Gilaki
Gilak
گیلٚکی زٚوان (ɡilɵki zɵvān)
Gilaki in Nastaliq style (گیلکی)
Native to	Iran, province of Gilan and parts of the province of Mazandaran and Qazvin also Alborz
Region	Southwest coast of the Caspian Sea
Ethnicity	4.6 million Gilaki (2021)[1]
Native speakers	2.55 million (2021)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Caspian Gilaki
Dialects	Western Gilaki Eastern Gilaki Galeshi Gilaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	glk
Glottolog	gila1241
Linguasphere	58-AAC-eb
Areas where Gilaki is spoken as the mother tongue

Gilaki (گیلٚکي زٚوؤن romanized: ɡilɵki zɵvön) is an Iranian language of the Northwestern branch, spoken in south of Caspian Sea by Gilak people. Gilaki is closely related to Mazandarani.^[2] The two languages of Gilaki and Mazandarani have similar vocabularies.^[3][4][5][6] The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages)^[7] share certain typological features with Caucasian languages (specifically Kartvelian language),^[7][8][9] reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of the Gilak people and Mazandarani people.

Classification

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki^{[10][11][12][13]} and Galeshi/Deylami.^[14][15] The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River,^[16] while Galeshi is spoken in the mountains of eastern Gilan and western Mazandaran.^[15]

There are three main dialects but larger cities in Gilan have slight variations to the way they speak. These "sub-dialects" are Rashti, Rudbari, Some’e Sarai, Lahijani, Langerudi, Rudesari, Bandar Anzali, Fumani, Alamouti and Taleghani.^[5]

Gilaki, which has two main dialect types, eastern and western, with the Safidrūd River as the general border, is a member of the Caspian subgroup. ^[17] There are many subdialects of Gilaki, and, progressing to the east, it gradually blends into Mazandarani. The intermediate dialects of the area between Tonokābon and Kalārdašt serve as a transition between Gilaki and Mazandarani. The differences in forms and vocabulary lead to a low mutual intelligibility with either Gilaki or Mazandarani, and so these dialects should probably be considered a third separate language group of the Caspian area.^[18] In Mazandaran, Gilaki is spoken in the city of Ramsar and Tonekabon. Although the dialect is influenced by Mazandarani, it is still considered a Gilaki dialect.^[19][20]

Furthermore, the eastern Gilaki dialect is spoken throughout the valley of the Chalus river.^[21]

Apart from four Turkish-speaking villages higher up, the inhabitants of Alamut speak Gilaki and those of Rudbar Tati.^[22] In Qazvin province, Gilaki is spoken in northern parts of the province, in Alamut.^[23][24]

Grammar

Gilaki, is an inflected and genderless language. It is considered SVO, although in sentences employing certain tenses the order may be SOV.^[25] Nonetheless, the language has many grammatical similarities to English.

Dispersion

Map depicting areas where the various dialects of Gilaki are spoken

Gilaki is the language of the majority of people in Gilan province and also a native and well-known language in Mazandaran, Qazvin and Alborz provinces. Gilaki is spoken in different regions with different dialects and accents.^{[26][27][28][29][30][12][13][11][31]} The number of Gilaki speakers is estimated at 3 to 4 million.^[32][33][34] Ethnologue reports that the use of Gilaki is decreasing as the speaker population is decreasing.^[35]

Phonology

Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki of Rasht, which will be the variety used in the remainder of the article:

There are nine vowel phonemes in the Gilaki language:

The consonants are:

Verb system

The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. All infinitives end in -tən/-dən, or in -V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original *-Vdən). The present stem is usually related to the infinitive, and the past stem is just the infinitive without -ən or -n (in the case of vowel stems).

Nouns, cases and postpositions

Gilaki employs a combination of quasi-case endings and postpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian.

Adjectives

Gilaki adjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have the genitive "case ending" -ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.

• Example for adjectival modification: Western Gilaki: pilla-yi zakan (big children), Surx gul (red flower). Eastern Gilaki: Sərd ow (cold water) (ɑb-e særd in Persian), kul čaqu (dull knife) (čaqu-ye kond in Persian).

Vocabulary

Comparison of Gilaki, Mazandarani, Kurmanci, Zazaki and Balochi

Notes

Further reading

• Christensen, Arthur Emanuel (1930). "Dialect Guiläkī de Recht" [The Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. Contributions à la dialectologie iranienne (PDF). Kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser. Vol. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-01-09. (translated into Persian 1995)
• Purriyahi, Masud (1971). Barresi-ye dastur-e guyesh-e Gilaki-ye Rasht [A Grammatical Study of the Gilaki dialect of Rasht] (Dissertation). Tehran University.
• Sartippur, Jahangir (1990). Vižegihā-ye Dasturi va Farhang-e vāžehā-ye Gilaki [Grammatical Characteristics and Glossary of Gilaki]. Rasht: Nashr-e Gilakan.
• Shokri, Giti (1998). "Māzi-ye Naqli dar Guyeshhā-ye Gilaki va Mazandarāni" ماضی نقلی در گویش های مازندران و گیلان [The Present Perfect Tense in the Dialects of Mazandaran and Gilan]. Nāme-ye Farhangestān. 4 (16): 59–69.
• Rastorgueva, V. S.; Kerimova, A. A.; Mamedzade, A. K.; Pireiko, L. A.; Edel’man, D. I. (2012). The Gilaki Language. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Vol. 19. Translated by Lockwood, Ronald M. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-554-8419-4.

External links

Gilaki edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Scientific Information Database of the Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research
• Sample recording in Gilaki
• Dictionary of Gilaki (Dialect of Lahijan) and some of its characteristics
• Open access recordings of a Gilaki song and basic word list are available through Kaipuleohone