Old Iranian. Middle Iranian. New West Iranian Languages. New East Iranian Languages. General References. Index. Maps
Gernot Windfuhr is Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Michigan; he has published widely on Persian and Iranian languages and linguistics and related languages, as well as on other aspects of Iranian culture including Persian literature and Pre-Islamic Iranian religions.
'This volume provides for the first time a detailed overview of the
Iranian languages that is up-to-date in its coverage and accessible
to a wide range of readers, whether their interests are primarily
in language structure, in history of language - in its own right or
in conjunction with non-linguistic historical events - or in the
processes and results of language contact.Iranian languages are
spoken from central Turkey in the west to westernmost China in the
east, and include the national languages Persian (with its national
varieties Dari in Afghanistan and Tajik in Tajikistan) and Pashto
(in Afghanistan), other widely spoken languages such as Kurdish
(mainly Iraq, Iran, and Turkey) and Balochi (mainly Pakistan), as
well as languages on the verge of extinction (such as Parachi, with
about 3500 speakers in northeastern Afghanistan). In the historical
dimension, they span three millennia, from Avestan (the language of
the holy scriptures of Zoroastrianism) and Old Persian (the
language of Darius the Great) through important medieval languages
like Sogdian to the present day. The volume includes detailed
descriptions of modern languages from each of the four major
divisions of the family (Northwestern, Southwestern, Northeastern,
and Southeastern).Unlike most earlier literature aimed primarily at
specialists, this volume presents material in a widely accessible
manner. And unlike much earlier literature which concentrates on
phonology and morphology, the present volume, while doing full
justice to these areas, also provides for the first time extensive
comparative information on syntax. The syntax of the Iranian
languages presents much that will be of interest to typologists and
formal grammarians, with pride of place surely going to ergativity
- the astonishing variations found on ergativity in Iranian
languages is a goldmine for the comparative syntactician. But other
phenomena will appeal equally, for instance the transformation of
tense-aspect-mood systems across the Iranian languages, or the
appearance of vigesimal (20-based) numeral systems.The volume also
provides extensive information on the historical and areal contexts
in which the various Iranian languages have lived. Discussion of
language contact of course includes loanwords, but also documents
the shifts in structural patterns that have occurred as Iranian
languages have come into contact with other languages, including
languages with structures as different from Iranian as the Turkic
languages.This is the volume I wish I'd had when Iranian languages
first aroused my interest nearly 40 years ago!' - Bernard Comrie,
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
'This volume provides for the first time a detailed overview of the
Iranian languages that is up-to-date in its coverage and accessible
to a wide range of readers, whether their interests are primarily
in language structure, in history of language - in its own right or
in conjunction with non-linguistic historical events - or in the
processes and results of language contact.Iranian languages are
spoken from central Turkey in the west to westernmost China in the
east, and include the national languages Persian (with its national
varieties Dari in Afghanistan and Tajik in Tajikistan) and Pashto
(in Afghanistan), other widely spoken languages such as Kurdish
(mainly Iraq, Iran, and Turkey) and Balochi (mainly Pakistan), as
well as languages on the verge of extinction (such as Parachi, with
about 3500 speakers in northeastern Afghanistan). In the historical
dimension, they span three millennia, from Avestan (the language of
the holy scriptures of Zoroastrianism) and Old Persian (the
language of Darius the Great) through important medieval languages
like Sogdian to the present day. The volume includes detailed
descriptions of modern languages from each of the four major
divisions of the family (Northwestern, Southwestern, Northeastern,
and Southeastern).Unlike most earlier literature aimed primarily at
specialists, this volume presents material in a widely accessible
manner. And unlike much earlier literature which concentrates on
phonology and morphology, the present volume, while doing full
justice to these areas, also provides for the first time extensive
comparative information on syntax. The syntax of the Iranian
languages presents much that will be of interest to typologists and
formal grammarians, with pride of place surely going to ergativity
- the astonishing variations found on ergativity in Iranian
languages is a goldmine for the comparative syntactician. But other
phenomena will appeal equally, for instance the transformation of
tense-aspect-mood systems across the Iranian languages, or the
appearance of vigesimal (20-based) numeral systems.The volume also
provides extensive information on the historical and areal contexts
in which the various Iranian languages have lived. Discussion of
language contact of course includes loanwords, but also documents
the shifts in structural patterns that have occurred as Iranian
languages have come into contact with other languages, including
languages with structures as different from Iranian as the Turkic
languages.This is the volume I wish I'd had when Iranian languages
first aroused my interest nearly 40 years ago!' - Bernard Comrie,
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
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