Talysh language

Talysh
Tolışi Толыши تالشی زَوُن
Native to	Azerbaijan, Iran
Region	The Western and Southwestern Caspian Sea coastal strip
Native speakers	unknown (900,000 cited 1993–1996)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Northwestern II Tatic Talysh
Writing system	Persian alphabet in Iran Latin script in Azerbaijan Cyrillic script in Russia
Official status
Regulated by	Academy of Persian Language and Literature
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tly
Glottolog	taly1247
Linguasphere	58-AAC-ed

The Talysh language (Tolışi / Толыши / تالشی زَوُن) is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Talysh language is closely related to the Tati language. Historically, the language and its people can be traced through the middle Iranian period back to the ancient Medes. It includes many dialects usually divided into three main clusters: Northern (in Azerbaijan and Iran), Central (Iran) and Southern (Iran). There are a wide variety of estimates for the number of Talyshi speakers with reliable estimates running anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million. Talyshi is partially, but not fully, intelligible with respect to Persian. Talysh is classified as "vulnerable" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

History

The origin of the name Tolish is not clear but is likely to be quite old. The name of the people appears in early Arabic sources as Al-Taylasân and in Persian as Tâlišân and Tavâliš, which are plural forms of Tâliš. Northern Talysh (in the Republic of Azerbaijan) was historically known as Tâlish-i Guštâsbi. Talysh has always been mentioned with Gilan or Muqan. Hamdallah Mostowfi writing in the 1340s calls the language of Gushtaspi covering the Caspian border region between Gilan to Shirvan is called a Pahlavi language connected to the language of Gilan. Although there are no confirmed records, the language called in Iranian linguistics as Azari can be the antecedent of both Talyshi and Tati. Miller’s (1953) hypothesis that the Âzari of Ardabil, as appears in the quatrains of Shaikh Safi, was a form of Talyshi. That was also confirmed by Henning (1954). In western literature the people and the language are sometimes referred to as Talishi, Taleshi or Tolashi. Generally speaking, written documents about Taleshi are rare.

Geography

In the north of Iran, there are six cities where Talyshi is spoken: Masal, Rezvanshar, Talesh, Fouman, Shaft, and Masoleh (in these cities some people speak Gilaki and Turkish as well). The only towns where Talyshi is spoken exclusively are the townships of Masal and Masouleh. In other cities, in addition to Talyshi, people speak Gilaki and Azerbaijani. In Azerbaijan there are eight cities were Talysh is spoken: Astara (98%), Lerik (90%), Lenkoran (90%), Masalli (36%).

Talyshi has been under the influence of Gilaki, Azeri Turkic, and Persian. In the south (Taleshdula, Masal, Shanderman, and Fumanat) Talyshis and Gilaks live side by side; however, there are less evidence that a Talyshi family replaces Gilaki with its own language. In this region the relation is more of a contribution to each other's language. In the north of Gilan, on the other hand, Azeri Turkic has replaced Talyshi in cities like Astara after the migration of Turkic speakers to the region decades ago. However, the people around Lavandvil and its mountainous regions has retained Talyshi. Behzad Behzadi, the author of "Azerbaijani Persian Dictionary" remarks that: "The inhabitants of Astara are Talyshis and in fifty years ago (about 1953) that I remember the elders of our family spoke in that language and the great majority of dwellers also conversed in Talyshi. In the surrounding villages, a few were familiar with Turkic". From around Lisar up to Hashtpar, Azeri and Talyshi live side by side, with the latter mostly spoken in small villages. To the south of Asalem, the influence of Azeri is negligible and the tendency is towards Persian along Talyshi in cities. In the Azerbaijan republic, Talyshi is less under the influence of Azeri and Russian than Talyshi in Iran is affected by Persian. Central Talyshi has been considered the purest of all Talyshi dialects.

Classification and related languages

Talyshi belongs to the Northwestern Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The living language most closely related to Talyshi is Tati. The Tati group of dialects is spoken across the Talysh range in the southwest (Kajal and Shahrud) and south (Tarom). This Tatic family should not be confused with another Tat family which is more related to Persian. Talyshi also shares many features and structures with Zazaki, now spoken in Turkey, and the Caspian languages and Semnani of Iran.

