificallyKartvelian languages),[8][9][10] reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to theCaucasus region andCaucasian peoples of theGilak people andMazandarani people.
The language is divided into three dialects:Western Gilaki,Eastern Gilaki[11][12][13][14] andGaleshi/Deylami.[15][16] The western and eastern dialects are separated by theSefid River,[17] while Galeshi is spoken in the mountains of easternGilan and westernMazandaran.[16]
There are three main dialects but larger cities inGilan have slight variations to the way they speak. These "sub-dialects" are Rashti, Rudbari, Some’e Sarai, Lahijani, Langerudi, Rudesari, Bandar Anzali, Fumani, Alamouti and Taleghani.[6]
Progressing to the east, Gilaki gradually blends intoMazandarani. The intermediate dialects of the area between Tonokābon and Kalārdašt serve as a transition between Gilaki andMazandarani. The differences in forms and vocabulary lead to a low mutual intelligibility with either Gilaki orMazandarani, and so these dialects should probably be considered a third separate language group of the Caspian area.[18]InMazandaran, Gilaki is spoken in the city ofRamsar andTonekabon. Although the dialect is influenced byMazandarani, it is still considered a Gilaki dialect.[19][20]
Furthermore, theeastern Gilaki dialect is spoken throughout the valley of theChalus river.[21]
InQazvin province, Gilaki is spoken in northern parts of the province, inAlamut.[22][23]
Gilaki, is an inflected and genderless language. It is consideredSVO, although in sentences employing certain tenses the order may beSOV.[24]
Gilaki is the language of the majority of people inGilan province and also a native and well-known language inMazandaran,Qazvin andAlborz provinces. Gilaki is spoken in different regions with different dialects and accents.[25][26][27][28][29][13][14][12][30] The number of Gilaki speakers is estimated at 3 to 4 million.[31][32][33] Ethnologue reports that the use of Gilaki is decreasing as the speaker population is decreasing with language shift toIranian Persian.[34]
Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki ofRasht, which will be the variety used in the remainder of the article:
| Gilaki | Persian | Example (Gilaki) |
|---|---|---|
| i | e | ki.tab |
| e(ː) | iː,eː/ei | seb |
| ɛ(œ) | e | iɛrɛ |
| ə | æ,e | mən |
| a | aː | lag |
| ä | æ | zäy |
| ɒ(perhaps allophonic) | aː | lɒ.nə |
| o | uː,oː/ɔ | d͡ʒoɾ |
| u | o/uː | ɡul |
| ü | u | tüm |
There are nine vowel phonemes in the Gilaki language:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a | ɒ |
The consonants are:
| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x ~χ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ ~ʁ | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Liquid | l,ɾ ~r | ||||||
| Glide | j | ||||||
The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. Allinfinitives end in-tən/-dən, or in-V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original*-Vdən). Thepresent stem is usually related to the infinitive, and thepast stem is just the infinitive without-ən or-n (in the case of vowel stems).
From the infinitivedín, "to see", we get present stemdin-.
Thepresent indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| dinəm | diním(i) |
| diní | diníd(i) |
| diné | diníd(i) |
Thepresent subjunctive is formed with the prefixbí-,bú-, orbə- (depending on the vowel in the stem) added to the indicative forms. Final /e/ neutralizes to /ə/ in the 3rd singular and the plural invariably lacks final /i/.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| bídinəm | bídinim |
| bídini | bídinid |
| bídinə | bídinid |
Thenegative of both the indicative and the subjunctive is formed in the same way, withn- instead of theb- of the subjunctive.
Fromxurdən, "to eat", we get the perfect stemxurd. To this are added unaccented personal endings and the unaccentedb- prefix (or accentedn- for the negative):
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| buxúrdəm | buxúrdim(i) |
| buxúrdi | buxúrdid(i) |
| buxúrdə | buxúrdid(i) |
Theimperfect is formed with what was originally a suffix-i:
| xúrdim | xúrdim(i) |
| xúrdi | xúrdid(i) |
| xúrdi | xúrdid(i) |
Thepluperfect is paraphrastically formed with the verbbon, "to be", and thepast participle, which is in turn formed with theperfect stem+ə (which can assimilate to becomei oru). The accent can fall on the last syllable of the participle or on the stem itself:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| buxurdə bum | buxurdə bim |
| buxurdə bi | buxurdə bid |
| buxurdə bu | buxurdə bid |
A curious innovation of Western Gilaki is thepast subjunctive, which is formed with the (artificial)imperfect ofbon+past participle:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| bidé bim | bidé bim |
| bidé bi | bidé bid |
| bidé be/bi | bidé bid |
This form is often found in the protasis and apodosis of unreal conditions, e.g.,mən agə Əkbəra bidé bim, xušhal bubosti bim, "If I were to see/saw/had seen Akbar, I would be happy".
There are two very common paraphrastic constructions for thepresent and past progressives. From the infinitivešon, "to go", we get:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| šón darəm | šón darim |
| šón dari | šón darid |
| šón darə | šón darid |
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| šón də/du bum | šón də/di bim |
| šón də/di bi | šón də/di bid |
| šón də/du bu | šón də/di bid |
There are manycompound verbs in Gilaki, whose forms differ slightly from simple verbs. Most notably,bV- is never prefixed onto the stem, and thenegative prefixnV- can act like aninfix-n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So fromfagiftən, "to get", we getpresent indicativefagirəm, butpresent subjunctivefágirəm, and the negative of both,faángirəm orfanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of thepast tenses:fángiftəm orfanígiftəm.
Gilaki employs a combination ofquasi-case endings andpostpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian.
There are essentially three "cases" in Gilaki, thenominative (or, better, unmarked, as it can serve other grammatical functions), thegenitive, and the (definite)accusative. The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addition to the direct object. A noun in the genitive comes before the word it modifies. These "cases" are in origin actually just particles, similar to Persianra.
For the word "per", father, we have:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | per | perán |
| Acc | pera | perána |
| Gen | perə | peránə |
The genitive can change to-i, especially before some postpositions.
The 1st and 2nd person pronouns have special forms:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | mən | amán |
| Acc | məra | amána |
| Gen | mi | amí |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | tu | šumán |
| Acc | təra | šumána |
| Gen | ti | šimí |
The 3rd person (demonstrative) pronouns are regular: /un/, /u.ˈʃan/, /i.ˈʃan/
With thegenitive can be combined manypostpositions. Examples:
| Gilaki | English |
|---|---|
| re | for |
| həmra/əmra | with |
| ĵa | from, than (in comparisons) |
| mian | in |
| ĵor | above |
| ĵir | under |
| ru | on top of |
The personal pronouns have special forms with "-re": mere, tere, etc.
Gilakiadjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have thegenitive "case ending"-ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
