Zoroastrian Dari used to be spoken by almost a million people in central Iran, up until the 1880s.[2] Nowadays, it is used as a first language by an estimated 8,000 to 15,000 Zoroastrians in and around the cities of Yazd and Kerman in central Iran, and by the Irani community in India.
Dari is also known as Behdināni or pejoratively as Gabri (sometimes Gavrŭni or Gabrōni).[3] Dari has numerous dialects.[4]
Genealogically, Dari Persian is a member of the Northwestern Iranian language subfamily, which includes several other closely related languages, for instance, Kurdish, Zazaki, and Balochi.[5] These Northwestern Iranian languages are a branch of the larger Western Iranian language group, which is, in turn, a subgroup of the Iranian language family.
Name
The language known as Zoroastrian Dari is also referred to as 'Behdinâni' ("language of the people of good religion") or pejorative yet common name, 'Gabri' ("language of the infidels").[2] The roots of the name 'Gabri' date back to the Muslim invasion of Iran and are resented by indigenous speakers of Dari to refer to their language. As Farudi and Toosarvandani point out:[2] "For them, choosing to call their language Dari, the speakers of the language invoke their ancestral connections to a pre-Islamic Iran."
Dialects
The main Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd, Iran.
According to Farudi and Toosarvaredani,[6] Dari is traditionally divided into two main dialects: the variety spoken in Yazd and the one spoken in Kerman. However, this division of the language conceals the complexity of the actual dialectical situation. The Yazdi dialect has approximately thirty varieties, each distinct and unique to one of the Zoroastrian neighborhoods in and around Yazd. Were it not for the geographic proximity of the Yazdi dialects, they would be classified as distinct dialects. The Kermani dialect may also contain (or may have contained at one time) a comparable level of dialectical complexity.
Although Dari has been generally considered quintessential to Zoroastrian identity,[7] but its vitality of it is being affected or has been affected in the past, by two main types of pressure[citation needed]: economic and political.
The pressures affecting the vitality of Dari Persian today are largely economic. In order to obtain an economic advantage, speakers are giving up their traditional language for the dominant language of Iran, standard new Persian. Parents intentionally do not transmit Dari to their children in order that they may have what is felt to be an advantage in school and in life. The language loss can also occur more indirectly and less visible when people move to larger urban centers or abroad in pursuit of better economic opportunities; the lack of a complete language environment in which to immerse a child decreases or completely inhibits the transmission of the language to new generations.
In past times, Dari speakers experienced political pressures to yield up their language as well. The period since the seventh-century Muslim conquest of Persia has been a time of great persecution for the Zoroastrians of Iran. Political pressures have directly resulted in language loss when Zoroastrians have deliberately abandoned their language as a means of hiding their identity so as to escape persecution. Political pressures have also led to language loss indirectly; the oppression the Zoroastrians have been experienced under Iran’s various rulers over the past thousand or so years has driven a steady stream of Zoroastrians to more tolerant areas, mostly the capital, Tehran, or abroad. Again, a complete language environment does not exist in these places, inhibiting the transmission of Dari to new generations.
Linguists currently consider Dari to be in a state of language shift. Many of the language’s speakers have assimilated to the dominant culture of the society they live in and have given up—intentionally or unintentionally—their traditional language. Languages like Dari are transferring from a state of language maintenance, in which a language is being sustained in the face of pressure from a dominant culture, to language death, a state in which the language is no longer spoken.
Many of Dari’s dialects are facing extinction at an even more rapid pace than the language as a whole. Since each of Dari’s many dialects has a smaller community of speakers, they are more susceptible to the forces driving the language towards extinction. Some dialects have already effectively reached extinction, for example, the Mohammadabad dialect, which, it is reported, possesses only a few speakers living in Tehran. The Kerman dialect, always susceptible because of the smaller size of its Zoroastrian population, also seems to be largely lost.
