Overview of Iranian Languages: A Linguistic Analysis Based on Fortson

 
A presentation of Indo-
Iranian II: Iranian
 
Based on Fortson
By Michael Dunham
 
Introduction
 
Iranian languages have been spoken in southwest and central Asia
Divided into 3 subbranches: Old (until c. 400 BC) , Middle (until c. 400
BC – c. AD 900) and Modern Iranian
Dialect are divided into East and West Iranian, or Southwest, Central,
and Northeast Iranian
Discovery of several Middle Iranian languages and strides in Avestan
studies has put Iranian linguistics on equal footing with Indic
 
 
Phonology: How Iranian is different from Indic
 
Deaspiration of voiced aspirates- voiced aspirates lost their aspiration and became voiced stops
Spirantization of voiceless stops – *p, *t, *k became [
θ
] and [x] before non-syllabic consonants
and (mostly in young Avestan) *b, *d, *g became * 
β
, * 
δ
, *
 γ
 respectively word internally and
before voiced consonants
Development of the palatals- Indo-Iranian palatals *ć and *j (h) became s and z in Avestan and
Median and 
θ
 and d in Old Persian
Weakening of *s to h-*s becomes h before resonants and vowels, and in some varieties (like
Avestan) an *h placed before *a is pronounced *ŋh
Dental-plus-dental clusters and Batholomae’s Law- in dental-plus-dental clusters, the initial dental
is omitted and Batholomae’s Law is preserved
Layrngeals- Vocalized layrngeals were lost word-medially. Non-vocalized layrngeals left traces in
*h
2 
aspirated a preceding voiceless stop and in old Avestan, which maintained laryngeal hiatus
Preservation of diphthongs- Unlike Sanskrit, Iranian preserved the Indo-Iranian diphthongs *ai
and *au
In Old Persian, the cluster *tr became ç
 
Morphology
 
Due to a lack of material, not all the inflectional endings of Avestan
have been confirmed, though Fortson claims a morphological system
that is very similar to Sanskrit
Avestan preserves traces of proterokinetic stems (lost in Indic) in r/n
stems (Old Avestan also preserves u-stems)
In Old Persian, the Dative was replaced by the Genitive case and the
ablative mostly merged with the instrumental and the locative and
lost distinction between Aortist and Imperfect.
 
 
Avestan
 
Language of Zoroastrian religion, is considered East Iranian
The ‘Avesta’ consists of the following sacred texts: the Yasna (literagy),
the Yašts (sacred poems), the Vendidad (sacred legal text), the Khorde
Avesta (short prayers), the Nīrangestān (ritual rules) among others
Some of the oldest texts, like the Yasna, were in Old/ Gathic Avestan,
which is grammatically comparable to the Sanskrit of the Rig Veda
The later Avestan texts were written in young Avestan, which was
several centuries younger than Gathic Avestan and it is not a direct
descendant of it ( like Classical Sanskrit is not a direct descendant of
Vedic Sanskrit).
 
Old Persian
 
Language of the royal inscriptions of the Achaemenid dynasty of the
ancient Persian Empire
Taken from the only preserved Old Iranian texts that are authentic
originals, which came from present-day western Iran
Spoken around the same time as late Young Avestan
Has loan words from Median, which is how we know about Median
Written in a cuneiform script with syllabic symbols (for V and CV only)
No information on placement or nature of stress is available
 
Middle Iranian
 
Refers collectively to the stages of Iranian that share morphological and
phonological developments  between Old and Modern Iranian
Broadly distinguished between East and West
West put stress on penultimate and antepenultimate syllables and final
syllables were dropped. Nominal inflectional was reduced to 2 cases and
the verbal system lost future, perfect, and aorist tenses
East, aside from the verbal system, was more conservative: generally
preserved final vocalic endings and the case system in nouns
During this time the greatest geographical distribution of Iranian took place
Most Middle Iranian script was derived from the Aramaic alphabet
 
Modern Iranian: How does it relate?
 
 
Modern Iranian languages are spoken in wide area around central
Asia from the Caucuses to Xinjiang
From an Old Iranian stylistic feature came a feature of modern Iranian
called ‘split ergativity’ in which the noun is in an oblique case to a
past tense verb and the object is in nominative
Modern West Iranian languages: Farsi, Tajiki, Kurdish, Balochi
Modern East Iranian languages: Pashto, Ossetic, Yaghnobi, Wahki
 
The End
 
Thank you for your attention!
I hoped you learned a thing or two
Let me know if you have any questions
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Iranian languages, divided into Old, Middle, and Modern branches, exhibit distinct phonological and morphological features compared to Indic languages. The presentation explores differences in Iranian phonology, including deaspiration of voiced aspirates and spirantization of voiceless stops, and examines morphological aspects such as the preservation of proterokinetic stems in Avestan. Additionally, it discusses the Avestan language's significance in Zoroastrian religion, highlighting sacred texts like the Yasna and Vendidad.


