The Gilaki language is a Caspian language, and a member of the northwestern Iranian language branch, spoken in Iran's Gīlān Province.^[1][2]

Iran main languages

The language is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki, and Galeshi (in the mountains of Gilan). Furthermore, the Gilaki language is closely related to Mazanderani, and the two languages have similar vocabularies. The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid River.^[3] According to Ethnologue, there were more than 3 million native speakers of Gilaki in 1993.^[4]

• Example for noun-noun possessives in Western Gilaki: məhin zakan (Mæhin's children) (Bæče-ha-ye Mæhin in Persian), Baγi gulan (garden flowers) (Gol-ha-ye Baγ in Persian). In Eastern Gilaki: Xirsi Kuti (bear cub) (Bæč-e Xers in Persian).

• Example for adjectival modification: Western Gilaki: pilla-yi zakan (big children), Surx gul (red flower). Eastern Gilaki: Sərd aw (cold water) (ɑb-e særd in Persian), kul čaqu (sharp knife) (čaqu-ye Tiz in Persian).

Some Gilaki words[link]

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Comparison of Gilaki and Kurdish[link]

Phonology[link]

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):

The consonants are:

Verb system[link]

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[link]

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

Present indicative[link]

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

Present subjunctive[link]

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/.

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[link]

Preterite[link]

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):

Imperfect[link]

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

Pluperfect[link]

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:

Past subjunctive[link]

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

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[link]

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

Present progressive[link]

Past progressive[link]

Compound verbs[link]

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, faángirəm or fanígirəm. The same applies to the negative of the past tenses: fángiftəm or fanígiftəm.

Nouns, cases and postpositions[link]

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

Cases[link]

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 addition 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[link]

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

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

Pronouns[link]

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

The 3rd person (demonstrative) pronouns are regular: /un/, /u.ˈʃan/, /i.ˈʃan/

Postpositions[link]

With the genitive can be combined many postpositions. Examples:

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

Adjectives[link]

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.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Mazandarani language, another language in the Caspian subgroup of Northwest Iranian.

Further reading[link]

• Christensen, Arthur Emanuel. 1930. Dialect Guiläki de Recht [The Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. In Contributions à la dialectologie iranienne. Series: Kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser; 17, 2. (translated into Persian 1995)
• Purriyahi, Masud. 1971. Barresi-ye dastur-e guyesh-e Gilaki-ye Rasht [A Grammatical Study of the Gilaki dialect of Rasht]. Dissertation, Tehran University.
• Sartippur, Jahangir. 1990/1369 A.P. Vižegihā-ye Dasturi va Farhang-e vāžehā-ye Gilaki [Grammatical Characteristics and Glossary of Gilaki]. Rasht: Nashr-e Gilakan. Dictionary.
• Shokri, Giti. 1998. Māzi-ye Naqli dar Guyeshhā-ye Gilaki va Mazandarāni [Present perfect in Gilani and Mazandarāni Dialects]. Nāme-ye Farhangestān 4(4(16)):59–69. (quarterly journal of Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature) Article abstract in English.

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2010)

Gilaki language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Scientific Information Database of the Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research
• Ethnologue report on Gilaki
• Sample recording in Gilaki
• Some fish names in Gilaki and Persian
• Dictionary of Gilaki (Dialect of Lahijan) and some of its characteristics
• Gilaki poets and Gilaki poetry
• A Gilaki Weblog containing some Gilaki words
• Gilaki Digital Scripture in Audio, Video and Print form from GilakMedia.com

Daryā Dādvar,^[1] (Persian: دريا دادور ‎, born in Mashhad, Iran) is an accomplished Iranian soprano soloist and composer living in Paris, France.

Darya Dadvar
Background information
Origin	Mashhad, Iran
Genres	Classical, World music Persian classical music
Occupations	Soprano, Composer
Website	www.daryadadvar.com

Education[link]

Darya is a native of Rasht but grew up in Tehran. In 1991 she left Iran for France where she studied music. She is a graduate of The National Conservatory in Toulouse, France. She obtained her Diplome d'Etude Musical in voice in June 1999 and subsequently completed a four-year professional course in the Baroque style at the Conservatory of Toulouse in 2000. Darya further holds a postgraduate Master of Arts degree from School of Fine Arts of Toulouse (Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Toulouse).

Career[link]

Darya has given concert performances in Canada, France, Germany, Iran, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States of America. In 2002, Darya was a guest performer in Tehran with the Armenian Symphony Orchestra in the role of Tahmineh, in a work composed and directed by Loris Tjeknavorian based on the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab, one of the most fascinating tales of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (The Book of Kings). As well as in English, French, German, Italian and Persian, Darya sings in different native languages of Iran, such as Armenian, Azeri, Gilaki, Kurdish and Mazandarani.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Music of Iran
• List of Iranian musicians
• List of famous Persian women
• Iranian women and Persian music

External links[link]

• Darya Dadvar's official website
• Interviews with Darya Dadvar: Friday 4 March 2005 (BBC Persian) and Saturday 19 May 2007 (BBC Persian).
• Video summaries of some of Darya Dadvar's public performances (YouTube).
• Rostam and Sohrab, by Hakim Abol-Qasem Ferdowsi Tousi, translated into English by Helen Zimmern (Iran Chamber Society).