Gilaki ( ) is an Iranian language belonging to the Caspian group of the North-western branch, spoken in south & West of the Caspian Sea by Gilak people. Gilaki is closely related to Mazandarani.Dalb, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. p. 226. . The two languages of Gilaki and Mazandarani have similar vocabularies. The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages) share certain typological features with Caucasian languages (specifically Kartvelian languages),Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated, page 294The Tati language group in the sociolinguistic context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia By D.Stilo, pages 137-185 reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of the Gilak people and Mazandarani people.

Classification Glottolog classifies Gilaki and its dialects within the Caspian subgroup of Iranian languages, along with Mazanderani and Gorgani. In addition to other Caspian dialects, Gilaki exhibits significant linguistic affinities with Zaza, a minority language spoken in Turkey.

Dialects

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki and Deylami.محمود رنجبر، رقیه رادمرد (۱۳۸۲)، بررسی و توصیف گویش گالشی«محمود رنجبر» و «رقیه رادمرد»؛ «بررسی وتوصیف گویش گالشی»؛ نشر گیلکان The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River,Stilo, Don "A Description of the Northwest Iranian Project at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology" while Daylami is spoken in the mountains of eastern & western & southern Gilan and western Mazandaran and more. There are three main dialects but larger cities in Gilan have slight variations to the way they speak. These "sub-dialects" are Rashti, Rudbari, Some’e Sarai, Lahijani, Langerudi, Rudesari, Bandar Anzali, Fumani, Alamouti and Taleghani. Progressing to the east, Gilaki gradually blends into Mazandarani. The intermediate dialects of the area between Tonokābon and Kalārdašt serve as a transition between Gilaki and Mazandarani. The differences in forms and vocabulary lead to a low mutual intelligibility with either Gilaki or Mazandarani, and so these dialects should probably be considered a third separate language group of the Caspian area. In Mazandaran, Gilaki is spoken in the city of Ramsar and Tonekabon. Although the dialect is influenced by Mazandarani, it is still considered a Gilaki dialect. Furthermore, the eastern Gilaki dialect is spoken throughout the valley of the Chalus river. In Qazvin province, Gilaki is spoken in northern parts of the province, in Alamut.

Grammar Gilaki, is an inflected and genderless language. It is considered SVO, although in sentences employing certain tenses the order may be SOV.

Dispersion

Gilaki is the language of the majority of people in Gilan province and also a native and well-known language in Mazandaran, Qazvin and Alborz provinces. Gilaki is spoken in different regions with different dialects and accents. The number of Gilaki speakers is estimated at 1.6 million.

Phonology Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki of Rasht, which will be the variety used in the remainder of the article:

Gilaki Persian Example (Gilaki) , / , (perhaps allophonic) , / / There are nine vowel phonemes in the Gilaki language: FrontCentralBackClose MidOpen

The consonants are:

+Gilaki ConsonantsLabialAlveolarPost-alveolarVelarUvularGlottalStopvoicelessvoicedFricativevoiceless ~ voiced ~ NasalLiquid, ~ Glide

Verb system

The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. All infinitives end in -tən/-dən, or in -V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original *-Vdən). The present stem is usually related to the infinitive, and the past stem is just the infinitive without -ən or -n (in the case of vowel stems).

Present tenses From the infinitive dín, "to see", we get present stem din-.

Present indicative Gilaki, Zaza, Mazandarani and other Caspian languages derive their present stems from the same old Iranian present participle /*-ant/ in contrast to the Perside modal prefixes added to the present stem of the verb, e.g. -mi in Persian and -di in Kurdish: GilakiZazaMazanderaniPersianKurdish "to do"ku-n-eke-n-okar-n-emi-kon-addi-k-e "to eat"xo-n-ewe-n-oxar-n-emi-xor-addi-xw-e- "to go"šu-n-ešo-n-ošo-n-emi-rav-addi-ç-e The present indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem. Singular Pluraldinəm diním(i)diní diníd(i)diné diníd(i)

Present subjunctive The present subjunctive is formed with the prefix bí-, bú-, or bə- (depending on the vowel in the stem) added to the indicative forms. Final /e/ neutralizes to /ə/ in the 3rd singular and the plural invariably lacks final /i/.

