Gilaki language

"Giliki" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Giliki, Iran.

"Gilak language" redirects here. Not to be confused with Gilyak language.

Gilaki (گیلٚکی زٚوان romanized: ɡilɵki zɵvān) is an Iranian language of the Northwestern branch, spoken in Iran's Gilan Province. Gilaki is closely related to Mazandarani and also related to Persian, which belongs to the Southwestern branch.^[2] Though the Persian language has influenced Gilaki to a great extent, Gilaki remains an independent language with a northwestern Iranian origin. The two languages of Gilaki and Mazandarani have similar vocabularies.^[3][4][5][6] The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages)^[7] share certain typological features with Caucasian languages (specifically Kartvelian language),^[7][8][9] reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of the Gilak people and Mazandarani people.

Gilaki
Gilak
گیلٚکی زٚوان (ɡilɵki zɵvān)
Gilaki in Nastaliq style (گیلکی)
Native to	Iran, province of Gilan and parts of the province of Mazandaran and Qazvin
Region	Southwest coast of the Caspian Sea
Native speakers	2.4 million (2016)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Caspian Gilaki
Dialects	Western Gilaki Eastern Gilaki Galeshi Gilaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	glk
Glottolog	gila1241
Linguasphere	58-AAC-eb
Areas where Gilaki is spoken as the mother tongue
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Classification

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki^{[10][11][12][13]} and Galeshi/Deylami.^[14][15] The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River,^[16] while Galeshi is spoken in the mountains of eastern Gilan and western Mazandaran.^[15]

There are three main dialects but larger cities in Gilan 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.^[5]

Gilaki, which has two main dialect types, eastern and western, with the Safidrūd River as the general border, is a member of the Caspian subgroup. ^[17] There are many subdialects of Gilaki, and, progressing to the east, it gradually blends into Mazandarani. The intermediate dialects of the area between Tonokābon and Kalārdašt serve as a transition between Gilaki and Mazandarani. The differences in forms and vocabulary lead to a low mutual intelligibility with either Gilaki or Mazandarani, and so these dialects should probably be considered a third separate language group of the Caspian area.^[18] In Mazandaran, Gilaki is spoken in the city of Ramsar and Tonekabon. Although the dialect is influenced by Mazandarani, it is still considered a Gilaki dialect.^[19][20]

Furthermore, the eastern Gilaki dialect is, spoken the entire valley of the Chalus river.^[21]

Apart from four Turkish-speaking villages higher up, the inhabitants of Alamut speak Gilaki and those of Rudbar Tati.^[22] In Qazvin province, Gilaki is spoken in northern parts of the province, in Alamut.^[23][24]

Grammar

Gilaki, is an inflected and genderless language. It is considered SVO, although in sentences employing certain tenses the order may be SOV.^[25] Nonetheless, the language has many grammatical similarities to English.

Dispersion

 

Map depicting areas where the various dialects of Gilaki are spoken

Gilaki is the language of the majority of people in Gilan province and also a native and well-known language in Mazandaran, Qazvin and Alborz provinces. Gilaki is spoken in different regions with different dialects and accents.^{[26][27][28][29][30][12][13][11][31]} The number of Gilaki speakers is estimated at 3 to 4 million.^[32][33][34]

Phonology

Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki of Rasht, 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	i iː		u uː
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a		ɒ

The consonants are:

Gilaki Consonants

	labial	alveolar	post-alveolar	velar	uvular	glottal
voiceless stops	p	t	t͡ʃ	k		ʔ
voiced stops	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
voiceless fricatives	f	s	ʃ	x ~ χ		h
voiced fricatives	v	z	ʒ	ɣ ~ ʁ
nasals	m	n		ŋ
liquids		l, ɾ ~ r
glides			j

Verb system

The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. All infinitives end in -tən/-dən, or in -V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original *-Vdən). The present stem is usually related to the infinitive, and the past stem is just the infinitive without -ən or -n (in the case of vowel stems).

Present tenses

From the infinitive dín, "to see", we get present stem din-.

Present indicative

The present indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem:

Singular	Plural
dinəm	diním(i)
diní	diníd(i)
diné	diníd(i)

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is formed with the prefix bí-, bú-, or bə- (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

The negative of both the indicative and the subjunctive is formed in the same way, with n- instead of the b- of the subjunctive.

Past tenses

Preterite

From xurdən, "to eat", we get the perfect stem xurd. To this are added unaccented personal endings and the unaccented b- prefix (or accented n- for the negative):

Singular	Plural
buxúrdəm	buxúrdim(i)
buxúrdi	buxúrdid(i)
buxúrdə	buxúrdid(i)

Imperfect

The imperfect is formed with what was originally a suffix -i:

xúrdim	xúrdim(i)
xúrdi	xúrdid(i)
xúrdi	xúrdid(i)

Pluperfect

The pluperfect is paraphrastically formed with the verb bon, "to be", and the past participle, which is in turn formed with the perfect stem+ə (which can assimilate to become i or u). 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

Past subjunctive

A curious innovation of Western Gilaki is the past subjunctive, which is formed with the (artificial) imperfect of bon+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".