Cahill, Michael; et al., eds. (2001), "Language Family Tree for Northwestern Iranian languages", Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th ed., Dallas: SIL
Farudi, Annahita; Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (2003), (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2007
Farudi, Annahita; Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (2004), (PDF), Berkeley: UC Berkeley/linguistics.berkeley.edu, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017
Farudi, Annahita; Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (2005), "The Loss of Ergativity in Dari Modal Verbs", in McNay, Anna (ed.), Oxford Working Papers in Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics, pp. 149–160
Farudi, Annahita; Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (2007), , Dari Language Project, Berkeley: UC Berkeley/linguistics.berkeley.edu, archived from the original on 2019
Ringer, Monica M. (January 2012). Amanat, Abbas; Vejdani, Farzin (eds.). Iranian Nationalism and Zoroastrian Identity; Between Cyrus and Zoroaster (First ed.). Iran Facing Others; Identity Boundaries in a Historical Perspective: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN978-0-230-10253-8.
Further reading
Boyce, Mary (2001), Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London: Routledge
Browne, Edward Granville (1893), A Year Amongst the Persians, London: A & C Black
Farudi, Annahita; Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (2007), , Dari Language Project, Berkeley: UC Berkeley/linguistics.berkeley.edu, archived from the original on 2008-10-10, retrieved 2007-09-27
February 25, 2023
zoroastrian, dari, language, variety, persian, language, spoken, afghanistan, dari, language, zoroastrian, dari, persian, دری, زرتشتی, گویش, بهدینان, literally, behdīnān, dialect, persian, dialect, northwestern, iranian, ethnolect, darigabriyazdinative, tocent. For the variety of Persian language spoken in Afghanistan see Dari language Zoroastrian Dari Persian دری زرتشتی or گویش بهدینان literally Behdinan dialect is a Persian dialect and a Northwestern Iranian 1 ethnolect DariGabriYazdiNative toCentral IranRegionYazd and KermanNative speakers8 000 1999 1 Language familyIndo European Indo IranianIranianWesternNorthwestern IITaticKermanic Central PlateauSoutheasternDariLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code gbz class extiw title iso639 3 gbz gbz a Glottologzoro1242ELPZoroastrian DariJudeo YazdiZoroastrian Dari used to be spoken by almost a million people in central Iran up until the 1880s 2 Nowadays it is used as a first language by an estimated 8 000 to 15 000 Zoroastrians in and around the cities of Yazd and Kerman in central Iran and by the Irani community in India Dari is also known as Behdinani or pejoratively as Gabri sometimes Gavrŭni or Gabrōni 3 Dari has numerous dialects 4 Contents 1 Genealogy 2 Name 3 Dialects 4 Endangered status 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 Further readingGenealogy EditGenealogically Dari Persian is a member of the Northwestern Iranian language subfamily which includes several other closely related languages for instance Kurdish Zazaki and Balochi 5 These Northwestern Iranian languages are a branch of the larger Western Iranian language group which is in turn a subgroup of the Iranian language family Name EditThe language known as Zoroastrian Dari is also referred to as Behdinani language of the people of good religion or pejorative yet common name Gabri language of the infidels 2 The roots of the name Gabri date back to the Muslim invasion of Iran and are resented by indigenous speakers of Dari to refer to their language As Farudi and Toosarvandani point out 2 For them choosing to call their language Dari the speakers of the language invoke their ancestral connections to a pre Islamic Iran Dialects Edit The main Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd Iran According to Farudi and Toosarvaredani 6 Dari is traditionally divided into two main dialects the variety spoken in Yazd and the one spoken in Kerman However this division of the language conceals the complexity of the actual dialectical situation The Yazdi dialect has approximately thirty varieties each distinct and unique to one of the Zoroastrian neighborhoods in and around Yazd Were it not for the geographic proximity of the Yazdi dialects they would be classified as distinct dialects The Kermani dialect may also contain or may have contained at one time a comparable level of dialectical complexity Endangered status EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message Although Dari has been generally considered quintessential to