Kuhmareyi language

Indo-Iranian language spoken in Iran

Kuhmareyi (Persian: کهمره‌ای) is one of the languages of southwestern Fars. It is a cluster of disparate dialects; the one illustrated here is the Davani dialect (Davani: devani;^[2] Persian: دوانی, transliteration: Davāni) of the village of Davan, 12 kilometers north of Kazerun city in southern Iran. Davani had an estimated 1,000 speakers in 2004.^[3]

Phonology

The transcription used here is only an approximation.^[4]

Vowels

short: a, e, i, o, u
long: â, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū

Consonants

• voiced dental fricative: ð, generally after vowels, like in, 'bað' (bad).
• voiced velar fricative: γ, like in "γal'ati" (shroud).
• alveolar trill: like in 'borrâ' (flail).
• palatalization: inclination for 'g' and 'k' before front vowels, like in 'bega' (say).
• voiceless alveolar affricate: ts, like in 'tse' (what), and voiced dz, like in andzi (fig).

Grammar

Verbs

Davani is ergative in past transitive constructions. For example (Persian transliterations are in UniPers):

English: Hasan saw Ali in the garden.
Persian: Hasan,      Ali-râ tuye bâq did.
Davani:  hasan-eš   ali-a   tu    bâγ di.

Infinitive markers include -san, -tan, -dan, -ðan.

Nouns

The suffix -aku makes nouns definite. For example:

bard "stone" → bard-aku "the stone"

The plural is marked by the suffix -gal. -u is exceptionally used for "man". For example:

sēv "apple" → sēv-gal "apples"
merd "man" → merd-u "men"

Pronouns

Vocabulary

Example sentences

See also

• Lari dialect
• Dialects of Fars
• Persian dialects and varieties
• Southwestern Iranian languages
• Iranian languages

References

1. Kuhmareyi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Encyclopedia Iranica article on Davani Archived 2009-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
3. Salami, A., 1383 AP / 2004 AD. Ganjineye guyeššenâsiye Fârs (The treasury of the dialectology of Fars). First Volume, The academy of Persian language and literature. [1] Archived 2007-07-23 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 964-7531-32-X (in Persian)
4. Mahamedi, H., 1982. The story of Rostam and Esfandiyâr in an Iranian dialect,Journal of the American Oriental Studies, 102.3, 451-459.

Further reading

• Morgenstierne, G., 1960. Stray notes on Persian dialects, II, Fârs Dialects-Davâni. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, XIX, 123–129.
• Hasamzada-Haqiqi, C., 1970. Guyeše Davâni (Davani Dialect), in Proceedings of the First Congress of Iranian Studies. Tehran University, 77–98.
• Mahamedi, H., 1979. On the verbal system in three Iranian dialects of Fârs, in Studia Iranica, VIII, 2, 277–297.
• Salami, A., 1381 AP / 2002 AD. Farhange guyeše Davâni (The Dictionary of Davani dialect). The academy of Persian language and literature. [2] ISBN 964-7531-03-6 (in Persian).
• Pierre Lecoq. 1989. Les dialectes du sud-ouest de l'Iran. In Rüdiger Schmitt (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, 341-349. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert. In French.

External links

• Encyclopædia Iranica article on Davani
• Davani sayings