Mazanderani language

Mazandarani
Mazandarani
مازِرونی‎ Mazeruni; تَبَری Tabari
	Mazanderani (Mazeruni) written in Nastaliq script. (مازِرونی)
Native to	Iran (Province of Mazandaran and parts of the provinces of Alborz, Tehran, Qazvin, Semnan and Golestan)
Region	South coast of the Caspian Sea
Ethnicity	4.8 million Mazanderanis (2023)
Native speakers	1.35 million (2023)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Caspian Mazandarani; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Gorgani-Mazandarani (East); Katuli-Mazandarani (East); Tabari-Mazandarani (Center); Kojuri-Mazandarani (West); Kelarestaqi-Mazandarani (West); Gilaki-Mazandarani (West); Galeshi-Mazandarani (South); Taleqani-Mazandarani (South); Shahmirzadi (South); Ilikaei (South); Qasrani (South);
Writing system	Persian alphabet
Official status
Regulated by	None; the Linguistic faculty of Mazandaran University officially gathers materials and resources about the language[citation needed]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; mzn – Mazandarani; srz – Shahmirzadi
Glottolog	maza1305 Mazanderani–Shahmirzadi
ELP	Shahmirzadi
	Areas where Mazandarani is spoken as the mother tongue
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Mazandarani (Mazanderani: مازِرونی, Mazeruni; also spelled Mazani (مازنی) or Tabari (تبری); also called Taveri, Mazeruni, Tati, Geleki & Galeshi^[8])^[9] is an Iranian language of the Northwestern branch spoken by the Mazanderani people. As of 2021^[update], there were 1.35 million native speakers. The language appears to be decreasing, as it is threatened, and due to the majority of its speakers shifting to Iranian Persian.^[10] As a member of the Northwestern branch (the northern branch of Western Iranian), etymologically speaking, it is rather closely related to Gilaki and also related to Persian, which belongs to the Southwestern branch. Though the Mazani & Persian languages have both influenced each other to a great extent, both are independent language with different origins in the Iranian plateau.^[11]^[12]

Mazandarani is closely related to Gilaki, and the two languages have similar vocabularies.^[13] The Gilaki and Mazandarani languages (but not other Iranian languages)^[14] share certain typological features with Caucasian languages (specifically the non-Indo-European South Caucasian languages),^[14]^[15]^[16] reflecting the history, ethnic identity, and close relatedness to the Caucasus region and Caucasian peoples of Mazandaranis and Gilak people.^[17]^[18]^: 295

^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ "Considerations about the dialect of Alamut district from the northern dialects of Iran". پرتال جامع علوم انسانی.
^ Jaafari Dehaghi, Mahmoud; Khalilipour, Nazanin; Jaafari Dehaghi, Shima. Iranian Languages and Dialects Past and Present. Tehran. p. 261.
^ Borjian, Habib (16 July 2018). "کاهش توجه به زبان مازندرانی در قرن بیستم" [Decreased attention to Mazandarani language in the 20th century] (in Persian). Islamic Republic News Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ "ساری | مرکز دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی". www.cgie.org.ir. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)
^ Coon, "Iran:Demography and Ethnography" in Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume IV, E.J. Brill, pp. 10,8. Excerpt: "The Lurs speak an aberrant form of Archaic Persian" See maps also on page 10 for distribution of Persian languages and dialect
^ Kathryn M. Coughlin, "Muslim cultures today: a reference guide," Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. p. 89: "...Iranians speak Persian or a Persian dialect such as Gilaki or Mazandarani"
^ Dalb, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-231-11568-1.
^ ^a ^b Nasidze, Ivan; Quinque, Dominique; Rahmani, Manijeh; Alemohamad, Seyed Ali; Stoneking, Mark (2006). "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran". Current Biology. 16 (7): 668–673. Bibcode:2006CBio...16..668N. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021. PMID 16581511.
^ Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated, page 294
^ Stilo, Donald L. (1981). "The Tati Language Group in the Sociolinguistic Context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia". Iranian Studies. 14 (3/4): 137–185. doi:10.1080/00210868108701585. JSTOR 4310364.
^ "Bilingualism in Mazandaran: Peaceful Coexistence with Persian". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.501.9468.
^ Borjian, Habib (2004). "Māzandarān: Language and People". Iran & the Caucasus. 8 (2). Brill: 289–328. doi:10.1163/1573384043076045. JSTOR 4030997.

