Aimaq dialect explained
Aimaq or Aimaqi (Persian: ایماقی|Aimāqi) is the dominant eastern Persian ethnolect spoken by the Aimaq people in central northwest Afghanistan (west of the Hazarajat) and eastern Iran. It is close to the Dari varieties of Persian.[1] The Aimaq people are thought to have a 5–15% literacy rate.
Dialects
Subdialects of Aimaq dialect include:
- Changezi
- Firozkohi
- Jamshidi
- Maliki
- Mizmast
- Taimani
- Timuri
- Zainal
- Zohri (also known as Zuri)
Phonology
Phonetically, as one of the eastern Persian dialects, the Aimaq dialect resembles a formal or classical form of Persian.
Vowels:
- The "majhul" vowels ē / ī and ō / ū are still kept separate, whereas in western Persian they are merged as ī and ū respectively. For instance, the identically written words شیر 'lion' and 'milk' are in western Persian both pronounced [šīr], but in Aimaq [šēr] for 'lion' and [šīr] for 'milk'. The long vowel in زود 'quick' and زور 'strong' is realized as [ū] in western Persian, in contrast, these words are pronounced as [zūd] and [zōr] respectively by Aimaq speakers.
- The diphthongs of early Classical Persian aw (as ow in Engl. cow) and ay (as i in English ice) have in Aimaq become pronounced as /[ow]/ (as in Engl. low) and pronounced as /[ej]/ (as in Engl. day). Dari, on the other hand, is more archaic, e.g. نوروز 'Persian New Year' is realized as pronounced as /[nowrūz]/ in Iranian, and pronounced as /[nawrōz]/ in Aimaq, and نخیر 'no' is uttered as pronounced as /[naχejr]/ in Iranian, and as pronounced as /[naχajr]/ in Aimaq.
- The high short vowels [i] and [u] tend to be lowered in western Persian to [e] and [o].
- pronounced as //æ// and pronounced as //e// are in Aimaq kept separate in word-final positions, unlike western Persian, where pronounced as //æ// has pronounced as /[e]/ as a word-final allophone.
Consonants:
- Aimaq still retains the (classical) bilabial pronunciation pronounced as /[w]/ of the labial consonant و, which is realized as a voiced labiodental fricative pronounced as /[v]/ in western Persian. pronounced as /[v]/ is found in Aimaq as an allophone of f before voiced consonants.
- The voiced uvular stop pronounced as //ɢ// (ق) and voiced velar fricative pronounced as //ɣ// (غ) are still kept separate in Aimaq. They have coincided in western Persian (probably under the influence of Turkic languages like Azeri and Turkmen).[2]
See also
References
Notations
- Clifton, John M. (ed.) (2005) Studies in languages of Tajikistan North Eurasia Group, SIL International, St Petersburg, Russia, OCLC 122939499
Notes and References
- Encyclopedia: Aimaq . World Culture Encyclopedia . everyculture.com . 14 August 2009.
- A. Pisowicz, Origins of the New and Middle Persian phonological systems (Cracow 1985), p. 112-114, 117.
