Structural Development of Iranian Languages

This interdisciplinary course focuses on the structural development of the Persian language from Old Persian (6th century BC) to Modern Persian (7th century AD) with emphasis on word formation and grammar. The course consists of two main parts: The first focuses on an overview of the Old Persian and Middle Persian languages, their linguistic features and writing systems and the factors that changed Old Persian to Middle and then Modern Persian; the second part concentrates on the structural analysis of Iranian languages, including Dari, Tajiki, Balochi, Kurdish, Pashto, and others. The lectures are based on texts and articles written by theoretical linguists, historians, sociolinguists, descriptive and historical linguists. The course also examines the role of language in maintaining cultural identity and demonstrates the type and mechanism of the development of Iranian languages in general and of Persian in particular.