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Revision as of 12:56, 21 June 2002 by Pgdudda (talk | contribs) (added phonology)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Farsi (also known as Persian) is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Gorjestan (Georgia), part of India and part of Pakistan. It has over 200 million speakers. It belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is of the SOV type. Farsi is an old language that has roots from over a thousand years ago. The original version of this language was known as Dari that was the language spoken by the kings, governers and the elite groups in ancient Iran. The language itself has greatly developed during the centuries. Due to technological developments new words and idioms are created and enter into Farsi like any other language. In Iran the Academy of Farsi language and literature is a center that evaluates the new words in order to initiate and advise its Farsi equivalent.
Farsi phonology -- adapted from this Structural Sketch of Farsi.
| front | central | back | |
| high | i: | u: | |
| mid-high | E | O | |
| low | a | A: |
| labial | dentals |
palatals | velars |
|
| voiceless stops | p | t | tS | k |
| voiced stops | b | d | dZ | g |
| voiceless fricatives | f | s | S | x |
| voiced fricatives | v | z | Z | Y |
| nasals | m | n | ||
| liquids | l, r | |||
| glides | y | h |
The functional contrast for vowels appears to be between long {/i:/, /u:/, /A:/} and short {/E/, /O/, /a/}. Therefore, it seems possible to represent the phonology as {/i:/, /u:/, /a:/} and {/i/, /u/, /a/}. Also note that /tS/ and /dZ/ are affricates, not stops.