Mazanderani language

Mazandarani
Māzərūni مازِرونی - Mazəni مازنی Tapəri تپری
Native to	Mazandaran, and some parts of Tehran, Golestan, Semnan, Khorasan (Iran)
Region	Southern Mazandaran Sea
Native speakers	3 - 4.5 million (As Native)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Caspian Mazandarani
Writing system	Perso-Arabic Script
Official status
Regulated by	Linguistic Faculty of Babol University
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ira
ISO 639-3	mzn
Areas where Mazandarani is spoken as mother tongue

Mazandarani or Tabari (Also known as: Mazeniki, Taperki) is an Iranian language of the northwestern branch. Spoken mainly in Iran's Mazandaran and Golestan provinces, it is partially, but not fully, intelligible with respect to Persian. There are many similarities in grammar and vocabulary which render the Mazandarani and the standard Persian, moderately intelligible between speakers of either. . In addition, virtually all speakers of Mazandarani are also fluent in standard Persian.

Etymology

The name Mazanderani (and variants of it) derives from the name of now Caspian Province of Mazanderan (Mazerun in Mazanderani), which was part of former Kingdom of Tapuria. People traditionally call their language Gileki, the same as Gilekis do. Gileki consist of two morphemes : Gil + postfix ki. The name Tapuri (or Tabari) which was the name of an ancient language of somewhere in former Tapuria, Nowadays becomes prevalent into youth groups instead of Gileki. However the fact is Gilan & Mazanderan were part of the same state known as Tapuria which it's national language was known as Gileki.

History

Among the living Iranian languages, Mazandarani has one of the longest written traditions, from the tenth to the fifteenth century. This status was achieved during the long reign of the independent and semi-independent rulers of Mazandaran in the centuries after the Arab invasion.

The rich literature of this language includes books such as Marzban Nameh (later translated into Persian) and the poetry of Amir Pazevari. The use of Mazandarani, however, has been in decline. Its literary and administrative rank was lost to Persian perhaps long before the ultimate integration of Mazandaran into the national administration in the early seventeenth century. .

The Mazandarani language is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. Notably, the language did not come under the influence of other incoming languages such as Arabic and Turkish. According to Ethnologue, there were more than three million native speakers of Mazandarani in 1993 speaking different dialects such as Gorgani, Ghadikolahi and Palani

Grammar

Mazanderani is an inflected and gender free language. It is considered SVO in conventional typology. .

Morphology

Function Cases Case Position Meaning Səre-a Nominative The Home Səre re Accusative To the Home Səreo Vocative Home! Səreşe Genitive Home’s Səre re Dative To the Home Səre Həje Ablative By the Home

Adjectives Adjective Position Meaning And-e Səre Applicative   Gat Səre Comparative Big Home Ota Səre Determinative That Home Səre Superlative Xaar Səre

Suffixes

Mazandarani is one of Synthetic languages which uses many suffixes to construct adjectives, verbs, and especially nouns. The list below is a sample list obtained from the Online Mazandarani-Persian dictionary.

Locatives Suffix Example Meaning Kash Kharkash Good Place Kel Tutkel Mulberry Limit Ij Yoshij Yoshian Bun Chenarbon At the Plantain Ja Səre Ja Of Home Sar Bənesar At the Below

Subjectives Suffix Example Meaning Chaf Au Chaf Water Sucker Rush Halikrush Drupelet Seller Su Vərgsu Wolf Hunter Kaf Ukaf Who acts in water Vej Galvej Mouse Finder Yel vəngyel Bandmaster

Orthography

Perso-Arabic Script

Mazanderani is commonly written in the Perso-Arabic script.

Romanization

Jahangir Nasr Ashrafi proposed Latin scripture of this language to be used in dictionaries and other textural resources for compatibly of foreigners. It is also being usable in Chat, Email and SMS messages.

Vocabulary

Although Mazandarani shares the great part of its vocabulary with Gilaki (due to fact that it belongs to Caspian group of languages) and to lesser extend Modern Kurdish & Persian, it has many specific words of its own. Many Proto Indo-Iranian words, no longer in use in Persian, survive in Mazanderani.

Sheltered by high Alborz mountains, Mazandarani preserves many Indo-European old words which are no longer in common use in many other Iranian languages such as Persian. Below, a few common Mazanderani words & their English cognates are listed for sample.

