Tati language (Iran)

This article is about a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by Southern Tats in Iran. For the language of Northern Tats, see Tat language (Caucasus).
Tati
Tâti Zobun
تاتی زبون
Native to Iran
Native speakers
(undated figure of 220,000 Takestani)[1]
28,000 Harzani (2000)[2]
Others shifting
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
tks  Takestani/Khalkhal
xkc  Kho'ini
hrz  Harzandi
rdb  Rudbari
esh  Eshtehardi
tov  Taromi
xkp  Kabatei
Glottolog khoi1250  (Kho'ini)[3]
rama1272  (Takestani/Eshtehardi)[4]
taro1267  (Taromi/Kabatei)[5]
rudb1238  (Rudbari)[6]
harz1239  (Harzandi)[7]

Tati language (Tati: Tâti Zobun, تاتی زبون) or Southern Tati[8] is a Northwestern Iranian language which is closely related to the Talysh language, spoken by the Tat people of Iran. Tats are a subgroup of Northwestern Iranians.

Old Azari

Main article: Old Azeri

Some sources use the term old Azari/Azeri to refer to the Tati language as it was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages (see Ancient Azari language), and is now only spoken by different rural communities in Iranian Azerbaijan (such as villages in Harzanabad area, villages around Khalkhal and Ardabil), and also in Zanjan and Qazvin provinces.[9][10][11][12]

Tati language structure

In any language, roots and verb affixes constitute the most basic and important components of a language. The root is an element included in all the words of a lexical family and carries the basic meaning of those lexical items. A verb affix is an element added to the root to form a new meaning. In many new Iranian languages, verb affixes have been left almost unnoticed, and it will be possible, by the act of deriving roots, to clear up most of their structural and semantic ambiguities. Unlike the root, verb affixes can be easily identified and described. In many languages, verb affixes act as the base of verb formation and are often derived from a limited number of roots. Tati, Talysh, and Gilaki languages belong to North-western Iranian languages currently spoken along the coast of Caspian Sea. These languages which enjoy many old linguistic elements have not been duly studied from a linguistic perspective.[13]

In the field of phonetics Tati is similar to the rest of the north-western Iranian languages: it is distinguished by the persistence of Iranian *z, *s, *y-, * v- against the south-western d, h, j-, b-; development /ʒ/ < * j, */t͡ʃ/ against the south-west z, and the preservation of intervocalic and postvocalic *r and even, for a number of dialects, development rhotacism.

In the field of morphology, Tati is less analytical in structure than the south-western Iranian languages. Having lost the ancient foundations of classes and verb, tati preserved case (two case: direct, or subjective, and oblique). It is a gender-neutral language except in some name and verb formations.

Ergative in Tati language

Tati is an ergative language, i.e. "with transitive verbs the subject/agent of the verb is expressed by the direct case in the present tenses, but by the oblique in the past tenses, whereas the direct object/patient in the present tenses is expressed by the oblique, but by the direct in the past".[14]
Khalkhali is one of the Tati dialects spoken in Shahrood and Xorsh-rostam districts of Khalkhal. Khalkhali Tati is distinguished from other dialects producing ergative structures, because of the adherence of verb to semantic object, in number, person and specially in gender. Meanwhile, according to some evidence in this dialect, apart from past transitive verbs, some intransitive verbs are influenced by the ergative structure.[15]

Tati Dialects

Tati has 4 main dialects:

  1. South of Qazvin province (Tākestāni, Eshtehārdi, Chāli, Dānesfāni, Esfarvarini, Ebrāhim-ābādi, Sagz-ābādi)
  2. Ardabil province (Khalkhāli)
  3. Alborz mountains range (Damāvandi, Rudbāri, Alamuti, Taleqāni, Ziārāni, Tikhuri)
  4. North Khorasan province (Khorāsāni)

Comparison of various Tati dialects[16]

