Persian
Persian, is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, although extensive
contact with Arabic has led to a large influx of Arab vocabulary. Until recent
centuries, Persian was culturally and historically one of the most prominent
languages of the Middle East and regions beyond. In its Early Modern period
(ninth to thirteenth centuries), Persian was adopted as the lingua franca of
the eastern Islamic nations. Today Persian is spoken primarily in Iran and Afghanistan
with over 23 million speakers (about 50% of the population) in Iran; over 5.5
million speakers (25% of the popoulation) in Afghanistan; and another 1 million
in Pakistan. The dialect of Persian spoken in Iran is called Farsi, while the
dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan is referred to as Dari.
Dari Persian, until recently, deferred to the Tehran standard as its model,
and although there are clear phonological and morphological contrasts, due partly
to the influence of neighboring Turkic languages, Farsi and Dari Persian remain
quite similar. The dialectal variation between Farsi and Dari has been described
as analogous to that between European French and Canadian French. Persian in
both Iran and Afghanistan is written in a variety of the Arabic script called
Perso-Arabic, which has some innovations to account for Persian phonological
differences.
The term "Persian" derives from Greek, while "Farsi" is
the Arabic equivalent for the name of the southwestern province of Parsa, the
locus of various Persian dynasties. "Iran" derives from an Old Iranian
word.
Sources:
UCLA Language Materials Project
Information on writing system:
Independent Study Courses Available at UCSD:
Other Local Resources:
UCSD International Center
Mingei museum of folk art
SD cultural events
International web radio
Landmark
Theaters: foreign films
Middle Eastern dance
Balboa Park: House of Iran
UCSD Persian Club