Mazanderani language


Mazandarani or Götverani, also Tabari, is an Iranian language of the Northwestern branch, spoken mainly in Iran's Mazandaran, Tehran, Alborz, Semnan and Golestan provinces. According to Greenwood Publishing Group, Mazandarani is a dialect of Persian. Who speaks in Mazandarani is called Götveran or Götash. Mazandarani is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. As a member of the Northwestern branch, etymologically speaking it is rather closely related to Gilaki, and also related to Persian, which belongs to the Southwestern branch. Mazandarani is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages share certain typological features with Caucasian languages, reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of the Mazandarani people and Gilaki people. For the most part Mazandarani is mutually intelligible with Persian. the present geographical domain of mazandarani extends from the border of gilan in the west to plains of gorgan in the west.
the southern border reaches, somewhat unexpectedlly, beyond the lofty chain of alborz, to include firuzkuh and davamand, and continues all the way south to the outskirts of tehran in lavasanat, rudehen, ect.
the vilage of velatru the dialect of which is recorded by lambton, is located off the tehran_chalus highway.
on the south_east border of mazandaran, there is a cluster of villages around the town of semnan, namely sangsar, sorkhe, lasgerd, aftar, and particularly shahmirzad, the dialects of which share significent traits with mazandarani.

Etymology

The name Mazanderani derives from the name of the historical region of Mazandaran, which was part of former Kingdom of Tapuria. People traditionally call their language Gilaki, as the Gilaks themselves do.
Gilaki consist of two morphemes : Gil + postfix ki. The name Tapuri which was the name of an ancient language of somewhere in former Tapuria, Nowadays becomes prevalent into youth groups instead of Gilaki.
However, Gilan and Mazanderan were part of the same state known as Tapuria which its national language was known as Gilaki.

History

Among the living Iranian languages, Mazanderani 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 and the poetry of Amir Pazevari. The use of Mazanderani, 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.

Classification

The Mazanderani language is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. In 1993, according to Ethnologue, there were more than three million native speakers of Mazanderani.
The dialects of Mazanderani are Saravi, Amoli, Baboli, Ghaemshahri, Chaloosi, Nuri, Shahsavari, Ghasrani, Shahmirzadi, Damavandi, Firoozkoohi, Astarabadi and Katouli.
Furthermore, an extinct variety, Gorgani, was documented back to the 14th and 15th centuries, from writings of the Horufi movement.

Grammar

Mazanderani is an inflected and genderless language. It is SOV, but in some tenses it may be SVO, depending on dialects however.

Typology

Morphology

Like other modern Iranian languages there is no distinction between the dative and accusative cases, and the nominative in the sentence takes almost no indicators but with word order. Since Mazanderani lacks articles, there is no inflection for nouns in the sentence.
For definition, nouns are added with e at end. The indefinite article for single nouns is a-tā with for determination of number.
There are some remnants from old Mazanderani that female nouns in nominative were ending with a and male nouns in nominative were ending with e grammatical gender still exists in other present-day close languages such as Semnani, Sangesari and Zazaki.

Function cases

Adjectives

Notable postpositions

Adpositions in Mazanderani are after words, while most of other languages including English and Persian have preposition systems in general. the only common postpositions that sometimes becoming preposition are Še and . Frequently used postpositions are:
postpositionmeaning
dəlein
reof / to
jefrom / by
vəsefor
to
həmrā / jāwith
sərion / above
bəneunder / below
pəlinear / about
vāri/ tarālike
derūamong / inside

Suffixes

The list below is a sample list obtained from the .
Locatives
Subjectives

Phonology

Vowels

// may also range to a more back //.

Consonants

// appears as an allophone of // in word-final position. // may appear as a voiceless trill in word-final position //. An occasional glottal stop // or voiceless uvular fricative // or voiced plosive // may also be heard, depending on the dialect.

Orthography

Mazanderani is commonly written in the Perso-Arabic script. However, many use roman alphabets, for example in SMS messages.

Vocabulary

Spoken in a territory sheltered by the high Alborz mountains, Mazanderani preserves many ancient Indo-European words no longer in common use in modern Iranian languages such as Persian. Listed below are a few common Mazanderani words of archaic, Indo-European provenance with Vedic cognates.
EnglishMazanderaniPersianVedicProto-Indo-EuropeanExample of
NewNeoNo/NownávasAdjective
GreatGatBozorg, Gonde, GotAdjective
BetterBetterBehtarAdverb
BeenBineBudehAuxiliary Verb
BeingBienBudanbhū-Infinitive of Verb
MoonMoong/MongMâhmā́s*mḗh₁n̥sNoun
DaughterDeterDokhtardúhitāNoun
CowGo/Gu/GuwGâvgáuṣNoun
MyMe/Mi am, ommámaVerb
GabGabGapVerb
RightRastRâstAdjective