Dialects

The division of Talyshi into three clusters is based on lexical, phonological and grammatical factors. Northern Talyshi distinguishes itself from Central and Southern Talyshi not only geographically but culturally and linguistically as well. Speakers of Northern Talysh are found almost exclusively in the Republic of Azerbaijan but can also be found in the neighboring regions of Iran, in the Province of Gilan. The varieties of Talysh spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan are best described as speech varieties rather than dialects. Four speech varieties are generally identified on the basis of phonetic and lexical differences. These are labeled according to the four major political districts in the Talysh region: Astara, Lankaran, Lerik, and Masally. The differences between the varieties are minimal at the phonetic and lexical level. Mamedov (1971) suggests a more useful dialectal distinction is one between the varieties spoken in the mountains and those spoken in the plains. The morphosyntax of Northern Talysh is characterized by a complicated split system which is based on the Northwest Iranian type of accusativity/ergativity dichotomy: it shows accusative features with present-stem-based transitive constructions, whereas past-stem-based constructions tend towards an ergative behavior. In distant regions like Lavandevil and Masouleh, the dialects differ to such a degree that conversations begin to be difficult. In Iran, the northern dialect is in danger of extinction.

The major dialects of Talyshi
Northern (in Azerbaijan Republic and in Iran (Ardabil and Gilan provinces) from Anbaran to Lavandavil) including:	Central (in Iran (Gilan province) from Haviq to Taleshdula/Rezvanshahr district) Including:	Southern (in Iran from Khushabar to Fumanat) including:
Astara, Lankaran, Lerik, Masalli, Karaganrud/Kotbesara, Lavandavil	Taleshdula, Asalem, Tularud	Khushabar, Shanderman, Masule, Masal, Siahmazgar

Some Northern dialects' differences

The northern dialect has some salient differences from the central and southern dialects, e.g.:

Taleshdulaei	Example	Lankarani	Example	Meaning
â	âvaina	u	uvai:na	mirror
	dâr		du	tree
a	za	â	zârd	yellow
u/o	morjena	â	mârjena	ant
x	xetē	h	htē	to sleep
j	gij	ž	giž	confused

Alignment variation

The durative marker "ba" in Taleshdulaei changes to "da" in Lankarani and shifts in between the stem and person suffixes:
ba-žē-mun → žē-da-mun

Such a diversification exists in each dialect too, as in the case of Masali

Phonology and scripts

The vowel system in Talyshi is more extended than in standard Persian. The prominent differences are the front vowel ü in central and northern dialects and the central vowel ə. In 1929, a Latin-based alphabet was created for Talyshi in the Soviet Union. However, in 1938 it was changed to Cyrillic-based, but it did not gain extensive usage for a variety of reasons, including political Stalinist consolidation of socialist nations. Nowadays, the Perso-Arabic script and Azeri Latin are used in Iran and Azerbaijan, respectively. The following tables contain the vowels and consonants used in Talyshi. The sounds of the letters on every row, pronounced in each language, may not correspond fully.

Monophthongs

IPA	1929–1938	ISO 9	Perso-Arabic script	KNAB (199x(2.0))	Cyrillic	Other Romanization	Example(s)
ɒː	a	a	آ, ا	a	a	â	âv
æ	a	a̋	َ, اَ	ǝ	ә	a, ä	asta
ə	ә	-	ِ, اِ or َ, اَ	ə	ə	e, a	esa
eː	e	e	ِ, اِ	e	e	e	nemek
o	o	o	ا, ُ, و	o	о	o	šalvo
u	u	u	او, و	u	y	u	udmi
y	u	-	او, و	ü	y	ü	salü, kü, düri, Imrü
i	ъ	y	ای, ی	ı	ы	i	bila
iː	i	i	ای, ی	i	и	i, ị	neči, xist
Notes: ISO 9 standardization is dated 1995. 2.0 KNAB romanization is based on the Azeri Latin.

Diphthongs

IPA	Perso-Arabic script	Romanization	Example(s)
ɒːɪ	آی, ای	âi, ây	bâyl, dây
aʊ	اَو	aw	dawlat
æɪ	اَی	ai, ay	ayvona, ayr
oʊ	اُو	ow, au	kow
eɪ	اِی	ey, ei, ay, ai	keybânu
æːɐ	اَ	ah	zuah, soahvona, buah, yuahnd, kuah, kuahj
eːɐ	اِ	eh	âdueh, sueh, danue'eh
ɔʏ	اُی	oy	doym, doymlavar

