Gilaki language

"Giliki" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Giliki, Iran.

"Gilak language" redirects here. Not to be confused with Gilyak language.

Gilaki
گیلٚکی زٚوان (Gilɵki Zɵvon)
Native to	Iran, province of Gilan and parts of the province of Mazandaran and Qazvin also Alborz
Region	Southwest coast of the Caspian Sea
Ethnicity	4.8 million Gilaks (2023) [1]
Native speakers	1.6 million (2023) [2]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Northwestern Caspian Gilaki
Dialects	Western Gilaki Eastern Gilaki Galeshi Gilaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	glk
Glottolog	gila1241
Linguasphere	58-AAC-eb
Areas where Gilaki is spoken as the mother tongue
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Gilaki (گیلٚکي زٚوؤنromanized:Gilɵki Zɵvon) is an Iranian language belonging to the Caspian subgroup of the Northwestern branch, spoken in south of Caspian Sea by Gilak people. Gilaki is closely related to Mazandarani. ^[3] The two languages of Gilaki and Mazandarani have similar vocabularies. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages) ^[8] share certain typological features with Caucasian languages (specifically Kartvelian languages), ^{[8] [9] [10]} reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of the Gilak people and Mazandarani people.

Classification

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} and Galeshi/Deylami. ^{[15] [16]} The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River, ^[17] while Galeshi is spoken in the mountains of eastern Gilan and western Mazandaran. ^[16]

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. ^[6]

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. ^[18] 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. ^{[19] [20]}

Furthermore, the eastern Gilaki dialect is spoken throughout the valley of the Chalus river. ^[21]

In Qazvin province, Gilaki is spoken in northern parts of the province, in Alamut. ^{[22] [23]}

Grammar

Gilaki, is an inflected and genderless language. It is considered SVO, although in sentences employing certain tenses the order may be SOV. ^[24]

Dispersion

Map depicting areas where the various dialects of Gilaki are spoken

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. ^{[25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [13] [14] [12] [30]} The number of Gilaki speakers is estimated at 3 to 4 million. ^{[31] [32] [33]} Ethnologue reports that the use of Gilaki is decreasing as the speaker population is decreasing with language shift to Iranian Persian. ^[34]

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)
i	e	ki.tab
e(ː)	iː, eː/ei	seb
ɛ(œ)	e	iɛrɛ
ə	æ, e	mən
a	aː	lag
ä	æ	zäy
ɒ(perhaps allophonic)	aː	lɒ.nə
o	uː, oː/ɔ	d͡ʒoɾ
u	o/uː	ɡul
ü	u	tüm

There are nine vowel phonemes in the Gilaki language:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a		ɒ

The consonants are:

Gilaki Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x ~ χ		h
	voiced	v	z	ʒ	ɣ ~ ʁ
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Liquid			l , ɾ ~ r
Glide				j

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

The present indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem:

Singular	Plural
dinəm	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	Plural
bídinəm	bídinim
bídini	bídinid
bídinə	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	Plural
buxúrdəm	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	Plural
buxurdə bum	buxurdə bim
buxurdə bi	buxurdə bid
buxurdə 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	Plural
bidé bim	bidé bim
bidé bi	bidé bid
bidé 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	Plural
šón darəm	šón darim
šón dari	šón darid
šón darə	šón darid

Past progressive

Singular	Plural
šón də/du bum	šón də/di bim
šón də/di bi	šón də/di bid
šón 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 prefixnV- can act like an infix-n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So from fagiftən, "to get", we get present indicativefagirəm, but present subjunctivefágirəm, 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	Plural
Nom	per	perán
Acc	pera	perána
Gen	perə	peránə

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

Pronouns

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

	Singular	Plural
Nom	mən	amán
Acc	məra	amána
Gen	mi	amí

	Singular	Plural
Nom	tu	šumán
Acc	təra	šumána
Gen	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	English
re	for
həmra/əmra	with
ĵa	from, than (in comparisons)
mian	in
ĵor	above
ĵir	under
ru	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