Progressive

There are two very common paraphrastic constructions for the present and past progressives. From the infinitive šon, "to go", we get:

Present progressive

Singular	Plural
šón darəm	šón darim
šón dari	šón darid
šón darə	šón darid

Past progressive

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

Compound verbs

There are many compound verbs in Gilaki, whose forms differ slightly from simple verbs. Most notably, bV- is never prefixed onto the stem, and the negative prefix nV- can act like an infix -n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So from fagiftən, "to get", we get present indicative fagirəm, but present subjunctive fágirəm, and the negative of both, faángirəm or fanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of the past tenses: fángiftəm or fanígiftəm.

Nouns, cases and postpositions

Gilaki employs a combination of quasi-case endings and postpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian.

Cases

There are essentially three "cases" in Gilaki, the nominative (or, better, unmarked, as it can serve other grammatical functions), the genitive, 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 Persian ra.

Nouns

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.

Pronouns

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/

Postpositions

With the genitive can be combined many postpositions. 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.

Adjectives

Gilaki adjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have the genitive "case ending" -ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.

• Example for adjectival modification: Western Gilaki: pilla-yi zakan (big children), Surx gul (red flower). Eastern Gilaki: Sərd ow (cold water) (ɑb-e særd in Persian), kul čaqu (dull knife) (čaqu-ye kond in Persian).

Possessive constructions

• Examples for possessive constructions of nouns in Western Gilaki: məhine zakan (Mæhin's children) (Bæče-ha-ye Mæhin in Persian), Baγi gulan (garden flowers) (Gol-ha-ye Baγ in Persian). In Eastern Gilaki: Xirsi Kuti (bear cub) (Bæč-e Xers in Persian).

