The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC).
The two sub-branches are:
- Northwestern Iranian languages
- Southwestern Iranian languages
The opposition of these two dialect groups is apparent already in Old Iranian times, from the opposition of Old Persian and Median.
Northwestern Iranian
The Northwestern Iranian languages are a branch of the Western Iranian language group, spoken by about 40-50 million people in southwest Asia; They are classified into about 9 groups; each group in this list contains subgroups, dialects or individual languages, eventually forming 53-54 branches.
A notable old Iranian language in this group is Median; a notable Middle Iranian language in this group is Parthian
- Balochi
Balochi language includes: Southern Balochi, Northern Balochi, Eastern Balochi.
And also:
- Caspian
- Central Iran
- Kurdish dialects
- Ormuri-Parachi
- Semnani
- Khalaj language (Iranic)
- Tatic languages
- Zaza-Gorani
- Unclassified
Southwestern Iranian
The Southwestern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Western Iranian languages, and include some 16 (SIL estimate) closely related languages and dialects spoken by many people in Asia; this language family is a part of the Western Iranian language family. Each subfamily in this list contains subgroups and individual languages.
References
- Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. Schmitt (1989), p. 99.
See also
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