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LANGUAGES OF IRAN

Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Languages of Iran

Aimaq	[aiq] 170,000 in Iran (Johnstone 1993). Mâzanderân Province. Dialects: Teimuri (Teimurtash). Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian More information.
Alviri-Vidari	[avd] Near Saveh, Markazi Province. Dialects: Alvir (Alviri), Vidar (Vidari). Related to Gozarkhâni [goz], Vafsi [vaf]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Talysh More information.
Arabic, Gulf Spoken	[afb] 200,000 in Iran (1993). South coast; Khamseh nomads in east Fars Province; other Arab nomadic groups in several southcentral provinces. Alternate names: Gulf Arabic, Khaliji. Dialects: Al-Hasâ, Khamseh. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic More information.
Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	[acm] 1,200,000 in Iran. Khuzestan Province, southwest side of Zagros Mountains, Shatt al Arab River bank. Alternate names: Arabi, Mesopotamian Gelet Arabic. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic More information.
Armenian	[hye] 171,000 in Iran (1993). Northern Iran, Azerbaijan provinces, Khoi, Shahpur, Ahar, Tabriz, Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz areas. Alternate names: Armani, Armjanski, Erâmani, Ermenice, Haieren, Somekhuri. Dialects: Eastern Armenian, Agulis, Astrakhân, Jolfâ (Dzhulfa), Karabagh Shamakhi, Khoi-Salmst (Khvoy), Urmia-Maragheh. Classification: Indo-European, Armenian More information.
Ashtiani	[atn] 21,100 (2000). Markazi Province, Ashtiyan and Tafresh. Alternate names: Ashtiyani, Astiani. Dialects: Ashtiani, Tafresh. Transitional between central Iranian dialects and Talysh [tly]. Dialects may be separate languages. Very similar to Vafsi [vaf]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Central Iran More information.
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	[aii] 15,000 in Iran (1994). Ethnic population: 80,000 (1994). Reza’iyeh (Rizaiye, Urmia, Urmi). Most in Tehran. Dialects: Iranian Koine (General Urmi). Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, Aramaic, Eastern, Central, Northeastern More information.
Avestan	[ave] Extinct. Alternate names: Avesta, Pazend. Dialects: Old Avestan (Gathic), Younger Avestan. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian More information.
Azerbaijani	[aze] A macrolanguage. Population total all countries: 19,147,529. More information.
Azerbaijani, South	[azb] 11,200,000 in Iran (Johnstone and Mandryk 2001), increasing. 290,000 Afshar, 5,000 Aynallu, 7,500 Baharlu, 1,000 Moqaddam, 3,500 Nafar 1,000 Pishagchi, 3,000 Qajar, 2,000 Qaragozlu, 130,000 Shahsavani (1993). Population total all countries: 12,612,660. East and West Azerbaijan, Ardebil, Zanjan, and part of Markazi provinces. districts of Tehran; Fars Province and scattered. Also in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey (Asia), United States. Alternate names: Torki. Dialects: Aynallu (Inallu, Inanlu), Karapapakh, Tabriz, Afshari (Afshar, Afsar), Shahsavani (Shahseven), Moqaddam, Baharlu (Kamesh), Nafar, Qaragozlu, Pishagchi, Bayat, Qajar. Bakhtiari [bqi] is on a dialect continuum between Northern Luri [lrc] and Southern Luri [luz]. Farsi dialects in Chaharmahâl va Bakhtiari Province mutually intelligible with Bakhtiari. Similar to Kumzari [zum]. Lexical similarity: 75% with Southern Luri (Mamasani), 86% with Southern Luri (Boyerahmadi), 73% with Northern Luri (rural), 78% with Northern Luri (Khorramabadi), 76% with Western Farsi [pes]. Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Azerbaijani More information.
Bakhtiâri	[bqi] 1,000,000 (2001). 350,000 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 1,000,000 (2001). Southwest Iran: west Chahar-Mahal va Bakhtiari, east Khuzestan, east Lorestan, west Esfahan. Masjed-e Soleiman, Shahr-e Kord, Dorud. Alternate names: Lori, Lori-ye Khaveri. Dialects: Haft-Lang, Charlang, Chelgerd, Kuhrang (Kohrang). Bakhtiari is on a dialect continuum between Northern Luri [lrc] and Southern Luri [luz]. Farsi dialects in Chaharmahâl va Bakhtiari Province are mutually intelligible with Bakhtiari. Similar to Kumzari [kum]. Lexical similarity: 75% with Southern Luri (Mamasani), 86% with Southern Luri (Boyerahmadi), 73% with Northern Luri (rural), 78% with Northern Luri (Khorramabadi), 76% with Western Farsi [pes]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Luri More information.
Balochi, Southern	[bcc] 405,000 in Iran. South Sistan va Baluchistan Province. Alternate names: Baloci, Baluchi, Baluci. Dialects: Makrani (Lotuni). Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Balochi More information.
