The Central Plateau languages, also called the Central Plateau Dialects (CPD), are a group of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken in cities, towns and villages of central Iran, particularly in the provinces of Isfahan Province, Markazi Province, Yazd Province and Qom Province.

History The majority of the population of Isfahan once spoke these languages. The Central Iranian dialects appear to have had a common origin. The old dialects of Kerman and Yazd, preserved by the Zoroastrians and Jews of those cities; the former dialect of Isfahan, traces of which survive in the poetry of figures such as Owḥadi of Isfahan; and the speech of the Jewish communities along the Zayandeh River and in Gaz are all considered part of this group. This language group, sometimes referred to as the Rāji/Caspi language, was also spoken in the cities of Ray, Qom, and Hamadan. According to Shams-i Qays Razi, the people of Ray and Iraq-i Ajam preferred their own local Fahlavi poetry to Persian verse. In Borujerd and Khorramabad, these dialects were spoken among Jewish communities, and some religious minority groups there have preserved elements of the old speech. The medieval scholar Ibn al-Muqaffa' reported that these dialects were known in earlier periods as Fahlavī, and in even older times as Pahlavī.

The Central Iranian dialects spoken in and around Kashan are considered to represent a continuation of Median with respect to their linguistic structure. Many Central Iranian dialects have retained the grammatical gender system, based on the masculine–feminine distinction inherited from Old Iranian, in these dialects, grammatical gender is preserved to varying degrees in the copula, third-person pronouns, verb endings, the numeral one, and a variety of other grammatical categories.

Classification Glottolog provides the following detailed classification of the Central Iranian languages within the Northwestern Iranian branch of the Iranian languages:

Iranian Central Iranian PBS Central Iranian PB Northwestern Iranian Central Iran Kermanic Kavir Farvi Garme'i Khuri Mihrijan Nuclear Central-Kermanic Gazic Judeo-Esfahani Ardestani Gazi Jarquya'i Kafrudi Kuhpa'i Nohuji Rudashti Sedehi Zefra'i Judeo-Hamedani-Borujerdi Judeo-Hamedani Judeo-Borujerdi Kashanic Natanzic Abyane'i Badi (Median) Badrudi Bidhandi Farizandi Hanjani Natanzi Yarandi Soic Abuzaydabadi Arani-Bidgoli Delijani Jowshaqani Judeo-Kashani Kamu'i Kesha'i Meyma'i Nashalji Qohrudi Soi Tari (Median) Tarqi Khunsaric Judeo-Khomeini Judeo-Khunsari Khunsari Mahallati Vaneshani Yazdi-Kermani-Nayini Nayinic Abchuya'i Anarak Keyjani Nayini Tudeshki Zoroastrian Yazdi Gabri [Iranian] Judeo-Yazdi-Kermani Judeo-Kermani Judeo-Yazdi Parsi [Zoroastrian] Zoroastrian Dari) Sivandi

Similarity to Sivandi Sivandi, spoken in Sivand 75 km north of Shiraz, is the only Northwestern Iranian language in southern Iran. Sivandi shares many grammatical and lexical similarities with the Central Iranian dialects.

Sivandi Ashtiani Persian varf varfa barf (snow) esbe esba sag (dog) varan varan bārān (rain) gal gal -hā (plural suffix)

Sivandi Khunsari Persian giyan giyun jān (life) esbe esba sag (dog) varan varun bārān (rain) hame hama mā (we)

Notes

References Citations

Bibliography Encyclopædia Iranica — Central dialects