English	Mazanderani	Persian	Example of
New	Neu	Nau/no	Adjective
Great	Geat	Bozorg	Adjective
Better	Better	Behtar	Adverb
Been	Bine	Budeh/Shodeh	Auxiliary Verb
Be	Be	Budan	Infinitive of Verb
Moon	Moong	Mâh	Noun
Tulip	Tulip	Lâleh	Noun
Cow	Guw	Gâv Mâda	Noun
My	Me	az man	Pronoun
Let (German: Lass)	Lass	Derang	Verb
Gab	Gab	Goftogu	Verb
Right	Rast	Râst/Haq/Amud

Colloquial Mazandarani has also a few Nordic, French, English, and a handful of Russian loan words in everyday use.

Influences exerted by Mazanderani

Modern-day of Iran

There are many popular companies in Iran that their name are from the origin words of this language.

In non-Iranian languages

There are some Mazanderani loanwords in the Turkmen language. There is also evidence that Sanskrit and Mazanderani share some words - for instance, vrika is Sanskrit for wolf, while the Mazenderan equivalent is varg as well it's swedish cognate, varg.

Specimen

mosalmunun! mέrε šabgir varέnnε

āx, mέrε bā kamεr-e haftir varέnnε

mέrε bavέrdεnε Tεrkεmun-e dam

Tεrkεmun kāfεr o gεlilε be-ra:m

Moslems! They are carrying me at the crack of dawn.

O, they are taking me away with a pistol on the[ir] waist.

They took me to the vicinity of the Turkmen [tribes].

Turkmen [are] unbelievers and the bullet [is] ruthless.

gεtε,

ašun xō badimā mεn še Ali-rε

sio dasmāl davέsso še gali-rε

age xā́nnε bā́urεn ámi badi-rε

bázεne xεrusεk šέme gali-rε

volvol sar-e dār gέnε εy zāri-zāri

me gol dāš báio sarbāz-e Sāri

He would say,

Last night I dreamed my Ali.

He [had] wrapped a black kerchief [round] his throat.

If it is their intention is malignant about us,

May croup-cough attack your throat!

The nightingale on the tree constantly bemoans (?)

My dear brother drafted in Sāri.

Quatrains sang by Sabura Azizi, transcribed and translated by Habib Borjian; Ref. Habib Borjian and Maryam Borjian, “Mysterious Memories of a Woman: Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran,” Iran and the Caucasus 11/2, 2007.

ozεrε-vâ énε dámbe sεvâí iấnnε búye dεlbárrε dεvấi qam o qossέye dεl vónε kεnârí me jấne gεl dénε búye xεdâí
	At break of dawn blows the cool breeze. It brings over the healing odor of the beloved. The sorrow of the heart will go away. My dear flower smells like God.
basutέ sinέye miónnε hấreš! tévεsse – nấzεnin! – baímε nâxεš tε armúne dέl i, εy nâzεnin yâr! tévεsse mέsle bεlbεl zámbε nâlεš
	Look at the middle of the burnt chest! For you – O loveable! – I am unwell. You are the heart’s aspiration, O beloved! For you I moan like a nightingale.
Dεl-e armun “Heart’s Aspiration” Rezaqoli Mohammadi Kordekheyli Transcribed and translated by: Habib Borjian

References

General

• Dr. Borjian, Maryam; Spring 2005; Bilingualism in Mazandaran: Peaceful Coexistence With Persian; Columbia University, Language, Communities and Education, pp.65-73.

Further reading

Recent Studies

• Habib Borjian, Archiv Orientálni, 2006, The Oldest Known Texts in New Tabari: The Collection of Aleksander ChodŸko, 74/2, pp. 153-171.
• Dr. Borjian, Habib; 2006; Amir Pazevari (legendary poet of Mazandarani language), University of Minnesota, United States
• Habib Borjian, Iranian Studies, 2006, A Mazandarani account of the Babi Incident at Shaikh Tabarsi, 39/3, pp. 381-400.
• Habib Borjian, Guyesh-shenâsi, 2006, Textual sources for the study of Tabari language I. Olddocuments, no. 4.

Other Studies

• Nawata; 1984; Mazandarani; Asian and African Grammatical Manual, No 17, Tokyo, ILCAA

Bibliography

• Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn, 1860-66, Masanderanische Sprache (I-II/1, 3, St. Petersburg)
• Satoko Yoshie, 1998, Sari Dialect (of Mazandarani language), Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokio, Japan [3][4][5]
• Dr. Shokri, Guiti; 1995, Sari Dialect (of Mazandarani), Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.
• Dr. Shokri, Guiti; 2006, Ramsari Dialect , Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.

