Gileki language

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Gilaki
Spoken in: Iran 
Region: South Western Caspian Sea (Gilan province.)
Total speakers: 2-4 million
Language family: Indo-European
 Indo-Iranian
  Iranian
   Western
    Northwestern
     Gilaki
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: ira
ISO 639-3: glk
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

The Giləki language (گیلکی in Persian and Gilaki in English) is a northwestern Iranian language and is spoken in Iran's Gilan province. Gilaki can be divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki, and Galeshi (in mountains of Guilan). The Gilaki language is closely related to Mazandarani and the two languages have similar vocabularies. The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid Rud river [1]. According to Ethnologue, there were more than 3 million native speakers of Gilaki in 1993 [2].

Gilaki shares many features and structures with Zazaki, now spoken in Turkey. There are some major grammatical differences between Gilaki and Persian, specially in possessive and adjectives. Unlike Persian, most possessives and adjectives precede the head noun, similar to English.[3]

  • Example for noun-noun possessives in Western Gilaki: məhin zakan (Mæhin's children) (Bæče-ha-ye Mæhin in Persian), 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) (ɑb-e særd in Persian), kul čaqu (sharp knife) (čaqu-ye Tiz in Persian).

Nevertheless, Gilaki is believed to be heavily influenced by Persian in its structure, and most of the Gilek people speak Persian as a second language. The Encyclopedia Iranica states:

"Iranian dialects spoken along the Caspian littoral are Taleshi, Gilaki, Mazandarani, and related subdialects, and the extinct dialect of Tabarestan." (p.61)

Contents

[edit] Some Gilaki words

Gilaki English Persian Romanization
dim face روي/چهره ruy/chehreh
zäy baby/kid کودک/بچه kudæk/bæčé
pilə per grandfather پدربزرگ pedær bozorg
ĵor up بالا bala
roĵä/kiĵi star ستاره setaré
kiĵä/kilka/kor/läku girl دختر doxtær
rikä/ri boy پسر pesær
pitär ant مورچه murče
siftäl=garzak bee زنبور zanbur
piča=bamši cat گربه gorbe
nesä shadow سایه saye
hargentån hang آویزان کردن avizan kardan
hanirgentån don't hang آویزان نکردن
pilə=pila great بزرگ bozorg
zak kid بچه bačče
per father پدر pedar
kåråš=kereš draw on the ground کشیدن به دنبال be donbal kešidan
fuduštån suck مکیدن makidan
havesån appetite or desire اشتها or میل ešteha or meyl
šondån pouring of liquids ریختن مایعات rixtane mayeaat
lisk lubricious ليز / سور leez/sor
kårč=kerč brittle ترد و شکننده tord o šekanande
där tree درخت deraxt
malĵå sparrow گنجشک gonješk
bošu go برو boro
hagir or fagir take it in your hand بگیر begir
hanigir or fanigir don't take in your hand نگیر nagir
purd bridge پل pol
si stone and mountain کوه و سنگ koh o sang

[edit] 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

[edit] 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 ʤoɾ
u o/uː ɡul

The consonants are:

Gilaki Consonants
 
labial

alveolar
post-alveolar

velar

glottal
 voiceless stops
p
t
ʧ
k
ʔ
 voiced stops
b
d
ʤ
ɡ
  
 voiceless fricatives
f
s
ʃ
x
h
 voiced fricatives
v
z
ʒ
ɣ
  
 nasals
m
n
      
 liquids  
l, ɾ
      
 glides    
j
    

[edit] 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).

[edit] Present tenses

From the infinitive dín, "to see", we get present stem din-.

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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.

[edit] Past tenses

[edit] 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)

[edit] Imperfect

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

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

[edit] 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

[edit] 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".

[edit] Progressive

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

[edit] Present progressive

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

[edit] 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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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/

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikipedia
Gileki language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iranian Languages
Eastern Iranian
Old Iranian Avestan † | Scythian (including Saka)† | Sogdian†
Middle Iranian Bactrian† | Khwarezmian† | Khotanese† (possibly a Saka dialect) | Ossetic | Sacian†
Modern Iranian Bartangi | Hidukush Group | Ishkashmi | Karakoram Group | Khufi | Munji | Oroshori | New Ossetic | Parachi | Pashto | Roshani (Roshni) | Sanglechi | Sarikoli | Shughni | Wakhi | Vanji † | Waziri | Yaghnobi | Yidgha | Yazgulami | Zebaki
Western Iranian
Old Iranian Median† | Old Persian (Aryan)†
Middle Iranian Parthian Pahlavi† | Sasanian Pahlavi†
Modern Iranian Alviri (Vidâri) | Ashtiani | Azari† | Baluchi | Bashkardi | Central Iran | Persian Dari | Dari (Zoroastrian) | Gilaki | Gorani | Harzani | Judeo-Persian | Kurdish Kurmanji | Laki | Luri | Bakhtiari Lori | Mazandarani | Ormuri | Sangsari | Parachi | New-Persian | Sorani (Kurdish) | Tajik | Taleshi | Tat | Tati | Vafsi | Zazaki
Extinct †
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