The Western Iranian languages, or Western Iranic languages, are a branch of the Iranian languages attested from the time of Old Persian and Median. Languages belonging to this branch are spoken across a vast geographical area stretching to Anatolia in the west, the Caucasus in the north, southern Iran in the south and Tajikistan in the east. The most widely spoken Western Iranian language is Persian, a pluricentric language.
Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language StatusWestern Iranian is directly attested rather than comparatively reconstructed from its earliest stage: Old Persian survives in Achaemenid royal inscriptions from roughly 600 to 300 BCE, most importantly the Behistun Inscription of 522 BCE, with the related Median language known only through loanwords preserved in Old Persian texts. Its modern grouping has no settled genetic classification: linguists Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr describe its languages as sitting on a scale of Northwesternness or Southwesternness rather than forming discrete daughter branches. 1 The historical attestation (Old Persian, Median) is solid; what is debated is only whether the modern Neo-Iranian languages form discrete genetic sub-branches at all. RegionSouthwest Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and western South Asia. 1 Connections
Includes
Source Wikipedia: Balochi Language
Source Kurdish language, Wikipedia
Source Middle Persian (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Tajik Language
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Source Wikipedia: Western Iranian languagesLead sentence 2tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 2
The languages belonging to this branch are widely spoken across a vast geographical area stretching to Anatolia in the west, the Caucasus in the north, southern Iran in the south and Tajikistan in the east.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Western Iranian languages
Wikimedia Foundationinfobox, region field
Southwest Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus, and western South Asia
Article text
Primarily focused on phonology, Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr propose that the Western Iranian languages exist on "a scale of 'Northwesternness' or 'Southwesternness', on which each language is 'more or less' NW or SW.", though this does not take into account linguistic convergence in grammar and other linguistic aspects.
View the Source Wikidata: Western Iranian
Wikidata Q129850, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Wikipedia: Tajik Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Tajik, Infobox: fam4Quote, Includes: Tajik, Infobox: fam4
Western Iranian
Wikipedia: Balochi Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Balochi, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Balochi, Infobox, Language family
Western Iranian
Kurdish language, Wikipedia
Includes: Kurdish, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Kurdish, Infobox, Language family
Western
Middle Persian (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Middle Persian, LeadQuote, Includes: Middle Persian, Lead
is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire
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