Hi there,

Anyone here a native Gilaki speaker or is aware of any forum or resources I can learn Gilaki from?

My grandmother used to speak Gilaki to me, and I am able to understand bits of it. However, after her passing, I haven't been able to learn/practice it off anyone.

Everyone else in the family just speaks Farsi, which I can understand yet don't speak due to my accent. I can't read Farsi either, but I can read/understand Finglish.

The funny thing is my accent always seemed to suit Gilaki better than Farsi, as I used to be ridiculed and called dahati by my mother and aunts when I showed interest in learning Farsi. 😅

Would really appreciate any tips! I wish to be able to practice and not let the language die out in the family.

Thanks in advance to those who read this! ❤️

Cheers,

Saam

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Map

Are all of these ultimately from Central Asia or is there evidence of these in Iran pre Turks?

Also what about pasta/rista?

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(From \"Balochi and the Concept of North-West Iranian, Korn (2003))

Eastern Iranian languages have a relatively good background of attestation when compared to their Old Iranian counterparts. The Eastern Mid. Iranian languages were once found throughout Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Balochistan region of Pakistan. Furthermore, Eastern Iranian Scytho-Sarmatians managed to become the main ethnic element in the Western Steppe for the majority of this period, even though the Hunnic and Turkic expansions happen in the period's latter half (4th-8th c. CE)

Linguistic examination of E. Iranian languages show us a relatively unbroken trend of aerial sound shifts (most notably d>l which tends to occur more as you go south), development of new fricatives, and better retention of Old Iranian grammar when compared to their Western Iranian neighbors. In addition, there is more linguistic distance between the attested E. Iranian languages suggesting an earlier time window of separation.

The attested East Iranic languages are as follows, in a geographic progression from north to south:

• Group I: Northeastern Iranic

Bactrian: This language was spoken in the ancient region of Bactria (Av. bāxδi-, Old Pers. bāxtriš-, Bac. baxl- , N. Pers. balx), corresponding to most of northern Afghanistan (except for its northwest where Aria was located), and adjacent parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Bactria has a long history of civilization, starting with the Pre-Aryan BMAC culture, later becoming a sedentary Iranic and Zoroastrian epicenter. Like most of Central Asia, Bactria enters western history with its incorporation into the Achaemenid Empire, where we can expect the tradition of writing in Imperial Aramaic became common. After the Macedonian conquest, Bactria became a Hellenic colony, which soon turns into the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, one of the most successful Hellenic states in Asia. This is how the Hellene script was adopted in the region, and upon the Yue-Zhi takeover of Bactria and the establishment of Kushan Empire (ca. 60 BCE- 240 CE), it was used to write down Bactrian.

Bactrian was among the official languages of the Kushan Empire, and was natively called "Arian." Along with Kushan coins and inscriptions in Bactrian, we have manuscripts written in Aramaic-derived writing systems as well.

Linguistically, Bactrian is very similar to Mid. W. Iranic in its grammar, having 2 numbers (singular, plural), 2 cases, and no gender distinction. After its incorporation into Sasanian Iran, Bactria was settled by the Persian-speaking military and administrative officers. After Islam, the region became part of Dari Persian homeland, with the language (plus subsequent Turkic settlements) replacing Bactrian. Therefore, Bactrian doesn't have any extant descendant.

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Figure 1: The rectangular and cursive Bactrian letters. Source: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, 1989

Group II: Southeastern Iranic

Saka (Khotanese, Tumshuqese): This is the language spoken by Saka tribes who established themselves in western Tarim Basin, in modern China. These tribes established kingdoms and ruled that multi-ethnic (Iranic, Indo-Aryan, and Tarimic, among others) region from cities such as Xotan (Khot. hvatana-), and Tumšuq.

Saka inhabitants of this region were Buddhists and used the Brahmi script to write down their language.

Middle Saka has retained the 3 Old Iranian gender distinction, 2 numbers (loss of the dual), and 6 cases.

From the 10th c. onward, Uyghur Turks replaced and assimilated the population of these Saka-speaking regions. Hence, the language most likely has no extant descendants. However, it has been proposed that Wakhi language, a Pamir language spoken in Badakhshan, either descends from or is extensively influenced by Saka.

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Figure 2: Khotanese manuscript. Source: Wikimedia Commons