Kho'ini (alternatives: Xoini, Xo'ini, Khoeini, or Di) is a Tatic dialect or language spoken in northwestern Iran, and is one of many Western Iranian languages. It is spoken in the village of Xoin and surrounding areas, about southwest of Zanjan city in northern Iran. The Xoini verbal system follows the general pattern found in other Tati dialects. However, the dialect has its own special characteristics such as continuous present which is formed by the past stem, a preverb shift, and the use of connective sounds. The dialect is in danger of extinction.
Kho'in
Kho'in (), also spelled as Xo'in an Khoein, is located in "Ejarud" rural district of Zanjan Province at the end of a long valley. In recent decades the village has lost its centrality because of veering the road of Zanjan to Bijar from Xoin. In 1960, the farmers was growing fruits around on the slopes of the hills, however, Xoin's Qanats were neglected; many of the houses deteriorated already and a number of inhabitants had been migrating to Tehran seeking works. The population was 800 to 900 at the time and declining.
There has been a sense of nostalgia about the better days of Xo'in among the dwellers. Local beliefs hold that in the Qajar period some Xoinis emigrated to Merv, Ashgabat and Baku. There is a cavernous dent called "Dei-manda", meaning, "remnant of a fort" (known in other parts of Iran as "Qaleh Gabri/Gowri"), said to have been made by Zoroastrians. Some villagers legendarily believed that Xoinis had earlier been Gowr. They gave credence to being originally from Sistan. Some said when Bahman invaded Sistan to avenge his father, Esfandiyar, the descendants of Rostam fled and came to Xoin. In spite of dwindling estate, the village has 8 maintained mosques and a Tekyeh.
Geography
Azeri Turkic has mostly replaced Xoini, however in the 1960s, the extent of the dialect was as follows:
Sipkamar (Persian: "Sefidkamar"): It is a village to the west of Xoin. The dialect was best preserved there. It had some 70 households in 1963. Sefidkamar has been more flourishing than Xoin. The access road is rather doubly arduous and limits communications, which may have been instrumental in the dialect's survival. Xoin: Azerbaijani language is the predominant language and the indigenous dialect was fading away in 1960 and might be extinct by now. In Aruz Mâla, the northern quarter of Xoin, the dialect is somewhat better known than in Aš Mâla, the southern quarter, where almost no one knows the language any longer. Sa'idabad: In its lower quarter, they speak mostly the dialect. Garneh: A couple of kilometers from Xoin. The people speak the dialect. Sura: A village to the east of Xoin, which had some 250 inhabitants. Some knew the dialect. Balubin (Persian: "Balbavin"): The dialect is spoken side by side with Turkic. Halab: The language had practically disappeared, being replaced by Azerbaijani. Just one old man could remember a few sentences in 1960.
Phonology
Some sounds are approximate. Some of the vowels such as "e, â, o, u" and "i" show variations.
MonophthongsSound (IPA)NotesRomanization Example(s) generally a somewhat rounded â âynakâ - a tar - e âme has a wide range between and . It could be an allophone of or . o xorâk - u buri probably not a separate phoneme. The palatalization may be a Turkic influence. ü dü, mü, lüt a phoneme or an allophone of or ö höröm, čöröl - i pir
The consonants are: p, b, t, d, č, j, k, g, x, xʷ, q, f, m, n, r, l, s, z, ž, š, h, v, w, y.
Notes about some ConsonantsSound (IPA)NotesRomanizationExample(s) Final , following a vowel is mostly pronounced as and as in the 3rd. person singular suffix, begins as a half-voiced stop and ends as a fricative . k xorâk, nedârek is a rare sound. ž žani, gužd, Final and after a vowel (particularly )are tending to merely nasalize the preceding vowel. For example, in the 1st person plural person suffix: -ɒm/-ɒ̆̆ / m, n merdân is infrequent. After some vowels it can be considered as diphthong. Generally in most of the cases it is dropped or can be considered as a buffer or a semivowel. w wâ (consonant), wuj-, uwâ can appear in all parts of the words y yem In a number of words it is followed by a weak or without making any changes in the syllabic count of the word. Whether xu should be counted as a separate consonant or should be considered in such words as xuan a contraction of xua is moot. x xuan (or xwan), xalâw. - v vel
In Xoini, vowel harmony, gemination and lengthening more or less occurs.
