Talysh language

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Talysh language

The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
ian provinces of Gilan

Gilan Province

Gilan is one of the provinces of Iran of Iran. It lies along the Caspian Sea, just west of the province of Mazandaran, east of the province of Ardabil province, north of the provinces of Zanjan province and Qazvin province....
and Ardabil

Ardabil Province

Ardabil is one of the Azerbaijani language inhabited provinces of Iran located in the North-West Iran and its center is Ardabil . It is in the north-west of the country, bordering the Azerbaijan and the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Zanjan Province, and Guilan....
and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is the largest and most populous country in the South Caucasus, located partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Western Asia....
. Historically, the language and its people

Talysh people

Talysh are an Iranian people who speak the Talysh language, one of the Northwestern Iranian languages. It is spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan Province and Ardabil Province and the southern parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan....
can be traced through the middle Iranian

Middle Iranian languages

Middle Iranian may refer to any of a group of the Indo-European language Iranian languages spoken between the 4th century BC and the 9th century AD:...
period back to the ancient Medes

Median language

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Encyclopedia

The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iran

Iran

Gilan Province

Ardabil Province

Azerbaijan

Talysh people

Middle Iranian languages

Middle Iranian may refer to any of a group of the Indo-European language Iranian languages spoken between the 4th century BC and the 9th century AD:...
period back to the ancient Medes

Median language

The Median language is the language of the Iranian Medes. Together with Gilaki, Mazandarani, Kurdish language, Parthian language and Balochi language, the language of the Medes is classified as a List of Northwestern Iranian languages language....
. 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

Persian language

History

The origin of the name Tolish is not clear but is likely quite old. The name of the people emerges 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

Talish-i Gushtasbi

Talish-i Gushtasbi is the historical name of the northern Talysh people area, presently a part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. People of northern Talysh are of Iranian stock and speak a northwestern Iranian language called Talysh language....
. Talysh has always been mentioned with Gilan or Muqan

Mughan plain

Mughan plain is a plain in northwestern Iran and the southern part of the Azerbaijan Republic. The highest density of irrigation canals is in the section of the Mughan plain which lies in the Azerbaijan Republic....
. Hamdallah Mostowfi writing in the 1340s calls the language of Gushtaspi covering the Caspian border region between Gilan to Shirvan

Shirvan

Shirvan , also spelled as Shervan or Shirwan, is a historical region in the Caucasus and part of present-day Republic of Azerbaijan....
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

Ancient Azari language

Azari, also spelled Adari, Adhari, is the name used for the Iranian languages composed of groups of dialects which were spoken in Azerbaijan at one time....
can be the antecedent of both Talyshi and Tati

Tati (Iran)

Ardabil

Ardabil is a historical city in north-western Iran. The name Ardabil probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of "Artavil" which means a holy place....
, 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, the written books and texts concerning Taleshi are rare. However, In the recent decades a scientific and research movement has come about in this old region in poetry, history, literature, etc.

Geography

In the north of Iran, there are 7 cities that speak Talyshi: Masal, Rezvanshar, Talesh, Fouman, Shaft and Masoleh. However the only city whose people speak exclusively Talyshi is the township of Masal and Masouleh. In other cities, in addition to Talyshi language, people speak Gilaki and Azeri Turkic

Azerbaijani language

Azerbaijani is a language belonging to the Turkic languages language family, spoken in southwestern Asia, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran....
. In part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, most of the villagers speak Talyshi and people in cities speak Azeri.