1. Gilaki language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
2. Gilaki language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
3. Dalb, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. p. 226. ISBN   0-231-11568-7.
4. Rastorgueva, V. S. (2012). The Gilaki Language (PDF). Translated by Lockwood, Ronald M. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN   978-91-554-8419-4.^{[ page needed ]}
5. "GILAN x. LANGUAGES – Encyclopaedia Iranica".
6. "Gilaki".
7. "OLAC resources in and about the Gilaki language".
8. Nasidze, I; Quinque, D; Rahmani, M; Alemohamad, SA; Stoneking, M (April 2006). "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran". Curr. Biol. 16 (7): 668–73. Bibcode:2006CBio...16..668N. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021 . PMID   16581511. S2CID   7883334.
9. Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated, page 294
10. The Tati language group in the sociolinguistic context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia By D.Stilo, pages 137-185
11. تاریخ بدخشان / تالیف میرزاسنگ محمدبدخشی ؛ باتصحیح و تحشیه منوچهر ستوده. Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University. 1988. doi:10.29171/azu_acku_ds375_bay43_meem38_1367.
12. "ALAMŪT – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
13. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
14. ریاحی /, وحید. "دانشنامه جهان اسلام بنیاد دائرة المعارف اسلامی". دانشنامه جهان اسلام بنیاد دائرة المعارف اسلامی (in Persian). Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
15. محمود رنجبر، رقیه رادمرد (۱۳۸۲)، بررسی و توصیف گویش گالشی
16. «محمود رنجبر» و «رقیه رادمرد»؛ «بررسی وتوصیف گویش گالشی»؛ نشر گیلکان
17. Stilo, Don "A Description of the Northwest Iranian Project at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology"
18. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
19. خائفی، عباس (۱۳۹۵). "بررسي ماضي نقلي در گويش هاي حاشيه درياي خزر". گردهمايي انجمن ترويج زبان و ادب فارسي ايران. ۱۱: ۲۰.
20. ویکی, پارسی. "معنی گیلکی". پارسی ویکی (in Persian). Retrieved 28 March 2021.
21. "ČĀLŪS". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
22. "روزنامه ولایت قزوین - استان قزوین؛ گنجینه زبان‌های ایرانی".
23. "ALAMŪT". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
24. Johanson, Lars; Bulut, Christiane (2006). Turkic-Iranian Contact Areas: Historical and Linguistic Aspects. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN   9783447052764.
25. "The Stateless Nations and the European Union", Stateless Nations, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, doi:10.1057/9781137008206.0011, ISBN   978-1-137-00820-6 , retrieved 27 March 2021
26. Huyse, Philip (15 May 2002). "Die iranischen Sprachen in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag, 2000, IX + 106 p., 1 carte". Abstracta Iranica. 23. doi: 10.4000/abstractairanica.35151 . ISSN   0240-8910.
27. "IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
28. شماره کتابشناسی ملی:۲۸۷۹۶۷۷/طرح بررسی و سنجش شاخص‌های فرهنگ عمومی کشور (شاخص‌های غیرثبتی){گزارش}:استان گیلان/به سفارش شورای فرهنگ عمومی کشور؛ مدیر طرح و مسئول سیاست گذاری:منصور واعظی؛ اجرا:شرکت پژوهشگران خبره پارس -شابک:۱-۶۰-۶۶۲۷-۶۰۰-۹۷۸ *وضعیت نشر:تهران-موسسه انتشارات کتاب نشر ۱۳۹۱ *وضعیت ظاهری:۲۸۵ ص:جدول (بخش رنگی)، نمودار (بخش رنگی).
29. طرح بررسی و سنجش شاخص‌های فرهنگ عمومی کشور (شاخص‌های غیرثبتی){گزارش}:استان قزوین/به سفارش شورای فرهنگ عمومی کشور؛ مدیر طرح و مسئول سیاست گذاری:منصور واعظی؛ اجرا:شرکت پژوهشگران خبره پارس -شابک:۳-۵۳-۶۶۲۷-۶۰۰-۹۷۸ *وضعیت نشر:تهران-موسسه انتشارات کتاب نشر ۱۳۹۱ *وضعیت ظاهری:۲۶۸ ص:جدول (بخش رنگی)، نمودار (بخش رنگی).
30. "شهرداری چالوس". www.chalouscity.ir. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
31. "Gilaki". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
32. "Iran Provinces". www.statoids.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
33. Held, Colbert C.; Cummings, John Thomas; Cotter, John V. (4 May 2018). Middle East Patterns. doi:10.4324/9780429493454. ISBN   9780429493454.
34. "Gilaki". Ethnologue. Retrieved 26 November 2023.

Further reading

• Christensen, Arthur Emanuel (1930). "Dialect Guiläkī de Recht" [The Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. Contributions à la dialectologie iranienne (PDF). Kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser. Vol. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2024. (translated into Persian 1995)
• Purriyahi, Masud (1971). Barresi-ye dastur-e guyesh-e Gilaki-ye Rasht[A Grammatical Study of the Gilaki dialect of Rasht] (Dissertation). Tehran University.
• Sartippur, Jahangir (1990). Vižegihā-ye Dasturi va Farhang-e vāžehā-ye Gilaki[Grammatical Characteristics and Glossary of Gilaki]. Rasht: Nashr-e Gilakan.
• Shokri, Giti (1998). "Māzi-ye Naqli dar Guyeshhā-ye Gilaki va Mazandarāni" ماضی نقلی در گویش های مازندران و گیلان [The Present Perfect Tense in the Dialects of Mazandaran and Gilan]. Nāme-ye Farhangestān. 4 (16): 59–69.
• Rastorgueva, V. S.; Kerimova, A. A.; Mamedzade, A. K.; Pireiko, L. A.; Edel’man, D. I. (2012). The Gilaki Language. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Vol. 19. Translated by Lockwood, Ronald M. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN   978-91-554-8419-4.

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 ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
• Open access recordings of a Gilaki song and basic word list are available through Kaipuleohone