Zoroastrian identity 7 but its vitality of it is being affected or has been affected in the past by two main types of pressure citation needed economic and political The pressures affecting the vitality of Dari Persian today are largely economic In order to obtain an economic advantage speakers are giving up their traditional language for the dominant language of Iran standard new Persian Parents intentionally do not transmit Dari to their children in order that they may have what is felt to be an advantage in school and in life The language loss can also occur more indirectly and less visible when people move to larger urban centers or abroad in pursuit of better economic opportunities the lack of a complete language environment in which to immerse a child decreases or completely inhibits the transmission of the language to new generations In past times Dari speakers experienced political pressures to yield up their language as well The period since the seventh century Muslim conquest of Persia has been a time of great persecution for the Zoroastrians of Iran Political pressures have directly resulted in language loss when Zoroastrians have deliberately abandoned their language as a means of hiding their identity so as to escape persecution Political pressures have also led to language loss indirectly the oppression the Zoroastrians have been experienced under Iran s various rulers over the past thousand or so years has driven a steady stream of Zoroastrians to more tolerant areas mostly the capital Tehran or abroad Again a complete language environment does not exist in these places inhibiting the transmission of Dari to new generations Linguists currently consider Dari to be in a state of language shift Many of the language s speakers have assimilated to the dominant culture of the society they live in and have given up intentionally or unintentionally their traditional language Languages like Dari are transferring from a state of language maintenance in which a language is being sustained in the face of pressure from a dominant culture to language death a state in which the language is no longer spoken Many of Dari s dialects are facing extinction at an even more rapid pace than the language as a whole Since each of Dari s many dialects has a smaller community of speakers they are more susceptible to the forces driving the language towards extinction Some dialects have already effectively reached extinction for example the Mohammadabad dialect which it is reported possesses only a few speakers living in Tehran The Kerman dialect always susceptible because of the smaller size of its Zoroastrian population also seems to be largely lost See also EditZoroastrians in IranReferences Edit a b Dari at Ethnologue 25th ed 2022 a b c Farudi amp Toosarvandani 2007 Farudi amp Toosarvandani 2005 p 149 Farudi amp Toosarvandani 2004 pp 10 12 Cahill 2001 Farudi amp Toosarvandani 2003 p 6 Ringer 2012 pp 271 272 Bibliography EditCahill Michael et al eds 2001 Language Family Tree for Northwestern Iranian languages Ethnologue Languages of the World 14th ed Dallas SIL Farudi Annahita Toosarvandani Maziar Doustdar 2003 The Dari Language Project 2003 Fieldwork Endeavor Summary of Findings PDF archived from the original PDF on 2007 Farudi Annahita Toosarvandani Maziar Doustdar 2004 The Dari Language Project 2004 Fieldwork Endeavor Summary of Findings PDF Berkeley UC Berkeley linguistics berkeley edu archived from the original PDF on 2017 Farudi Annahita Toosarvandani Maziar Doustdar 2005 The Loss of Ergativity in Dari Modal Verbs in McNay Anna ed Oxford Working Papers in Linguistics Philology amp Phonetics pp 149 160 Farudi Annahita Toosarvandani Maziar Doustdar 2007 About Dari Dari Language Project Berkeley UC Berkeley linguistics berkeley edu archived from the original on 2019 Ringer Monica M January 2012 Amanat Abbas Vejdani Farzin eds Iranian Nationalism and Zoroastrian Identity Between Cyrus and Zoroaster First ed Iran Facing Others Identity Boundaries in a Historical Perspective Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978 0 230 10253 8 Further reading EditBoyce Mary 2001 Zoroastrians Their Religious Beliefs and Practices London Routledge Browne Edward Granville 1893 A Year Amongst the Persians London A amp C Black Farudi Annahita Toosarvandani Maziar Doustdar 2007 A Comprehensive Bibliography of Published Works on Dari Dari Language Project Berkeley UC Berkeley linguistics berkeley edu archived from the original on 2008 10 10 retrieved 2007 09 27 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Zoroastrian Dari language amp oldid 1136527359, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
