Semnani (سمنی زفون, Semani zefön) is one of the local languages of the
Semnan Province of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Despite the common misconception that Semnani is a
Persian dialect, the language belongs to the Northwestern branch of the
Western Iranian languages. Like other Caspian languages, it bears some resemblance to the Old Iranian
Median language and was influenced by
Parthian in a later process.
Phonology
Consonants
(Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.
Allophones are in parentheses.)
Grammar
Syntax
Subjects in Semnani must have gender agreement with the verb in their immediate clause.
Notes
Bibliography
Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," ''Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum''. Ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. Pages 296-314.
Northwestern Iranian languages
Caspian languages
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