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Eastern Iranian languages

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(Redirected fromOrmuri-Parachi)

Subgroup of the Iranian languages

Eastern Iranian
Eastern Iranic
Geographic distribution	West Asia,Central Asia,South Asia,Caucasus
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian
Subdivisions	Northeastern • Scythian • Sogdo-Bactrian • Bactrian † • Khwarezmian † • Sogdic • Sogdian † • Yaghnobi Southeastern • Ormuri-Parachi • Ormuri • Parachi • Pashto • Pashto • Wanetsi • Sanglechi–Ishkashimi • Shughni-Yidgha^[a] • Munji-Yidgha • Shughni-Yazghulami
Language codes
Glottolog	`east2704`

Distribution of theIranian languages in and around theIranian plateau. Eastern Iranian languages are indicated in the key.

TheEastern Iranian languages orEastern Iranic languages^[1] are an areal^[b] subgroup of theIranian languages, having emerged during theMiddle Iranian era (4th century BC to 9th century AD). TheAvestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle-eraWestern Iranian dialects, the Middle-era Eastern Iranian dialects preserve word-final syllables.

The largest living Eastern Iranian language isPashto, with 40 to 60 million speakers^[2] between theOxus River in Afghanistan and theIndus River in Pakistan. The second-largest living Eastern Iranian language isOssetic, with roughly 600,000 speakers acrossOssetia (split betweenGeorgia and Russia). All other languages of the Eastern Iranian subgroup have fewer than 200,000 speakers combined.

Most living Eastern Iranian languages are spoken in a contiguous area: southern and eastern Afghanistan and the adjacent parts of western Pakistan; theBadakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region in easternTajikistan; and the westernmost parts ofXinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. There are also two living members in widely separated areas: theYaghnobi language of northwestern Tajikistan (descended fromSogdian); and the Ossetic language of theCaucasus (descended fromScytho-Sarmatian and is hence classified as Eastern Iranian despite its location). These are remnants of a vast ethno-linguistic continuum that stretched over most ofCentral Asia, parts of the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, andWestern Asia in the 1st millennium BC — an area otherwise known asScythia. The large Eastern Iranian continuum in Eastern Europe would continue up to the 4th century AD, with the successors of the Scythians, namely theSarmatians.^[3]

History

[edit]

Western Iranian is thought to have separated fromProto-Iranian in the course of the later 2nd millennium BC not long afterAvestan, possibly occurring in theYaz culture. Eastern Iranian followed suit, and developed in place of Proto-Iranian, spoken within theAndronovo horizon.

Due to theGreek presence in Central Asia, some of the easternmost of these languages were recorded in theirMiddle Iranian stage (hence the "Eastern" classification), while almost no records of the Scytho-Sarmatian continuum stretching from Kazakhstan west across thePontic steppe to Ukraine have survived. Some authors find that the Eastern Iranian people had an influence on Russian folk culture.^[4]

Map of Northeastern Iranic populations in Central Asia during the Iron Age. Highlighted in green.

Middle Persian/Dari spread around the Oxus River region, Afghanistan, andKhorasan after the Arab conquests and during Islamic-Arab rule.^[5]^[6] The replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khorasan.^[7] The Persian Dari language spread, leading to the extinction of Eastern Iranic languages includingBactrian andKhorezmian. Only a few speakers of theSogdian descendedYaghnobi remain among the largely Persian-speaking Tajik population of Central Asia. This appears to be due to the large numbers of Persian-speakers in Arab-Islamic armies that invaded Central Asia and later Muslim governments in the region such as theSamanids.^[8] Persian was rooted into Central Asia by the Samanids.^[9]

Classification

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Eastern Iranian remains in large part a dialect continuum subject to common innovation. Traditional branches, such as "Northeastern", as well as Eastern Iranian itself, are better consideredlanguage areas rather than genetic groups.^[10]^[11]

The languages are as follows:^[12]

Old Iranian period

Northeast:Scythian,Old Saka,† etc.
Central Iranian:Avestan† (c. 1000 – 7th century BC)

Avestan is sometimes classified as Eastern Iranian, but is not assigned to a branch in 21st-century classifications.

