Luri language

History

The Luri language is derived and descended from Middle Persian (Pahlavi). They belong to the Persid or Southern Zagros group, and are lexically similar to modern Persian, differing mainly in phonology.

According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "All Lori dialects closely resemble standard Persian and probably developed from a stage of Persian similar to that represented in Early New Persian texts written in Perso-Arabic script. The sole typical Lori feature not known in early New Persian or derivable from it is the inchoative marker (see below), though even this is found in Judeo-Persian texts". The Bakhtiāri dialect may be transitional between Kurdish and Persian. However, there was never a common ancestor to Luri. There are two distinct languages, Greater Lors (Lor-e bozorg), a.k.a. Southern Luri (including Bakhtiari dialect), and Lesser Lors (Lor-e kuček), a.k.a. Northern Luri.

Speakers

Lur peoples of Iran are mainly in provinces of Lorestan, Ilam Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Fars province (especially Mamasani and Rostam), Khuzestan, Esfahan province and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and some of this people live in provinces as like as Hamadan province, Qom province, Qazvin province, Gilan province and Kerman province. Identified as Feylis, A large crowd of Lurs is located in Eastern parts of Iraq

Internal classification

The language is divided into five languages: Feyli Lurish; this dialect is used by Feyli people in Northern regions of Ilam, central regions of Kermanshah and significant parts of eastern Iraq in Diyala province (Khanaqin, Mendeli and Muqdadiyah cities) and Baghdad; Cental Lurish; this dialect is spoken by northern parts of Lurish communities including eastern, central and northern parts of Luristan province, Southern parts of Hamadan province mainly in Malayer, Nahavand and Tuyserkan counties, Southern regions of Ilam province and southeastern parts of Markazi province, Laki; this dialect is used in central and northwestern regions of Luristan, central and southern regions of Ilam and southern parts of Kermanshah, Bakhtiari Lurish; this dialect is used by Bakhtiari people in South Luristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, significant regions in north and east of Khouzestan and western regions of Isfahan province, and Southern Lurish; which is spoken by total Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, western, and central regions in Fars province, northern and western parts of Bushehr province and southeastern regions of Khouzestan. Several Lurish communities are inhabited sporadicly across Iran Plateau e.g. Khorasan (Beyranvand and Bakhtiare Lurish descendants), Kerman, Guilan and Tehran provinces.

Vocabulary

Lurish language in comparison with other Iranian languages has been less affected by foreign invaders language e.g. Arabic and Turkic. Nowadays, many ancient Iranian language characteristics are preserved and can be observed in Lurish grammar and vocabulary. According to diverse regional and socio-ecological conditions and due to longtime social interrelations with adjacent ethnic groups especially Kurds and Persian people, different dialects of Lurish despite mainly common characteristics, have significant differences. Northern dialect tends to have more Kurdish loanwords inside and southern dialects (Bakhtiari and south Lurish) have been more exposed to Persian loanwords.

A Comparison between Lurish and English

Some words in Lurish are similar to English words.