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Gileki language

Encyclopedia : G : GI : GIL : Gileki language

Gilaki (گیلکی in Persian) is a northwestern Iranian language and is spoken in Iran's Gilan province. Gilaki can be divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki and Tabari Gilaki. The Gilaki language is closely related to Mazandarani and the two languages have similar vocabularies. The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid Rud river [link]. According to Ethnologue, there were more than 3 million native speakers of Gilaki in 1993 [link].

There are some major grammatical differences between Gilaki and Persian, specially in possessive and adjectives. Unlike Persian, most possessives and adjectives precede the head noun, similar to English.[link]

Nevertheless, Gilaki is believed to be heavily influenced by Persian in its structure, and most of the Gilak people speak Persian as a second language. The Encyclopedia Iranica states:

"Iranian dialects spoken along the Caspian littoral are Taleshi, Gilaki, Mazandarani, and related subdialects, and the extinct dialect of Tabarestan." (p.61)
Contents

Some Gilaki Words

Gilaki English Persian Romanization
Dim Face صورت Suræt
Zay Baby/Kid کودک/بچه Kudæk/Bæčé
Pila Per Grand Father پدربزرگ Pedær Bozorg
Ĵor Up بالا Bala
Roĵa/Kiĵi Star ستاره Setaré
Kiĵa/Kilka Girl دختر Doxtær
Rika Boy پسر Pesær
pitar ant مورچه moorche
siftal bee زنبور zanboor
pich6=bamshi cat گربه gorbe
nesa shadow سایه saye
hargent6n hanging آویزان کردن avizan kardan
hanirgent6n dont hanging آویزان نکردن
pile=pila great بزرگ bozorg
zak kid بچه bachche
per father پدر pedar
k6r6sh=keresh draw on the ground کشیدن به دنبال be donbal keshidan
foodoosht6n suck مکیدن makidan
haves6n appetite or desire اشتها یا میل eshteha ya meyl
shond6n pouring of liquids ریختن مایعات Pesær
lisk lubricious لغزنده laghzande
k6rch=kerch brittle ترد و شکننده tord o shekanande
daar tree درخت derakht
malj6 a bird like wagtail گنجشک gonjeshk
boshoo go برو boro
hagir or fagir take it in your hand بگیر begir
hanigir or fanigir dont take in your hand نگیر nagir
poord bridge پل pol
si stone and mountaion کوه و سنگ koh o sang

Comparison of Gilaki and Kurdish

Gilaki English Kurdish
Zay/Zak Baby/Kid Zarok
Ĵor Up Jor/Jûr
Kiĵa/Kilka Girl Kîj
daar tree Dar
boshoo go Biço
poord bridge Pird
zama groom Zawa
kaft fell Keft/Kewt

Phonology

Gilaki has the same consonants as Persian, but different vowels. Here is a table of correspondences for the Western Gilaki of Rasht (as will be the variety used in the remainder of the article):

Gilaki Persian Example (Gilaki)
i e kitab
e(:) i:, e:/ay seb
ə æ, e mən
a a: zay
å (perhaps allophonic) a: lånə
o u:, o:/aw ĵor
u o/u: gul

The consonants are:


Gilaki Consonants


  
labial

 
alveolar

 
post-alveolar


velar
 		

glottal
 		




 voiceless stops  
 p 

 
 t 
  
 č 

 
 k 
 
 ʔ 





 voiced stops  
 b 

 
 d 
  
 ĵ 

 
 g 
 




 voiceless fricatives   
 f 

 
 s 
  
š

 
 x 
 h 





 voiced fricatives 
v 

 
 z 

 
 ž 

 
 ɣ
 




 nasals  
 m 
 

 n 
     




 liquids   
 l, r 

   




 glides  

 y 

  






Verb System


The verb system of Gilaki is very similar to that of Persian. All infinitives end in -tən/-dən, or in -V:n, where V: is a long vowel (from contraction of an original *-Vdən). The present stem is usually related to the infinitive, and the past stem is just the infinitive without -ən or -n (in the case of vowel stems).