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 evidences that a Talyshi family replace 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

Astara, Iran

Astara is a city in the Iranian Provinces of Iran of Gilan Province. It lies on the border with Azerbaijan and on the Caspian Sea. It is a relatively important border trade center between Iran and the Caucasus....
after the migration of Turkic speakers to the region since decades ago. However the people around Lavandvil and its mountainous regions has retained the language. Behzad Behzadi

Behzad Behzadi

Behzad Behzadi was an Iranian Azeri lawyer, Azerbaijani language author, and owner and manager-in-charge of the Azari quarterly magazine.Behzadi's works include Persian Azerbaijani Dictionary, Azerbaijani Persian Dictionary, and articles on Azerbaijani orthography using the Arabic script....
, 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 nearly disconnected and the tendency is towards Persian along Talyshi in cities. In Azerbaijan republic, Talyshi is less under the influence of Azeri and Russian

Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
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

Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
. The most related living language to Talyshi is Tati

Tati (Iran)

Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian languages dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari language to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan , and also...
. Tati group of dialects are spoken across the Talysh range in the south-west (Kajal and Shahrud) and south (Tarom). That Tatic family should not be mistaken with another Tat family which is more related to Persian. Talyshi also shares many features and structures with Zazaki, now spoken in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
and Caspian languages

Caspian languages

Caspian languages are a branch of List of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken in northern Iran, south of the Caspian Sea.Caspian languages include:...
and Semnani

Semnani language

Semnani is one of the Northwestern Iranian languages . The language is spoken in Semnan province of Iran and shares many features and structures with Zazaki, now spoken in Turkey, Talyshi language and other Caspian languages....
of Iran.

Dialects

The division of Talyshi into three clusters are 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

Astara (rayon)

Astara is a Subdivisions of Azerbaijan in southeastern Azerbaijan....
, 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 construction 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

Language death

In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given Variety is decreased....
.

The Major Dialects of Talyshi
Northern (In Azerbaijan Republic and in Iran (Ardabil and Gilan provinces) from Anbaran to Lavandavil) including:	Cenrtral (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	Taleshdulab, Asalem, Tularud	Khushabar, Shanderman, Masule, Masal, Siahmazgar

Some Northern dialects' differences

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

phonological change	Taleshdulabi Example	Lankarani	?	English English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
â ? u	âvaina	uvai:na	?	mirror
a ? â	zard	zârd	?	yellow
â ? u	dâr	du	?	tree
u/o ? â	morjena	mârjena	?	ant
x ? h	xete	hte	?	to sleep
j ? ž	gij	giž	?	confused

Alignment variation

The durative marker "ba" in Taleshdulabi changes to "da" in Lankarani and shifts in between the stem and person suffixes:
ba-že-mun ? že-da-mun

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

Phonology and Scripts

The vowel system in Talyshi is more extended than standard Persian. The prominent differences is the front vowel ü in central and northern dialects and the central vowel ?.. In 1929, a Latin-based alphabet was created for Talyshi in the Soviet Union. However in 1938 it was changed to Cyrillic-based

Cyrillic alphabet variants

This is a list of national variants of the Cyrillic alphabet.Sounds are indicated using International Phonetic Alphabet. These are only approximate indicators....
, but it didn't gain extensive usage on variety of reasons, including political-Stalinist consolidation of socialist nations. Nowadays, the Perso-Arabic script

Perso-Arabic script

The Perso-Arabic script is a writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic script was modified to match the demands of being a writing system for the Persian language, adding four letters: ? , ? , ? , and ? ....
and Azeri Latin

Azerbaijani alphabet

In Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet may refer to either of two alphabets used to write the Azerbaijani language: one Cyrillic-based alphabet and one Latin-based alphabet....
are also used respectively in Iran and Azerbaijan. The following tables contain the vowels and consonanta used in Talyshi. The sounds of the letters on every row, pronounced in each language, may not correspond fully.

