| Lori | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Oman |
| Region | Southern Zagros (mainly in the Loristan province.) |
| Ethnicity | Lurs |
| Native speakers | ca. 3.4 million (1999–2001) |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | variously: lrc – Northern Luri bqi – Bakhtiari luz – Southern Luri zum – Kumzari |
Lori or Luri (Lori/Persian: لری, pronounced [loriː], [luriː]) is a collection of Southwestern Iranian languages[2][3] which are mainly spoken by the Lurs and Bakhtiari people in the Iranian provinces of Loristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and parts of Khuzestan and Esfahan province and Fars provinces. Lori is a descendant of a variant of Middle Persian[4] and is lexically similar to modern Persian.[4] According to the linguist Don Stillo: "Persian, Lori-Baḵtiāri and others, are derived directly from Old Persian through Middle Persian/Pahlavi".[5] These dialects are also referred to as the “Persid” southern Zagros group.[6] The special character of the Lori language suggests that its spreading area was Iranicized from Persia and not from Media.[7][8]
"Luri and Bakhtiari are much more closely related to Persian, than Kurdish."[9] And Lori also represents a language continuum between Persian language and Kurdish language varieties, and is itself composed of three distinct languages: Loristani, Bakhtiari and Southern Lori. Traditionally, Lori has been categorised as a single language. Some scholars have stated that Lori is only a highly accented or لهجه (lahjeh) form of Persian. And, on the other hand, some researchers are supporting the division of the Lori continuum into more than one language.[4] According to Encyclopedia Iranica, "All Lori dialects closely resemble standard Persian and probably developed from a stage of Persian similar to that represented in Early New Persian texts written in Arabic script. The sole typical Lori feature not known in early New Persian or derivable from it is the inchoative marker (see below), though even this is found in Judeo-Persian texts.[10] There do exist transitional dialects between Southern Kurdish and Lori-Bakhtiāri, and Lori-Bakhtiāri itself may be called a transitional idiom between Kurdish and Persian.[11].
SIL Ethnologue lists four Lori language dialects,
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