Mazandarani is rich in synonyms,some such nouns also retaining the gender they possessed in Indo-European times : for instance the words Miš, Gal, Gerz all have the meaning of mouse, although they are not all of the same gender. While many Indo-Iranian languages use a masculine noun taking such related forms as Muš or Muska or Mušk, in Mazandarani the most commonly used name for the mouse is the feminine noun Gal.
Another example is cow, as most important symbol animal in Indo-European culture, in Mazanderani there are more than 1000 recognized words used for different states of cow, table below is specimen of vocabulary. Even contests hold for knowledge of these words.
Mazanderani nameMeaningMazanderani nameMeaning
ahlBull subduednū dūşYoung bull to plow used for the first time...
āhyEye black cow that is its namepaei varzāSingle bull used for plowing
alaştOne of the tools Miner - Two wooden arc that ends it...parūCattle for plowing
baKhte bāriBullock and trolleysrajiA cow that is ready to mate
bārengThat is reddish brown cowraş goCow crimson color with black spots
batkoniyeCastrated male bovine cattle to eliminate it from washing down ...raş jūnkāYoung bull with red and black streaks
būr geleA cow that is yellow to redraş kamerCow that is White and brown
būr şāxThe final section of cow horns and sharp redsārūThe forehead is white bull - the bull forehead White
būrekIt is light yellow colored bullsārūThe forehead is white bull - the bull forehead White
būrengblond colored cowşelāb beze gozūrThe new wide calf rain caused a sharp volley crumbled...
būrmangoIs fawn-colored cowselnāzcow from the forehead to the tail has white veins
das kareBull fighting situationssembe bandOx that has wood on her neck
de jetFerrous cows, two bulls kill itserxe selRed Cow is a band of white from neck to tail
demes mārA cow with her calf is about two years old.setārea cow that had white and black spots
demis mārA two-year-old bull calf isseyā bareThe black cow with a white forehead.
dūşt hākerdenProvoke the bull to attackseyā kachalBlack cow with black spots on the tail end of the frontal
elā elā şāğcow that its horns grow in oppositeseyā selBlack cow with a white line of humps and spine to the tail
elā kalA cow with horns and large openseyelcow that color of its belly is white
elā şiroA cow with horns is apartşir vejA Calf or bull testicles are drawn to
elāşāxA bull that has horns and large openşirūA cow with a white head and tail
emūjOx that once trained for plowingşūkāPale yellow cow
eştePair of cows for worktā şūMiner's cow, only to be closed
ezālicow that is bred to plowtağr inThe four-year inseminate cows to conventional methods - Pair ...
falCow ready for matingtal goA cow that is ready for plowing
faresOx that has not been taught to portagetāle mārCow that bells hung around his neck
ğalferBovine name of the color is yellowishtariseA cow that is the first delivery - a two-year-old female calf ...
jandekBull bison that used for matingtersekāThe two and half year old cow is ready to fertility
jānekāYoung bull intact strong that it used for breeding or warteş kūleA young bull
jinekāYoung bullteşkYoung bull that is not yet ready for plowing
jonde kā sareTelling where young bulls and breeds cattle to be raisedteşkelSmall bull
jone kā koleBullock that does not work and is less than two years oldtitāppeli mangoBlack and white cow
jūndekāBullock is not a job for more than two years oldtolomYoung cow - heifer
jūnekkāYoung bull breedstūz kelbull
jūnekkā jangYoung male bovine bickervarzāBullock
KhāmodOx plowxāl dārName bovine skin bicolor
lāch kalCow have horns openxes xesi goA cow that lays on the floor on work
lachchiThere is open and cow horns that grow in opposite directionsxetūralarmed cow
lase sar gūcow that goes to everyonexik chafA cow that refuses to give milk to calves or its owner
lūş benigrooms gift cowzām bordeCow missed after giving birth
māgūA cowzanā gūcow fighting by horn
mangoOf lactating cowszar xālBlack with yellow spots cow - a cow that has one point spot
mārşanYoung cowzargeleThe name of the cow that is yellow in color
mārūThe forehead white cowzemessūni karCow that leans due to food shortages in the winter
meremlovely young cowzingālThe black cow with white legs

Influences exerted by Mazanderani

Modern-day of Iran

In Iran, there are some popular companies and products, like Rika or Kija, which take their name from Mazanderani words.

In non-Iranian languages

There are some Mazanderani loanwords in the Turkmen language.

Specimen

áme kεrkā šúnnε nεfār-sar. nεfār-sar xεsέnnε. badími nεfār-sar-e čεl-o-ču hamε bapíssεnε. bāútεmε, “vačε jān! injε, kεlum-e pali, mé-vesse έttā kεrk-kεli dεrεs hā́kεn!” vε εm nεmāšun ke pe dar-biārdε, hamun šō badímε bεmúnε sεre piεr o vačε. ande-tumi piεr o vačε bεmúnε sεre, nεmāz kέrdεnε, qεzā xέrdεnε; ba:d εz nεmāz šínε ún-var, sāāt-e čār harkεt kέrdεnε.