Consonants

IPA	1929–1938	ISO 9	Perso-Arabic script	KNAB (199x(2.0))	Cyrillic	Other Romanization	Example(s)
p	p	p	پ	p	п	p	pitâr
b	в	b	ب	b	б	b	bejâr
t	t	t	ت, ط	t	т	t	tiž
d	d	d	د	d	д	d	debla
k	k	k	ک	k	к	k	kel
ɡ	g	g	گ	g	г	g	gaf
ɣ	ƣ	ġ	غ	ğ	ғ	gh	ghuša
q	q	k̂	ق	q	ҝ	q	qarz
tʃ	c, ç	č	چ	ç	ч	ch, č, c	čâki
dʒ	j	ĉ	ج	c	ҹ	j, ĵ	jâr
f	f	f	ف	f	ф	f	fel
v	v	v	و	v	в	v	vaj
s	s	s	س, ص, ث	s	с	s	savz
z	z	z	ز, ذ, ض, ظ	z	з	z	zeng
ʃ	ş	š	ش	ş	ш	sh	šav
ʒ	ƶ	ž	ژ	j	ж	zh	ža
x	x	h	خ	x	x	kh	xâsta
h	h	ḥ	ه, ح	h	һ	h	haka
m	m	m	م	m	м	m	muža
n	n	n	ن	n	н	n	nân
l	l	l	ل	l	л	l	lar
"L mixed with I" (maybe lʲ?)	-	-	-	-	-	-	xâlâ, avâla, dalâ, domlavar, dalaza
ɾ	r	r	ر	r	р	r	raz
j	y	j	ی	y	ј	y, j	yânza
Notes: ISO 9 standardization is dated 1995. 2.0 KNAB romanization is based on the Azeri Latin.

Differences from Persian

The general phonological differences of some Talysh dialects with respect to standard Persian are as follows:

Talysh	Example	Persian	Example	Translation
u	duna	â	dâne	seed
i	insân	initial e	ensân	human being
e	tarâze	u	terâzu	balance (the apparatus)
e	xerâk	o	xorâk	food
a in compound words	mâng-a-tâv	∅	mah-tâb	moonlight
v	âv	b	âb	water
f	sif	b	sib	apple
x	xâsta	h	âheste	slow
t	tert	d	tord	brittle
j	mija	ž	može	eyelash
m	šamba	n	šanbe	Saturday
∅	mēra	medial h	mohre	bead
∅	ku	final h	kuh	mountain

Grammar

Talyshi has a subject–object–verb word order. In some situations the case marker, 'i' or 'e' attaches to the accusative noun phrase. There is no definite article, and the indefinite one is "i". The plural is marked by the suffixes "un", "ēn" and also "yēn" for nouns ending with vowels. In contrast to Persian, modifiers are preceded by nouns, for example: "maryami kitav" (Mary's book) and "kava daryâ" (livid sea). Like the most other Iranian dialects there are two categories of inflection, subject and object cases. The "present stem" is used for the imperfect and the "past stem" for the present in the verbal system. That differentiates Talyshi from most other Western Iranian dialects. In the present tense, verbal affixes cause a rearranging of the elements of conjugation in some dialects like Tâlešdulâbi, e.g. for expressing the negation of b-a-dašt-im (I sew), "ni" is used in the following form: ni-m-a-dašt (I don't sew)."m" is first person singular marker, "a" denotes duration and "dašt" is the past stem.

Pronouns

Talyshi is a null-subject language, so nominal pronouns (e.g. I, he, she) are optional. For first person singular, both "az" and "men" are used. Person suffixes are not added to stems for "men". Examples:

• men xanda. (I read.), az bexun-em (Should I read ...)
• men daxun! (Call me!), az-daxun-em (Should I call ...)

There are three prefixes in Talyshi and Tati added to normal forms making possessive pronouns. They are: "če / ča" and "eš / še".

Normal Forms
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	az/âz, men	ama
2nd	te	šema
3rd	ay	ayēn

Possessive Pronouns
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	če-men, če-mi	ča-ma
2nd	eš-te	še-ma
3rd	ča-y, ča	čai:mun

Verbs

• preverbs: â/o, da, vi/i/ē/â, pē/pi
• Negative Markers: ne, nē, ni
• Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
• Durative markers: a, ba, da

The following Person Suffixes are used in different dialetcs and for different verbs.

