The Raji dialect of Jowshaqan

Habib Borjian Encyclopædia Iranica, Columbia University, New York Spoken in a rural setting in central Iran, Jowshaqani belongs to the Raji or Kashan subgroup of Central Plateau dialects, a branch of Northwest Iranian languages. This volume begins with an areal study of the Raji dialects through an isoglottic analysis of fourteen grammatical and lexical features. This is followed by a full diachronic investigation of sound changes within the framework of Indo-Iranian comparative-historical phonology. The main chapter offers a sketch grammar consisting of phonology and noun and verb morphology and syntax. Jowshaqani has a rich inventory of personal pronouns distinguished by gender in the third person singular, as do verb endings: nen ate “he comes,” néna atea “she comes.” The language makes a distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs, in both morphology and syntax, of past tenses, where agential affixes float freely through the sentence, yielding complex syntactic structures. The grammar is followed by texts and a glossary. ISBN 9783862884254. Languages of the World/Materials 494. 139pp. 2013.