Present Tenses


From the infinitive den, "to see", we get present stem din-. 



Present Indicative


The present indicative is formed by adding the personal endings to this stem:




 Singular 
 Plural


dinəm 
 diním(i)


diní 
 diníd(i)


diné 
 diníd(i)




Present Subjunctive


The present subjunctive is formed with the prefix bí-, bú-, or bə- (depending on the vowel in the stem) added to the indicative forms. Final /e/ neutralizes to /ə/ in the 3rd singular and the plural invariably lacks final /i/. 




 Singular 
 Plural


bídinəm 
 bídinim


bídini 
 bídinid


bídinə 
 bídinid



The negative of both the indicative and the subjunctive is formed in the same way, with n- instead of the b- of the subjunctive.



Past Tenses



Preterite


From xurdən, "to eat", we get the perfect stem xurd. To this are added unaccented personal endings and the unaccented b- prefix (or accented n- for the negative):




 Singular 
 Plural


buxúrdəm 
 buxúrdim(i)


buxúrdi 
 buxúrdid(i)


buxúrdə 
 buxúrdid(i)




Imperfect


The imperfect is formed with what was originally a suffix -i:




xúrdim 
 xúrdim(i)


xúrdi 
 xúrdid(i)


xúrdi 
 xúrdid(i)




Pluperfect


The pluperfect is paraphrastically formed with the verb bon, "to be", and the past participle, which is in turn formed with the perfect stem+ə (which can assimilate to become i or u). The accent can fall on the last syllable of the participle or on the stem itself:




 Singular 
 Plural


buxurdə bum 
 buxurdə bim


buxurdə bi 
 buxurdə bid


buxurdə bu 
 buxurdə bid




Past Subjunctive


A curious innovation of Western Gilaki is the past subjunctive, which is formed with the (artificial) imperfect of bon+past participle:




 Singular 
 Plural


bidé bim 
 bidé bim


bidé bi 
 bidé bid


bidé be/bi 
 bidé bid



This form is often found in the protasis and apodosis of unreal conditions, e.g., mən agə Əkbəra bidé bim, xušhal bubosti bim, "If I were to see/saw/had seen Akbar, I would be happy".



Progressive


There are two very common paraphrastic constructions for the present and past progressives. From the infinitive šon, "to go", we get:



Present Progressive




 Singular 
 Plural


šón darəm 
 šón darim


šón dari 
 šón darid


šón darə
 šón darid




Past Progressive






Compound Verbs


There are many compound verbs in Gilaki, whose forms differ slightly from simple verbs. Most notably, bV- is never prefixed onto the stem, and the negative prefix nV- can act like an infix -n-, coming between the prefix and the stem. So from fagiftən, "to get", we get present indicative fagirəm, but present subjunctive fágirəm, and the negative of both, fángirəm or fanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of the past tenses: fángiftəm or fanígiftəm.



Nouns, Cases and Postpositions


Gilaki employs a combination of quasi-case endings and postpositions to do the work of many particles and prepositions in English and Persian. 



Cases


There are essentially three "cases" in Gilaki, the nominative (or, better, unmarked, as it can serve other grammatical functions), the genitive, and the (definite) accusative. The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addtion to the direct object. A noun in the genitive comes before the word it modifies. These "cases" are in origin actually just particles, similar to Persian ra.



Nouns


For the word "per", father, we have:





The genitive can change to -i, especially before some postpositions.



Pronouns


The 1st and 2nd person pronouns have special forms:








The 3rd person (demonstrative) pronouns are regular: un, uʃán/iʃán



Postpositions


With the genitive can be combined many postpositions. Examples:





The personal pronouns have special forms with "-re": mere, tere, etc.



Adjectives

Gilaki adjectives come before the noun they modify, and may have the genitive "case ending" -ə/-i. They do not agree with the nouns they modify.

See also



External links













 





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