Middle Iranian period

Bactrian†, c. 4th century BC – 9th century AD
Khwarezmian† (Chorasmian) c. 4th century BC – 13th century AD
Sogdian†, from c. the 4th century AD
Scytho-Khotanese (Saka)† (c. 5th century – 10th century AD) andTumshuqese† (formerly Maralbashi, 7th century AD)
Scytho-Sarmatian†, from c. the 8th century BC

Family tree

Northeastern
- Scythian
  - Cimmerian? †^[c]
  - Saka-Wakhi^[d]
    - Sakan†
    - Wakhi
  - Sarmatian^[e]
    - Alanic
      - Ossetic
        Jassic†
        Ossetian
- Sogdo-Bactrian
  - Bactrian†
  - Khwarezmian†
  - Sogdic
    - Sogdian†
    - Yaghnobi
Southeastern
- Ormuri-Parachi
  - Ormuri
  - Parachi
- Pashto
  - Pashto
  - Wanetsi
- Sanglechi–Ishkashimi
  - Ishkashimi
    - Zebaki
  - Sanglechi
- Shughni-Yazghulami-Munji
  - Munji-Yidgha
    - Munji
    - Yidgha
  - Shughni-Yazghulami
    - Shughni-Sarikoli
      - Sarikoli
      - Shughni
    - Yazghulami-Vanji?
      - Vanji language†
      - Yazghulami language

Characteristics

[edit]

The Eastern Iranian area has been affected by widespreadsound changes, e.g. t͡ʃ > ts.

English	Avestan	Pashto	Munji	Sanglechi	Wakhi	Shughni	Parachi	Ormuri	Yaghnobi	Ossetic
one	aēva-	yaw	yu	vak	yi	yiw	žu	sō	ī	iu
four	t͡ʃaθwārō	tsalṓr	t͡ʃfūr	tsəfúr	tsībɨr	tsavṓr	t͡ʃōr	tsār	(tafṓr)¹	cyppar
seven	hapta	ōwə	ōvda	ōvδ	ɨb	ūvd	hōt	wō	aft	avd

The initial syllable was in this word lost entirely in Yaghnobi due to a stress shift.

Lenition of voiced stops

[edit]

Common to most Eastern Iranian languages is a particularly widespreadlenition of the voiced stops *b, *d, *g. Between vowels, these have been lenited also in most Western Iranian languages, but in Eastern Iranian,spirantization also generally occurs in the word-initial position. This phenomenon is however not apparent in Avestan, and remains absent from Ormuri-Parachi.

A series ofspirant consonants can be assumed to have been the first stage: *b > *β, *d > *ð, *g > *ɣ. Thevoiced velar fricative/ɣ/ has mostly been preserved. The labial member has been well-preserved too, but in most languages has shifted from avoiced bilabial fricative/β/ to thevoiced labiodental fricative/v/. The dental member has proved the most unstable: while avoiced dental fricative/ð/ is preserved in some Pamir languages, it has in e.g. Pashto and Munji lenited further to/l/. On the other hand, in Yaghnobi and Ossetian, the development appears to have been reversed, leading to the reappearance of a voiced stop/d/. (Both languages have also shifted earlier *θ >/t/.)

English	Avestan	Pashto	Munji	Sanglechi	Wakhi	Shughni	Parachi	Ormuri	Yaghnobi	Ossetic
ten	dasa	las	los / dā¹	dos	δas	δis	dōs	das	das	dæs
cow	gav-	ɣwā	ɣṓw	uɣūi	ɣīw	žōw	gū	gioe	ɣōw	qug
brother	brātar-	wrōr	vəróy	vrūδ	vīrīt	virṓd	byā	(marzā²)	virṓt	ærvad³

The consonant clusters *ft and *xt have also been widely lenited, though again excluding Ormuri-Parachi, and possibly Yaghnobi.

External influences

[edit]

The neighboringIndo-Aryan languages have exerted a pervasive external influence on the closest neighbouring Eastern Iranian, as it is evident in the development in theretroflex consonants (in Pashto, Wakhi, Sanglechi, Khotanese, etc.) and aspirates (in Khotanese, Parachi and Ormuri).^[10] A more localized sound change is the backing of the former retroflex fricativeṣ̌[ʂ], tox̌[x] or tox[χ], found in the Shughni–Yazgulyam branch and certain dialects of Pashto. E.g. "meat":ɡuṣ̌t in Wakhi andγwaṣ̌a in Southern Pashto, but changes toguxt in Shughni,γwax̌a in Central and Northern Pashto.

