v course reference
persian language
r e f e r e n c e زبان فارسی The Persian Language
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PERSIAN OR FARSI? In the U.S., the official language of Iran is language courses in “Farsi,” universities and sometimes called “Farsi,” but sometimes it is scholars prefer the historically correct term called “Persian.” Whereas U.S. government “Persian.” The term “Farsi” is better reserved organizations have traditionally developed for the dialect of Persian used in Iran.
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AN INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE Persian is a member of the Indo-European Persian has three major dialects: Farsi, language family, which is the largest in the the official language of Iran, spoken by 50 world. percent of the population; Dari, spoken mostly in Afghanistan, and Tajiki, spoken Persian falls under the Indo-Iranian branch, in Tajikistan. Other languages in Iran are comprising languages spoken primarily Arabic, New Aramaic, Armenian, Georgian in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Turkic dialects such as Azerbaidjani, Bangladesh, areas of Turkey and Iraq, and Khalaj, Turkemenian and Qashqa”i. some of the former Soviet Union.
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
GERMANIC INDO-IRANIAN HELLENIC CELTIC ITALIC BALTO-SLAVIC Polish Russian Indic Greek Serbo-Croatian North Germanic Latin
Iranian Manx Irish Welsh Old Norse Swedish Scottish Avestan Old Persian Icelandic Norwegian French Spanish Portuguese Italian Middle Persian West Germanic Sanskrit Rumanian Catalan
Farsi Kurdish
Old High German Old Dutch Anglo-Frisian
Middle High German Middle Dutch Old Frisian Old English
German Flemish Dutch Afrikaans Frisian Middle English
Yiddish Modern English
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ALPHABET: FROM PAHLAVI TO ARABIC
History tells us that Iranians used the Pahlavi Unlike English, Persian is written from right writing system prior to the 7th Century. to left. Pahlavi usage declined after the Arab conquest in 642 A.D. People began writing Alphabet Table 1 shows major sound to Persian using Arabic letters. Four letters symbol relationships for Persian vowels. without Arabic sounds were added to Persian Table 2 shows the same for consonants. All script, resulting in the 32-letter alphabet still letters have similar sounds in English, except in use today. those marked **.
Alphabet Table 1
Persian Sound to Symbol Relationships - Vowels
Equivalent Letter in Persian Letter/ Sound in Sound Name Context Symbol English
آ aa alef آباد course reference bar
و oo vaav دوست booth
ی ee ye کی key
َ- ، اَ a zebar اَبر nap
اِ، -ِ ، ﻪ e he, zeer اِمروز، ِبه pen اُ ، -ُ ، و o vaav, peesh ُپر open
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Persian Language
Alphabet Table 2
Persian Sound to Symbol Relationships - Consonants
Equivalent Letter in Persian Letter/ Sound in Sound Name Context Symbol English ب b be با bath پ p pe پا pam ت، ط t taa, te تا tea س، ث، ص s saad, se, seen َسر، ثانیه، صبح sam ج j jim جیب jam چ ch che چین cherry ه، ح h heye jimee, he هان، حال ham course reference خ kh khe خوب ** د d daal دوست desk ز، ذ، ض، ظ z zaa, zaad, zaal, ze زمین، ّذرت، ظلم، توضیح zoo ر r re روز room ژ zh zhe ژاکت pleasure ش sh sheen شب shoe غ، ق gh ghaaf, gheyn غریب، قریب ** ف f fe فیلم film ک k kaaf کار kite گ g gaaf گاز gas ل l laam لوس lamb م m meem موش mouse ن n noon نام nose و v vaav واکس violin ی y ye یاس yarn اً an tanveen ًکامال، حتما man
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ALPHABET: LETTERS WITH MULTIPLE FORMS
The first distinctive characteristic of Persian Alphabet Table 3 shows Persian vowels and script is that most of the letters have more their various forms. Table 4 shows the same than one form. More specifically, 8 letters for consonants. have a single form, and the remaining 24 letters have multiple forms. These tables may appear very complicated at first. However, you will gradually see and In other words, the same letter would be systematically practice each of these forms written differently depending on its position in Unit 1, Module 2, until the forms see more in a word (i.e., whether it appears in the familiar. beginning, middle, or end of a word).
Alphabet Table 3
Persian Letters in Initial, Middle, and Final Word Positions - Vowels
Persian Letter/ Word Final Form Word Middle Form Word Initial Form Symbol آ آ ا ا course reference و او و و ی اﻳ ﻳ ی اَ اَ -َ - اِ اِ -ِ -ِ ﻩ - - ﻩ ﻪ اُ اُ -ُ -
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Persian Language
Alphabet Table 4
Persian Letters in Initial, Middle, and Final Word Positions - Consonants
Persian Letter/ Word Final Form Word Middle Form Word Initial Form Symbol ب ﺒ ﺒ ب پ ﭘ ﭘ پ ﺕ ﺗ ﺗ ت ث ﺛ ﺛ ث ج ﺠ ﺟ ﺝ چ ﭼ ﭼ چ ح ﺣ ﺣ ﺡ خ ﺧ ﺧ ﺥ د د د ﺩ ذ ذ ذ ذ course reference ر ر ر ر ز ز ز ز س ﺳ ﺴ س ش ﺷ ﺷ ش ص ﺻ ﺻ ص ض ﺿ ﻀ ض ط ط ط ط ظ ظ ظ ظ ع ﻋ ﻌ ﻊ ع غ ﻏ ﻐ ﻎ غ ف ﻓ ﻓ ف ق ﻗ ﻗ ق ک ﮐ ﮐ ک گ ﮔ ﮔ گ ل ﻠ ﻠ ﻞ م ﻣ ﻤ ﻢ ﻦ ﻧ ﻧ ﻦ و و و و ﻩ ﻫ ﻬ ﻪ ﻩ ی ﻳ ﻳ ﻯ
Persian Language
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ALPHABET: UNWRITTEN SHORT VOWELS
A second distinctive characteristic of Persian writing, and if shown at all, they appear script is that short vowels are pronounced as small marks placed above or below but usually not written. the consonant that precedes them in pronunciation (i.e. ُ- ِ- َ- representing Whereas long vowels are represented by /o/, /e/, and /a/ respectively ). These small there are no separate marks (referred to as diacritics) are placed ,( آ و ی .letters (i.e letters for representing the short vowels. in elementary textbooks to facilitate reading Short vowels are usually not marked in but eventually disappear from texts.
