v course reference persian language r e f e r e n c e زبان فارسی The Persian Language 1 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. 2 course reference 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 Russin Indic Greek Serbo-Crotin North Germnic Ltin Irnin Mnx Irish Welsh Old Norse Swedish Scottish Avestn Old Persin Icelndic Norwegin French Spnish Portuguese Itlin Middle Persin West Germnic Snskrit Rumnin Ctln Frsi Kurdish Bengli Urdu Gujrti Hindi Old High Germn Old Dutch Anglo-Frisin Middle High Germn Middle Dutch Old Frisin Old English Germn Flemish Dutch Afrikns Frisin Middle English Yiddish Modern English vi v Persian Language 3 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 Persin Sound to Symbol Reltionships - Vowels Equivalent Letter in Persian Letter/ Sound in Sound Name Context Symbol English آ aa lef آباد course reference bar و oo vv دوست booth ی ee ye کی key َ- ، اَ a zebr اَبر nap اِ، -ِ ، ﻪ e he, zeer اِمروز، ِبﻪ pen اُ ، -ُ ، و o vv, peesh ُپر open vii Persian Language Alphabet Table 2 Persin Sound to Symbol Reltionships - Consonnts Equivalent Letter in Persian Letter/ Sound in Sound Name Context Symbol English ب b be با bth پ p pe پا pm ت، ط t t, te تا te س، ث، ص s sd, se, seen َسر، ثانیﻪ، صبح sm ج j jim جیب jm چ ch che چین cherry ه، ح h heye jimee, he هان، حال hm course reference خ kh khe خوب ** د d dl دوست desk ز، ذ، ض، ظ z z, zd, zl, ze زمین، ّذرت، ظلم، توضیح zoo ر r re روز room ژ zh zhe ژاکت plesure ش sh sheen شب shoe غ، ق gh ghf, gheyn غریب، قریب ** ف f fe فیلم film ک k kf کار kite گ g gf گاز gs ل l lm لوس lmb م m meem موش mouse ن n noon نام nose و v vv واکس violin ی y ye یاس yrn اً an tnveen ًکامﻻ، حتما man viii Persian Language 14 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 Persin Letters in Initil, Middle, nd Finl 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 ای ی ی اَ اَ -َ - اِ اِ -ِ -ِ ه - - ه ﻪ اُ اُ -ُ - ix Persian Language Alphabet Table 4 Persin Letters in Initil, Middle, nd Finl Word Positions - Consonnts 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 ی ی ﻯ x Persian Language 15 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. 6 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. xi Persian Language 17 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. 8 course reference 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, xii language notes Persian Word Order ABOUT� � �A��UA� � OOT�T��� 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 notes language • 1 unit 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.