Luri language

The Encyclopedia of Islam calls Luri “an aberrant form of archaic Persian.”C.S. Coon, 1997, "Iran: Demography and Ethnography" in Encyclopaedia of Islam: New Edition, Volume IV, Leiden, E. J. Brill, page 9. “In the mountains south of the Kurds live the Lurs,

who speak an aberrant form of archaic Persian.” The language descends from either Middle Persian or Old Persian.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Stilo|first=Donald|date=15 December 2007|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-xxi-provincial-dialects|title=Isfahan xxi. PROVINCIAL DIALECTS|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=XIV, fasc. 1|pages=93–112|issn=2330-4804|quote=While the modern SWI languages, for instance, Persian, Lori-Baḵtiāri and others, are derived directly from Old Persian through Middle Persian/Pahlavi|access-date=2019-04-14}} It belongs to the “Perside southern Zagros group” (as opposed to Kurdish dialects of northern Zagros),{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Digard|first1=J.-P.|last2=Windfuhr|first2=G. L.|last3=Ittig|first3=A.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baktiari-tribe#pt2|title=BAḴTĪĀRĪ TRIBE ii. The Baḵtīārī Dialect |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|date=15 December 1988|volume=III, fasc. 5|pages=553–560|issn=2330-4804|access-date=2019-04-14}} and is lexically similar to modern Persian, differing mainly in phonology.

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".{{cite encyclopedia|last=MacKinnon|first=Colin|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-dialects|title=LORI LANGUAGE i. LORI DIALECTS|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|date=7 January 2011|issn=2330-4804|access-date=2019-04-14}} The Bakhtiāri dialect may be closer to Persian.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Paul|first=Ludwig|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i |title=KURDISH LANGUAGE i. HISTORY OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|issn=2330-4804|date=15 December 2008|access-date=2019-04-14}} There are two distinct languages, Greater Luri (Lor-e bozorg), {{aka}} Southern Luri (including Bakhtiari dialect), and Lesser Luri (Lor-e kuček), {{aka}} Northern Luri.

{{Expand section|date=December 2020}}

Luri dialects (Northern Luri [or Central Luri], Shuhani and Hinimini) are as a group the second largest language in the Lorestan province (around {{Pct|450000|1765030}} of the population), mainly spoken in the eastern counties of the province (Khoramabad, Dorud, Borujerd). In the Ilam province (around {{Pct|78300|536500|2}} of the population) it is mostly spoken in villages in the southern parts of the province.{{Cite web|title=Language distribution: Ilam province|url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.ilam#|access-date=6 December 2020|website=Iran Atlas}} Around {{Pct|370000|1742210|2}} of Hamadan province speak Northern Luri.{{Cite web |title=Language distribution: Hamadan province |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.hamadan |access-date=8 June 2022}}

Southern Luri is a dialect of Luri is spoken by Southern Lurs and Lurs people mainly in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, northwest Fars province, east Khuzestan province and some in Bushehr province.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.

{{Main|Bakhtiari dialect}}

The Bakhtiari dialect is the main first language in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (around {{Pct|520000|841180|2}}), except around Shahrekord, Borujen, Ben and Saman counties, where Persian, Turkic and Chaharmahali dialect predominate.{{Cite web|title=Language distribution: Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province|url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.chahar_mahal_va_bakhtiari|access-date=6 December 2020|website=Iran Atlas}} Around {{Pct|350000|4893000|2}} of Isfahan province speak Bakhtiari.{{Cite web |title=Language distribution: Esfahan Province |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.esfahan |access-date=8 June 2022}}

The language consists of Central Luri, Bakhtiari, and Southern Luri. 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. 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 spread sporadically across the Iranian Plateau e.g. Khorasan (Beyranvand and Bakhtiari Luri descendants), Kerman, Guilan and Tehran provinces.{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Anonby|first=Erik J.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-language-ii|title=LORI LANGUAGE ii. Sociolinguistic Status|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|issn=2330-4804|date=20 December 2012|access-date=2019-04-14}}

1. /{{IPA link|a}}/ may also range to a higher /{{IPA link|æ}}/ in the Northern dialect.

• Vowels /{{IPA link|ɛ}}, {{IPA link|ɔ}}/ may also be realized as more close [{{IPA link|e}}, {{IPA link|o}}] within diphthongs or before glide sounds.
• /{{IPA link|ɛ}}, {{IPA link|ɔ}}/ can also be heard as higher [{{IPA|ɛ̝, ɔ̝}}] in Southern Luri.
• /{{IPA link|a}}/ can also be raised as [{{IPA link|ə}}] or [{{IPA link|ɛ}}] before semivowels.

1. /{{IPA link|ɲ}}/ occurs in Northern Luri.
2. Velar fricatives /{{IPA link|x}}, {{IPA link|ɣ}}/ as equivalent to uvular fricatives /{{IPA link|χ}}, {{IPA link|ʁ}}/, occur in Northern Luri.
3. /{{IPA link|ʁ}}/ occurs in Southern Luri.
4. /{{IPA link|ʔ}}/ occurs in Northern Luri, as well as in words borrowed from Persian.
5. /{{IPA link|ɾ}}/ can also be heard as a trill [{{IPA link|r}}] in Southern Luri.

• /{{IPA link|h}}/ also occurs as a glide to elongate short vowels (e.g. /oh/; {{IPA|[ɔː]}}).
• [{{IPA link|v}}, {{IPA link|w}}] occur as allophones of a labiodental approximant /{{IPA link|ʋ}}/.{{Cite book|title=Bakhtiari Studies: Phonology, Text, Lexicon|last=Anonby|first=Erik|year=2014|location=Uppsala University}}{{Cite book|title=A Phonology of Southern Luri|last=Anonby|first=Erik|year=2002}}{{Cite book|title=Tales from Luristan|last=Amanolahi; Thackston|first=Sekandar, Wheeler M.|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1987|location=Harvard Iranian Series, 4}}

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 Persians, 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Lur-History-and-Cultural-Relations.html |title=Lur – History and Cultural Relations |website=everyculture.com |access-date=2019-04-14}}

{{Portal|Languages|Linguistic}}

• Bakhtiari dialect
• Borujerdi dialect
• Dialects of Fars

{{reflist}}

• Freidl, Erika. 2015. Warm Hearts and Sharp Tongues: Life in 555 Proverbs from the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Vienna: New Academic Press. {{ISBN|978-3-7003-1925-2}}
• F. Vahman and G. Asatrian, Poetry of the Baxtiārīs: Love Poems, Wedding Songs, Lullabies, Laments, Copenhagen, 1995.[https://books.google.com/books/about/Poetry_of_the_Baxti%C4%81r%C4%ABs.html?id=KKgypdL4gJoC]

{{Incubator|code=lrc|language=Northern Luri}}

{{Incubator|code=luz|language=Southern Luri}}

• {{WALS|lur|Lur}}
• {{UDHR|lori|Lor}}
• [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baktiari-tribe Bakhtiari tribe] [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-dialects Lori dialect], Encyclopædia Iranica
• [http://anonby.balafon.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/jra-172-171-197.pdf Luri language: How many languages? – By Erik John Anonby – The Royal Asiatic Society, 2003 – Printed in the UK]

{{Languages of Iran}}

{{Languages of Iraq}}

{{Iranian languages}}

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Category:Languages of Iran

Category:Southwestern Iranian languages