Monophthongs

Monophthong Monophthong A monophthong is a "pure" vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not semivowel towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong.... s
Sound (in IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic.... )	1929-1938	ISO 9 ISO 9 The international standard ISO 9 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin alphabet of Cyrillic alphabet constituting the alphabets of many Slavic languages and some non-Slavic languages....	Perso-Arabic script Perso-Arabic script The Perso-Arabic script is a writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic script was modified to match the demands of being a writing system for the Persian language, adding four letters: ? , ? , ? , and ? ....	KNAB (199x^(2.0))	Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet variants This is a list of national variants of the Cyrillic alphabet.Sounds are indicated using International Phonetic Alphabet. These are only approximate indicators....	Other Romanization Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....	Example(s)
?:	a	a	? , ?	a	a	â	âv
æ	a	a?	? , ??	?	?	a, ä	asta
?	?	-	? , ?? or ? , ??	?	?	e, a	esa
e:	e	e	? , ??	e	e	e	nemek
o	o	o	? , ? , ?	o	?	o	šalvo
u	u	u	?? , ?	u	y	u	udmi
y	u	-	?? , ?	ü	y	ü	salü, kü, düri, Imrü
i	?	y	??, ?	i	?	i	bila
i:	i	i	??, ?	i	?	i, ?	neci, xist
Notes: ISO 9 standardization is dated 1995. 2.0 KNAB romanization is based on the Azeri Latin Azerbaijani alphabet In Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet may refer to either of two alphabets used to write the Azerbaijani language: one Cyrillic-based alphabet and one Latin-based alphabet.... .

Persian phonological divergence

The general phonological differences of some Talyshi dialects with respect to standard Persian is as follows :

phonological change	Taleshdulabi / Khushabari Example	Persian Persian phonology The Persian language has six vowel phonemes and twenty-three consonant phonemes. It features contrastive stress and syllable-final consonant clusters....	?	English English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
u ? â	duna	dâne	?	seed
i ? starting "e"	insân	ensân	?	human being
e ? u	tarâze	terâzu	?	balance (the apparatus)
e ? o	xerâk	xorâk	?	food
"a" in compound words ? "eliminated"	mâng-a-tâv	mah-tâb	?	moonlight

Diphthongs

Diphthong Diphthong In phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel?that is, a unitary vowel that changes vowel quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a glissando of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held s... s
Sound (in IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic.... )	Perso-Arabic script Perso-Arabic script The Perso-Arabic script is a writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic script was modified to match the demands of being a writing system for the Persian language, adding four letters: ? , ? , ? , and ? ....	Other Romanization Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....	Example(s)
?:?	?? , ??	âi, ây	bâyl, dây
a?	???	aw	dawlat
æ?	???	ai, ay	ayvona, ayr
o?	???	ow, au	kow
e?	???	ey, ei, ay, ai	keybânu
æ:?	??	ah	zuah, soahvona, buah, yuahnd, kuah, kuahj
e:?	??	eh	âdueh, sueh, danue'eh
??	???	oy	doym, doymlavar

Consonants

Consonant Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx.... s
Sound (in IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic.... )	1929-1938	ISO 9 ISO 9 The international standard ISO 9 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin alphabet of Cyrillic alphabet constituting the alphabets of many Slavic languages and some non-Slavic languages....	Perso-Arabic script Perso-Arabic script The Perso-Arabic script is a writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic script was modified to match the demands of being a writing system for the Persian language, adding four letters: ? , ? , ? , and ? ....	KNAB (199x^(2.0))	Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet variants This is a list of national variants of the Cyrillic alphabet.Sounds are indicated using International Phonetic Alphabet. These are only approximate indicators....	Other Romanization Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....	Example(s)
p	p	p	?	p	?	p	pitâr
b	?	b	?	b	?	b	bejâr
t	t	t	? , ?	t	?	t	tiž
d	d	d	?	d	?	d	debla
k	k	k	?	k	?	k	kel
g	g	g	?	g	?	g	gaf
?	?	g	?	g	?	gh	ghuša
q	q	k^	?	q	?	q	qarz
t?	c, ç	c	?	ç	?	ch, c, c	câki
d?	j	c	?	c	?	j, j	jâr
f	f	f	?	f	?	f	fel
v	v	v	?	v	?	v	vaj
s	s	s	? , ?, ?	s	?	s	savz
z	z	z	? , ? , ? , ?	z	?	z	zeng
?	s	š	?	s	?	sh	šav
?	z	ž	?	j	?	zh	ža
x	x	h	?	x	x	kh	xâsta
h	h	?	? , ?	h	h	h	haka
m	m	m	?	m	?	m	muža
n	n	n	?	n	?	n	nân
l	l	l	?	l	?	l	lar
	-	-	-	-	-	-	xâlâ, avâla, dalâ, domlavar, dalaza
?	r	r	?	r	?	r	raz
j	y	j	?	y	?	y, j	yânza
Notes: ISO 9 standardization is dated 1995. 2.0 KNAB romanization is based on the Azeri Latin Azerbaijani alphabet In Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet may refer to either of two alphabets used to write the Azerbaijani language: one Cyrillic-based alphabet and one Latin-based alphabet.... .

