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. Its capital is the city of Shahr-e Kord. The province lies in the southwest of the country, with an area of 16,332 square kilometers.
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.
Kumzari is a Southwestern Iranian language that is similar to the Persian, Achomi and Luri languages. Although vulnerable, it survives today with between 4,000 and 5,000 speakers. It is spoken by Kumzaris on the Kumzar coast of Musandam Peninsula as well as the Shihuh in the United Arab Emirates. Kumzari speakers can also be found in the towns of Dibba and Khasab as well as various villages, and on Larak Island.
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.
The Western Iranian languages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian and Median.
Bakhtiari dialect is a distinct dialect of Southern Luri spoken by Bakhtiari people in Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiari, Bushehr, eastern Khuzestan and parts of Isfahan and Lorestan provinces. It is closely related to the Boir-Ahamadi, Kohgiluyeh, and Mamasani dialects in northwestern Fars. These dialects, together with the Lori dialects of Lorestan, are referred to as the “Perside” southern Zagros group, or Lori dialects. Luri and Bakhtiari are much more closely related to Persian than Luri." Dialects of Persian spoken in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province are mutually intelligible with Bakhtiari.
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.
Naqneh is a city in the Central District of Borujen County, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, serving as the administrative center for Howmeh Rural District.
Qaba Sorkh is a village in Howmeh Rural District, in the Central District of Bijar County, Kurdistan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 129, in 34 families. The village is populated by Kurds.
Qahveh Khaneh Sign Language, literally Coffee House Sign Language, is a deaf sign language of a few elderly members of the deaf community in Tehran. It has been in use since 1900 or earlier. It is unknown if it is related to Iranian Sign Language; it is possible that it descends from an ancestral form of Iranian Sign Language, dating to before that language was standardized.
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.
Garmsiri or Bandari is a Persian and Southwestern Iranian language spoken in the southeast of Iran in Hormozgan and Kerman. It consists of closely related dialects extending from the Halilrud river valley in the north down to the Strait of Hormuz in the south. The language is closely related to Bashkardi, Larestani and Kumzari. It forms a transitional dialect group to northwestern Iranian Balochi, due to intense areal contact.
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.
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.