Singular Pluralbídinəm bídinimbídini bídinidbídinə bídinid

The negative of both the indicative and the subjunctive is formed in the same way, with n- instead of the b- of the subjunctive.

Past tenses

Preterite From xurdən, "to eat", we get the perfect stem xurd. To this are added unaccented personal endings and the unaccented b- prefix (or accented n- for the negative):

Singular Pluralbuxúrdəm buxúrdim(i)buxúrdi buxúrdid(i)buxúrdə buxúrdid(i)

Imperfect The imperfect is formed with what was originally a suffix -i:

xúrdim xúrdim(i)xúrdi xúrdid(i)xúrdi xúrdid(i)

Pluperfect The pluperfect is paraphrastically formed with the verb bon, "to be", and the past participle, which is in turn formed with the perfect stem+ə (which can assimilate to become i or u). The accent can fall on the last syllable of the participle or on the stem itself:

Singular Pluralbuxurdə bum buxurdə bimbuxurdə bi buxurdə bidbuxurdə bu buxurdə bid

Past subjunctive A curious innovation of Western Gilaki is the past subjunctive, which is formed with the (artificial) imperfect of bon+past participle:

Singular Pluralbidé bim bidé bimbidé bi bidé bidbidé be/bi bidé bid

This form is often found in the protasis and apodosis of unreal conditions, e.g., mən agə Əkbəra bidé bim, xušhal bubosti bim, "If I were to see/saw/had seen Akbar, I would be happy".

Progressive There are two very common paraphrastic constructions for the present and past progressives. From the infinitive šon, "to go", we get:

Present progressive Singular Pluralšón darəm šón darimšón dari šón daridšón darə šón darid

Past progressive Singular Pluralšón də/du bum šón də/di bimšón də/di bi šón də/di bidšón də/du bu šón də/di bid

Compound verbs There are many compound verbs in Gilaki, whose forms differ slightly from simple verbs. Most notably, bV- is never prefixed onto the stem, and the negative prefix nV- can act like an infix -n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So from fagiftən, "to get", we get present indicative fagirəm, but present subjunctive fágirəm, and the negative of both, faángirəm or fanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of the past tenses: fángiftəm or fanígiftəm.

Nouns, cases and postpositions Gilaki employs a combination of quasi-case endings and postpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian.

Cases There are essentially three "cases" in Gilaki, the nominative (or, better, unmarked, as it can serve other grammatical functions), the genitive, and the (definite) accusative. The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addition to the direct object. A noun in the genitive comes before the word it modifies. These "cases" are in origin actually just particles, similar to Persian ra.

Nouns For the word "per", father, we have:

Singular PluralNom per peránAcc pera peránaGen perə peránə

The genitive can change to -i, especially before some postpositions.

Pronouns The 1st and 2nd person pronouns have special forms:

Singular PluralNom mən amánAcc məra amánaGen mi amí

Singular PluralNom tu šumánAcc təra šumánaGen ti šimí

The 3rd person (demonstrative) pronouns are regular: /un/, /u.ˈʃan/, /i.ˈʃan/

Postpositions With the genitive can be combined many postpositions. Examples:

Gilaki Englishre forhəmra/əmra withĵa from, than (in comparisons)mian inĵor aboveĵir underru on top of

The personal pronouns have special forms with "-re": mere, tere, etc.

Adjectives Gilaki adjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have the genitive "case ending" -ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.

Example for adjectival modification: Western Gilaki: pilla-yi zakan ("big children"), Surx gul ("red flower"). Eastern Gilaki: Sərd ow ("cold water", ɑb-e særd in Persian), kul čaqu ("dull knife", čaqu-ye kond in Persian).

Possessive constructions

Examples for possessive constructions of nouns in Western Gilaki: Məhine zakan ("Mæhin's children", Bæčeha-ye Mæhin in Persian), Baγi gulan ("garden flowers", Golha-ye baγ in Persian). In Eastern Gilaki: Xirsi kuti ("bear cub", Bæč-e xers in Persian).

Notes

Further reading (translated into Persian 1995)

External links

Scientific Information Database of the Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research Sample recording in Gilaki Dictionary of Gilaki (Dialect of Lahijan) and some of its characteristics Open access recordings of a Gilaki song and basic word list are available through Kaipuleohone