SOAS and ICHTO Team up for Iranian Dialectology Studies - Latest Archaeological and Cultural News of the Iranian World

LONDON, (CAIS) -- The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on study projects focusing on Iranian dialects in danger.

The Department of Language and Dialects of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) Research Centre and SOAS are also to provide methods of protecting the dialects.

“According to the MOU, we will provide facilities for students from SOAS to travel to Iran in order to carry out research on Maraghaee and Tati, two ancient Iranian dialects, which are in danger of dying out,” the CHTHO’s Research Centre director Abolqasem Esmaeilpur told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.

“In addition, exchange students from Iran will be sent to SOAS to study dialectology,” he added.

“The collaboration is in line with the policy being pursued by UNESCO for safeguarding dialects in danger,” Esmaeilpur explained.

CHTHO’s Research Centre had previously supported an SOAS student, who conducted a survey on Taleshi, spoken in the region of the same name in Iran-proper and former Iranian province of Arran (nowadays the republic of Azerbaijan), which is one of the Western-Iranian dialects, closely related to Kurdish.

Tati dialects constitute one of the most important branches of Northwestern Iranian. Their many remarkable grammatical features and their many archaisms in morphology, syntax, and vocabulary invite special attention, and their geographical position and their significance for a reconstruction of the development of North Western Iranian call for intensive study.

'Tati' (Tātī) is spoken in northwestern Iran (excepting Persian and Kurdish), in areas where the common vernacular is Azarbaijani Turkish. The similarity between these dialects, spoken sporadically in an area extending from the southern borders of the Aras River to the north of Sāveh, justifies a common appellation.

Some information for this report was extracted from: Mehr News *

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