Persian phonological divergence

And some differences with Persian:

phonological change	Taleshdulabi / Khushabari Example	Persian Persian phonology The Persian language has six vowel phonemes and twenty-three consonant phonemes. It features contrastive stress and syllable-final consonant clusters....	?	English English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
v ? b	âv	âb	?	water
f ? b	sif	sib	?	apple
x ? h	xâsta	âheste	?	slow
t ? d	tert	tord	?	brittle
j ? ž	mija	može	?	eyelash
m ? n	šamba	šanbe	?	saturday
"eliminated" ? "middle h"	mera	mohre	?	bead
"eliminated" ? "ending h"	ku	kuh	?	mountain

Grammar

Talyshi has a Subject Object Verb

Subject Object Verb

In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb is the type of languages in which the subject , object , and verb of a sentence appear or usually appear in that order....
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", "en" and also "yen" for nouns ending with vowels. Unlike oftener cases in 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 differentiantes 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

Null subject language

In linguistic typology, a null subject language is a language whose grammar permits an independent clause to lack an explicit subject . Such a clause is then said to have a null subject....
, so nominal pronouns (eg. I, he, she) are optional. For first person

Grammatical person

Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deixis reference to a participant in an event, such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns....
singular

Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, 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: "ce / ca" and "eš / še".

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

rder="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse; text-align: center; background:white;" |- ! colspan="3" style="background:#ADD8E6;"| Possessive Pronouns |-style="background:#eeeeee;" !Person !Singular !Plural |- |style="background:#eeeeee;"|1st || ce-men, ce-mi || ca-ma |- |style="background:#eeeeee;"|2nd || eš-te || še-ma |- |style="background:#eeeeee;"|3rd || ca-y, ca || cai:mun |- |}

Verbs

preverb
Preverb

Although not widely accepted in linguistics, the term preverb is used in Caucasian languages , Caddoan languages, and Algonquian languages linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs....
s: â/o, da, vi/i/e/â, pe/pi
Negative Markers: ne, ne, ni
Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
Durative markers: a, ba, da

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

Person Suffixes
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	-em, -ema, -eme, -ima, -um, -m	-am, -emun(a), -emun(e), -imuna, -imun
2nd	-i, -er(a), -eye, -iša? -š	-a, -erun(a), -eyune, -iruna, -iyun
3rd	-e, -eš(a), -eš(e), -a, -e, -u	-en, -ešun(a), -ešun(e), -ina, -un

Conjugations

The past stem is inflected by removing the infinitive marker (e), 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 categouries:

Stems and imperative mood

Stems and Imperative mood
	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulabi)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati Tati (Iran) Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian languages dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari language to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan , and also... (Kelori)
Infinitive Infinitive In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English language, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the grammatical particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives....	dut-e	dašt-e	dešt-e	dut-an
Past stem Word stem In linguistics, a stem is the part of a word that is common to all its inflection variants. Stems are often root , e.g. atomic, its root is atom, but its stem is atom?ic....	dut	dašt	dešt	dut
Present stem Word stem In linguistics, a stem is the part of a word that is common to all its inflection variants. Stems are often root , e.g. atomic, its root is atom, but its stem is atom?ic....	dut	derz	derz	duj
Imperative Imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests. It is also used to signal a prohibition, permission or any other kind of exhortation....	be-dut	be-derz	be-derz	be-duj

