Eṣfahānī, Gūyesh (Dialect)

Eṣfahānī, Gūyesh (Dialect)

Introduction
Isfahanī is one of the dialects of Persian that exhibits mutual intelligibility with other Persian varieties such as Standard Persian, Mashhadī, Shīrāzī, Kermānī, Kāshānī, and Qumī. Despite this mutual comprehensibility, notable phonological, lexical, and occasionally morphological differences can be observed between them. According to some researchers, the language spoken in Isfahan prior to the Safavid period was not Persian per se, but a variety belonging to the broader group of Central Iranian languages. From the 17th/11th century onward, particularly after Isfahan was chosen as the Safavid capital, this earlier vernacular gradually declined and was superseded by Persian. Tafaḍḍulī, who appears to have been the first to propose this view, argues that the ancient dialect of Isfahan began to disappear under the growing influence of Persian once Isfahan arose to political prominence during the Safavid era (circa 1500–1722/905–1135). Evidence from the few surviving texts composed in the old Isfahanī dialect—when compared with the contemporary dialect of the Jewish* community of Isfahan—suggests a close linguistic relationship, or perhaps even direct continuity, between the two. The Jewish community of Isfahan appears to have preserved this earlier form of speech. More broadly, it is well attested that Jewish communities, after settling in various parts of Iran (and even outside present-day Iran, such as in Bukhara, Samarqand, and the Caucasus), adopted the Iranian languages of their new locales, effectively abandoning Hebrew as a spoken language and becoming custodians of the local vernaculars. Furthermore, the old Isfahanī dialect bears close affinities with other dialects of the region, including those of Gaz, Seḍe, Meyme, and surrounding areas. The limited available data suggest that the dialect belonged to the group of Central Iranian dialects. Among its typological features are the absence of grammatical gender and the presence of ergative¹ alignment in the conjugation of transitive verbs in the past tense—a structure commonly noted in Iranian linguistics.²

Previous Research

Burjīān also refers to the fact that the language spoken by the inhabitants of Isfahan, at least until the mid-Safavid period, was not Persian but a local vernacular akin to the regional dialects surrounding the city. He argues that the Isfahan region has undergone three major linguistic waves throughout its history. The first wave was the Median language, which replaced an earlier, unidentified tongue that had likely been in use before the arrival of the migrating Median tribes (reigning c. 708 or 701–550 BCE). These tribes settled in the territory of Greater Media, of which Isfahan formed the southern border. Therefore, the substratum of Central Iranian dialects could not be older than Median. The second wave was that of the Parthian language, which spread from Khorasan to Qumis, Rey, and the northern parts of Greater Media through the conquests of the Arsacid dynasty (reigning c. 250 BCE–c. 226 CE). It likely reached southern settlements of Media, including the Isfahan area, via the Rey –Isfahan road, a key thoroughfare of the time. The third wave consisted of Middle Persian, the administrative language of the Sasanian Empire (c. 226–c. 652 CE), which probably exerted influence over the dialects spoken across the Central Iranian plateau. Burjīān also identifies a fourth wave, namely Persian Darī, which gradually spread westward from its homeland in Transoxiana and Khorasan, becoming a lingua franca among Iranian peoples. It first took root in urban centers in western Iran, including Isfahan, and subsequently expanded to neighboring regions. The language of Isfahan had not become fully Persianized by the 14th century, and this situation seemingly continued until the city’s designation as the Safavid* capital. Once Persian took root in Isfahan, the city became one of the foremost centers of the Persian language.³

The earliest known reference to the old dialect of Isfahan appears in Aḥsan al-taqāsīm fī ma‛refat al-aqālīm, a geographical treatise written by Muhammad b. Aḥmad al-Maqdesī, a geographer of the 10^th/4^th century. Other sources that provide evidence—such as individual words or sentences—of this dialect include: al-Ḥekāya Abī al-Qāsem al-Baghdādī by Abū Muṭahhar al-Azdī (11th / 5th century); Maḥāsen-e Eṣfahān* by Mufaḍḍal b. ‛Umar Māfarrukhī*, which contains phrases and sentences in the Isfahanī vernacular (11^th /5^th century); the treatise al-Akhlāq al-Ashrāf by ‛Ubayd Zākānī (14^th/8th century); and three ghazals composed by Awḥadī Marāgheʾī under the title fī al-lesān al-Eṣfahānīya, (14^th/8^th century).⁴