English Persian Tākestāni Tāti Sagzābādi Tāti Ebrāhimābādi Tāti Ardabilaki Tāti Ziārāni Tāti Tikhuri Tāti
Child بچه
bačče
zārin/bālā
بالا/زارين
zāru
زارو
zāru
زارو
vača
وچه
eyāl
عيال
vača
وچه
Rooftop پشت بام
pošte bām
bon
بُن
bun
بون
bön
بون
bom
بوم
bum
بوم
bum
بوم
Hand دست
dast
bāl
بال
bāl
بال
bāl
بال
bāl
بال
bāl
بال
bāl
بال
Sharp تيز
tiz
tij
تيج
tij
تيج
tij
تيج
tij
تيج
tij
تيج
tij
تيج
Sister خواهر
xāhar
xāke
خاکه
xuača
خواچه
xuāka
خوآکه
xāxor
خاخور
xoār
خُوآر
xoār
خُوآر
Ablution/Wudu وضو
vozu
dasnemāz
دسنماز
dasta māz
دست ماز
dasnemāz
دسنماز
dasnemāz
دسنماز
dastnemāz
دست نِماز
dastnemāz
دست نِماز
Housewife کدبانو
kadbānu
keyvuniye/kalöntare zeyniye
کلُونتَره زينيه/کيوونيه
čeybonua
چي بنوه
keyvānu
کيوانو
keyvānu
کيوانو
kalentar
کلنتر
xojirezen
خوجيره زِن
Lentil عدس
adas
marjömake
مرجومکه
marjeva
مرجوه
marjeva
مرجوه
marju
مرجو
marju
مرجو
marju
مرجو
Calm آرام
ārām
dinj
دينج
dinj
دينج
dinj
دينج
dinj
دينج
dinj
دينج
dinj
دينج
Shout فرياد
faryād
harāy
هرای
harāy/qia
قيه/هرای
harāy/qeya
قيه/هرای
harāy/qiyu
قيو/هرای
qālmeqāl/harāy
هرای/قال مِقال
hara
هَرَه
English Persian Pahlavi Avestan Tākestāni Tāti Sagzābādi Tāti Ebrāhimābādi Tāti Ardabilaki Tāti Ziārāni Tāti Tikhuri Tāti
Dog سگ
sag
sege span asbe/māččiye
ماچيه/اَسبه
asba
اَسبه
asba
اَسبه
sag
سگ
sayg/māčča
ماچه/سَيگ
sayg/māčča
ماچه/سَيگ
Bone استخوان
ostoxān
ast/xastak ast esqonj
اسقُنج
xasta
خسته
xasta
خسته
esdeqān
اسدقان
hasta
هَستَه
hasta
هَستَه
Lie دروغ
dorugh
drog/droo droj duru
دورو
deru
درو
doru
دُرو
duru
دورو
duru
دورو
duru
دورو
Needle سوزن
suzan
darzik/darzi dereza darzone
درزُنه
darzena
درزنه
darzena
درزنه
darzan
درزَن
darzen
درزِن
darzen
درزِن
Face چهره
čehre
čihr/čihrak dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
Groom داماد
dāmād
zāmāt zāmātar zomā
زُما
zummā
زوما
zeymā
زیما
zāmā
زاما
zāmā
زاما
zāmā
زاما
House خانه
xāne
katak kata kiye
کیه
čia
چیه
kia
کیه
xāna
خانه
xāna
خانه
xāna
خانه
Man مرد
mard
mart mereta mardak
مردک
miarda
میرده
miarda
میرده
merdi
مِردی
mardek
مَردِک
mardek
مَردِک
Lamb بره
barre
varrak vare
وَره
vara
وره
vara
وره
vara
وره
vara
وره
vara
وره
Bride عروس
arus
vazyok vaze veye
ویه
veya
ویه
veya
ویه
ayris/eris
عریس/عَی ریس
ayris/eris
عریس/عَی ریس
Nose بینی
bini
vinik vaenā vinniye
وینیه
venia
ونیه
venia
ونیه
vini
وینی
vini
وینی
vini
وینی
Wolf گرگ
gorg
gurg vehraka varg
ورگ
varg
ورگ
varg
ورگ
verg
وِرگ
gurg
گورگ
gurg
گورگ

Other Tati dialects are Vafsi, Harzandi, Kho'ini, and Kiliti Eshtehardi.

Vafsi Tati

Vafsi is a dialect of Tati language spoken in the Vafs village and surrounding area in the Markazi province of Iran. The dialects of the Tafresh region share many features with the Central Plateau dialects, however their lexical inventory has many items in common with the Talysh subgroup.

Vafsi has six short vowel phonemes, five long vowel phonemes and two nasal vowel phonemes. The consonant inventory is basically the same as in Persian. Nouns are inflected for gender (masculine, feminine), number (singular, plural) and case (direct, oblique).

