A newly discovered Persian variety: the case of “Zoroastrian Persian”

Abstract

Using a corpus of contemporary Yazdi Zoroastrian oral literature, this article demonstrates that the Persian dialect found in many Zoroastrian songs is different from both Standard Persian and local (Yazdi) Persian. It is argued that Zoroastrian oral literature in New Persian preserves the features of a Persian dialect previously spoken or used by Zoroastrians. On the basis of phonological and morphosyntactic comparison, this article shows that it is likely that this variety of Persian was influenced by Gavruni, the traditional language of the Zoroastrians of Iran.