Selected Phonological Features

1. In the Isfahanī dialect, the consonants corresponding to the letters چ (ch) and ج (j) are produced as alveolar affricates [ʦ] and [ʣ], respectively. These sounds are formed, respectively, from the sequences /t/ + /s/ and /d/ + /z/. By contrast, in Standard Persian, they are realized as postalveolar affricates [č] and [ǰ], formed from the combinations /t/ + /ʃ/ [tš] and /d/ +/ʒ/ [dž]. Sāsān Sepantā, based on recorded samples of Isfahanī speakers from approximately half a century ago, notes that the affricate [ʣ] is rapidly disappearing from the dialect. He cites, as an example, the gramophone recordings of Jalāl Tāj*, a renowned Isfahanī In recordings from his youth (1933/1312), the [ʣ] sound is clearly articulated as an alveolar affricate. However, in recordings made some 45 years later, this sound had shifted towards the Standard Tehranī pronunciation.⁵

Ali-Ashraf Ṣādeqī has argued that this phonetic pattern also existed in Middle Persian (Pahlavi), wherein affricates were originally alveolar ([ʦ] and [ʣ]), not postalveolar ([č] and [ǰ]). One of his supporting arguments refers to the description by Ḥamza-ye Eṣfahānī* (10th/4th century), who observed that the phonemes represented by Persian j and ch were characteristic of Persian and not originally found in Arabic. It is evident that the j described by Ḥamza-ye Eṣfahānī differs from the Arabic j. He locates its articulation between the Arabic j (depending on dialect) and z, indicating a phoneme with characteristics of both, namely [ʣ]. In contrast, neither the Arabic j nor the contemporary Persian j has any phonetic connection to z. In fact, the sound Ḥamza describes corresponds precisely to the alveolar affricate [ʣ]—a sound that was once widespread in the Isfahanī dialect but is now rapidly vanishing. The articulatory components of this older realization are /d/ and /z/, i.e., [ʣ], as opposed to the /d/ + /zh/ combination, i.e., [dž], typical of Standard Persian. Naturally, this phonetic form [ʣ] was never part of Arabic. The consonant ch, which serves as the counterpart to j, was likewise pronounced differently in the Isfahanī dialect. Unlike Standard Persian ch, which is articulated as [tš] (a combination of /t/ and /sh/), the older Isfahanī ch was realized as [ʦ], formed from /t/ and /s/. For this reason, Ḥamza-ye Eṣfahānī described its articulation as intermediate between the Arabic j and ṣ—reflecting a unique phonetic placement not found in either Arabic or Modern Persian.⁶

2. The fricative consonant [ž]—represented by the letter zh in Standard Persian—does not exist in the Isfahanī Instead, speakers employ the voiced affricate [ʣ], which corresponds to the letter j. For example:

3- Lenition of labial consonants (typically the change of [b] to [v], [f], or even [m]) is observed in certain examples of this dialect:

4. Fortition of labial consonants (the reverse of the previous process) is also found in this dialect:

5. Fortition of glide⁷ consonants is also evident in the following examples:

6. Substitution of the liquid consonant [r] with [l], as illustrated in the following examples:

7. The diphthong [ay] in Isfahanī corresponds to [ey] in Standard Persian, as seen in the following examples:

However, in the following examples, this correspondence is not observed:

8- In several originally Arabic words, the vowel [e] adjacent to the glottal consonants [ʔ] and [h] shifts to [a] in the Isfahani equivalents, as illustrated below:

9. In many Isfahanī words, the vowel [e] corresponds to [a] in Standard Persian. This correspondence is one of the most salient phonological features of the dialect. It is attested in several monosyllabic morphemes, including some verb roots, and appears to occur particularly in the environment of laminal consonants, as illustrated in the following examples:

Occasionally, the vowel [a] is replaced with [e] in two adjacent syllables of a word, as seen in the following examples:

In addition to the above, the vowel [e] in many cases results from two opposing processes: vowel assimilation and vowel dissimilation. The dissimilation process typically occurs in the environment of low or open vowels. The change from [a] to [e] is sometimes the result of regressive assimilation influenced by a high vowel [i] in the second syllable of the word.

The change from [a] to [e] is sometimes the result of progressive assimilation influenced by the mid-high vowel [e] in the first syllable of the word.

The change from [a] to [e] in the second syllable is the result of dissimilation from the [a] vowel in the first syllable of the word.

The change from [a] to [e] in the second syllable results from dissimilation influenced by the long vowel [â] in the first syllable of the word.

