Gilaki language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Gilaki language is a Caspian language

Caspian languages

Caspian languages are a branch of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken in northern Iran, south of the Caspian Sea.Caspian languages include:* Deilami* Gilaki * Mazanderani * Shahmirzadi-External links:*...

, and a member of the northwestern Iranian language

Iranian languages

The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....

branch, spoken in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

's Gīlān Province

Gilan Province

Gilan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It lies along the Caspian Sea, just west of the province of Mazandaran, east of the province of Ardabil, north of the provinces of Zanjan and Qazvin....

.

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki, and Galeshi (in the mountains of Gilan). Furthermore, the Gilaki language is closely related to Mazanderani, and the two languages have similar vocabularies. The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River

Sefid River

The Sefīd-Rūd is a river approximately long, rising in northwestern Iran and flowing generally northeast to meet the Caspian Sea at Rasht. The river is Iran's second longest river after the Karun....

. According to Ethnologue

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...

, there were more than 3 million native speakers of Gilaki in 1993.

Gilaki also shares many features and structures with the Talysh language

Talysh language

The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Historically, the language and its people can be traced through the middle Iranian period back to the ancient...

and with Zazaki

Zazaki language

Zazaki is an Indo-European language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey. According to Ethnologue, the language is a part of the northwestern group of the Iranian section of the Indo-European family. Zazaki shares many features, structures, and vocabulary with Gorani, Talyshi and other Caspian...

, the latter mainly spoken in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. There are some grammatical differences between Gilaki and standard Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, especially in possessive and adjectives. Unlike Persian, most possessive

Possessive

Possessive may be:* Possessive case* Possessive adjective* Possessive pronoun* Possessive suffix* Possessive construction, pattern among words indicating possession * For possessive behavior in a relationship, see Attachment in adults...

s and adjective

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....

s precede the head noun, similar to English.

Example for noun-noun possessives in Western Gilaki: məhin zakan (Mæhin's children) (Bæče-ha-ye Mæhin in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

), Baγi gulan (garden flowers) (Gol-ha-ye Baγ in Persian). In Eastern Gilaki: Xirsi Kuti (bear cub) (Bæč-e Xers in Persian).

Example for adjectival modification: Western Gilaki: pilla-yi zakan (big children), Surx gul (red flower). Eastern Gilaki: Sərd aw (cold water) ( in Persian), kul čaqu (sharp knife) (čaqu-ye Tiz in Persian).

Some Gilaki words

Gilaki	English	Persian	Persian Romanization
dim	face	روی/چهره	ruy/čehreh
zäy	baby/kid	کودک/بچه	kudæk/bæčé
pilə per	grandfather	پدربزرگ	pedær bozorg
zəmat	time	زمان	zaman
mərdə per	father of the husband	پدرشوهر	pedær šohar
kark	hen	مرغ خانگی	morgh khanegi
gäb	cow	گاو	gāv
buĵor	up	بالا	bāla
roĵä/kiĵi	star	ستاره	setare
kor/kiĵä/kilka/läku	girl	دختر	doxtær
re/rikä/ri	boy	پسر	pesær
putär	ant	مورچه	murčé
siftäl=garzak	bee	زنبور	zanbur
piča=bamši	cat/pussy cat	گربه/پیشی	gorbe/piši
nesä	shadow	سایه	saye
vargadån	to hang	آویزان کردن/آویختن	avixtan/avizan kardan
pilə=pila	great	بزرگ	bozorg
zak	child	بچه	bačče
per	father	پدر	pedar
kåråš=kereš	to draw on the ground	کشیدن به دنبال	be donbal kešidan
fuduštån	to suck	مکیدن	makidan
vastån	appetite or desire	اشتها or میل	ešteha or meyl
šondån	pouring of liquids	ریختن مایعات	rixtan e mayeāt
lisk	lubricious	ليز / سور	liz/sor
kərč	brittle	ترد و شکننده	tord o šekanande
där	tree	دار و درخت	där o deraxt
malĵå, čičini	sparrow	گنجشک	gonješk
bušu	go	برو	boro
fegir	take it in your hand	بگیر	begir
fegir or fengir	don't take in your hand	نگیر	nagir
purd	bridge	پل	pol
si	stone and mountain	کوه و سنگ	kuh o sang
kenes	touch	تماس	tamås
morghanə	egg	تخم مرغ	toxm e morgh
lanti	snake	مار	mar
picha	cat	گربه	gorbeh
kəlach	crow	کلاغ	kalagh
gərmalət	pepper	فلفل	felfel
pamador	tomato	گوجه فرنگی	gojeh
vatərkəssən	explode	ترکیدن	terkidan
šimi šin	for you	برای شما	baraye šoma
mi šin	for me	برای من	baraye man
kiškazay	chicken	جوجه	jujeh
vərza	male cow	گاو نر	gave nar
leše	female cow	گاو ماده	gave maddeh
bijir	down	پائین	pa'ein
luchan	wink	چشمک	češmak
bəjar	rice farm	مزرعه برنج	mazraeye berenj
vachukastan	climb	بالا رفتن	bala raftan

