 | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (July 2021) |
| Yaghnobi | |
|---|---|
| Яғнобӣ зивок Yaghnobī zivok | |
| Native to | Tajikistan |
| Region | originally from Yaghnob Valley, in 1970s relocated to Zafarobod, in 1990s some speakers returned to Yaghnob |
| Ethnicity | Yaghnobi people |
Native speakers | 12,000 (2004)[1] |
Early form | |
| Dialects |
|
| Cyrillic script Latin script Perso-Arabic script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yai |
| Glottolog | yagn1238 |
| ELP | Yaghnobi |
| Linguasphere | 58-ABC-a |
 Yaghnobi-speaking areas and enclaves of Yaghnobi-speakers among a Tajik majority | |
 Yaghnobi is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)[4] | |
Yaghnobi[a][b] is an Eastern Iranian language spoken in the upper valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by the Yaghnobi people. It is considered to be a direct descendant of Sogdian and has sometimes been called Neo-Sogdian in academic literature.[5] There are some 12,500 Yaghnobi speakers, divided into several communities. The principal group lives in the Zafarobod area. There are also resettlers in the Yaghnob Valley. Some communities live in the villages of Zumand and Kůkteppa and in Dushanbe or its vicinity.
Most Yaghnobi speakers are bilingual in Tajik, a dialect of Persian.[6] Yaghnobi is mostly used for daily family communication, and Tajik is used by Yaghnobi-speakers for business and formal transactions. A Russian ethnographer was told by nearby Tajiks, long hostile to the Yaghnobis, who were late to adopt Islam, that the Yaghnobis used their language as a "secret" mode of communication to confuse the Tajiks. The account led to the belief by some that Yaghnobi or some derivative of it was used as a secret code.[7]
The language is taught in elementary school within the ethnic community, and Tajikistan has also enacted legislation to support education in minority languages, including Yaghnobi.[8]
There are two main dialects: a western and an eastern one. They differ primarily in phonetics. For example, historical *θ corresponds to t in the western dialects and s in the eastern: met – mes 'day' from Sogdian mēθ ⟨myθ⟩. Western ay corresponds to Eastern e: wayš – weš 'grass' from Sogdian wayš or wēš ⟨wyš⟩. The early Sogdian group θr (later ṣ̌) is reflected as sar in the east but tir in the west: saráy – tiráy 'three' from Sogdian θrē/θray or ṣ̌ē/ṣ̌ay ⟨δry⟩. There are also some differences in verbal endings and the lexicon. In between the two main dialects is a transitional dialect that shares some features of both other dialects.
- ^ Yaghnobi at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020)
- ^ Gernot Windfuhr, 2009, "Dialectology and Topics", The Iranian Languages, Routledge
- ^ Paul Bergne (15 June 2007). The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic. I.B.Tauris. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-1-84511-283-7.
- ^ "Atlas of the world's languages in danger". unesdoc.unesco.org. p. 40. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ^ Bielmeier. R. Yaghnobi in Encyclopedia Iranica
- ^ Kazakevich, Olga; Kibrik, Aleksandr (2007). "Language Endangerment in the CIS". In Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.). Language Diversity Endangered. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton. p. 238. doi:10.1515/9783110197129.233.
- ^ See С. И. Климчицкий: Секретный язык у ягнобцев и язгулёмцев. In: Академия наук СССР – Труды Таджикистанской базы, т. IX – 1938 – История – язык – литература. Akademijaji Fanho SSSR: Asarhoji ʙazaji Toçikiston, çildi IX – Tarix – zaʙon – adaʙijot. Москва – Ленинград (: Издательство Академии наук СССР), 1940. 104–117.
- ^ The two deportations of Yaghnob
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