Yaghnobis

The Yaghnobi Tajiks (Yaghnobi: yaγnōbī́t or suγdī́t; Tajik: яғнобиҳо, yağnobiho/jaƣnoʙiho), commonly referred to as Yaghnobis, are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group residing in Tajikistan's Sughd province, specifically in the valleys of the Yaghnob, Qul, and Varzob rivers. Although they are considered part of the broader Tajik ethnicity, they are distinguished from other Tajiks by their use of the Yaghnobi language, an eastern Iranian language.

Yaghnobi is spoken in the upper valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by the Yaghnobi people, and is also taught in some schools.^[2] It is considered to be a direct descendant of Sogdian and has often been called Neo-Sogdian in academic literature.^[3] The Yaghnobi Tajiks are considered to be descendants of the Sogdian-speaking peoples^[4] who once inhabited most of Central Asia beyond the Amu Darya River in what was ancient Sogdia.

The 1926 and 1939 census data gives the number of Yaghnobi language speakers as approximately 1,800. In 1955, M. Bogolyubov estimated the number of Yaghnobi native speakers as more than 2,000. In 1972, A. Khromov estimated 1,509 native speakers in the Yaghnob valley and about 900 elsewhere. The estimated number of Yaghnobi Tajiks is approximately 25,000.^[1]