Grammar
Nouns and adjectives
Nouns have two cases: direct and oblique. Contrary to the often case in Persian, adjective is not Post-positive. The formation of different kinds of nouns and adjectives and their order are as follows:
Nouns and adjectivesFormation and notesExample(s)PersianEnglish Abstract noun: adjective + a stressed -i gallawân → gallawâni čupân → čupâni shepherd → shepherding adjective + -a/-e + noun süjesta kömer; tara nun suxte zoqâl; nâne tâze (tar) burned coal; fresh bread Izafat is reversed comparing to Persian ast-e mezg maqz-e ostoxân bone marrow Substantive adjective: -âr + present stem of the verb pül âdâ-r-âr pul dahande money giver Adjective: noun + -in gulek- (lower part) → gulgin lavenj labe pâyin lower lip Adjective: present stem + -ganin enta:ganin âšâmidani drinkable Adjective: -jul kermajul-e (or possibly: kermaj (wormy) + -ul + e) kerm-ur-e (kerm-var-e) (It) is wormy Adjective relating a person to a place or a language: -ej diej; spekamarej di-gu; sefidkamar-i Di (Xoini) speaker; Sefidkamari
Pronouns
Pronouns Singular Plural Person 1 2 3 1 2 3Nominative az te a(v) mâ šemâ ânOblique man te â mâ šemâ ânPossessive če-man eš-te č-a če-mâ(n) še-mâ(n) č-ân
The possessive pronouns are also used with both preposition and postposition, e.g.: a:râ buri čeman ku pül ar-gi (tomorrow come (and) take money from me). čeman ku means "from me" de man panir a-čman xarat-(e)š-e (he sold two maunds of cheese to me). a-čman means "to me"
They are acted as possessive adjectives too: čeman da:s-em begi (take my hand). Note that the pronoun is repeated by the clitic -em.
Demonstrative pronouns NominativeAccusativeOblique ProximateSingular em eme čia/čie, čemPlural eme emân čiân RemoteSingular a(v) ave ča/čâPlural ave avân čân
For example: čia ku (from this), čâ ku (from that).
They serve also as adjectives: čiân/čân daste begi (take these/those ones' hands) čie/čâ daste begi (take this/that one's hand)
Possession is also expressed by adding suffixes to nouns. These are added after inflection for number. See the "Person Suffixes" table below.
Reflexive pronoun: geg. But it is treated as a noun in terms of declension, e.g.: mâ a gege-mân viar seg-mân či (we piled stones in front of ourselves).
Verbs
The verbal system follows the general pattern found in other Tati dialects. It employs: A present and a past stem Personal suffixes preverbs: â-, (âje-), ar-, baʋ-/ʋaʋ-, bay/ʋay-, či-, da(r)-, dari-, pa(r)-, wut- Negative Marker: ne- Prohibitive Marker: ma- Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be- Imperfective: -in-/-en-/-m- Insistence, necessity, volition: pi-; e.g.: te pi niši (you must not go) Desire, need: pi-sta-; e.g.: pist-am/pista-r-im bešum (I want to go)
However, the main exceptional characteristics of Xoini are: Continuous present is made by the past stem; The preverbs shift their positions depending on tense and mood; The use of a connective sound is frequent. It is generally -r- and sometimes -y-, when the vowels of the different elements of a verb come into contact. For example: mesar te nâza-r-â-m-bim (this year you will become well).
Person SuffixesPersonSingularPlural1st -(e)m -mân2nd -i (-y after a vowel) -yân3rd -(e)š -(e)šân
The above suffixes serve as: Possessives, e.g.: berâ-m âmi (My brother came). Agents of past transitive verbs in an ergative construction, e.g.: te ow-i ente (You drank water). Objects, direct or indirect, e.g.: ü seg-ešân p(e)tow-šân kay (They threw a stone).
