Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Branch of Indo-Iranian and thus of Indo-European, composed today of about forty languages with over 80 million speakers; main languages are Persian (Farsī), Pashto, Kurdish, Belochi (esp. in Pakistan), and Ossete in the Caucasus. The oldest known languages are Avestan, the language of the Avesta, a Zoroastrian collection of texts (approx. 1000 BC (Gāthās)—500 BC (Young Avestan)) and Old Persian, recorded in cuneiform documents from the Persian Empire (approx. 500 BC). Middle Iranian is also well documented in several dialects, e.g. Parthian and Sogdian (300 BC—AD 900), which have been handed down in two different kinds of writing, Pahlavi and Manichean, both developed from Aramaic script.
Characteristics: While the older languages show typical Indo-European features, especially a strong similarity to Sanskrit. the modern Iranian languages have developed in new ways. Especially remarkable is the development of an ergative system in the preterite based on the reanalysis of a participial passive as an active verb. This ergative system is still maintained in Kurdish and Pashto, but has become an accusative system in modern Persian. Otherwise the development is marked by continuous simplification of the morphology (e.g. reduction of the case system), addition of analytic structures, and fixing of word order (SOV or SVO).
References
Abaev, V.I. 1964. A grammatical sketch of Ossetic. Bloomington, IN and The Hague (= IJAL 30:4, pub. 35).
Acta Iranica. 1975ff. Leiden and Teheran.
Beekes, R.S.P. 1988. A grammar of Gatha-Avestan. Leiden.
Brandenstein, W. and M.Mayrhofer, 1964. Handbuch des Altpersischen. Wiesbaden.
Dresden, M. 1983. Sogdian language and literature. In E.Yarshater (ed.), The Cambridge history of Iran. Vol. 3(1–2). Cambridge. 1216–29.
Encyclopaedia Iranica. 1982–. ed. E.Yarshater. Vol. I–IV 1989–1990 London. Since 1992 Costa Mesa, CA. Vol I–VII (Aa-Daylam).
Geiger, W. and E.Kuhn (eds) 1895–1901. Grundriß der iranischen Philologie, 2 vols. Strasburg.
Gershevitch, I. 1954. A grammar of Manichean Sogdian. Oxford.
Hoffmann, K. 1989. Avestan language. In Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III. 47–62.
Jackson, A.V.W. 1892. An Avesta grammar. Stuttgart.
Kellens, J. 1984. Le Verbe avestique. Wiesbaden.
Kent, R.G. 1953. Old Persian: Grammar, texts, lexicon, 2nd rev. edn. New Haven, CT.
Mackenzie, D.N. 1969. Iranian languages. In T.A.
Sebeok (ed.), Current trends in linguistics. The Hague. Vol. 5, 450–77.
——1983. Khwarazmian language and literature. In E.Yarshater (ed.), The Cambridge history of Iran. Vol. 3(1–2). Cambridge. 1244–9.
Nyberg, H.S. 1964–74. A manual of Pahlavi. 2 vols. Wiesbaden.
Oranskij, I.O. 1977. Les Langues iraniénnes, (trans. J.Blau). Paris.
Payne, J.R. 1981. Iranian languages. In B.Comrie (ed.), The languages of the Soviet Union. Cambridge. 158–79.
Redard, G. 1970. Other Iranian languages. In T.A. Sebeok (ed.), Current trends in linguistics. The Hague. Vol. 6, 97–135.
Schmitt, R. (ed.) 1989. Compendium linguarum iranicarum. Wiesbaden.
Sebeok, T. (ed.) 1970. Current Trends in Linguistics, vol. 6: Linguistics in Southeast Asia and North Africa: A. Iranian languages. The Hague and Paris. 9–135.
Spuler, B. et al. (eds) 1958. Iranistik (Handbuch der Orientalistik I, Vol. 4.1). (Repr. 1967.) Leiden.
Dictionaries
Bailey, H.W. 1979. Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge.
Bartholomae, C. 1904. Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Strasburg.
Benzing, J. 1983. Chwaresmischer Wortindex. Wiesbaden.
Gharib, B. 1995. Sogdian dictionary (Sogdian-Persian-English). Teheran.
Kanga, K.E. 1909. An English—Avesta dictionary. Bombay.
MacKenzie, D.N. 1971. A concise Pahlavi dictionary. London.
Miller, W. 1927–9. Ossetisch-russisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3 vols. Leningrad. (Repr. The Hague, 1972.)
Journal
Studia Iranica.
Indo-Iranian
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