More references

Chodzko, Alexander, 1842, Specimens of the popular poverty of Persia as found in the adventures and improvisations of Kurroglou, the bandit- minstrel of Northern Persia; and in the songs of the people inhabiting the shores of the Caspian Sea. Orally collected and translated, with philological and historical notes, London, pp. 510- 517, 568- 581. Christensen, A.; 1995 (tr); Contributions a la dialectologie iraniene, Dialect Guiläki de Recht, (Guyesh –e Gilaki-ye Rasht) translated, with notes by Ja‘far Khomāmi Zāde, Tehran. DeMorgan,J., 1904, Mission Scientifique en Perse, vol.5,Etudes linguistiques(I.) Dialectes du Kurds. Langues et dialects du nord de la Perse, Paris, pp.200-246. Geiger, w., &., Wilhelm Kuhn, 1898–1901; Die Kaspischen Dialekte;Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie , 1Band, 2Ab., Strassburg. Pp.344-380.. Dorn B. (ed.); 1860-1866; Kenntniss der Iranischen Srachen, St. Petersburg. Lambton, A.K.S.; 1938, Three Persian Dialects, London. Le Coq, P.; 1989; Les dialects Caspiens et les dialects du nord- ouest de l, Iran in Schmitt, R. (ed), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, pp.296-312, Wiesbaden. Makenzi, D.; 1969; Iranian Languages, in Sebeok, Thomas, A. (ed), Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol.5, pp. 450-477, Nederland. MG. Melgounof, G., 1868, Essai sur les dialects du Masenderan et du Guilanla pronunciation locale, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Geselaschaft, vol.xxII, pp. 195-224. Mozaffari, M., V., 1979, Noqāndāri, Langrud. Nowata, T., 1948, Māzandarāni, (Asian and African Grammatical Manual, No 17), ILCAA, Tokyo.

Oranski, I., M., 1979, (tr.), Moqaddame –ye Feqholloqe- ye Irani, translated by Kešāvarz, Tehran. Purriyahi, M., 1971, Barresi-ye dastur-e Guyesh-e Gilaki-ye Rasht (A Grammatical Study of Gilaki dialect of Rasht), (Ph. D Thisis), Tehran University. Sartip pur, J., 1990, Vižegihā-ye Dasturi va Farhang-e vāžehā-ye Gilaki (Grammatical Characteristics and Glossary of Gilaki), Rasht. Shokri, G., 1990, Verb Structure in Sāri dialect, Farhang, Vol.6, pp.217-231, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran. ----------, 1998, Māzi –ye Naqli dar Guyeshhā-ye Gilaki va Mazandarāni (Present perfect in Gilani and Mazandarāni Dialects), Nāme-ye Farhangestān, The Quarterly Journal of Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature, vol.4, No.4, Tehran. ----------, 2002, Verb Structure in Rāmsari Dialect, Professor Jes Peter Asmussem, Memorial Volum, Copenhagen, pp. 83-111. ----------, 1356, Farhang e Semnāni, Sorxe i, Lāsgerdi, Sangsari, šahmizādi, Vezārate Farhang o Honar, Tehrān. Sokolova, V.S. & Grjunberg, A.L.; 1962; История изучения бесписменных иранских языков (Istorija izuchenija bespis`mennyx iranskix azykov), lzd. AN SSSR, Moscow, pp. 118–147. A manuscript of Maghamat e Hariri in Arabic with translation into Mazandarani Tarjome –ye Maghamat e Hariri, Teheran, Malek library. (600 A.H) Zav`jalova, V:I:, 1956, Novye svedenija po fonetike iranskix jazykov, Gilanskij I mazanderanskij jazyki, Trudy Instituta Jazykoznaija AN SSSR, Moskva, vol.6, pp. 92-112. Yoshie, Satoko, 1996, Sāri Dialect, Iranian Studies, No.10, ILCAA, Tokyo.

See also

• Comparison Table of Iranian languages
• Mazandarani people

External links

• Ethnologue Report for Mazandarani
• Audio recordings available for Mazandarani
• Dictionary of Mazandarani, with translations into Saravi, Baboli, and Amoli dialects