Aimaq dialect
Persian dialect of the Aimaq people of northwest Afghanistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aimaq or Aimaqi (Persian: ایماقی, romanized: Aimāqi) is a Persian dialect[2] and the dominant eastern Persian ethnolect spoken by the Aimaq people in central northwest Afghanistan (west of the Hazarajat). It is close to the Dari varieties of Persian.[3] The Aimaq people are thought to have a 5–15% literacy rate.[1]
| Aimaq | |
|---|---|
| گویش ایماقی | |
| |
| Native to | Afghanistan |
| Ethnicity | Aimaq |
Native speakers | 1.9 million (2017–2019)[1] |
| Persian alphabet | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aiq |
| Glottolog | aima1241 |
Dialects
Subdialects of the Aimaq dialect are as follows:[2] Chinghizi, Firozkohi, Jamshidi, Maliki, Mizmast, Taimani, Taimuri, Zainal and Zohri.
Phonology
Phonetically, as one of the eastern Persian dialects, the Aimaq dialect displays typical phonological features of eastern varieties of Persian.
Vowels
- The "majhul" vowels ē and ō are kept separate in Aimaq, whereas in western Persian they are merged with ī and ū respectively. For instance, the identically written words شیر 'lion' and 'milk' are in western Persian both pronounced [šīr], but in Aimaq [šēr] for 'lion' and [šīr] for 'milk'. The long vowel in زود 'quick' [zūd] and زور 'strong' [zūr] is realized as [ū] in western Persian, whereas these words are pronounced as [zūd] and [zōr] respectively by Aimaq speakers.
- The diphthongs of early Classical Persian aw (as ow in Engl. cow) and ay (as i in English ice) have in Aimaq become [ow] (as in Engl. low) and [ej] (as in Engl. day). Dari and Iranian Persian, on the other hand, are more archaic, e.g. نوروز 'Persian New Year' is realized as [nowrūz], and نخیر 'no' is uttered as [naχejr] in Dari and Iranian Persian, and as [naχajr] in Aimaq.
- /æ/[clarification needed] and /e/ are kept separate in word-final positions in Aimaq, whereas in western Persian, /æ/ has [e] as a word-final allophone.
Consonants
- Aimaq pronounces و as a bilabial consonant [w], which is realized as a voiced labiodental fricative [v] in western Persian. [v] is found in Aimaq as an allophone of f before voiced consonants.
- The voiceless uvular plosive /q/ (ق) and voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ (غ) are treated as separate phonemes in Aimaq whereas in western Persian they are merged as one.[4]
