Aimaq dialect

Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other Aimaq or Aimaqi (Template:Langx) is the dominant eastern Persian ethnolect spoken by the Aimaq people in central northwest Afghanistan (west of the Hazarajat) and eastern Iran. It is close to the Dari varieties of Persian.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Aimaq people are thought to have a 5–15% literacy rate.<ref name=e25/>

DialectsEdit

Subdialects of Aimaq dialect include:

Phonetically, as one of the eastern Persian dialects, the Aimaq dialect resembles a formal or classical form of Persian.

Vowels:

The "majhul" vowels ē / ī and ō / ū are still kept separate, whereas in western Persian they are merged as 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' and زور 'strong' is realized as [ū] in western Persian, in contrast, 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 {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (as in Engl. low) and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (as in Engl. day). Dari, on the other hand, is more archaic, e.g. نوروز 'Persian New Year' is realized as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Iranian, and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Aimaq, and نخیر 'no' is uttered as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Iranian, and as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Aimaq.
The high short vowels [i] and [u] tend to be lowered in western Persian to [e] and [o].
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}Template:Clarify and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are in Aimaq kept separate in word-final positions, unlike western Persian, where {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has {{#invoke:IPA|main}} as a word-final allophone.

Consonants:

Aimaq still retains the (classical) bilabial pronunciation {{#invoke:IPA|main}} of the labial consonant و, which is realized as a voiced labiodental fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in western Persian. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is found in Aimaq as an allophone of f before voiced consonants.
The voiced uvular stop {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (ق) and voiced velar fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (غ) are still kept separate in Aimaq. They have coincided in western Persian (probably under the influence of Turkic languages like Azeri and Turkmen).<ref>A. Pisowicz, Origins of the New and Middle Persian phonological systems (Cracow 1985), p. 112-114, 117.</ref>

Clifton, John M. (ed.) (2005) Studies in languages of Tajikistan North Eurasia Group, SIL International, St Petersburg, Russia, OCLC 122939499