Semnani language

Semnani (سمنی زفون, Semani zefön) (known also as Komisenian languages) is one of the local languages of the Semnan Province of Iran. Despite the common misconception that Semnani is a Persian dialect, the language belongs to the Northwestern branch of the Western Iranian languages. Like other Caspian languages, it bears some resemblance to the Old Iranian Median language and was influenced by Parthian in a later process.[2]

Semnani
سمنی زفون
Semani zefön
RegionIran
EthnicitySemnani
Native speakers
60,000 (2007)[1]
Dialects
  • Biyabanaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3smy
Glottologsemn1249
ELPSemnani
Map depicting areas where Semnani languages are spoken (alongside Caspian languages)

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal mn(ŋ)
Plosive p bt dk ɡqʔ
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Fricative f vθs zʃ ʒx ɣh
Tap ɾ
Trill (r)
Approximant ljw

(Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Allophones are in parentheses.)

Grammar

Syntax

Subjects in Semnani must have gender agreement with the verb in their immediate clause.[3]

Notes
  1. Semnani at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Habib Borjian: . In: . Nr. 2. Brill, 2009
  3. Rezapour, Ebrahim (2015). "Word order in Semnani language based on language typology". IQBQ. 6 (5): 169–190.

Bibliography

Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. Pages 296-314.


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