Kurdish is a Northwestern Iranian language or group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in Turkey, northern Iraq, northwest and northeast Iran, and Syria.
Iran's ethnic diversity means that the languages of Iran come from a number of linguistic origins, although the primary language spoken and used is Persian. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran asserts that the Persian language alone must be used for schooling and for all official government communications. The constitution also recognizes Arabic as the language of Islam, and assigns it formal status as the language of religion. Although multilingualism is not encouraged, the use of minority languages is permitted in the course of teaching minority-language literature. Different publications have reported different statistics for the languages of Iran; however, the top three languages spoken are consistently reported as Persian, Azeri and Kurdish.
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It lies in the southwest of the country, with an area of 16,332 square kilometers. Its capital is Shahr-e Kord. At the 2006 census, the province's population was 843,784 in 194,171 households. The following census in 2011 counted 895,263 people in 234,416 households. By the time the 2016 census was conducted, the province's population had risen to 947,763 in 270,434 households.
Luri is a Southwestern Iranian language continuum spoken by the Lurs, an Iranian people native to Western Asia. The Luri dialects are descended from Middle Persian and are Central Luri, Bakhtiari, and Southern Luri. This language is spoken mainly by the Bakhtiari and Southern Lurs in Iran.
Southern Bashkardi or Bashagerdi, or simply "Bashkardi", and also known as southern "Bashaka", is a Southwestern Iranian language spoken in the southeast of Iran in the provinces of Kerman, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Hormozgan. The language is closely related to Garmsiri, Larestani and Kumzari. It forms a transitional dialect group to northwestern Iranian Balochi, due to intense areal contact.
Southern Kurdish is one of the dialects of the Kurdish language, spoken predominantly in northeastern Iraq and western Iran. The Southern Kurdish-speaking region spans from Khanaqin in Iraq to Dehloran southward and Asadabad eastward in Iran.
Laki is a vernacular that consists of two dialects; Pish-e Kuh Laki and Posht-e Kuh Laki. Laki is considered a Kurdish dialect, by most linguists and is spoken chiefly in the area between Khorramabad and Kermanshah in Iran by about 680,000 native speakers.
Lak is a Kurdish tribe native to Western Iran. They speak Laki, which is considered a Kurdish dialect by most linguists.
New Persian, also known as Modern Persian is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian, Classical Persian, and Contemporary Persian.
The Western Iranian languages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian and Median.
The Borujerdi dialect is a dialect of Luri language spoken in Borujerd city and its surrounding areas in the province of Lorestan in Iran. Borujerdi is more similar to Northern Luri than the Persian language, spoken in other parts of Lorestan, being in some aspects completely different.
The Lurs are an Iranian people living in western Iran. The four Luri branches are the Bakhtiari, Mamasani, Kohgiluyeh and Lur proper, who are principally linked by the Luri language.
Junqan is a city in, and the capital of, Junqan District of Farsan County, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran.
Southern Lurs are a large part of Lurs who natively speak the Southern Luri language a branch of Western Iranian languages, and are an Iranian people. They occupy some regions in Southwest of Iran including Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad (fully), Southeastern parts of Khuzestan Northwestern parts of Fars, and Western parts of Bushehr Province.
Chaharmahali Turkic is a proposed Oghuz Turkic variety spoken in Iran's Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, and western Isfahan province, where it is described as "Esfahan Province Turkic" by linguists. It is an understudied and generally unclassified variety of Oghuz Turkic distinct from Azerbaijani and Qashqai, being closer to the latter. Chaharmahali Turkic is not to be confused with "Chārmāhāli," a Persian dialect spoken in the same region.
Kordali (Kurdali), or Pahlavi, is one of the Kurdish languages. It is often included in Southern Kurdish, but is quite distinct. It is spoken by the large Kordali tribe in the borderlands between Iraq and Iran.
The online Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI) is a collection of interactive language distribution maps and linguistic maps of the languages spoken across Iran. The atlas is developed and maintained at the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Center (GCRC) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. The maps on the atlas are searchable and illustrate patterns in the phonology, morphosyntax, and lexicon of languages spoken in Iran. As the atlas is interactive, users are free to access the data and information represented on the maps, and they are encouraged to contribute and comment on the language data for each location.
Erik John Anonby is a Canadian linguist and professor at Carleton University. Along with his role as editor-in-chief of the Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI), he is author of a number of books. He has published in journals such as Science, Linguistics, Iranian Studies, Journal of Semitic Studies, Journal of the International Phonetic Association, Journal of Linguistic Geography, and Journal of Ethnobiology.
The Bandari dialect is one of the dialects of the Persian language spoken in Iran's Hormozgan province.
The Kermanshahi dialect is a dialect of the Persian language spoken in the city of Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e Gharb and Kangavar. A prominent feature of the Kermanshahi Persian dialect is the use of a number of Kurdish words and verbs, which can be seen in transformed and paid forms in the Kermanshahi Persian sentences. There are phonetic, lexical, and syntactic differences between Kermanshahi Persian and standard Persian, which arose due to the influence of Kermanshahi Kurdish. The Persian dialect of Kermanshah is considered the most western dialect of the Persian language.