The oblique case marks the possessor (preceding the head noun), the definite direct object, nouns governed by a preposition, and the subject of transitive verbs in the past tense. Personal pronouns are inflected for number (singular, plural) and case (direct, oblique). A set of enclitic pronouns is used to indicate the agent of transitive verbs in the past tenses.

There are two demonstrative pronouns: one for near deixis, one for remote deixis. The use of the Persian ezafe construction is spreading, however there is also a native possessive construction, consisting of the possessor (unmarked or marked by the oblique case) preceding the head noun.

The verbal inflection is based on two stems: present and past stem. Person and number are indicated personal suffixes attached to the stem. In the transitive past tense the verb consists of the bare past stem and personal concord with the subject is provided by enclitic pronouns following the stem or a constituent preceding the verb. Two modal prefixes are used to convey modal and aspectual information. The past participle is employed in the formation of compound tenses.

Vafsi is a split ergative language: Split ergativity means that a language has in one domain accusative morphosyntax and in another domain ergative morphosyntax. In Vafsi the present tense is structured the accusative way and the past tense is structured the ergative way. Accusative morphosyntax means that in a language subjects of intransitive and transitive verbs are treated the same way and direct objects are treated another way. Ergative morphosyntax means that in a language subjects of intransitive verbs and direct objects are treated one way and subjects of transitive verbs are treated another way.

In the Vafsi past tense subjects of intransitive verbs and direct objects are marked by the direct case whereas subjects of transitive verbs are marked by the oblique case. This feature characterizes the Vafsi past tense as ergative.

The unmarked order of constituents is SOV like in most other Iranian languages.

Harzandi Tati

Harzani is considered an endangered language with a little less than 30,000 speakers in present day.[17] Its speakers principally reside in the rural district of Harzand, particularly in the village known as Galin Ghaya. Harzani is also present in the neighboring villages of Babratein and Dash Harzand.[18]

As of now, Harzani has not been formally recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and thus receives no government support.[19]

Like other languages and dialects of the Iranian language family, Harzani follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. It has nine vowels, and shares a consonant inventory with Persian. It further exhibits a split-ergative case system: its present tense is structured to follow nominative-accusative patterning, while its past tense follows ergative-absolutive.

One characteristic that distinguishes Harzani from related Northwestern Iranian languages is its change from an intervocalic /d/ to an /r/.[20] It also has a tendency to lengthen its vowels. For instance, it has the closed vowel /oe/.

Nouns and pronouns in Harzani do not reflect grammatical gender, but they do express case. Nouns, in particular, encode two cases: direct and oblique case, the first of which is not rendered morphologically, but the second is by attaching a suffix. Meanwhile, personal pronouns have three cases: direct, oblique, and possessive.

Verbs in Harzani are inflected for present tense and past tense. Information concerning person and number is reflected in suffixes that attach to these two verb stems. Modal and aspectual information is expressed using prefixes.

Kho'ini Tati

It is spoken in the village of Xoin and surrounding areas, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of Zanjan city in northern Iran. The Xoini verbal system follows the general pattern found in other Tati dialects. However, the dialect has its own special characteristics such as continuous present which is formed by the past stem, a preverb shift, and the use of connective sounds. The dialect is in danger of extinction.

Nouns have two cases: direct and oblique. Contrary to the often case in Persian, adjective is not Post-positive.

The suffixes may be attached to the verb; the agent of the verb in an ergative construction; an adverb; a prepositional or postpositional phrase; and in a compound verb to its nominal Complement.

The same set of endings is used for the present and the subjunctive. The endings of the preterit and the present perfect are basically the enclitic present forms of the verb 'to be' (*ah-, here called base one). For pluperfect and subjunctive perfect the freestanding auxiliary verb 'to be' (*bav-, here called base two) is utilized. There is no ending for singular imperative and it is -ân for plural. For the inflections of "to be" see "Auxiliary inflection" below.

The past and present stems are irregular and shaped by historical developments, e.g.: wuj- / wut- (to say); xaraš-/xarat- (to sell); taj-/tat- (to run). However, in many verbs the past stem is built on the present stem by adding -(e)st; e.g.: brem-bremest- (to weep).

The imperative is formed by the modal prefix be- if the verb contains no preverb, plus the present stem and without ending in the singular and with -ân in the plural. be- is often changed to bi-, bo- or bu- according to the situation, and appears as b- before a vowel of a verbal stem.

