Persian, Iranian

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A language of Iran

ISO 639-3
pes
Alternate Names
New Persian, Parsi, Persian, West Persian, Western Farsi
Autonym
فارسی‎ (Fārsi)
Population

49,600,000 (2016), increasing. 800,000 Eastern Farsi in Khorasan speak dialects which are transitional with Iranian Persian. Total users in all countries: 52,490,820.

Location

Widespread.

Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (1979, Constitution, Article 15).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, 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. Dialect shading into Dari [prs] in Afghanistan and Tajiki [tgk] in Tajikistan. Many dialects may be separate languages. A member of macrolanguage Persian [fas].

Typology

SOV; noun head initial; no articles; tense and aspect; causatives; 23 consonant and 6 vowel phonemes; stress on final syllable (or root).

Language Use

Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Also use English [eng], Northern Luri [lrc], South Azerbaijani [azb], Southern Luri [luz].

Language Development
Taught in primary and secondary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1838–1995.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Persian, Iranian
Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab]. Arabic script, Nastaliq variant [Aran], used in Iran.

Other Comments

Muslim, Baha’i, Christian.

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