Luri language

Luri
لُری
Pronunciation Persian pronunciation: [loriː]
Native to Iran; a few villages in eastern Iraq.[1][2]
Region Southern Zagros
Ethnicity Lurs
Native speakers
 13 million (2012)[3]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
lrc – Central Luri
bqi – Bakhtiari
luz – Southern Luri
Glottolog luri1252[11]

Luri languages. (Note: Iraqi distribution corresponds to that of Southern Kurdish.)

Luri or Lurish (Luri: لۊری) is a Western Iranian language continuum spoken by the Lurs in Western Asia. Luri forms five language groups known as Feyli,[4][5][6][7] Central Luri, Bakhtiari,[12][13] Laki[14][8][9][10] and Southern Luri.[12][13] This language is spoken mainly by the Feyli Lurs, Bakhtiari and Southern Lurs (Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Mamasani, Sepidan, Bandar Ganaveh, Deylam)[15] of Iran and beyond.

Map of Luri-inhabited provinces of Iran, according to a poll in 2010

History

The Luri dialects are descended from Middle Persian (Pahlavi).[16][17] They belong to the Persid or Southern Zagros group, and are lexically similar to modern Persian, differing mainly in phonology.[18]

According to the Encyclopædia 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 Perso-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".[19] The Bakhtiāri dialect may be transitional between Kurdish and Persian.[20] However, there was never a common ancestor to Luri. There are two distinct languages, Greater Luri (Lor-e bozorg), a.k.a. Southern Luri (including Bakhtiari dialect), and Lesser Luri (Lor-e kuček), a.k.a. Northern Luri.[19]

Speakers

Lur peoples of Iran are mainly in provinces of Lorestan, Ilam Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Fars province (especially Mamasani and Rostam), Khuzestan, Esfahan province and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and some of this people live in provinces as like as Hamadan province, Qom province, Qazvin province, Gilan province and Kerman province.[21] A Lur population, known locally as Feyli people, exists in eastern parts of Iraq.[12]

Internal classification

The language is divided into five chief dialects, Feyli, Central Luri, Laki, Bakhtiari, and Southern Luri. Feyli is used by Feyli people in northern regions of Ilam, central regions of Kermanshah and significant parts of eastern Iraq in Diyala province (Khanaqin, Mendeli and Muqdadiyah cities) and Baghdad;[22]. Central Luri is spoken in northern parts of Luri communities including eastern, central and northern parts of Luristan province, southern parts of Hamadan province mainly in Malayer, Nahavand and Tuyserkan counties, southern regions of Ilam province and southeastern parts of Markazi province. Laki is used in central and northwestern regions of Luristan, central and southern regions of Ilam and southern parts of Kermanshah. Bakhtiari is used by Bakhtiari people in South Luristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, significant regions in north and east of Khouzestan and western regions of Isfahan province. Finally, Southern Luri is spoken throughout Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, and in western and central regions in Fars province, northern and western parts of Bushehr province and southeastern regions of Khouzestan. Several Luri communities are inhabited sporadically across the Iranian Plateau e.g. Khorasan (Beyranvand and Bakhtiari Luri descendants), Kerman, Guilan and Tehran provinces.[3][18][21]

Vocabulary

In comparison with other Iranian languages, Luri has been less affected by foreign languages such as Arabic and Turkic. Nowadays, many ancient Iranian language characteristics are preserved and can be observed in Luri grammar and vocabulary. According to diverse regional and socio-ecological conditions and due to longtime social interrelations with adjacent ethnic groups especially Kurds and Persian people, different dialects of Luri, despite mainly common characteristics, have significant differences. The northern dialect tends to have more Kurdish loanwords inside and southern dialects (Bakhtiari and Southern Luri) have been more exposed to Persian loanwords.[23]

