Academy of Persian Language and Literature

Iran's Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Persian: فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی, pronounced [færhæŋɡestɒːn e zæbɒːn væ ædæb e fɒːrsiː]) is a body controlled by the Iranian government presiding over the use of the Persian language in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. The academy members are academics of Persian literature and linguistics from  Iran,  Tajikistan,  Afghanistan, and  Uzbekistan.

Contents

History

The academy was founded in 1935. Mohammad Ali Foroughi and Ali Asghar Hekmat were the main founders of the academy.

Memorable names, notable literary figures and highly celebrated scholars were the members of the academy upon its foundation,[1] such as:

--Some international scholars were also involved, such as:[2]

First Farhangestan

Second Farhangestan

Third Farhangestan

Aims and activities

The Academy's main activity has been creating and approving official Persian equivalents for the foreign general or technical terms. It has also created an official orthography of the Persian language, titled Dastur-e Xatt-e Fârsi (Persian Script Orthography). The academy also promotes research on Persian language and literature, other Iranian languages, Persian heritage, Iranian Studies and Iranian culture.

Iranian law requires those equivalents to be used in all official communications of government bodies and government-owned companies, and in product names of all private companies.

Membership

Academy's presidents to this day have been Hassan Habibi (a previous first vice president) and Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel (the present Speaker of Parliament).

The academy members (permanent and associated) are selected from Masters of Persian literature and linguistics from Iran and other Persian speaking countries throughout the world as Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Up to 10 permanent chairs (out of 25 permanent chairs) have been devoted to non-Iranian nationals.

Permanent Members[3]

Iranian

other

Deceased Members

Announcement of the Academy about the English name of Persian language

November 19, 2005 - The Academy of the Persian Language and Literature has delivered a pronouncement on the English name of Persian language and rejected any usage of the word "Farsi" instead of Persian(en) / Persa(es) / Persane(fr) / Persisch(de) in the Western languages. The announcement reads:

  1. "Persian" has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it carries a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing "Persian" to "Farsi" would negate this established important precedent.
  2. Changing the usage from "Persian" to "Farsi" may give the impression that Farsi is a new language, although this may well be the intention of some users of "Farsi".
  3. Changing the usage may also give the impression that Farsi is a dialect used in some parts of Iran rather than the predominant (and official) language of the country.
  4. The word "Farsi" has never been used in any research paper or university document in any Western language, and the proposal to begin using it would create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of Iran.

Supporting this announcement, gradually other institutions and literary figures separately took similar actions throughout the world.[4][5][6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ 71st anniversary of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (BBC Persian)
  2. ^ Gozaresh-e Farhangestan Vadzeh, Tehran SH.1317 / 1938
  3. ^ "فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی". Persianacademy.ir. http://www.persianacademy.ir/fa/association.aspx. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 
  4. ^ "Persian or Farsi?". Iranian.com. 1997-12-16. http://www.iranian.com/Features/Dec97/Persian/. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 
  5. ^ "Fársi:''recently appeared language!''". Persiandirect.com. http://www.persiandirect.com/articles/2004/july/id_00003.htm. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 
  6. ^ "Persian or Fársi?". Persiandirect.com. http://www.persiandirect.com/articles/2004/july/id_00001.htm. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 
  7. ^ "Announcement of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature about the name of Persian language". Heritage.chn.ir. 2005-11-19. http://heritage.chn.ir/en/Article/?id=88. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 

External links