Person Suffixes
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	-em, -ema, -emē, -ima, -um, -m	-am, -emun(a), -emun(ē), -imuna, -imun
2nd	-i, -er(a), -eyē, -išaو -š	-a, -erun(a), -eyunē, -iruna, -iyun
3rd	-e, -eš(a), -eš(ē), -a, -ē, -u	-en, -ešun(a), -ešun(ē), -ina, -un

Conjugations

The past stem is inflected by removing the infinitive marker (ē), however the present stem and jussive mood are not so simple in many cases and are irregular. For some verbs, present and past stems are identical. The "be" imperative marker is not added situationally. The following tables show the conjugations for first-person singular of "sew" in some dialects of the three dialectical categories:

Stems and imperative mood

Stems and Imperative mood
	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulaei)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati (Kelori)
Infinitive	dut-ē	dašt-ē	dēšt-ē	dut-an
Past stem	dut	dašt	dēšt	dut
Present stem	dut	dērz	dērz	duj
Imperative	be-dut	be-dērz	be-dērz	be-duj

Active voice

Active Voice
Form	Tense	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulaei)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati (Kelori)
Infinitive	-	dut-ē	dašt-ē	dēšt-ē	dut-an
Indicative	Present	dute-da-m	ba-dašt-im	dērz-em	duj-em
„	Past	dut-emē	dašt-em	dēšt-em	bedut-em
„	Perfect	dut-amē	dašt-ama	dēšt-ama	dute-mē
„	Past imperfective	dute-aymē	adērz-ima	dērz-ima	duj-isēym
„	Past perfect	dut-am bē	dašt-am-ba	dēšt-am-ba	dut-am-bē
„	Future	pima dut-ē	pima dašt-ē	pima dēšt-ē	xâm dut-an
„	Present progressive	dute da-m	kâr-im dašt-ē	kâra dērz-em	kerâ duj-em
„	Past progressive	dut dab-im	kârb-im dašt-ē	kârb-im dēšt-ē	kerâ duj-isēym
Subjunctive	Present	be-dut-em	be-dērz-em	be-dērz-em	be-duj-em
„	Past	dut-am-bu	dašt-am-bâ	dēšt-am-bu	dut-am-bâ
Conditional	Past	dut-am ban	ba-dērz-im	be-dērz-im	be-duj-im

Passive voice

Passive Voice
Form	Tense	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulaei)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati (Kelori)
Infinitive	-	dut-ē	dašt-ē	dēšt-ē	dut-an
Indicative	Present	duta bē dam	dašta babim	dēšta bum	duta bum
„	Preterite	duta bēm	dašta bima	dēšta bima	bedujisim
„	Imperfective preterite	duta be-am be	dašta abima	dēšta bistēm	duta bisim
„	Perfect	duta beam	dašta baima	dērzistaima	dujisim
„	Pluperfect	duta beam bē	dērzista bim	dērzista bim	dujisa bim
„	Present progressive	duta bē dam	kâra dašta babima	kšra dēšta bum	kerâ duta bum
„	Preterite progressive	duta bēdabim	kâra dašta abima	kâra dēšta bistēymun	kerâ duta bisim
Subjunctive	Present	duta bebum	dašta bebum	dēšta bebum	duta bebum
„	Preterite	duta beabum	dašta babâm	dēšta babâm	dujisa biya-bâm

Case markers and prepositions

There are four "cases" in Talyshi, the nominative (unmarked), the genitive, the (definite) accusative and ergative. The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addition to the direct object. These "cases" are in origin actually just particles, similar to Persian prepositions like "râ".

Case markers and prepositions
Case	Marker	Example(s)	Persian	‌	English
Nominative	-	sepa ve davaxa.	Sag xeyli hâfhâf kard.	‌	The dog barked much.
Accusative	-i	gerd-i âda ba men	Hame râ bede be man.	‌	Give them all to me!
„	-e	âv-e-m barda	Âb râ bordam.	‌	I took the water.
Ablative	-kâ, -ku (from)	ba-i-kâ-r če bapi	Az u ce mixâhi?	‌	What do you want from him?
„	-ka, -anda (in)	âstâra-ka tâleši gaf bažēn	Dar Âstârâ Tâleši gab (harf) mizanand.	‌	They talk Talyshi in Astara.
„	-na (with)	âtaši-na mezâ maka	Bâ âtaš bâzi nakon.	‌	Don't play with fire!
„	-râ, -ru (for)	me-râ kâr baka te-râ yâd bigē	Barâye man kâr bekon Barâye xodat yâd begir.	‌	Work for me, learn for yourself.
„	-ken (of)	ha-ken hēsta ča (čečiya)	Az ân, ce bejâ mânde? (Hamân ke hast, cist?)	‌	What is of which is left?
„	ba (to)	ba em denyâ del mabēnd	Be in donyâ del maband.	‌	Don't take the world dear to your heart!
Ergative	-i	a palang-i do lorzon-i (Aorist)	Ân palang deraxt râ larzând.	‌	That leopard shook the tree.

