Mazandarani Māzərūni مازِرونی - Mazəni مازنی Tapəri تپر?
Spoken in:	Mazandaran, and some parts of Tehran, Golestan, Semnan, Khorasan (Iran)
Region:	Southern Mazandaran Sea
Total speakers:	3 - 4.5 million (As Native)
Language family:	}}}  Indo-Iranian   Iranian    Western Iranian     Northwestern Iranian      Mazandarani}}}
Writing system:	Perso-Arabic Script
Official status
Official language of:	none
Regulated by:	Linguistic Faculty of Babol University
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	ira
ISO 639-3:	mzn
Areas where Mazandarani is spoken as mother tongue

Mazandarani or Tabari (Also known as: Mazeniki, Taperki) is an Iranian language of the northwestern branch. Spoken mainly in Iran's Mazandaran and Golestan provinces, it is mutually unintelligible with respect to Persian. ^[1]

History

Among the living Iranian languages, Mazandarani has one of the longest written traditions, from the tenth to the fifteenth century. This status was achieved during the long reign of the independent and semi-independent rulers of Mazandaran in the centuries after the Arab invasion^[2].

The rich literature of this language includes books such as Marzban Nameh (later translated into Persian) and the poetry of Amir Pazevari. The use of Mazandarani, however, has been in decline. Its literary and administrative rank was lost to Persian perhaps long before the ultimate integration of Mazandaran into the national administration in the early seventeenth century. ^[3].

The Mazandarani language is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. Notably, the language did not come under the influence of other incoming languages such as Arabic and Turkish. According to Ethnologue, there were more than three million native speakers of Mazandarani in 1993 speaking different dialects such as Gorgani, Ghadikolahi and Palani^[4]

Grammar

Mazanderani is an Inflected and Gender free language.^[5] It is considered SVO in conventional typology. ^[6].

Morphology

Function Cases Case Position Meaning Səre-a Nominative The Home Səre re Accusative To the Home Səreo Vocative Home! Səreşe Genitive Home’s Səre re Dative To the Home Səre Həje Ablative By the Home

Adjectives Adjective Position Meaning And-e Səre Applicative   Gat Səre Comparative   Ota Səre Determinative That Home Səre Superlative

Suffixes

Mazandarani is one of Synthetic languages which uses many suffixes to construct adjectives, verbs, and specially nouns. The list below is a sample list that obtained from the Online Mazandarani-Persian dictionary.

Locatives Suffix Example Meaning Kash Kharkash Good Place Kel Tutkel Mulberry Limit Ij Yoshij Yoshian Bun Chenarbon At the Plantain Tum     Ja Səre Ja Of Home Jar     Sar Bənesar At the Below

Subjectives Suffix Example Meaning Tasha   Creator Chaf Au Chaf Water Sucker Rush Halikrush Drupelet Seller Su Vərgsu Wolf Hunter Shən     Kaan     Keri     Kaf Ukaf Who acts in water Mej   Destroyer Vej Galvej Mouse Finder Var Kejevar Who professional in Keje Yel vəngyel Bandmaster

Orthography

Perso-Arabic Script

Mazanderani is commonly written in the Perso-Arabic script.^[7]

Romanization

Jahangir Nasr Ashrafi proposed Latin scripture of this language to be used in dictionaries and other textural resources for compatibly of foreigners. It is also being usable in Chat, Email and SMS messages.

Vocabulary

Mazandarani also has many words which have the same root as English has. (As well as some other Germanic languages), Below a sample list of words which are common in daily speech of both languages are listed.

English	Mazandarani	Persian
	Moong	Maah
	Guw	Gaav Maada
	Bad	Bad
	No	Na:
	Neu	No
Let's	Les	Ejaze
	Gap	Goftogoo
	Geat	Bozorg
	Be	Bud
	Tulip	Laleh
	Leng	Pa, Leng

Influences exerted by Mazanderani

Modern-day of Iran

There are many popular companies in Iran that their name are from the origin words of this language.

In non-Iranian languages

There are some Mazanderani loanwords in the Turkmen language.^[8] There is also evidence that Sanskrit and Mazanderani share some words.