Balochi, Western	[bgn] 451,000 in Iran (1986). North Sistan va Baluchistan Province. Half in cities and villages, half nomadic. Alternate names: Baloci, Baluchi, Baluci. Dialects: Rakhshani (Raxshani), Sarawani. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Balochi More information.
Bashkardi	[bsg] 7,030 (2000). East Hormozgan, South Kerman, possibly southwest Sistan va Baluchistan provinces. Alternate names: Bashaka. Dialects: Northern Bashaka, Southern Bashaka. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Balochi More information.
Brahui	[brh] 20,000 in Iran (2007), increasing. Central Sistan and Baluchistan provinces, including Zahedan. Alternate names: Brahudi, Birahui, Kur Galli, Barahui. Dialects: Jharawan (Jhalawan), Kalat, Sarawan. Classification: Dravidian, Northern More information.
Dari, Zoroastrian	[gbz] 11,500 (1999). Yezd and Kerman areas. Alternate names: “Gabar” , “Gabri” , “Yazdi”. Dialects: Related to Parsi-Dari [prd], Nâyini [nyq]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Central Iran More information.
Dezfuli	[def] Dezful, north Khuzestan Province. Alternate names: Dizfuli. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Unclassified More information.
Domari	[rmt] 1,340,000 in Iran (2000). Population total all countries: 3,952,810. Kurbat and Luli in west; Mehtar in Fars and Kohgiluyeh va Boyerahmad Province; Karachi in north. Also in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, Russian Federation (Europe), Sudan, Syria, Turkey (Europe), Uzbekistan. Alternate names: Gypsy, Luti, Mehtar, Middle Eastern Romani, Tsigene. Dialects: Kurbati (Ghorbati), Qinati, Yürük, Koli, Karachi, Luli, Maznoug, Nawar. Dialects in Iran may be highly divergent from one another. Not intelligible to Romani speakers. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Dom More information.
Dzhidi	[jpr] Alternate names: Djudi, Judeo-Persian, Judi. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian More information.
Eshtehardi	[esh] Markazi Province, Karaj District, Eshtehard area. Dialects: Similar to Takestani [tks]. May be the same language as some dialects spoken southwest of Qazvin. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Talysh More information.
Fars, Northwestern	[faz] 7,500 (2006). Scattered in isolated pockets of Fars Province. Dialects: Similar to Sivandi [siy]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Central Iran More information.
Fars, Southwestern	[fay] 7,500 (2006). Central Fars Province: Somghun, Papun, Masarm, Buringun, Kondazi, Davani, others. Alternate names: “Tajik”. Dialects: Related to Lari [lrl]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Fars More information.
Farsi, Western	[pes] 22,000,000 in Iran (1997), increasing. 800,000 Eastern Fasi in Khorasan, Gilan, Tat, Bakhtiari, Lur. Population total all countries: 23,879,300. Widespread. Most concentrated in central, south central, and northeast. Also in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Israel, Netherlands, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan. Alternate names: New Persian, Parsi, Persian. Dialects: Abadani, Ketabi, Tehrani, Shirazi, Old Shirazi, Qazvini, Mahalhamadani, Kashani, Esfahani, Sedehi, Kermani, Araki, Shirazjahromi, Shahrudi Kazeruni, Mashadi (Meshed), Basseri, Yazdi, Bandari. Literary language virtually identical in Iran and Afghanistan, with very minor lexical differences. The Zargari dialect of Romani, Balkan [rmn] may be a dialect used by goldsmiths. Dialect shading into Dari [gbz] in Afghanistan and Tajiki [tgk] in Tajikistan. Many dialects may be separate languages. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian More information.

Gazi	[gzi] 7,030 (2000). Gaz. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Central Iran More information.
Georgian	[kat] 60,000 in Iran. Fereydan and Fereydunshahr provinces, Esfahan, Najaf Abad, Shahin Shahr, Yazdanshahr. Alternate names: Gruzin, Kartuli. Dialects: Fereydan (Ferejdan). Classification: Kartvelian, Georgian More information.
Gilaki	[glk] 3,270,000 (1993), decreasing. 2,000 Galeshi. Gilan region, coastal plain, south of Talish. Galeshi is a mountain dialect. Alternate names: Gelaki, Gilani, Guilaki, Guilani. Dialects: Galeshi, Rashti, Rudbari, Some’e Sarai, Lahijani, Langerudi, Rudsari, Bandar Anzali, Fumani. Similar to Mâzanderâni [mzn]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Caspian More information.
Gozarkhani	[goz] Gozarkhan (northwest of Qazvin); Tajrish, north of Tehran; Alamut area. Dialects: Similar to Maraghei [vmh] and Semnani [smy]. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Talysh More information.