Western Iranian languages

Western Iranian
Geographic distribution:	Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and western South Asia
Linguistic classification:	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian
Subdivisions:	Northwestern Iranian Southwestern Iranian

The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC).

The two sub-branches are:

• Northwestern Iranian languages
• Southwestern Iranian languages

The opposition of these two dialect groups is apparent already in Old Iranian times, from the opposition of Old Persian and Median.

Northwestern Iranian

Main article: Northwestern Iranian

The Northwestern Iranian languages are a branch of the Western Iranian language group. They are classified into about 9 groups; each group in this list contains subgroups, dialects or individual languages, eventually forming 53-54 branches.

Northwestern

1. Azari* (the original Azeri language)
2. Central Iran (See)
3. Kurdish (Dialects: Sorani (Central Kurdish), Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish), Laki. (See: Windfuhr, G. The Iranian Languages, P. 587, 2009)
4. Zaza–Gorani languages: Gorani (Hawrami), Bajelan, Kirmanjki (Northern Zaza), Dimli (Southern Zaza), Shabak, Sarli
5. Parthian*
6. Semnani, Sangisari, Lasgerdi, Sorkhei, Aftari, Biyabanaki
7. Median*
8. Caspian (Mazandarani (Gorgani*), Shahmirzadi, Gilaki
9. Balochi, Koroshi
10. Talysh, Gozarkhani, Kabatei, Kajali, Karingani, Koresh-e Rostam, Maraghei, Razajerdi, Shahrudi, Tati (Dialects: Chali, Takestani, Eshtehardi, Khiaraji, Ebrahim-abadi, Sagz-abadi, Danesfani, Esfarvarini, Khoznini; Kho'ini, Balbavini, Sefid-kamari, Halabi, Sa'd-abadi; Khalkhali, Taromi; Harzandi; Dizmari, Kuhpaya'i, Rudbari, Alamuti)

Southwestern Iranian

The Southwestern Iranian languages also called the Persid group are a subgroup of the Western Iranian languages, and include some 16 (SIL estimate) closely related languages and dialects. Each subfamily in this list contains subgroups and individual languages.

Southwestern

1. Old Persian*, Middle Persian*, standard modern Iranian Persian, Dari (Afghan) Persian, Tajik Persian, Hazaragi Persian, Dzhidi or Judæo-Persian, Madaglashti, Bukhori language, the Persian dialects in Khuzestan, the Aimaq dialect, the Darwazi Persian, Dehwari Persian, Pahlavni Persian, and the Dezfuli dialect
2. Juhuri language, Tat language (Caucasus)
3. the dialects of Fars, Judeo-Shirazi, the Larestani dialects, and the Bashkardi language
4. the Lori dialects (Luri, Mamasani, Kohkiluyeh, Bakhtiari), the Kumzari language

See also

• List of Iranian languages
• Eastern Iranian languages

References

• Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag, 1989; p. 99.