SUMMARY

According to the scientific literature (Krahnke, K.J.: 1976; Lecoq, P.: 1989; Windfuhr, G.: 1992; Windfuhr, G.: 1996) the Central dialects constitute the southernmost group of the so-called Northwest Iranian languages and the area around Kāšān belongs to the northern-central group of the Central dialects including Kāšāni, Ārāni-Bidgoli, Delijāni, Našalji, Abuzaydābādi, Bādrudi, Qohrudi, Kāmu'i, Jowšaqāni, Meyma'i, Abyāna'i, Farizandi, Yārandi, Sohi, Bādi, Naṭanzi, Kaša'i, Tāri, and Ṭarqi. Contemporary Iranian dialectology seems to have put its main emphases on three approaches, namely, linguistic documentation of ethnic or religious minorities living in Iran, defining linguistic macro-areas, and fieldwork on individual dialects. Linguistic micro-areas, on the other hand, have been rather neglected. Research on micro-areas is a desideratum, and zones like that of Kāšān constitute promising starting points as I am going to try to demonstrate. Therefore, this paper is aimed at displaying some phonological and morphological features of the northern-central group of the Iranian Central dialects applying an areal perspective as well as a comparative-historical approach, both very useful for better understanding and preserving this linguistic heritage.

INTRODUCTION

Before entering in medias res, it will be useful to give a brief summary of the project from which this paper derives, and in so doing, to explain its main features as well as methods and goals. Currently, I am preparing a project focused on the dialects around Kāšān area in Central Iran in order to document the cultural-linguistic heritage of this area and thus contribute to its preservation. To the best of my knowledge, while there is a remarkable number of questions still to be answered, no comprehensive study on these dialects exists, as I am going to show in this paper on the basis of some examples. Concerning the method which I intend to follow, I will focus on a historical approach in order to better investigate the relationship between these dialects and their linguistic heritage and, at the same time, take the areal turn more fully into account. Previous studies on this topic are mostly based on a synchronic description, sometimes adding sociolinguistic issues, and sometimes that of zone phenomena. The scope of such a study on the northern-central group of the Central dialects shall include its documentation and description, typological survey, language history and language contact.