Languages of Iran

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This article deals with the languages found in Iran. The Iranian languages article deals with the linguistic branch of the Indo-European languages family
Languages of Iran (all per the CIA World Factbook)
Official languages Persian
Main languages Persian, Gilaki and Mazandarani 59%, Azerbaijani and other Turkic dialects 18% (e.g Qashqai, Turkmen), Kurdish 10%, Luri 7%, Arabic 2%, Balochi 2%, Tati and Talysh 1%, and other languages (Armenian, Georgian, Neo-Aramaic, Circassian, Hebrew) 1%[1]
Minority languages Armenian, Georgian, Circassian, Assyrian, and Hebrew
Sign languages Persian Sign Language
Common keyboard layouts
Persian keyboard
Iran main languages

Different publications have reported different statistics for the languages of Iran. There have been some limited censuses taken in Iran in 2001, 1991, 1986 and 1949-1954.[2] The following are the languages with the greatest number of speakers (data from the CIA World Factbook):[3]

Classification categories of the spoken languages:

CIA World Factbook

The following are the languages with the greatest number of speakers (data from the CIA World Factbook):[4]

Census in the 1990s

A census taken in the Iranian month of Mordad (July 21 – August 21) in 1991. In this census, all 49,588 mothers who gave birth in the country, were issued birth certificates. They were asked about their mother-tongue.[6] which were : 46.2% (Persian), 20.6% (Azerbaijani), 10% Kurdish, 8.9% Luri, 7.2% Gilaki and Mazandarani, 3.5% Arabic, 2.7% Baluchi, 0.6% Turkmen, 0.1% Armenian, and 0.2% Others,(e.g Circassian, Georgian, etc.) The local dialect of Arabic spoken in Iran is Khuzestani Arabic, an Iraqi Arabic dialect, but the varieties of Arabic taught across Iran to students in secondary schools, regardless of their ethnic or linguistic background, are Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, the latter a liturgical language of Islam.

Recent survey

A recent survey by the US-based organization "Terror Free Tomorrow" with error is +/- 3.1 percent margin and uniform sampling based on provincial populations mentions the breakdown as following:[7]

  • Persian 50.5%
  • Azeri 21.6%
  • Kurd 7.6%
  • Gilaki and Mazandarani 6.9%
  • Lur 6.9%
  • Arab 2.7%
  • Baloch 1.4%
  • Tati and Talysh 1%
  • Turkmen 0.9%
  • Other 1.2% (incl. Armenian, Georgian, Circassian, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and other Assyrian dialects, Hebrew, Mandaic)
  • Unknown/refused about 0.5%

In 1986, there was also a nationwide census done. See: (Farhad Nu’mani, Sohrab Behdad, Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter?, Published 2006, Syracuse University Press, 2006)[8] on the percentage of Iranians that know Persian, those who do not know and those who know it fluently.

Other estimations

The Library of Congress like the Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden)[9] states Iran's ethnic groups as follows: Persians 65%, Azeris 16%, Kurds 7%, Lurs 6%, Arabs 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmens 1%, Turkic tribal groups (e.g. Qashqai) 1%, and non-Persian, non-Turkic groups (e.g. Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, and Russians) less than 1%.[10]

In 1986, there was also a nationwide census done. See: (Farhad Nu’mani, Sohrab Behdad, Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter?, Published 2006, Syracuse University Press, 2006)[11] on the percentage of Iranians that known Persian, those who do not know and those who know it fluently.

According to the Kurdish-Belgian-American scholar Mehrdad Izady, whose work can be found at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Gulf 2000 Project website,[12] the Iranian census of 2001 mentions that 68% of the population speaks Persian as a first language,[13] while he himself gives the following figures:

See also

References

  1. ↑ United States, CIA World Factbook.
  2. ↑ Iran. rtish. Sitād-i Artish. Dāyirah-i Jughrāfiyāʾī. Title: Farhang-i jughrāfiyāʾī-i Irān : ābādīhā. Imprint: [Tihrān] : Dāyirah-i Jughrafiyāʾī-i Sitād-i Artish, 1328-1332 [1949-54] Description: 10 v. : illus., maps (part fold. col.) Notes: Vols. 1-9 compiled under the general editorship of Hossein ʻAlī Razmārā. See for summary: (Ehsan Hooshmand, “Faslnaameyeh Goftegoo”, “A closer look at religious and ethnic statistics in modern Iran”, 2005, Tehran) The article can be found here: http://www.magiran.com/magtoc.asp?mgID=1929&Number=43&Appendix=0
  3. ↑ CIA World Factbook
  4. ↑ CIA World Factbook
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ "در مرداد 1370، هنگام صدور شناسنامه براي نوزادان، درباره زبان ٤٩ هزار و ٥٥٨ مادر در سطح كشور سوال مطرح شد كه نتيجه حاكي از سهم حضور ٥٣٬٨ درصدي زبان هاى غيرفارسي در ايران بود. بر اساس نمونه گيري مذكور، توزيع سهم هر يك از زبان ها (به درصد) به اين شرح بود: ٤٦٬٢ فارسي؛ ٢٠٬٦ تركي آذربايجاني؛ ١٠ كردي؛ ٨٬٩ لري؛ ٧٬٢ درصد گيلكي و شمالي؛ ٣٬٥ عربي ؛ ٢٬٧ بلوچي؛ ٠٬٦ تركمني؛ ٠٬١ ارمني؛ و ٠٬٢ ساير زبان ها ". Source: زنجاني‌، حبيب‌ الله‌، محمد ميرزايي‌، كامل‌ شاپور و امير هوشنگ‌ مهريار، جمعيت‌،توسعه‌، بهداشت‌ باروري‌، چاپ‌ دوم‌، تهران‌، نشر و تبليغ‌ بشري‌، 1379. Zanjani, H.,Mirzai,M.,Shapur, K., Mehriyar, A.H., “Population, Growth, Mortality Rate”, Second Edition, Tehran, Tabligh-e-Bashari Publishers, 2000.
  7. ↑ [1]
  8. ↑ name="Sohrab Behdad 2006">(Farhad Nu’mani, Sohrab Behdad, Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter?, Published 2006, Syracuse University Press, 2006)
  9. ↑ See Iran in Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden. C.E. Bosworth (editor)
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ (Farhad Nu’mani, Sohrab Behdad, Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter?, Published 2006, Syracuse University Press, 2006)
  12. ↑ http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml - language map of Iran
  13. ↑ Mehrdad Izady (2006-2011)

External links


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