Vocabulary

Gilaki	Mazandarani	Zazaki	Kurmanji	English	Persian	Persian transcription	Tat	Baluchi
dim	dim/ru	ruy/rı	dêm	face	روی/چهره	ruy/čehreh	ru	dim/deym
zäy	vače	pıte/doman	dergûş / zarok	baby/kid	کودک/بچه	kudak/bačeh	əyəl	zag
pile pɛr	gate piyer	Kalîke	kal	grandfather	پدربزرگ	pedar bozorg	kələpiyər	pirok
zəmat	peyom	peyam	peyam	message	پیام	payām
mərdə per	ši piyer	Pîye zama/viştewru	xezûr	father of the husband	پدرشوهر	pedar šohar	xüsürmərd
kerk/murgh/kerat	kerg/kerk	kerg	mirîşk	hen	مرغ خانگی	morgh xānegi	kərg	morg
gow/gāb	guw	gâ	gaw/gab	cow	گاو	gāv	mərəgou	gowk
buĵor/cuer	jur/jār	cor	jor	up	بالا	bālā	zəvər	borz
kiĵi/sitarə	rojā/esāre	astare	stêrk	star	ستاره	setāreh	astara	estar
kor/kilkā/lāku	kijā/deter	kêna/çêna	keç	girl	دختر	doxtar	duxtər/ kilə	jinek/ dohtar/ jinen zag
rey/ri	rikā/peser	Laj/biko	law	boy	پسر	pesar	gədə	bachek/ marden zag
putāl	melije	morcele	morî	ant	مورچه	murčeh	mujnə	morink
siftāl/garzak	kangeli	zerqet	moz	bee	زنبور	zanbur	əng	gowder
piča	bāmeši	psing	pisîk	cat/pussy cat	گربه/پیشی	gorbeh/piši	pişik	peshik
nesä	nesum/sāyne	siya	reş	shadow	سایه	sāyeh	sayə	sāyag
vargadån/urgadån	āvizun hākerden	Vardan	êxistin	to hang	آویزان کردن/آویختن	āvixtan/āvizān kardan	vəzərən
pillə=pilla	gat	pîl/giran	gir	great	بزرگ	bozorg	kələ	tuh/ mazan
zäk/zäy	vače	doman,qîj,leyr	zarok	child	بچه	bačeh	əyəl	zag
pɛr	piyer	pîye,baw	bav	father	پدر	pedar	piyər	pet/ pes
kåråš=kereš/fakeshen	bakešiyen	keresdan	kişandin	to draw on the ground	کشیدن به دنبال	kešidan	kəşirən
fuduštån/uduštån	bučefessen	levnayış	mijîn	to suck	مکیدن	makidan	çumustən
vastån	vene/meyl	waşten	vîn	appetite or desire	اشتها و میل	eštehā o meyl
šondån/fukudån	bašendiyen	şodan/şıdan	rijandin / pê de berdan	pouring of liquids	ریختن مایعات	rixtan-e māyeāt
lisk	lis/sor	reser-lic	sîsk / runik	lubricious	ليز / سور	liz/sor
kərč	tarne	kırç		brittle	ترد و شکننده	tord o šekanandeh
där	dār	dâr	dar	tree	دار و درخت	dār / deraxt	dar	dāar/ drachk/ mach(date tree)
malĵå/čičini	mičkā	miliçik	tîvil / qilîç	sparrow	گنجشک	gonješk	mərgiçə	jenjeshk
bušu	bur/bašo	buşu	biçe / here	go	برو	boro	bura/bara	bera/ shoten
fegir/fagir	bair/bayr	fekir	bigre	take it in your hand	بگیر	begir	gir	ger
fangir/fanigir	nair/nayr	megir	megire / negire	don't take in your hand	نگیر	nagir	məgir	mager
purd	perd/pel	pırd	pir	bridge	پل	pol	kürpi
si	gar/si/se	koy u kerra	çiya û kevir	mountain and stone	کوه و سنگ	kuh o sang
kenes	barxerd	temas	temas	touch	تماس	tamās
morghanə	merqāne	hâk	hêk	egg	تخم مرغ	toxm-e morgh	xakərg	āmorg/ hek
lanti	mar	mar	mar	snake	مار	mār	mar	mār
kəlach	kelaj	qela	qela	crow	کلاغ	kalāgh	qəlağ
gərmalət	golmetare	isot, ferfer	îsot	pepper	فلفل	felfel	istout	pelpel
pamadur	goje	firang	firing	tomato	گوجه فرنگی	gojeh-ye farangi	pamadur
vatərkəssən/vatərkəstən	baterkessen	terqnaiden	teqîn / peqîn	explode	ترکیدن	terkidan
šimi šin	šeme vesse	seba/semed şıma	ji bo te	for you	برای شما	barāye šomā	bey işmu/ bəri işmu	par shoma/ par ta/ shome ent/ ti ent
mi šin	me vesse	seba/semede mı	ji bo min	for me	برای من	barāye man	bey mən/ bəri mən	par man/ mani ent
kiškazay	čindekā	kerge	mirişk	chicken	جوجه	jujeh	cücə
vərza	junekā	gâ	gaw / ganêr	male cow	گاو نر	gāv-e nar	nərəgou
leše	telem/telemkā	mungâ	mange	bull	گاو ماده	gāv-e māddeh	gou
jir/bijir	jir/jer	ceir/cér	jêr	down	پائین	pā'in	zir	jahl/ cher
luchan	qorpe/češ degārdiyen	çemard		roll of the eyes	چشم غره	češm ghoreh
bəjar/bijar	binjār/bijār/šālizār	berzer	zeviya rizê	rice farm	مزرعه برنج	mazra'e-ye berenj
vachukastan	jurburden	vecyayen	helkiştin	climb	بالا رفتن	bālā raftan	dürmarən	borz buten

Comparison of Gilaki, Mazandarani, Kurmanci, Zazaki and Balochi

Gilaki	English	Mazandarani	Kurmanci	Zazaki	Balochi
zay/zak	baby/kid	vače/kote	zarok	doman/qîj	Zag
ĵor	up	jur/jār	jor/jûr	cor	Borz
kor/kilka	girl	kijā/deter	keç	kêna/çêna	jinek/janek
daar	tree	dār	dar	dar	dāar
bušu	go	bur/bašo	biçe	so/şo	boro
purd	bridge	perd/pel	pir	pird
zama	groom	zomā	zava	zama	salonk/ zamās
kaft	fell	daket	ket	kewt	kapt

