View source for Luri language

{{short description|Iranian language}}
{{distinguish|Polci language{{!}}Luri language (Nigeria)}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Luri
| nativename       = Northern: {{lang|lrc|لری}}<br/>Southern: {{lang|luz|لری}}
| image            = [[File:Luri in Nastaliq.png|200px]]
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|luz|loriː}}
| states           = [[Iran]]; a few villages in eastern [[Iraq]]<ref>{{e18|lrc|Northern Luri}}</ref><ref name="Beth Dougherty; Edmund Ghareeb (2013) p 209">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmQYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq|first1=Beth K.|last1=Dougherty|first2=Edmund A.|last2=Ghareeb|date=2013|series=Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East|edition=2nd|place=Lanham|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=209|isbn=978-0-8108-6845-8}}</ref>
| region           = Southern [[Zagros Mountains]]
| ethnicity        = [[Lurs]]
| speakers         = 4–5 million
| date             = 2012
| ref              = <ref name="Erik John Anonby 2003 pp 171-197"/><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Anonby|first=Erik J.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-language-ii|title=LORI LANGUAGE ii. Sociolinguistic Status|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|issn=2330-4804|date=20 December 2012|access-date=2019-04-14|quote=In 2003, the Lori-speaking population in Iran was estimated at 4.2 million speakers, or about 6 percent of the national figure (Anonby, 2003b, p. 173). Given the nationwide growth in population since then, the number of Lori speakers in 2012 is likely closer to 5 million.}}</ref>

1.3 million (2007)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran (02/08) |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/iran/101493.htm |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=U.S. Department of State}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Iranian languages|Iranic]]
| fam4             = [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranic]]
| fam5             = [[Western Iranian languages|Southwestern Iranic]]
| dia1             = Central Luri (Minjai)
| dia2             = Bakhtiari
| dia3             = Southern Luri
| lc1              = lrc
| ld1              = Northern Luri
| lc2              = bqi
| ld2              = [[Bakhtiari dialect|Bakhtiari]]
| lc3              = luz
| ld3              = Southern Luri
| glotto           = luri1252
| glottorefname    = Luric
| map              = 
| mapcaption       = Luri languages.  (Note: Iraqi distribution corresponds to that of Southern Kurdish.)
| imagecaption     = "Luri" written in both Northern Luri and Southern Luri in the [[Persian alphabet|Perso-Arabic script]] with the [[Nastaliq]] font
| fam6             = [[Old Persian]]
| fam7             = [[Middle Persian]]
| fam8             = 
}}

'''Luri'''  ({{langx|lrc|لری}}, {{langx|luz|لری}}) is a Southwestern [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] language continuum spoken by the [[Lurs]], an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] native to [[West Asia]]. The Luri dialects are descended from [[Middle Persian]] and are Central Luri, [[Bakhtiari dialect|Bakhtiari]],<ref name="Erik John Anonby 2003 pp 171-197">{{cite journal|last=Anonby|first=Erik John|date=July 2003|url=http://anonby.balafon.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/jra-172-171-197.pdf|title=Update on Luri: How many languages?|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|series=Series 3|volume=13|issue=2|pages=171–197|doi=10.1017/S1356186303003067|s2cid=162293895}}</ref><ref name="R. Fazel 1984">G. R. Fazel, 'Lur', in Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, ed. R. V. Weekes (Westport, 1984), pp. 446–447</ref> and Southern Luri.<ref name="Erik John Anonby 2003 pp 171-197"/><ref name="R. Fazel 1984"/> This language is spoken mainly by the [[Bakhtiari people|Bakhtiari]] and the Northern and Southern Lurs ([[Lorestan province|Lorestan]], [[Ilam province|Ilam]], [[Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province|Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad]], [[Mamasani County|Mamasani]], [[Sepidan County|Sepidan]], [[Bandar Ganaveh]], [[Bandar Deylam]])<ref>{{cite journal|first=John |last=Limbert|date=Spring 1968|title= The Origin and Appearance of the Kurds in Pre-Islamic Iran|journal= Iranian Studies|volume=1|number=2|pages=41–51|jstor=4309997|doi=10.1080/00210866808701350}}</ref> in [[Iran]].