[1] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[2] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[3] "Considerations about the dialect of Alamut district from the northern dialects of Iran". پرتال جامع علوم انسانی.

[4] Jaafari Dehaghi, Mahmoud; Khalilipour, Nazanin; Jaafari Dehaghi, Shima. Iranian Languages and Dialects Past and Present. Tehran. p. 261.

[5] Borjian, Habib (16 July 2018). "کاهش توجه به زبان مازندرانی در قرن بیستم" [Decreased attention to Mazandarani language in the 20th century] (in Persian). Islamic Republic News Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2020.

[6] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[7] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[8] "ساری | مرکز دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی". www.cgie.org.ir. Retrieved 2024-03-25.

[9] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[10] Mazanderani language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025)

[11] Coon, "Iran:Demography and Ethnography" in Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume IV, E.J. Brill, pp. 10,8. Excerpt: "The Lurs speak an aberrant form of Archaic Persian" See maps also on page 10 for distribution of Persian languages and dialect

[12] Kathryn M. Coughlin, "Muslim cultures today: a reference guide," Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. p. 89: "...Iranians speak Persian or a Persian dialect such as Gilaki or Mazandarani"

[Dictionary_of_Languages-13] Dalb, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-231-11568-1.

[sciencedirect.com-14] Nasidze, Ivan; Quinque, Dominique; Rahmani, Manijeh; Alemohamad, Seyed Ali; Stoneking, Mark (2006). "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran". Current Biology. 16 (7): 668–673. Bibcode:2006CBio...16..668N. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021. PMID 16581511.

[Grolier_Incorporated_page_294-15] Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated, page 294

[D.Stilo_pages_137-185-16] Stilo, Donald L. (1981). "The Tati Language Group in the Sociolinguistic Context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia". Iranian Studies. 14 (3/4): 137–185. doi:10.1080/00210868108701585. JSTOR 4310364.

[17] "Bilingualism in Mazandaran: Peaceful Coexistence with Persian". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.501.9468.

[Borjian2004-18] Borjian, Habib (2004). "Māzandarān: Language and People". Iran & the Caucasus. 8 (2). Brill: 289–328. doi:10.1163/1573384043076045. JSTOR 4030997.

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Mazandarani
مازِرونی‎ Mazeruni^[1] تَبَری Tabari^[2]
Mazanderani (Mazeruni) written in Nastaliq script. (مازِرونی)
Native to	Iran (Province of Mazandaran and parts of the provinces of Alborz, Tehran, Qazvin,^[3]^[4]^[5] Semnan and Golestan)
Region	South coast of the Caspian Sea
Ethnicity	4.8 million Mazanderanis (2023)^[6]
Native speakers	1.35 million (2023)^[7]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Caspian Mazandarani
Dialects	Gorgani-Mazandarani (East) Katuli-Mazandarani (East) Tabari-Mazandarani (Center) Kojuri-Mazandarani (West) Kelarestaqi-Mazandarani (West) Gilaki-Mazandarani (West) Galeshi-Mazandarani (South) Taleqani-Mazandarani (South) Shahmirzadi (South) Ilikaei (South) Qasrani (South)
Writing system	Persian alphabet
Official status
Regulated by	None the Linguistic faculty of Mazandaran University officially gathers materials and resources about the language^{[citation needed]}
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: `mzn` – Mazandarani `srz` – Shahmirzadi
Glottolog	`maza1305` Mazanderani–Shahmirzadi
ELP	Shahmirzadi
Areas where Mazandarani is spoken as the mother tongue
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.