Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages

Anonby, Erik; Hayes, Amos; Oikle, Robert

doi:10.1075/cilt.351.03ano

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…An ever-expanding bibliography of linguistic resources 3 is accompanied by a working classification of all language varieties (language families, languages, and dialects). 4 Further, a "multi-dimensional language relation web" has been developed in the Atlas as a way of accounting for competing scholarly classifications and complementary perspectives on language identity, both of which impact the ways in which Atlas users expect language maps to be drawn (Anonby, Hayes & Oikle, 2020;Anonby & Sabethemmatabadi, 2019). The Atlas is being built using the Nunaliit Atlas Framework (GCRC, 2006(GCRC, -2021, an open-source document-oriented data platform (Hayes et al, 2014;Hayes & Taylor, 2019) that embodies the interactive, multi-modal, and collaborative ethos of the cybercartographic approach to mapping (Taylor, 1997(Taylor, , 2003(Taylor, , 2005Taylor & Lauriault, 2014;Taylor et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Atlas Of the Languages Of Iran (Ali) Research Programmementioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a picture of Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran, as a linguistic area

Anonby

Taheri-Ardali

Stone

2021

J. of Ling. Geography

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Language documentation has been carried out in Iran since the late 1800s but in a sporadic way, and even now, the scholarly picture of the country’s linguistic landscape is fragmentary. The present article responds to this state of affairs in a modest way by working toward a systematic overview of the language situation in one area of the country: Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province of western Iran, where the high Zagros Mountains open onto the Iranian Plateau. In this study, conducted in the context of the Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI) research programme, we chronicle our research process for this region, beginning with an inventory of languages spoken here—varieties of Bakhtiari, Charmahali, and Turkic—and an overview of their geographical distribution. This initial step enabled us to select 30 varieties from 26 locations across the province for in-depth research, including implementation of the ALI language data questionnaire. Data generated by the study have resulted in two language distribution maps as well as a series of linguistic structure maps. Initial analysis of lexical and phonological data provides insight into defining features of each language as well as structures shared between them as a result of language contact in the region.

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Section: The Atlas Of the Languages Of Iran (Ali) Research Programmementioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a picture of Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran, as a linguistic area

Anonby

Taheri-Ardali

Stone

2021

J. of Ling. Geography

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“…There have been a number of important efforts to map of the languages of Iran, but until now no language atlas, or even a comprehensive and detailed country-level language map, has been produced. As detailed in Anonby (2015), this can be attributed to a variety of factors including the complexity of language situation; issues of logistics and project design; contrasting perspectives on language identity and distribution; limited dissemination of project results; and limited cooperation among scholars working toward this common goal.…”

Section: The Atlas Of the Languages Of Iran (Ali)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Kordestan Province in the Atlas of the Languages of Iran : Research process, language distribution, and language classification

Anonby¹,

Mohammadirad²,

Sheyholislami³

2019

Bamberg Studies in Kurdish Linguistics (BSKL)

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Despite the chronic shortage of institutional support, research in Kurdish linguistics continues to thrive. Among recent developments, one can mention the International Conference on Kurdish Linguistics, which began as an informal workshop in Bamberg in 2013 and has since grown into a regular international conference series, or the Database of Kurdish Dialects, the first largescale web-accessible dialect survey of Kurdish, hosted at the University of Manchester. What remains a desideratum, however, is a platform for disseminating quality research in a readily accessible format.The new series Bamberg Studies in Kurdish Linguistics (BSKL) aims at filling this gap by providing a publication forum for high-quality research on Kurdish linguistics that is open access, hosted at an established research institution, and committed to high standards of scientific excellence. BSKL adopts a broad stance on what can be considered "Kurdish linguistics", in terms of the languages in focus, the range of topics, and the format of the volumes. The primary criterion is scientific excellence, and the editors are committed to ensuring high standards. It seems very appropriate that the first volume in the series is a selection of contributions to the International Conference on Kurdish Linguistics, held in Amsterdam in 2016, which provides a vivid crosssection of contemporary research in Kurdish linguistics.It has taken several years of planning before we could finally inaugurate the series, and we are extremely grateful to a number of people for their patience and support during that time, in particular the staff at Bamberg University Press, who agreed to the volume conception several years ago and have continued to support it since. Finally, I would like to thank the co-editors of the series, Erik Anonby, Ergin Öpengin and Ludwig Paul, for collaborating with me on the new series.

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“…Moreover, each speech community in Iran might approach the issues of language identification differently and with reference to a selection of parameters that are not necessarily shared among all those communities (Anonby, Hayes, et al, 2020;Modarresi, 2014;Sabethemmatabadi et al, 2017). This is partly due to the fact that Iran is a multilingual country, where many language varieties coexist due to cultural and economic influences, migration, as well as political, historical and religious struggles (e.g., see Hassanpour, 1992;Moradi, 2019).…”

Section: Language Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The diversity and intricacy of language identification issues are augmented by the fact that not only do Iranians speak different Iranian (Iranic) language varieties, but a significant proportion of the population speaks language varieties which belong to other families: Turkic, Semitic, Indic, Armenian, Kartvelian, Dravidian, and Persian Sign Language (Anonby, Hayes, et al, 2020;Anonby, Sabethemmatabadi, et al, 2016;Orywal, 1988;Windfuhr, 2006Windfuhr, , 2009.…”

Section: Aspects Related To Language Studies In Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language Identification in Iran

Switzer¹

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For many years scholars have endeavoured to define what a language is and address how it is different from other types of language varieties such as dialect and accent. Some studies identify language varieties based on their structural similarity, focusing on the lexical similarity, and the phonological, morphological and syntactic properties. Others adopt a functional approach and focus on the degree to which speakers of language varieties "…can understand each other based on knowledge of their own language variety without needing to learn the other language variety, at a functional level" (Eberhard et al., 2021, p.1). Some studies address language identification issues following an ethnographic approach. These studies investigate language as a communicative behavior used by members of a particular culture (Hymes, 1989). Finally, studies which adopt a folk linguistic approach to language underline the linguistic perspectives of folk (non-specialists).Available studies in the field of Iranian linguistics adopt a predominantly structural approach to identify different types of language varieties. Given this imbalance in the literature, this dissertation chronicles the development of a measurement tool in the context of an exploratory mixed methods research project. Based on available literature, initial qualitative study results and an expert panel's views, I developed a sociolinguistic questionnaire. Following rigorous steps in questionnaire validation (Hinkin, 1998), I validated this questionnaire with 5 components and 21 statements. To treat folk perspectives as meaningful in their own right alongside the perspectives of scholars, this questionnaire investigated the linguistic perspectives of participants from a crosssection of speech communities in Iran. The questionnaire further identified the parameters associated with these perspectives in defining and differentiating different types of language III | P a g e varieties. Results indicated that parameters including language variety status, extent of mutual intelligibility and shared words between language varieties, and standardized writing systems were the parameters which statistically significantly influenced Iranian folk perspectives. Perspectives regarding the relevance of urban vs. rural geography and number of speakers were heterogeneous.Results further showed that in language identification, the participants' education, prior formal knowledge of linguistics, and mother tongue predicted 53% of the variation in their linguistic perspectives among the sample population.

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Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages

Cited by 4 publications

References 18 publications

Toward a picture of Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran, as a linguistic area

Toward a picture of Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran, as a linguistic area

Kordestan Province in the Atlas of the Languages of Iran : Research process, language distribution, and language classification

Language Identification in Iran

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