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  1. A presentation of Indo- Iranian II: Iranian Based on Fortson By Michael Dunham

  2. Introduction Iranian languages have been spoken in southwest and central Asia Divided into 3 subbranches: Old (until c. 400 BC) , Middle (until c. 400 BC c. AD 900) and Modern Iranian Dialect are divided into East and West Iranian, or Southwest, Central, and Northeast Iranian Discovery of several Middle Iranian languages and strides in Avestan studies has put Iranian linguistics on equal footing with Indic

  3. Phonology: How Iranian is different from Indic Deaspiration of voiced aspirates- voiced aspirates lost their aspiration and became voiced stops Spirantization of voiceless stops *p, *t, *k became [ ] and [x] before non-syllabic consonants and (mostly in young Avestan) *b, *d, *g became * , * , * respectively word internally and before voiced consonants Development of the palatals- Indo-Iranian palatals * and *j (h) became s and z in Avestan and Median and and d in Old Persian Weakening of *s to h-*s becomes h before resonants and vowels, and in some varieties (like Avestan) an *h placed before *a is pronounced * h Dental-plus-dental clusters and Batholomae s Law- in dental-plus-dental clusters, the initial dental is omitted and Batholomae s Law is preserved Layrngeals- Vocalized layrngeals were lost word-medially. Non-vocalized layrngeals left traces in *h2 aspirated a preceding voiceless stop and in old Avestan, which maintained laryngeal hiatus Preservation of diphthongs- Unlike Sanskrit, Iranian preserved the Indo-Iranian diphthongs *ai and *au In Old Persian, the cluster *tr became

  4. Morphology Due to a lack of material, not all the inflectional endings of Avestan have been confirmed, though Fortson claims a morphological system that is very similar to Sanskrit Avestan preserves traces of proterokinetic stems (lost in Indic) in r/n stems (Old Avestan also preserves u-stems) In Old Persian, the Dative was replaced by the Genitive case and the ablative mostly merged with the instrumental and the locative and lost distinction between Aortist and Imperfect.

  5. Avestan Language of Zoroastrian religion, is considered East Iranian The Avesta consists of the following sacred texts: the Yasna (literagy), the Ya ts (sacred poems), the Vendidad (sacred legal text), the Khorde Avesta (short prayers), the N rangest n (ritual rules) among others Some of the oldest texts, like the Yasna, were in Old/ Gathic Avestan, which is grammatically comparable to the Sanskrit of the Rig Veda The later Avestan texts were written in young Avestan, which was several centuries younger than Gathic Avestan and it is not a direct descendant of it ( like Classical Sanskrit is not a direct descendant of Vedic Sanskrit).

  6. Old Persian Language of the royal inscriptions of the Achaemenid dynasty of the ancient Persian Empire Taken from the only preserved Old Iranian texts that are authentic originals, which came from present-day western Iran Spoken around the same time as late Young Avestan Has loan words from Median, which is how we know about Median Written in a cuneiform script with syllabic symbols (for V and CV only) No information on placement or nature of stress is available

  7. Middle Iranian Refers collectively to the stages of Iranian that share morphological and phonological developments between Old and Modern Iranian Broadly distinguished between East and West West put stress on penultimate and antepenultimate syllables and final syllables were dropped. Nominal inflectional was reduced to 2 cases and the verbal system lost future, perfect, and aorist tenses East, aside from the verbal system, was more conservative: generally preserved final vocalic endings and the case system in nouns During this time the greatest geographical distribution of Iranian took place Most Middle Iranian script was derived from the Aramaic alphabet

  8. Modern Iranian: How does it relate? Modern Iranian languages are spoken in wide area around central Asia from the Caucuses to Xinjiang From an Old Iranian stylistic feature came a feature of modern Iranian called split ergativity in which the noun is in an oblique case to a past tense verb and the object is in nominative Modern West Iranian languages: Farsi, Tajiki, Kurdish, Balochi Modern East Iranian languages: Pashto, Ossetic, Yaghnobi, Wahki

  9. The End Thank you for your attention! I hoped you learned a thing or two Let me know if you have any questions

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