Southwestern Iranian languages

Modern period (Neo-Iranian)

There is no consensus on the exact linguistic classification of the Iranian languages, and the traditional grouping between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian languages seems to become more ambiguous upon closer inspection of individual dialects and languages. This indicates that these language groups are not genetic entities. Primarily focused on phonology, Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr propose that the Western Iranian languages exist on "a scale of ‘Northwesternness’ or ‘Southwesternness’, on which each language is ‘more or less’ NW or SW.", though this does not take into account linguistic convergence in grammar and other linguistic aspects.