Notes

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^1 Munjidā is a borrowing fromPersian butYidgha still useslos.
^2 Ormurimarzā has a different etymological origin, but generally Ormuri [b] is preserved unchanged, e.g.*bastra- >bēš, Ormuri for "cord" (cf. Avestanband- "to tie").
^3 Osseticærvad means "relative". The word for "brother"æfsymær is of a different etymological source.

Notes

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^More commonly referred to asShughni-Yazghulami-Munji
^Research indicates that Northeastern and Southeastern Iranian languages are as genetically distant from one another as they are from Western Iranian, implying that a hypothetical Proto-Eastern-Iranian language never existed. With this in mind, NE Iranian and SE Iranian likely represent two separate branches within the larger Iranian language family, with Eastern Iranian being a catch-all term used in order to convey many cultural and linguistic similarities the speakers of the languages share due to areal contact historically, which includes major sound changes
^Cimmerian's position within the Northeastern Iranian group is poorly understood, as is the case with many languages within the Eastern Iranian areal category itself. Although commonly believed to belong to the Scytho-Sarmatian branch of the Scythian languages, Cimmerians predate theArzhan culture which is associated with the expansions ofTrue Scythians, including Sarmatians, and as such, their language was likely basal to the Scythian group
^Also commonly referred to asScytho-Khotanese or simplySakan
^Also commonly referred to asScytho-Sarmatian

References

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^Shimin, Geng. "On the fusion of nationalities in the Tarim Basin and the formation of the modern Uighur nationality." Central Asian Survey 3.4 (1984): 1-14.
^Penzl, Herbert; Ismail Sloan (2009).A Grammar of Pashto a Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ishi Press International. p. 210.ISBN 978-0-923891-72-5.Estimates of the number of Pashto speakers range from 40 million to 60 million...
^J.Harmatta: "Scythians" inUNESCO Collection ofHistory of Humanity – Volume III: From the Seventh Century BC to the Seventh Century AD. Routledge/UNESCO. 1996. pg. 182
^Rast, N. A. (1955). "Russians in the Medieval Iranian Epos".American Slavic and East European Review.14 (2):260–264.doi:10.2307/3000746.ISSN 1049-7544.JSTOR 3000746.
^Ira M. Lapidus (22 August 2002).A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 127–.ISBN 978-0-521-77933-3.
^Ira M. Lapidus (29 October 2012).Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 255–.ISBN 978-0-521-51441-5.
^Ira M. Lapidus (29 October 2012).Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 256–.ISBN 978-0-521-51441-5.
^Paul Bergne (15 June 2007).The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic. I.B.Tauris. pp. 5–.ISBN 978-1-84511-283-7.
^Paul Bergne (15 June 2007).The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic. I.B.Tauris. pp. 6–.ISBN 978-1-84511-283-7.
^^a ^bNicholas Sims-Williams,Eastern Iranian languages, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, 2008
^Csató, Éva Ágnes; Enwall, Joakim; Isaksson, Bo; Jahani, Carina; Månsson, Anette; Saxena, Anju; Schaefer, Christiane; Korn, Agnes (2009).Orientalia Suecana : Vol. 58 (2009). Department of linguistics and philology, Uppsala universitet.
^Gernot Windfuhr, 2009, "Dialectology and Topics",The Iranian Languages, Routledge

External links

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Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. Schmitt (1989), p. 100.

Iranian languages

History

Eastern

Pamir	Ishkashimi Khufi Munji Rushani Sanglechi Sarghulami Shughni Bartangi Khufi Oroshori Sarikoli Vanji Wakhi Yazghulami Yidgha
Scythian/Northern	Eastern Khwarezmian Saka Wakhi Sogdian Yaghnobi Western Alanic Ossetian Digor Iron Jassic Cimmerian Pontic Scythian
Others	Bactrian Parachi Pashto Central Northern Southern Wanetsi Ormuri