The change from [a] to [e] in the first syllable results from dissimilation influenced by the long vowel [â] in the second syllable of the word.

10. Vowel assimilation between the prefix be- and the stem-initial vowel is more common in Isfahani than in Colloquial Standard Persian. In the examples below, the initial vowel of the verb stem is a front vowel.

In the following examples, assimilation has occurred with the back vowel of the verb stem.

Apparently, if the initial consonant of the verb stem is a laminal consonant, this assimilation does not occur.

Vowel assimilation between the negative prefix na- and the durative prefix mi- is another instance of this phonological process:

11. Conversion of a high vowel into a glide⁸, in Standard Persian, when two vowels occur in succession, an intervening consonant—typically a glide—is inserted to prevent hiatus. This inserted segment is known as an epenthetic consonant. In the Isfahani dialect, however, if the second vowel is a high vowel, it is not preceded by an epenthetic consonant. Instead, the second vowel itself shifts into its corresponding glide: [i] changes to [y], and [u] changes to [w].

This process also occurs in some cases as a result of the deletion of a consonant between two vowels—either at the boundary between two morphemes or within a single morpheme.

12. Metathesis involving two consonants—usually one being a liquid consonant—is observed in the following examples:

Some Morphological Features
1. In Standard Persian, the genitive marker is marked by the clitic =e, whereas in Isfahani it is =i. Moreover, in Isfahanī, this clitic does not appear after words ending in a vowel.

2. The object marker (in Standard Persian =o “rā”) appears in the Isfahani dialect as the clitic =â (after a consonant) and =râ (after a vowel).

3. Clitic Pronouns (Enclitic Pronouns) with Slight Phonetic Differences from Standard Persian.

In the first person singular, the clitic form =em is used only after the preposition ez (as in ez꞊em “from me”). However, when these pronouns follow the preposition be (“to”), a intrusive consonant [š] is inserted between the preposition and the clitic, as in:

These clitic pronouns, just like in Standard Persian, serve three functions: as genitive (following a noun), as direct object (following a verb), and as indirect object (following a preposition). Exceptionally, the third person plural clitic is also (optionally) used in a subject function, where it follows the verb agreement marker.

4. The coordinating conjunction “and” in Isfahani is realized as =â (cf. =o in Colloquial Persian). This morpheme is not merely a clitic; it can also appear at the beginning of an utterance.

5. In Isfahani, the third person singular and plural verb endings are pronounced -ed (cf. -e in Colloquial Persian) and -and (cf. -an in Colloquial Persian), respectively. In other words, the consonant [d] at the end of these verb forms has not been dropped.

6- The third person singular form of the enclitic verb “to be” is =es (cf. =e in Colloquial Persian), meaning “is.”

7. In Isfahanī, the past participle suffix -e is generally retained in the present perfect tense, except in the first-person singular and third person plural forms, whereas in Colloquial Persian it is dropped in all persons. In both dialects, however, stress falls on the final syllable of the forms.

8. The following derivational suffixes in Isfahani, compared to Colloquial Persian, are generally more productive and often carry different meanings:

The diminutive and endearing suffix -ʦi, as in:

doxder-ʦi (“little girl”), peser-ʦi (“little boy”), beʦe-ʦi (“small child”),

kolâ-ʦi (“small hat”), boz-iʦi (“young goat”).

The abstract noun suffix -ɡiri, indicating behaviors or qualities, as in:

hiz-ɡiri (“lewd behavior”), diyune-ɡiri (“acting crazy”), belâ-ɡiri (“mischief”), xol-ɡiri (“acting silly”), bimaʔni-ɡiri (“nonsense”).

The diminutive suffix -uli, frequently used with both nouns and proper names, as in:

zâq-uli (“little blue-eyed”), ɡerd-uli (“round thing”), kuʦ-uli (“tiny”), nâz-uli (“little darling”), riz-uli (“petite”), kut-uli (“dwarf ”), fât-uli (“little Fāṭemeh”), rab-uli (“little Rabābe”), rez-uli (“little Reza”).

The suffix -i/-y, which functions for diminutive, pejorative, or familiarizing purposes and is used exclusively with proper names, as in:

rasul-i (“little Rasūl”), xedʣe-y (“little Khadīje”), moštabâ-y (“little Mujtabā”), farzâd-i (“little Farzād”).

The suffix -undi, conveying the meaning of being covered or tainted with something, as in:

ɡel-undi (“muddy”), kaf-undi (“foamy”), ʦerk-undi (“filthy”), xâk-undi (“dusty”).