Specimen

mosalmunun! mέrε šabgir varέnne āx, mέrε bā kamεr-e haftir varέnne mέrε bavέrdεnε Tεrkεmun-e dam Tεrkεmun kāfεr o gεlilε be-ra:m Moslems! They are carrying me at the crack of dawn. O, they are taking me away with a pistol on the[ir] waist. They took me to the vicinity of the Turkmen [tribes]. Turkmen [are] unbelievers and the bullet [is] ruthless. gεtε, ašun xō badimā mεn še Ali-re sio dasmāl davέsso še gali-re age xā́nnε bā́urεn ámi badi-re bázεne xεrusεk šέme gali-re volvol sar-e dār gέnε εy zāri-zāri me gol dāš báio sarbāz-e Sāri He would say, Last night I dreamed my Ali. He [had] wrapped a black kerchief [round] his throat. If it is their intention is malignant about us, May croup-cough attack your throat! The nightingale on the tree constantly bemoans (?) My dear brother drafted in Sāri. Quatrains sang by Sabura Azizi, transcribed and translated by Habib Borjian; Ref. Habib Borjian and Maryam Borjian, “Mysterious Memories of a Woman: Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran,” Iran and the Caucasus 11/2, 2007.

ozεrε-vâ énε dámbe sεvâí iấnnε búye dεlbárrε dεvấi qam o qossέye dεl vónε kεnârí me jấne gεl dénε búye xεdâí
	At break of dawn blows the cool breeze. It brings over the healing odor of the beloved. The sorrow of the heart will go away. My dear flower smells like God.
basutέ sinέye miónnε hấreš! tévεsse – nấzεnin! – baímε nâxεš tε armúne dέl i, εy nâzεnin yâr! tévεsse mέsle bεlbεl zámbε nâlεš
	Look at the middle of the burnt chest! For you – O loveable! – I am unwell. You are the heart’s aspiration, O beloved! For you I moan like a nightingale.
Dεl-e armun “Heart’s Aspiration” Rezaqoli Mohammadi Kordekheyli Transcribed and translated by: Habib Borjian

References

See Also: Mazandarani language/References

General

• Dr. Borjian, Maryam; Spring 2005; Bilingualism in Mazandaran: Peaceful Coexistence With Persian; Columbia University, Language, Communities and Education, pp.65-73.

Notes

Further reading

Recent Studies

• Habib Borjian, Archiv Orientálni, 2006, The Oldest Known Texts in New Tabari: The Collection of Aleksander ChodŸko, 74/2, pp. 153-171.
• Dr. Borjian, Habib; 2006; Amir Pazevari (legendary poet of Mazandarani language), University of Minnesota, United States
• Habib Borjian, Iranian Studies, 2006, A Mazandarani account of the Babi Incident at Shaikh Tabarsi, 39/3, pp. 381-400.
• Habib Borjian, Guyesh-shenâsi, 2006, Textual sources for the study of Tabari language I. Olddocuments, no. 4.

Other Studies

• Nawata; 1984; Mazandarani; Asian and African Grammatical Manual, No 17, Tokyo, ILCAA

Bibliography

• Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn, 1860-66, Masanderanische Sprache (I-II/1, 3, St. Petersburg)
• Satoko Yoshie, 1998, Sari Dialect (of Mazandarani language), Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokio, Japan http://opac.ide.go.jp/cgi-bin/exec_cgi/ibibser.cgi?CGILANG=japanese&U_CHARSET=utf-8&SH_PRMKEY_bib%3DIran+--+History&SORTKEY=&SORTDIR=&THESAURUS=&BRNUM=251&IBMODE=1&CGIPID=30231&SFORM=http://www.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/ssg/nel/nel9912.htmhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dialect-Iranian-studies-Satoko-Yoshie/dp/B0000CQUDE/ref=sr_1_1/203-5002869-9991121?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177498360&sr=1-1
• Dr. Shokri, Guiti; 1995, Sari Dialect(of Mazandarani), Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.
• Dr. Shokri, Guiti; 2006, Ramsari Dialect , Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.

See also

• Mazandarani people

External links

• Ethnologue Report for Mazandarani
• Audio recordings available for Mazandarani
• Dictionary of Mazandarani, with translations into Saravi, Baboli, and Amoli dialects

•  • [ e] Iranian languages
Old	Western: Median · Old Persian Eastern: Avestan† · Old Scythian · Old Sogdian
Middle	Western: Parthian† · Middle Persian Eastern: Bactrian† · Khwarezmian† · Ossetic · Parnian · Sacian · Saka · Scythian · Sogdian
Modern	Western: Alviri (Vidri) · Ashtiani · Old Azari† · Baluchi · Bashkardi · Central Iran · Persian Dari · Dari (Zoroastrian) · Gilaki · Gorani · Harzani · Judeo-Persian · Kurdish Kurmanji · Laki · Luri · Bakhtiari Lori · Mazandarani · Ormuri · Sangsari · Parachi · New Persian · Sorani (Kurdish) · Tajik · Taleshi · Tat · Tati · Vafsi · Zazaki Eastern: Bartangi · Hindukush Group · Ishkashmi · Karakoram Group · Khufi · Munji · Oroshori · New Ossetic · Parachi · Pashto · Roshani (Roshni) · Sanglechi · Sarikoli · Shughni · Wakhi · Vanji† · Waziri · Yaghnobi · Yidgha · Yazgulami · Zebaki
Legend: † Extinct language (no surviving native speakers and no spoken descendant)