The suffixes may be attached to the verb; the agent of the verb in an ergative construction; an adverb; a prepositional or postpositional phrase; and in a compound verb to its nominal Complement.
The same set of endings is used for the present and the subjunctive. The endings of the preterit and the present perfect are basically the enclitic present forms of the verb 'to be' (*ah-, here called base one). For pluperfect and subjunctive perfect the freestanding auxiliary verb 'to be' (*bav-, here called base two) is utilized. There is no ending for singular imperative and it is -ân for plural. For the inflections of "to be" see "Auxiliary inflection" below.
Conjugations
Stems and imperative mood
The past and present stems are irregular and shaped by historical developments, e.g.: wuj- / wut- (to say); xaraš-/xarat- (to sell); taj-/tat- (to run). However, in many verbs the past stem is built on the present stem by adding -(e)st; e.g.: brem- → bremest- (to weep).
The imperative is formed by the modal prefix be- if the verb contains no preverb, plus the present stem and without ending in the singular and with -ân in the plural. be- is often changed to bi-, bo- or bu- according to the situation, and appears as b- before a vowel of a verbal stem.
Active voice
Active VoiceFormTenseNotesExample(s)Infinitive - past stem + -e dakošt-e (to put out)Indicative Present present stem + personal endings taj-em (I run)„ Preterite of intransitive verbs past stem (the stress falling on the last syllable of it) + the present tense of "to be" (which is personal endings) verit-im (I ran)„ Preterite of transitive verbs The same as above except that normally it is put in the 3rd person singular whether its object, which is put in the direct case, is singular or plural. Example with enclitic pronouns as agent: vind-em(e) (I saw)„ Perfect of intransitive verbs past participle (generally made of the past stem plus a stressed -a-) + the present tense of "to be" tânesta-r-im (I have been able)„ Perfect of transitive verbs past participle + a suffix pronoun as agent + -e (the 3rd person singular of the present tense of "to be") vind-a-m-e (I have seen)„ Imperfective perfect of intransitive verbs 1) past stem + the present tense of "to be". 2) The affix en-/in-/em- + past stem (seems to show imperfectivity). 1) še-m (I used to go). 2) em-kak (he used to do); xuand-em-e (I used to say)„ Imperfective perfect of intransitive verbs The same as "1)" above except that enclitic pronouns are added as the agents of the verb either before the stem or after it. harru ... xwand-eg/xwand-em-eg (I would say ... everyday)„ Pluperfect past participle + the preterit of "to be" rast-a b-im (I had reached)„ Imperfective pluperfect verb's Past tense + the perfect of "to be" (Actance) berembeste dar-e biak (had been crying) -the informant has been absent-„ Future similar to Present of intransitives ra:s-ek (he will arrive)„ Present progressive past stem + stressed -a (appears to be a past participle) + the present tense of "to be" xarat-a-r-im (I am selling, lit.: I am seller)„ Preterite progressive past stem + stressed -a + the preterit of "to be" arga:ta b-im (I was taking)Subjunctive Present be- (unless a preverb is contained) + present stem + personal endings be-ttaj-em ((that) I run)„ Perfect past participle + the subjunctive of "to be" agar az ša:-bum (if I should have gone) (Persian: rafte bâšam)Optative present subjunctive is used xodâ ešte omr be-d-ek (may God give you (long) life)Conditional present subjunctive is used aga az bettajem nengem šigek (if I run my leg will break)
Passive and causative
FormNotesExample(s)Passive The passive stem: present stem + -(e)st šur-est-e (was washed); â-kar-est-i/karesti-â/karesti-râ (had been opened, lit.: has been opened); xuar-est-i (has been eaten)Causative present stem + -en or -jen bekejer! (laugh!) → bekejer-en! (make laugh!); betta(j)! (run!) → bettâ-jen! (make run!, gallop!)