Active voice

Active Voice Grammatical voice In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its verb arguments ....
Form	Tense	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulabi)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati Tati (Iran) Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian languages dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari language to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan , and also... (Kelori)
Infinitive	-	dut-e	dašt-e	dešt-e	dut-an
Indicative	Present Present tense The present tense is the Grammatical tense that may be used to express:* action at the present* a state of being;* a habitual action;* an occurrence in the near future; or...	dute-da-m	ba-dašt-im	derz-em	duj-em
„	Preterite Preterite The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place in the past. It is similar to the aorist in languages such as Greek language....	dut-eme	dašt-em	dešt-em	bedut-em
„	Perfect Perfect aspect The perfect aspect is variously considered either an grammatical aspect or grammatical tense which calls a listener's attention to the consequences generated by an action, rather than the action itself....	dut-ame	dašt-ama	dešt-ama	dute-me
„	Imperfective perfect Imperfect tense The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a past tense with an imperfective aspect. In English, it is referred to as the past continuous tense....	dute-ayme	aderz-ima	derz-ima	duj-iseym
„	Pluperfect Pluperfect tense The pluperfect tense , also called past perfect in English language, is a perfective grammatical tense that exists in most Indo-European languages, used to refer to an event that has been completed before another past action....	dut-am be	dašt-am-ba	dešt-am-ba	dut-am-be
„	Future Future tense In grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....	pima dut-e	pima dašt-e	pima dešt-e	xâm dut-an
„	Present progressive	dute da-m	kâr-im dašt-e	kâra derz-em	kerâ duj-em
„	Preterite progressive Past continuous Past continuous is used to describe actions and states continued in the past period of time.The construction of a past continuous is similar to the present continuous tense, be it that it has a past simple form of 'to be' instead of a present simple form preceding the present participle....	dut dab-im	kârb-im dašt-e	kârb-im dešt-e	kerâ duj-iseym
Subjunctive Subjunctive mood In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb grammatical mood that exists in many languages. It is typically used in dependent clauses to express wishes, commands, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or statements that are contrary to fact at present....	Present	be-dut-em	be-derz-em	be-derz-em	be-duj-em
„	Preterite	dut-am-bu	dašt-am-bâ	dešt-am-bu	dut-am-bâ
Conditional Conditional mood The conditional mood is the form of the verb used in conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set of circumstances....	preterite	dut-am ban	ba-derz-im	be-derz-im	be-duj-im

Passive voice

Passive Voice Grammatical voice In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its verb arguments ....
Form	Tense	Northern (Lavandavili)	Central (Taleshdulabi)	Southern (Khushabari)	Tati Tati (Iran) Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian languages dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari language to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan , and also... (Kelori)
Infinitive	-	dut-e	dašt-e	dešt-e	dut-an
Indicative	Present	duta be dam	dašta babim	dešta bum	duta bum
„	Preterite	duta bem	dašta bima	dešta bima	bedujisim
„	Imperfective preterite	duta be-am be	dašta abima	dešta bistem	duta bisim
„	Perfect	duta beam	dašta baima	derzistaima	dujisim
„	Pluperfect	duta beam be	derzista bim	derzista bim	dujisa bim
„	Present progressive	duta be dam	kâra dašta babima	kšra dešta bum	kerâ duta bum
„	Preterite progressive	duta bedabim	kâra dašta abima	kâra dešta bisteymun	kerâ duta bisim
Subjunctive	Present	duta bebum	dašta bebum	dešta bebum	duta bebum
„	Preterite	duta beabum	dašta babâm	dešta 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 Nominative case The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....	-	sepa ve davaxa.	Sag xeyli hâfhâf kard.	?	The dog barked much.
Accusative Accusative case The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions....	-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.
Genitive Genitive case In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....	-kâ, -ku (from)	ba-i-kâ-r ce bapi	Az u ce mixâhi?	?	What do you want from him?
„	-ka, -anda (in)	âstâra-ka tâleši gaf bažen	Dar Âstârâ Tâleši gap mizanand.	?	They talk Talyshi in Astara.
„	-na (with)	âtaši-na mezâ maka	Bâ âtaš bâzi makon.	?	Don't play with fire!
„	-râ, -ru (for)	me-râ kâr baka te-râ yâd bige	Barâye man kâr bekon Barâye xodat yâd begir.	?	Work for me, learn for yourself.
„	-ken (of)	ha-ken hesta ca (ceciya)	Az ân, ce bejâ mânde? (Hamân ke hast, cist?)	?	What is of which is left?
„	ba (to)	ba em denyâ del mabend	Be in donyâ del maband.	?	Don't take the world dear to your heart!
Ergative Ergative case The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.In such languages, the ergative case is typically Markedness , while the absolutive case is unmarked....	-i	a palang-i do lorzon-i (Aorist Aorist Aorist is an grammatical aspect or, used more specifically, a verb grammatical tense in some Indo-European languages such as Greek language. The term is also used for unrelated concepts in some other languages, such as Turkish language.... )	Ân palang deraxt râ larzând.	?	That leopard shook the tree.