Comparison of Gilaki and Kurdish

Gilaki	English	Kurdish
zay/zak	baby/kid	zarok
ĵor	up	jor/jûr
kiĵa/kilka	girl	kîj
daar	tree	dar
bošu	go	biçe
purd	bridge	pird
zama	groom	zawa
kaft	fell	keft/kewt

Phonology

Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki of Rasht (as will be the variety used in the remainder of the article):

Gilaki	Persian	Example (Gilaki)
i	e	ki.tab
e(ː)	iː, eː/ei	seb
ə	æ, e	mən
a	aː	zai
ɒ (perhaps allophonic)	aː	lɒ.nə
o	uː, oː/ɔ	d͡ʒoɾ
u	o/uː	ɡul

The consonants are:

Gilaki Consonants
	labial	alveolar	post-alveolar	velar	glottal
voiceless stops	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
voiced stops	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
voiceless fricatives	f	s	ʃ	x	h
voiced fricatives	v	z	ʒ	ɣ
nasals	m	n
liquids		l, ɾ
glides			j

Verb system

The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. All infinitives end in -tən/-dən, or in -V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original *-Vdən). The present stem is usually related to the infinitive, and the past stem is just the infinitive without -ən or -n (in the case of vowel stems).

Present indicative

The present indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem:

Singular	Plural
dinəm	diním(i)
diní	diníd(i)
diné	diníd(i)

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is formed with the prefix bí-, bú-, or bə- (depending on the vowel in the stem) added to the indicative forms. Final /e/ neutralizes to /ə/ in the 3rd singular and the plural invariably lacks final /i/.

Singular	Plural
bídinəm	bídinim
bídini	bídinid
bídinə	bídinid

The negative of both the indicative and the subjunctive is formed in the same way, with n- instead of the b- of the subjunctive.

Preterite

From xurdən, "to eat", we get the perfect stem xurd. To this are added unaccented personal endings and the unaccented b- prefix (or accented n- for the negative):

Singular	Plural
buxúrdəm	buxúrdim(i)
buxúrdi	buxúrdid(i)
buxúrdə	buxúrdid(i)

Imperfect

The imperfect is formed with what was originally a suffix -i:

xúrdim	xúrdim(i)
xúrdi	xúrdid(i)
xúrdi	xúrdid(i)

Pluperfect

The pluperfect is paraphrastically formed with the verb bon, "to be", and the past participle, which is in turn formed with the perfect stem+ə (which can assimilate to become i or u). The accent can fall on the last syllable of the participle or on the stem itself:

Singular	Plural
buxurdə bum	buxurdə bim
buxurdə bi	buxurdə bid
buxurdə bu	buxurdə bid

Past subjunctive

A curious innovation of Western Gilaki is the past subjunctive, which is formed with the (artificial) imperfect of bon+past participle:

Singular	Plural
bidé bim	bidé bim
bidé bi	bidé bid
bidé be/bi	bidé bid

This form is often found in the protasis and apodosis of unreal conditions, e.g., mən agə Əkbəra bidé bim, xušhal bubosti bim, "If I were to see/saw/had seen Akbar, I would be happy".

Progressive

There are two very common paraphrastic constructions for the present and past progressives. From the infinitive šon, "to go", we get:

Present progressive

Singular	Plural
šón darəm	šón darim
šón dari	šón darid
šón darə	šón darid

Past progressive

Singular	Plural
šón də/du bum	šón də/di bim
šón də/di bi	šón də/di bid
šón də/du bu	šón də/di bid

Compound verbs

There are many compound verbs in Gilaki, whose forms differ slightly from simple verbs. Most notably, bV- is never prefixed onto the stem, and the negative prefix nV- can act like an infix -n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So from fagiftən, "to get", we get present indicative fagirəm, but present subjunctive fágirəm, and the negative of both, faángirəm or fanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of the past tenses: fángiftəm or fanígiftəm.

Nouns, cases and postpositions

Gilaki employs a combination of quasi-case endings and postpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian.

Cases

There are essentially three "cases" in Gilaki, the nominative (or, better, unmarked, as it can serve other grammatical functions), the genitive, and the (definite) accusative. The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addition to the direct object. A noun in the genitive comes before the word it modifies. These "cases" are in origin actually just particles, similar to Persian ra.

Nouns

For the word "per", father, we have:

	Singular	Plural
Nom	per	perán
Acc	pera	perána
Gen	perə	peránə

The genitive can change to -i, especially before some postpositions.

Pronouns

The 1st and 2nd person pronouns have special forms:

	Singular	Plural
Nom	mən	amán
Acc	məra	amána
Gen	mi	amí

	Singular	Plural
Nom	tu	šumán
Acc	təra	šumána
Gen	ti	šimí

The 3rd person (demonstrative) pronouns are regular: /un/, /u.ˈʃan/, /i.ˈʃan/

Postpositions

With the genitive can be combined many postpositions. Examples:

Gilaki	English
re	for
həmra	with
ĵa	from, than (in comparisons)
mian	in
ĵor	above
ĵir	under
ru	on top of

The personal pronouns have special forms with "-re": mere, tere, etc.

Adjectives

Gilaki adjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have the genitive "case ending" -ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.