Vocabulary

Some lexical items specific to the Isfahani dialect include:

• ʦum: (1) traditional threshing device; (2) “how should I know?”
• bondortaxd: post-wedding gathering (pātakhtī)
• xârsu: mother-in-law (either wife’s or husband’s mother)
• bowsure: father-in-law (either wife’s or husband’s father)
• yâd: sister-in-law (wife of husband’s brother)
• naxri: firstborn child
• hamriš: brother-in-law’s brother (bājenāq)
• âɡim: face, expression
• arnaʔut: large, awkward-looking person
• katune: henhouse (lit. “chick-house”)
• sibe: alley
• kiviʣ: hawthorn (cf. kuyīch in old Persian)
• ʦuri: chick
• pisorek: swallow (the bird)
• bâsɡ: cherry/stem of sour cherry
• lorʦ: flame
• yowšan: shrub used for kindling
• dâkuʦi: game of tag (“dālī-mūshe”)
• šit: broken, wrecked
• hasum: (1) kitchen spatula; (2) to dismiss from work
• buluni: small jar for storing pickles, yogurt, oil
• širdun: pitcher
• ɡulbezeni: pacifier
• kârdown: spider
• došvel: gland
• ɡisi: spinal cord
• elletuy: sickly, in poor health
• movaddi: meddlesome, nosy
• romros: shameless
• ɡâturi: impious, irreligious
• kalvâ: tin pieces used to brace broken china
• kalvâband: china mender
• ɡavurɡe: traditional gym mace (for zūrkhāne)
• ʦâʦab: bedspread
• bašne: body, trunk
• vijduri: dried cotton stalk
• vaxizâdan: to stand up, rise
• varmâlidan: to flee, run away
• vâzandide šodan: to revive, come back to life
• essedan: to take, to buy (cf. setāndan, in Persian)
• ʣossan: to search, to find
• pokidan: to explode, blow up
• ɡusuxdan: to tear, rupture
• love zedan: to plead, beg
• orit kardan: to strip feathers
• kop umedan: for a hen to become broody
• ripi umedan: to issue an empty threat
• vâdanɡ umedan: to make up excuses
• korobeʦ kardan: for animals to mate
• downe dâdan: to fumigate a wound
• hule raftan: to shirk, to dodge work

/Muhammad Mahdi Esmaili/

Bibliography

Burjīān, Ḥabīb. “Jughrāfīyāy-e Gūyeshhāy-e Velāyatī Eṣfahān.” Īrānshenāsī, New Series, vol. 17, no. 3, Autumn 2005/1384.

Burjīān, Ḥabīb. “Zabān-e Guftār-e Shahr-e Eṣfahān Key va Chegūne Fārsī Shud?” Vīzhenāme-ye Nāme-ye Farhangestān (Zabān-hā va Gūyeshhā-ye Īrānī), New Series, no. 3, Esfand 2014/1392.

Kalbāsī, Iran. Fārsī-ye Eṣfahānī. Tehran: Muʾassese-ye uoṭāle‛āt va Taḥqīqāt-e Farhangī, 1991/1370.

Ṣādeqī, Ali-Ashraf. Takvīn-e Zabān-e Fārsī. Tehran: Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Iran, [c. 1978/1357].

Sepantā, Sāsān. “Barresī-ye Āzmāyeshgāhī-ye Chand Gūyesh-e Markazī va Lahje-ye Eṣfahān.” Nāmeh-ye Farhangestān, no. 6, Summer 1996/1375.

Tafaḍḍulī, Aḥmad. “Eṭṭelā‛ātī Darbāre-ye Lahje-ye Pīshīn-e Eṣfahān.” In: Nāme-ye Mīnuvī, ed. by Ḥabīb Yaḡmāʾī and Īraj Afshār, Tehran: [Jāvīdān], 1971/1350.

1. The term ergative refers here to a structure in which enclitic pronouns are used instead of verbal agreement markers.[↩]
2. Tafaḍḍulī, p. 87; see also: Burjīān, 2005/1384, pp. 466–486.[↩]
3. Burjīān, 2014/1392, p. 93.[↩]
4. Kalbāsī, p. 15; Burjīān, 2014/1392, pp. 95–98.[↩]
5. Sepantā, p. 89.[↩]
6. Ṣādeqī, pp. 124–125.[↩]
7. glide consonants: stop consonants which, upon release, allow air to pass with friction through the speech organs[↩]
8. That is, the vowels [i] and [u].[↩]