Iranian Languages

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Iranian Languages
Iranian languages are spoken over a vast
geographical area from Turkey in the west to
Pakistan and Tajikistan in the east. The
estimated number of speakers is between 150 and
200 million. The largest New Iranian languages
are Persian, with the variants Farsi (Iran), Dari
(Afghanistan) and Tajik (Tajikistan), Kurdish,
Pashto and Balochi. The main focus of the
research in Iranian languages at Uppsala
University is on structural linguistics,
linguistic contact and sociolinguistics, but
there is also research on the literatures of
different Iranian languages. We work on
describing the grammar of Classical Persian and
of both spoken and written Modern Persian. There
is also a particular focus on other Iranian
langauges, particularly on Balochi, but also on,
e.g., Kurdish, Pashto, Gilaki and
Mazandarani. Another focus is research on the
sociolinguistic milieu of Iranian languages
(inside and outside Iran) and on languages of
Iran (belonging to various language families,
e.g. Iranian, Semitic, Turkic, Dravidian). Issues
in focus are particularly contact induced
grammatical changes, language maintenance versus
language shift, codeswitching and conversational
analysis as well as orthographies of different
Iranian languages. As for literature, we work
both on modern literature in Persian, Kurdish,
Pashto and Balochi, on classical and
post-classical Persian literature and on oral
literature (folktales, oral poetry etc). Courses
on BA- and MA-level are offered in Old, Middle
and New Persian, Avestan, Parthian, Balochi,
Gilaki-Mazandarani, Kurdish and Pashto, where New
Persian and Kurdish are majors. The Ph.D.
programme is entitled Iranian Languages.
Active researchers (May 2007) Professor Carina
Jahani Professor emeritus Bo Utas Dr. Helena
Bani-Shoraka Dr. Mehrdad Fallahzadeh Dr. Forogh
Hashabeiky Dr. Guiti Shokri Ph.D. cand. Behrooz
Barjasteh Delforooz Ph.D. cand.
Dariush Kargar Ph.D. cand. Ferhad Shakely Ph.D.
cand. Anders Widmark
Research projects Languages in contact and
conflict in West Asia, 1998-2002. Financed by
the Swedish Research Council Project members
Iranian languages Associate prof. Carina Jahani
(project leader), Ph.D. cand. Helena Bani-Shoraka
Semitic languages Prof. Bo Isaksson, Dr.
Sven-Olof Dahlgren, Ph.D. cand. Ablahad
Lahdo Language, identity and society a
documentation of minority languages in Iran,
their sociolinguistic milieu and the role of the
language in individual and group identity,
2007-2009. Financed by the Swedish Research
Council, Swedish Research Links Project
members In Sweden Prof. Carina Jahani, Dr.
Helena Bani-Shoraka, Ph. D. cand. Behrooz
Barjasteh Delforooz In Iran Prof. Mohammad Dabir
Moghaddam, Dr. Moosa Mahmoudzahi, Dr. Abbas Ali
Ahangar Associate member Dr. John Roberts, SIL
International Bilingualism as a resource in
students socialization process in multilingual
contexts in higher education, 2007-2009. Financed
by the Swedish Research Council Project members
Associate prof. Gunilla Jansson, Dept. of
Scandinavian Languages, Stockholm University
(project leader), Dr. Helena Bani-Shoraka, Ph.D.
cand. Olle Poignant
Conferences with publications Mini-conference on
the Balochi language, August 1997. Proceedings
Jahani, Carina (2000). Language in Society
Eight Sociolinguistic Essays on Balochi. Acta
Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Iranica
Upsaliensia, 3. Uppsala Uppsala University.
1st International Conference on Balochistan
Linguistic Contact in Balochistan. August
2000. This conference was organised together with
Dr. Agnes Korn, Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft,
Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Proceeding
s Jahani, Carina, and Korn, Agnes (2003). The
Baloch and Their Neighbours. Ethnic and
Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical
and Modern Times.Wiesbaden Reichert. 2nd
International Conference on Balochistan
Pluralism in Balochistan. August 2005. This
conference was organised together with Dr. Agnes
Korn, Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft,
Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Proceeding
s under publication. Planned conference Language
s and dialects in Iran. International conference
on documentation of minority languages in Iran
and their sociolinguistic milieu. In cooperation
with the University of Sistan and Balochistan,
Zahedan, Iran, and other international
researchers. To be held in Zahedan, Iran, April.
2008.
Cooperative agreement with the University of
Sistan and Balochistan, Zahedan, Iran General
objectives Promoting research and documentation
of Iranian languages. Facilitating the exchange
of knowledge and expertise between staff and
students of the Department of Linguistics and
Philology, Uppsala University, and staff and
students of the University of Sistan and
Balochistan, and the wider academic community
with an interest in Iranian languages. Fostering
active cooperation between Asian and Western
scholars committed to the study of these
languages and between the academic institutions
to which they belong. Other partners in
Iran University of Mazandaran, Sari-Babolsar,
Iran Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran,
Iran Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran
The Institute for Humanities and Cultural
Studies, Tehran, Iran
Prof. Carina Jahani, Department of Linguistics
and Philology, Box 635, S-751 26, Uppsala,
Sweden. Homepage www.lingfil.uu.se/personal/carin
ajahani E-mail carina.jahani_at_lingfil.uu.se