Laki Southern Luri Minjai BakhtiariEnglishPersian Persian transcription
berd/kıçık berd/kuçuk berd berd stoneسنگ sang
sē sē sē/sia šé/sia blackسیاه siyah
čem tye češ ti/tye/tyeeyeچشم čašm
da/daleke da/dey da/daleke da/dayemotherمادر mâdar
pet nuft petnoft/neftnoseبینی bini
verza verza verza pelbull گاونر gāve nar
manga maga maga magacowگاو ماده gave made
jejŭle cilé/cŭlé jejŭ/jejŭle čŭléPorcupineتشی taši
agır/awır teš agır/teštaš/agırfireآتش âtash
bìlam bēlum bílam bēlomlet meبه من اجازه بده be man ejaze bedeh / bezâr
kur kur kurkurson/boyپسر pesar
dōt duwer/dōder duxterdōderdaughterدختر doxtar
piayēl piayel piayapiayelmenمردها mardha
jenēl zenel zeniazengel/zanyalwomenزنها zanha
mezg mezg mezg mezgbrainمغز maghz
pıšìgulŭ pıšì/gulŭ gulŭ/gurbecatگربه gorbeh
gemal kutŭ/seg gemal/seysegdogسگ sag
bet bet betbetduckمرغابی morghabi

See also

References

  1. ↑ Northern Luri at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Dougherty, Beth K.; Ghareeb, Edmund A. (7 November 2013). "Historical Dictionary of Iraq". Scarecrow Press – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 "LORI LANGUAGE ii. Sociolinguistic Status – Encyclopædia Iranica".
  4. 1 2 Najm S. Mehdi, al-Fayli, Stockholm 2001.
  5. 1 2 "Faylee Archive - الارشيف الفيلي".
  6. 1 2 Black-Michaud, J. (1974). "An Ethnographic and Ecological Survey of Luristan, Western Persia: Modernization in a Nomadic Pastoral Society. Middle Eastern Studies, 10(2), 210–228".
  7. 1 2 Shoup, J.A.2011.Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO, Incorporated. p.177
  8. 1 2 H. Izadpan¯ah, Farhang-e Laki [Lexicon of Laki]: in Persian, (Tehran, 1978).
  9. 1 2 بومیان دره مهرگان) تألیف رحیمی عثمانوندی)
  10. 1 2 H. Izadpan¯ah, Farhang-e Lori [Lexicon of Luri] (Tehran, 1964).
  11. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Luric". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  12. 1 2 3 Erik John Anonby (2003). Update on Luri: How many languages?. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), 13, pp 171-197. doi:10.1017/S1356186303003067.
  13. 1 2 G. R. Fazel, ‘Lur’, in Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, ed. R. V. Weekes (Westport, 1984), pp. 446–447
  14. ↑ B. Grimes (ed.), ‘Luri’, in Ethnologue (13th edition) (Dallas, 1996), p. 677; M. Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford, 1991), p. 327.
  15. ↑ Limbert, John. The Origin and Appearance of The Kurds In Pre-Islamic Iran. Iranian Studies.
  16. ↑ Erik John Anonby, "Update on Luri: How many languages?" // Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), volume 13, issue 02, Jul 2003, pp 171–197.
  17. ↑ Don Stillo, "Isfahan-Provincial Dialects" in Encyclopædia Iranica. Excerpt: "While the modern SWI languages, for instance, Persian, Lori-Baḵtiāri and others, are derived directly from Old Persian through Middle Persian/Pahlavi".
  18. 1 2 Bakhtiari tribe and the Bakhtiari dialect , Encyclopædia Iranica.
  19. 1 2 electricpulp.com. "LORI LANGUAGE i. LORI DIALECTS – Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  20. ↑ Kurdish language, Encyclopædia Iranica.
  21. 1 2 امان الهی بهاروند. اسکندر: قوم لر، انتشارات آگاه، تهران، ۱۳۷۴
  22. ↑ Dougherty, Beth K.; Ghareeb, Edmund A. (7 November 2013). "Historical Dictionary of Iraq". Scarecrow Press – via Google Books.
  23. ↑ "History and cultural relations - Lur". Everyculture.com. Retrieved 2015-09-21.

Further reading

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