Vocabulary

English	?	Northern (Lavandavili / Lankaroni)	Central (Taleshdulabi)	Southern (Khushabari / Shandermani)	Tati Tati (Iran) Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian languages dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari language to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan , and also... (Kelori / Geluzani)	Persian Persian language name=Persian\|nativename=\|pronunciation=[f??r'si]\|image=\|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script \|states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
big	?	yul	yâl	yâl	pilla	bozorg, gat, (yal, pil)
boy, son	?	zoa, zua	zôa , zue	zu'a, zoa	zâ	Pesar
bride	?	vayü	vayu	geša, veyb	vayu, vei	arus
cat	?	kete, pišik, piš	pecu	pecu, pešu, piši	pešu	gorbe, piši
cry (v)	?	bame	berameste	berame	beramesan	geristan
daughter, girl (little)	?	kina, kela	kilu, kela	kina, kel(l)a	kille, kilik	doxtar
day	?	rüž, ruj	ruz	ruz, roz	ruz	ruz
eat (v)	?	harde	harde	harde	hardan	xordan
egg	?	uva, muqna, uya	âgla	merqona	xâ, merqowna	toxme morq
eye	?	câš	caš, cam	cem	cašm	cašm
father	?	dada, piya, biya	dada	?	pe	pedar
fear (v)	?	purne, târse	târsine, tarseste	tarse	tarsesan	tarsidan
flag	?	filak	parcam	?	?	parcam, derafš
food	?	xerâk	xerâk	xerâk	xuruk	xorâk
go (v)	?	še	še	še	šiyan	raftan (šodan)
house/room	?	ka	ka	ka	ka	xâne
language; tongue	?	zivon	zun	zavon	zuân	zabân
moon	?	mâng, uvešim	mâng	mang	mung, meng	mâh
mother	?	mua, mu, nana	nana	?	mâ, dede, nana	mâdar, nane
mouth	?	qav, gav	ga, gav, ga(f)	qar	gar	dahân, kak
night	?	šav	šaw	šav	šav	šab
north	?	kubasu	šimâl	?	?	šemâl
rice	?	berz	berz	berj	berenj	berenj
say (v)	?	vote	vâte	vâte	vâtan	goftan
sister	?	huva, hova, ho	xâlâ, xolo	xâ	xâv, xâ	xâhar
small	?	ruk, gada	ruk	ruk	velle, xš	kucak
sunset	?	šânga	maqrib	?	?	maqreb
sunshine	?	haši	âftâv	?	?	âftâb
water	?	uv, ôv	âv	âv	âv	âb
woman, wife	?	žen	žen, žen	yen, žen	zanle, zan	zan
yesterday	?	zina	zir, izer	zir, zer	zir	diruz, di

Talysh language

History

Geography

Classification and related languages

Dialects

Some Northern dialects' differences

Phonology and Scripts

Monophthongs

Persian phonological divergence

Diphthongs

Consonants

Persian phonological divergence

Grammar

Pronouns

Verbs

Conjugations

Stems and imperative mood

Active voice

Passive voice

Case markers and prepositions

Vocabulary

Further reading

External links