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ALPHABET: INTERNAL SEGMENTATION OF WORDS
;( آ ب A third distinctive characteristic of Persian letter that stands alone (as in script is the way words are segmented. (2) The second group is letters that attach course reference Some letters are attached to one another, from one side only - either left or right - to whereas others are detached. In the word the letter closest to them. The word-initial meaning my father), for instance, the forms, for instance, only attach from the) پد رم first two letters are attached and the last two left-hand side, and the word-final forms only are detached. Although you will eventually attach from the right-hand side. master the aspect of segmentation with more exposure to the Persian script, some (3) The third group of letters are two- sided rules of thumb may facilitate learning. letters that attach to both the preceding and following letters. The word-middle forms In general, there are three groups of letters attach this way. in Persian: As you become familiar with Persian letters and their variant forms you will be able (1) The firstgroup is letters that stand alone. to find examples in each segmentation category and learn the exceptions to these for example, which [ آ ] Aa-ye baa kolaah appears in word-initial position only, is a rules.
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Persian Language
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ALPHABET: LETTERS WITH A DUAL FUNCTION
A fourth distinctive characteristic of Persian and a vowel. As a consonant, the sound is script is that three letters have a dual /y/ (as in yarn). As a vowel, the sound is /ee/ function. (as in bee).
Three letters have two sounds associated Native Persian speakers rely on their with them, a consonant and a vowel sound. knowledge of the spoken language to for determine whether the sound is a consonant ,ی The letter . ی و ه These letters are example, can represent both a consonant or a vowel when they see these letters.
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ALPHABET: SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
A fifth distinctive characteristic of Persian you will want to rely more on your eyes than script is the difference between the spoken your ears. and written language. You will see the differences as you go through In Persian, words are spelled quite differently the lessons. Many of the differences are from the way they sound when they are predictable and will be pointed out as they spoken in everyday conversation. As you arise in conversation. learn the spelling system of Persian, then,
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language notes
Persian Word Order
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Analyzing Language
In Unit 1, you are learning phrases and words as memorized “chunks” of language or predetermined “formulae.” Therefore, you don’t need to focus on the analytical language notes included here. Rather, the language explanations are provided to help those of you who like to analyze what you are saying, hearing, reading, writing, and learning.
Although Persian is somewhat related to You will also see that adjectives of description
English in the scheme of world languages, come after the nouns they modify. For unit 1 • language notes there are some basic differences (other than example, in English: the alphabet!) that you will have to get used to. big boy
One difference is that the normal word order In Persian, becomes: is different from English. In regards to word order, Persian is more similar to German boy big /pesare bozorg/. than to English. Linguists say that English is a SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) language, Note the word order of the greetings in this while Persian is a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) unit: language. That means that in English we would say the subject of the sentence, then What is your name? the verb, then the object, if any, as in: Name your what is? The boy (subject) hit (verb) the dog /esm/ + /e/ /shomaa chee ast/? (object). My name is Ali. In Persian, the same sentence would be something like: Name my Ali is. /esm/ + /e/ /man alee ast/. Boy (subject) the dog (object) hit (verb). Note that there is also an /e/ added between Persian word order is also more flexible the noun and the adjective. than English word order, so the order may not always be exactly the same. However, You don’t need to worry too much about word in general, you may want to notice that the order in this unit because you are learning all verbs appear at the end of the sentences. ritual greetings and questions as memorized “chunks.” This analysis is just a preview.
language notes
Form for Imperatives
Note that most imperatives (words used to /por koneed/ give orders and commands) begin with a verb fill in, literally, make full) starting with /be/-, for example, /beshinid/ sit down; and /beneveeseed/ write. /dorost koneed/ fixor correct, literally, make right In many cases, when the imperative includes the form /bekoneed/ make or do, the /be/ is For now, all you need to do is take note that dropped. For example: /be/ is dropped. Later, you will see how to make these imperatives from the verbs. /baaz bekoneed/ open, literally make open unit 1 • language notes language • 1 unit
language notes
Third Person To Be /Hastaen/
You saw that when you wanted to say This In question forms, you also saw /hast/ is Mina, you said /in meenaaast/, or literally, combined with the question word /chee/ to This Mina is. make /cheest/.
You may have noticed that the third person form of to be, or is, has different forms - /hast/ and /ast/ and even /e/ in speaking. unit 1 • language notes