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Index / Languages / Iranian /
Talysh
Other spelling: Talish; Talesh; Talishi; Talyshi; Taleshi
Indo-European Iranian language (Northwestern), spoken by about 1.3 million of the Talysh people. Most live in Azerbaijan, some 430,000 live in Iran.
Talysh comes fairly close to Persian, Gilaki, Azerbaijani as well as Zazaki. Still, it is the small language of Tati, spoken in a few villages in Iranian Azerbaijan that is the closest to Talysh.
Talysh is a written language, using Arabic script, and in Azerbaijan there are even newspapers in Talysh. In Iran it is a colloquial language in local communities, while most Talysh speakers speak and write Persian in its Western form for formal uses.
Talysh today is mainly a language used in rural areas, those moving into larger urban centres tend to take up national languages like Azerbaijani and Persian.
Talysh is divided into three dialect zones: Northern, Central and Southern. The Southern is under strong influence by Persian, the Northern, which is spoken in Azerbaijan is under some influence by Azerbaijani and Russian. Central Talysh is generally considered the least influenced. Talysh has also been defined according to other distinctions, that spoken in the mountains and that spoken in the plains.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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