Notes

1. Gilaki at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)  
2. Dalb, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. p. 226. ISBN 0-231-11568-7.
3. https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:560728/FULLTEXT02.pdf^{[bare URL PDF]}
4. "GILAN x. LANGUAGES – Encyclopaedia Iranica".
5. "Gilaki".
6. "OLAC resources in and about the Gilaki language".
7. Nasidze, I; Quinque, D; Rahmani, M; Alemohamad, SA; Stoneking, M (April 2006). "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran". Curr. Biol. 16 (7): 668–73. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021. PMID 16581511. S2CID 7883334.
8. Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated, page 294
9. The Tati language group in the sociolinguistic context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia By D.Stilo, pages 137-185
10. تاریخ بدخشان / تالیف میرزاسنگ محمدبدخشی ؛ باتصحیح و تحشیه منوچهر ستوده. Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University. 1988. doi:10.29171/azu_acku_ds375_bay43_meem38_1367.
11. "ALAMŪT – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
12. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
13. ریاحی /, وحید. . دانشنامه جهان اسلام بنیاد دائرة المعارف اسلامی (in Persian). Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
14. محمود رنجبر، رقیه رادمرد (۱۳۸۲)، بررسی و توصیف گویش گالشی
15. «محمود رنجبر» و «رقیه رادمرد»؛ «بررسی وتوصیف گویش گالشی»؛ نشر گیلکان
16. Stilo, Don "A Description of the Northwest Iranian Project at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology"
17. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
18. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
19. خائفی، عباس (۱۳۹۵). "بررسي ماضي نقلي در گويش هاي حاشيه درياي خزر". گردهمايي انجمن ترويج زبان و ادب فارسي ايران. ۱۱: ۲۰.
20. ویکی, پارسی. "معنی گیلکی". پارسی ویکی (in Persian). Retrieved 2021-03-28.
21. "ČĀLŪS". Encyclopaedia Iranica.alamut-valley-alborz-northeast-of-qazvin-
22. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
23. "روزنامه ولایت قزوین - استان قزوین؛ گنجینه زبان‌های ایرانی".
24. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
25. Johanson, Lars; Bulut, Christiane (2006). Turkic-Iranian Contact Areas: Historical and Linguistic Aspects. ISBN 9783447052764.
26. "The Stateless Nations and the European Union", Stateless Nations, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, doi:10.1057/9781137008206.0011, ISBN 978-1-137-00820-6, retrieved 2021-03-27
27. Huyse, Philip (2002-05-15). "Die iranischen Sprachen in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag, 2000, IX + 106 p., 1 carte". Abstracta Iranica. 23. doi:10.4000/abstractairanica.35151. ISSN 0240-8910.
28. "IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
29. شماره کتابشناسی ملی:۲۸۷۹۶۷۷/طرح بررسی و سنجش شاخص‌های فرهنگ عمومی کشور (شاخص‌های غیرثبتی){گزارش}:استان گیلان/به سفارش شورای فرهنگ عمومی کشور؛ مدیر طرح و مسئول سیاست گذاری:منصور واعظی؛ اجرا:شرکت پژوهشگران خبره پارس -شابک:۱-۶۰-۶۶۲۷-۶۰۰-۹۷۸ *وضعیت نشر:تهران-موسسه انتشارات کتاب نشر ۱۳۹۱ *وضعیت ظاهری:۲۸۵ ص:جدول (بخش رنگی)، نمودار (بخش رنگی).
30. طرح بررسی و سنجش شاخص‌های فرهنگ عمومی کشور (شاخص‌های غیرثبتی){گزارش}:استان قزوین/به سفارش شورای فرهنگ عمومی کشور؛ مدیر طرح و مسئول سیاست گذاری:منصور واعظی؛ اجرا:شرکت پژوهشگران خبره پارس -شابک:۳-۵۳-۶۶۲۷-۶۰۰-۹۷۸ *وضعیت نشر:تهران-موسسه انتشارات کتاب نشر ۱۳۹۱ *وضعیت ظاهری:۲۶۸ ص:جدول (بخش رنگی)، نمودار (بخش رنگی).
31. "شهرداری چالوس". www.chalouscity.ir. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
32. "Gilaki". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
33. "Iran Provinces". www.statoids.com. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
34. Held, Colbert C.; Cummings, John Thomas; Cotter, John V. (2018-05-04). Middle East Patterns. doi:10.4324/9780429493454. ISBN 9780429493454.

Further reading

• Christensen, Arthur Emanuel. 1930. Dialect Guiläki de Recht [The Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. In Contributions à la dialectologie iranienne. Series: Kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser; 17, 2. (translated into Persian 1995)
• Purriyahi, Masud. 1971. Barresi-ye dastur-e guyesh-e Gilaki-ye Rasht [A Grammatical Study of the Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. Dissertation, Tehran University.
• Sartippur, Jahangir. 1990/1369 A.P. Vižegihā-ye Dasturi va Farhang-e vāžehā-ye Gilaki [Grammatical Characteristics and Glossary of Gilaki]. Rasht: Nashr-e Gilakan. Dictionary.
• Shokri, Giti. 1998. Māzi-ye Naqli dar Guyeshhā-ye Gilaki va Mazandarāni [Present perfect in Gilani and Mazandarāni Dialects]. Nāme-ye Farhangestān 4(4(16)):59–69. (quarterly journal of Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature) in English.
• Rastorgueva, V., Kerimova, A., Mamedzade, A., Pireiko, L., Edel’man, D. & Lockwood, R. M. 2012. The Gilaki Language. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.

External links

 

Gilaki edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Sample recording in Gilaki
• Dictionary of Gilaki (Dialect of Lahijan) and some of its characteristics
• Open access recordings of a Gilaki song and basic word list are available through Kaipuleohone