Vocabulary

English	‌	Zazaki	Central (Taleshdulaei)	Southern (Khushabari / Shandermani)	Tati (Kelori / Geluzani)	Persian	big	‌	pilla		yâl	yâl	pilla	bozorg, gat, (yal, pil)
boy, son	‌	za	zoa, zua	zôa, zue	zu'a, zoa	zâ	Pesar
bride	‌	veyv	vayü	vayu	gēša, veyb	vayu, vēi	arus
cat	‌	pisink	kete, pišik, piš	peču	peču, pešu, piši	pešu	gorbe, piši
cry (v)	‌	berma	bamē	beramestē	beramē	beramesan	geristan
daughter, girl (little)	‌	keyna/kille	kina, kela	kilu, kela	kina, kel(l)a	kille, kilik	doxtar
day	‌	roc/roz	rüž, ruj	ruz	ruz, roz	ruz	ruz
eat (v)	‌	hverde	hardē	hardē	hardē	hardan	xordan
egg	‌	heak, uvay	uva, muqna, uya	âgla	merqona	xâ, merqowna	toxme morq
eye	‌	çem	čâš	čaš, čam	čēm	čašm	čašm
father	‌	per, piyer	dada, piya, biya	dada	?	pē	pedar
fear (v)	‌	tarsey	purnē, târsē	târsinē, tarsestē	tarsē	tarsesan	tarsidan
flag	‌	bayrok	filak	parčam	?	?	parčam, derafš
food	‌	xuruk	xerâk	xerâk	xerâk	xuruk	xorâk
go (v)	‌	şè	šē	šē	šē	šiyan	raftan (šodan)
house/room	‌	kàye/ka	ka	ka	ka	ka	xâne
language; tongue	‌	zıvon, zun	zivon	zun	zavon	zuân	zabân
moon	‌	aşm, meng	mâng, uvešim	mâng	mang	mung, meng	mâh
mother	‌	mar,may, mayer	mua, mu, nana	nana	?	mâ, dēdē, nana	mâdar, nane
mouth	‌	fek, gavé	qav, gav	ga, gav, ga(f)	qar	gar	dahân, kak
night	‌	şaw	šav		şaw	šav	šav	šab
north	‌	şımal	kubasu	šimâl	?	?	šemâl
rice	‌	berzé	berz	berz	berj	berenj	berenj
say (v)	‌	vâtē	votē	vâtē	vâtē	vâtan	goftan
sister	‌	Xvâyer	huva, hova, ho	xâlâ, xolo	xâ	xâv, xâ	xâhar
small	‌	kuşkek	ruk, gada	ruk	ruk	velle, xš	kučak
sunset	‌	maqrib	šânga	maqrib	?	?	maqreb
sunshine	‌	tinc, aftab, xvorşid	şefhaši	âftâv	?	?	âftâb
water	‌	ov, av	uv, ôv	âv	âv	âv	âb
woman, wife	‌	cen	žēn	žēn, žen	yen, žen	zanle, zan	zan
yesterday	‌	vizer	zina	zir, izer	zir, zer	zir	diruz, di

Further reading

• Abdoli, A., 1380 AP / 2001 AD. Tat and Talysh literature (Iran and Azerbaijan republic). Entešâr Publication, Tehran, ISBN 964-325-100-4. (Persian)
• Asatrian, G., and Habib Borjian, 2005. Talish: people and language: The state of research. Iran and the Caucasus 9/1, pp. 43–72 (published by Brill).
• Bazin, M., 1974. Le Tâlech et les tâlechi: Ethnic et region dans le nord-ouest de l’Iran, Bulletin de l’Association de Geographes Français, no. 417-418, 161-170. (French)
• Bazin, M., 1979. Recherche des papports entre diversité dialectale et geographie humaine: l’example du Tâleš, G. Schweizer, (ed.), Interdisciplinäre Iran-Forschung: Beiträge aus Kulturgeographie, Ethnologie, Soziologie und Neuerer Geschichte, Wiesbaden, 1-15. (French)
• Bazin, M., 1981. Quelque échantillons des variations dialectales du tâleši, Studia Iranica 10, 111-124, 269-277. (French)
• Paul, D., 2011. A comparative dialectal description of Iranian Taleshi. PhD Dissertation: University of Manchester. https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:119653
• Yarshater, E., 1996. The Taleshi of Asalem. Studia Iranica, 25, New York.
• Yarshater, E., "Tâlish". Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., vol. 10.

External links

• Positive Orientation Towards the Vernacular among the Talysh of Sumgayit
• Example of Talyshi Language
• B. Miller. Talysh language and the languages of Azeri (Russian)
• A. Mamedov, k.f.n. Talishes as carriers of the ancient language of Azerbaijan (Russian)
• A short note on the history of Talyshi literature (Persian)