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Ethnologue: Languages of the World
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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Iran > Farsi, Western

Farsi, Western

A language of Iran

ISO 639-3: pes

Population  22,000,000 in Iran (1997), increasing. 800,000 Eastern Fasi in Khorasan, Gilan, Tat, Bakhtiari, Lur. Population total all countries: 23,879,300.
Region  Widespread. Most concentrated in central, south central, and northeast. Also in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Israel, Netherlands, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan.
Alternate names   New Persian, Parsi, Persian
Dialects  Abadani, Ketabi, Tehrani, Shirazi, Old Shirazi, Qazvini, Mahalhamadani, Kashani, Esfahani, Sedehi, Kermani, Araki, Shirazjahromi, Shahrudi Kazeruni, Mashadi (Meshed), Basseri, Yazdi, Bandari. Literary language virtually identical in Iran and Afghanistan, with very minor lexical differences. The Zargari dialect of Romani, Balkan [rmn] may be a dialect used by goldsmiths. Dialect shading into Dari [gbz] in Afghanistan and Tajiki [tgk] in Tajikistan. Many dialects may be separate languages.
Classification  Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian
A member of macrolanguage Persian [fas] (Iran).
Language use  National language. Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Some also use English or Azerbaijani [azb].
Language development  Taught in primary and secondary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1838–1995.
Writing system  Arabic script.
Comments  SOV. Muslim (Shi’a), Baha’i, Christian.

Also spoken in:

Iraq

Language name   Farsi, Western
Population  227,000 in Iraq (1993).
Alternate names  Persian
Comments  Muslim.
 

Oman

Language name   Farsi, Western
Population  25,000 in Oman (1993).
Region  Scattered coastal cities. Mutrah area, Jabroo community, toward Ruwi.
Alternate names  Persian
Language use  Many women speak only Farsi. Men who go outside the community speak Arabic as L2, and many know 2 or 3 other languages.
Comments  Muslim (Shi’a).
 

Qatar

Language name   Farsi, Western
Population  73,000 in Qatar (1993).
Alternate names  Persian
Comments  Muslim.
 

Tajikistan

Language name   Farsi, Western
Population  50,000 in Tajikistan (Johnstone and Mandryk 2001).
Alternate names  Persian
Comments  Not a literary language in Tajikistan. Muslim (Shi’a).
 

United Arab Emirates

Language name   Farsi, Western
Population  80,000 in United Arab Emirates (1986).
Alternate names  Persian
Comments  Merchants; traders. Muslim.
 

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

JAHANI, Carina; PAUL, Daniel, authors. 2008. "Fronting of the voiceless velar plosive in Persian."

PAUL, Daniel, author. 2008. "The individuating function of the Persian "indefinite suffix"."