Farsi (Persian)

JOEY FERGUSON

Language Spread

Originated in present-day Afghanistan as early as 1500 BC

Has been spreading all over the Middle East since then

Currently has over 110 million native speakers, as well as a larger

number that speak some dialect of Persian

Evolution of Persian

Old Persian have been developing since 500 BC, with

Middle Persian starting around the 2nd or 3rd century

New Persian has been developing since the 8th century

New Persian is divided into three groups: Early, Classical,

and Contemporary

Early: Used as a form of trade and as a medium of

communication with others. It was regarded as simple at the
time, so many people preferred to use Farsi over other
languages. Adapted into Ottoman, Chaghatay, and Urdu.

Classical: Marks the beginning of the literary age of the Middle

East. Persian began to adopt words and other aspects from
Arabic and other languages.

Contemporary: Russian, English, and French have contributed

to new developments of Persian. It is a language that a lot of
people use to this day, and continues to be a language that
will adapt with time.

Standard vs. Variant Forms

In history, Persian has been the

predominant language of Iran and the
surrounding area, but there has been
quite a bit of influence from other
Middle Eastern languages

Other forms of Persian include Dari,

Tajik, Luri, Tat, and Lari

All stem from the traditional Persian

language and are closely related

These variant forms have influenced

each other and its mother language

Persian Territory

Currently, Persian is predominantly

spoken in the region in yellow. Due to its
age, Persian used to dominate the
whole Middle East. Many country names
(including all of them ending in stan)
were derived from the Persian language.
Even though it has shrunk quite a bit,
the area that speaks Persian to this day
consists of 110 million people.

Toponyms

Common names for the area that speaks Persian

Africa

Asia

Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,

Krygyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Middle East

Tanzania, Somalia

Iran, Iraq, Oman, Turkey

These country names are all derived from the Persian language,
whether the people there speak Persian or not

Geographic Patterns and

Results of Diffusion

The Persian language has

transformed into hundreds of
different languages
throughout the years. As you
can see on the map, each
region has its own ethnicity,
so rather than having one
common language
throughout several
countries, there are many
variations of the language
that all sound somewhat
similar.

Timeline
History of the Persian
Language
Proto-Iranian

1500 B.C. 525 B.C.

Old Persian

525 B.C. 300 B.C.

Middle Persian

300 B.C. 800 A.D.

Modern Persian

800 A.D. - Present

Isogloss

Current Events

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/news/economy/job-skills-foreig
n-language
/

Middle Eastern languages such as Farsi, Arabic, and Pashto are

more needed in todays job market. People who speak any of
these languages, in addition to English, have a significant edge
over those who dont. Another part of why they are so needed
today is because they are working in risky environments,
including areas that are filled with war and destruction. If
employees are willing to take risks, the return that they will get is
tremendously higher than that of somebody who is not willing to
work in shaky conditions.