| Group |
Iranian (with Persian,
Kurdish etc.), East Iranian (with Sogdian,
Ossetic, Pashto etc.) |
| Geography & History |
The area where Khwaresmian was spoken lies by the lower Amudarya, in
the oasis called Khwaresm. The oldest documents date from the 3rd century
BC; a century later, it began flourishing as the language of the kingdom
with the same name. Khwaresmian words and phrases are mentioned in Arabic
sources of Central Asia until the 14th century. Apparently by the 16th
century Khwaresmian became extinct replaced in colloquial speech by Turkish
tongues, in written - by Arabic. |
| Phonetics |
The language had five pairs of vowels, long and short, but long o
did not have its short analogue, becoming a "schwa" [@]. Five nasal vowels
were used. The system of consonants included two sets of affricates, faryngal
h; the sound [n] was unstable after a vowel. Some consonants
became very dissimilar to those existing in the Common Iranian language
(*d > dj, *rs > š, *-f- > -š-). |
| Morphology |
The morphological structure combined both new analytic and ancient
synthetic forms. Three inflected noun cases, two genders, two numbers,
the definite article. Personal pronouns used a number of suppletive forms
(i.e. formed by different roots). Verbs used -r- in the 3rd
person plural (the feature which unified Khwaresmian with Avestan
and Sacian); the past tense was formed from the
present stem of the verb. Khwaresmian had a peculiar trait of syntax which
cannot be found in any other Iranian language: the wide usage of pronominal
and adverbial suffixes which were shaping the verb (e.g. cáy-ta-hi-wa-ber
- "he came there before him", literally "he came him there above"). |
| Writing |
Aramaic based alphabet (until the 1st century AD), Arabic based alphabet |
| Close Contacts |
Turkish languages of Central Asia |
| Sample |
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| Picture |
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| More info |
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