Kiliti Tati

Kiliti is a Tati dialect of Azerbaijan that is closely related to Talysh. It is spoken in the villages around Kilit, located 12 kilometers southwest from the city of Ordubad in a district with the same name of Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan.

Tati and Talysh

Tati and Talysh are Northwestern Iranian languages which are close to each other. Although Talysh and Tati are two languages that have affected each other in various levels, the degree of this effect in different places are not the same. In fact the very closeness of the two dialects has been a major reason for impossibility of drawing clear borderlines between them. It happens that Tati varieties can be seen in the heart of Talysh districts, or Talysh varieties are found in the center of Tati districts. This claim is supported by focusing on linguistic characteristics of Tati and Talysh, the history of the interrelation between the two dialects, geographical parameters of the area, as well as the phonological, morphological, and lexical examples.[21]

Comparison of Talysh and various Tati dialects

English Persian Astārāi Talysh Tākestāni Tāti Sagzābādi Tāti Ebrāhimābādi Tāti Ardabilaki Tāti Ziārāni Tāti
Down پایین
pāyin
jina
جینه
jir
جیر
jirā
جیرا
jirā
جیرا
jir
جیر
jir/jirā
جیرا/جیر
Father پدر
pedar
dādā
دادا
dādā
دادا
dada
دده
dada
دده
dādā/piyar
پیر/دادا
dada/piyar
پیر/دده
Bitter تلخ
talx
tel
تِل
tal
تل
tal
تل
tal
تل
tal
تل
tal
تل
Girl دختر
doxtar
kela
کِلَه
titiye
تیتیه
titia
تی تیه
titia
تی تیه
detari
دتری
detari
دتری
Mad دیوانه
divāne
tur
تور
tur
تور
tur
تور
tur
تور
tur
تور
tur
تور
Woman زن
zan
žen
ژِن
zeyniye
زینیه
zania
زنیه
zania
زنیه
zen
زِن
zenek
زنک
White سفید
sefid
ispi
ایسپی
isbi
ایسبی
esbi
اسبی
sebi
سبی
sivid
سوید
isbi
ایسبی
Chicken مرغ
morq
kāg
کاگ
karke
کرکه
čarga
چرگه
karga
کرگه
kerg
کرگ
kerg
کرگ
Ladder نردبان
nardebān
serd
سِرد
aselte
اَسلته
sorda
سورده
sorda
سورده
palkān/palkāna
پلکانه/پلکان
Face چهره
čehre
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم
dim
دیم

See also

References

  1. Takestani at Ethnologue (10th ed., 1984). Note: Data may come from the 9th edition (1978).
  2. Harzani at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kho'ini". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Ramand-Karaj". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Taromic". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  6. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Rudbari". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  7. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Harzandi". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  8. A Grammar of Southern Tati Dialects, Ehsan Yarshater, Median Dialect Studies I. The Hague and Paris, Mouton and Co., 1969.
  9. it is also spoken in some villages like Vafs and Chehreghan in the central areas of Iran like Gholamhossein Mosahab's The Persian Encyclopedia
  10. Paul, Ludwig (1998a). The position of Zazaki among West Iranian languages. In Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference of Iranian Studies, 11-15.09.1995, Cambridge, Nicholas Sims-Williams (ed.), 163-176. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
  11. Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages, Columbia University Press, 2004, pg 496.
  12. "Azari, the Old Iranian Language of Azerbaijan," Encyclopædia Iranica, op. cit., Vol. III/2, 1987 by E. Yarshater. External link:
  13. Verb Roots and Affixes in Tâti, Tâleshi and Gilaki Dialects, Jahandust Sabzalipoor
  14. Iranica entry on Eshtehārdi, one of Tati dialects
  15. Ergative in Tāti Dialect of Khalkhāl, Jahandust Sabzalipoor
  16. http://www.mehremihan.ir/language-and-dialect/2956-tati-ghazvini.html
  17. Harzani at Ethnologue (17th Edition, 2014)]
  18. Karimzadeh, J. 1994: "The Verbal Constructions in Azari (Harzani Dialect)." Master’s thesis, Tarbiat Modarres University.
  19. Harzani at Languages of the World (LLOW)
  20. https://archive.org/stream/HeningTati/2011_6_10-theAncientLanguageOfAzerbaijan_djvu.txt
  21. Tāleshi Indications in Tāti Districts of Khalkhāl, Jahandust Sabzalipoor
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