TheSemnani languages orKomisenian languages are a group ofNorthwestern Iranian languages,[1] spoken inSemnan province (only 68,700 native speakers in 2019[2]) ofIran that share many linguistic features and structures withIranian languages. These languages are also called "dialects" in some sources. The Semnani languages are descendants of the extinctParthian whereas the Caspian languages are descended from the extinctMedian.[3]
There are six Semnani languages named in the literature. Some may be dialects, but there is little published work on their relationships.[4]
Semnani (incl. one of several dialects termed 'Biyabunaki')
^C.F. & F.M. Voegelin,Classification and Index of the World's Languages (1977) lists them as dialects of Persian (pg. 185). Lecoq, pg. 297 lists them as "dialects" as well. Ethnologue lists Semnani, Sorkhei, Lasgerdi, and Sangsari as languages with Biyabunaki as a possible dialect of Semnani and Aftari as a dialect of Sorkhei. Linguasphere lists them together in an outer language called Semnani+Sangisari [58-AAC-f] with Semnani and Sangisari listed as inner languages. Merritt Ruhlen,A Guide to the World's Languages, Volume 1: Classification (1991) lists Semnani and Sangisari as languages in the Semnani subgroup.
Borjian, Habib (2008). "The Komisenian Dialect of Aftar".Archiv Orientální.76:379–416.doi:10.7916/D8N02H9X.
Lecoq, Pierre (1989). "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran". In Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.).Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. pp. 296–314.
