Dialectology and Classification of Southwest Iranian Languages

• Applicant: Dr. Salman Aliyari Babolghani, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568599111

This project aims to develop a comprehensive classification of the Southwest Iranian (SWI) Languages. Despite numerous studies on individual SWI dialects or dialect groups (such as Lori, Baškardi, Fars Dialects, etc.), our historical-comparative understanding of SWI remains significantly limited. The relationships among these idioms - as well as their connections to Persian - are largely obscure and overshadowed by the dominant position of Persian. This gap in knowledge has affected not only our overall picture of SWI but also related issues, such as the variation within Persian dialects and the historical relationship between Old, Middle, and New Persian, raising the question of whether these Persian stages represent the continuation of a single dialect or multiple branches. The project seeks to address these issues by critically evaluating existing philological approaches to SWI - including the classifications proposed by Windfuhr (1989; 2009) and Anonby et al. (2015-2023) - , and by developing an innovative methodological approach tailored to the classification of SWI languages. The study aims to establish a clearer understanding of SWI languages by analyzing their historical evolution, determining their internal relationships and their interactions with Persian, and ultimately proposing a refined classification of SWI. Additionally, the project will address related issues, such as Persian dialectal variation and the dialectal relationship between Old, Middle, and New Persian. Methodologically, the project will rely on historical linguistics principles. To establish a new classification, it identifies approximately 18 phonological, 10 morphological, 3 morpho-lexical, and 8 lexical distinguishing features - arising from either conservations or innovations - that have led to diverging and converging developments within SWI. Beyond Old and Middle Persian, as well as modern dialect data, the project will incorporate underutilized materials, including Old Iranian attestations in Achaemenid Elamite texts; historical texts in non-Persian SWI idioms, such as classical Šîrâzi (ca. 13-16th CE) and Neyîzi (ca. 14th CE); isolated dialectal attestations in classical Persian and Arabic sources, such as al-Muwâzina by Ḥamza Iṣfahânî (9th/10th CE) and al-Talxîṣ fi Maʿrifat al-Asmâʾ al-Ašyâʾ by Abu-Hilâl ʿAskarî (10th CE); and historical Persian dialects as attested in Early Judaeo-Persian texts (ca. 8-11th CE), Qorʾân-e Qods, and others

• DFG Programme: Research Grants