==History==
The ''[[Encyclopedia of Islam]]'' calls Luri “an aberrant form of archaic Persian.”<ref>C.S. Coon, 1997, "Iran: Demography and Ethnography" in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam: New Edition'', Volume IV, Leiden, E. J. Brill, page 9. “In the mountains south of the Kurds live the Lurs,
who speak an aberrant form of archaic Persian.”</ref> The language descends from either [[Middle Persian]] or [[Old Persian]].<ref name="Erik John Anonby 2003 pp 171-197"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Stilo|first=Donald|date=15 December 2007|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-xxi-provincial-dialects|title=Isfahan xxi. PROVINCIAL DIALECTS|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=XIV, fasc. 1|pages=93–112|issn=2330-4804|quote=While the modern SWI languages, for instance, Persian, Lori-Baḵtiāri and others, are derived directly from Old Persian through Middle Persian/Pahlavi|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> It belongs to the “''Perside'' southern Zagros group” (as opposed to Kurdish dialects of northern Zagros),<ref name="iranica1">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Digard|first1=J.-P.|last2=Windfuhr|first2=G. L.|last3=Ittig|first3=A.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baktiari-tribe#pt2|title=BAḴTĪĀRĪ TRIBE ii. The Baḵtīārī Dialect |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|date=15 December 1988|volume=III, fasc. 5|pages=553–560|issn=2330-4804|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> and is lexically similar to modern Persian, differing mainly in phonology.

According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'', "All Lori dialects closely resemble standard Persian and probably developed from a stage of Persian similar to that represented in Early New Persian texts written in Perso-Arabic script. The sole typical Lori feature not known in early New Persian or derivable from it is the inchoative marker (see below), though even this is found in Judeo-Persian texts".<ref name="iranica dialects">{{cite encyclopedia|last=MacKinnon|first=Colin|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-dialects|title=LORI LANGUAGE i. LORI DIALECTS|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|date=7 January 2011|issn=2330-4804|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> The [[Bakhtiāri dialect]] may be closer to Persian.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Paul|first=Ludwig|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i |title=KURDISH LANGUAGE i. HISTORY OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|issn=2330-4804|date=15 December 2008|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> There are two distinct languages, Greater Luri (''Lor-e bozorg''), {{aka}} Southern Luri (including Bakhtiari dialect), and Lesser Luri (''Lor-e kuček''), {{aka}} Northern Luri.<ref name="iranica dialects"/>

==Geography==
{{Expand section|date=December 2020}}

=== Northern Luri ===
Luri dialects (Northern Luri [or Central Luri], Shuhani and Hinimini) are as a group the second largest language in the [[Lorestan province|Lorestan]] province (around {{Pct|450000|1765030}} of the population), mainly spoken in the eastern counties of the province ([[Khoramabad]], [[Dorud]], [[Borujerd]]). In the [[Ilam province|Ilam]] province (around {{Pct|78300|536500|2}} of the population) it is mostly spoken in villages in the southern parts of the province.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Language distribution: Ilam province|url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.ilam#|access-date=6 December 2020|website=Iran Atlas}}</ref> Around {{Pct|370000|1742210|2}} of [[Hamadan province]] speak Northern Luri.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Language distribution: Hamadan province |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.hamadan |access-date=8 June 2022}}</ref>

===Southern Luri===
Southern Luri is a dialect of Luri is spoken by [[Southern Lurs]] and [[Lurs]] people mainly in [[Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province]], northwest [[Fars province]], east [[Khuzestan province]] and some in [[Bushehr province]].<ref>Erik John Anonby (2003). Update on Luri: How many languages?. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), 13, pp 171-197. doi:10.1017/S1356186303003067.</ref><ref name="R. Fazel 1984"/>

=== Bakhtiari ===
{{Main|Bakhtiari dialect}}
The Bakhtiari dialect is the main first language in the province of [[Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province|Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari]] (around {{Pct|520000|841180|2}}), except around [[Shahrekord County|Shahrekord]], [[Borujen County|Borujen]], [[Ben County|Ben]] and [[Saman County|Saman]] counties, where Persian, [[Chaharmahali Turkic|Turkic]] and Chaharmahali dialect predominate.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Language distribution: Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province|url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.chahar_mahal_va_bakhtiari|access-date=6 December 2020|website=Iran Atlas}}</ref> Around {{Pct|350000|4893000|2}} of [[Isfahan province]] speak Bakhtiari.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Language distribution: Esfahan Province |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.esfahan |access-date=8 June 2022}}</ref>

=== Statistics ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Province<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlas of the languages of Iran |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html |access-date=11 July 2022}}</ref>
!Luri-speakers
!%
!Note
|-
|[[Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province|Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari]]
|520,000
|{{Pct|520000|841180|2}}
|Bakhtiyari dialect
|-
|[[Gilan province|Gilan]]
|2,600
|{{Pct|2600|1035590|2}}
|
|-
|[[Hamadan province|Hamadan]]
|370,000
|{{Pct|370000|1742210|2}}
|Northern Luri
|-
|[[Ilam province|Ilam]]
|78,300
|{{Pct|78300|536500|2}}
|Hinimini, Shuhani and Northern Luri
|-
|[[Isfahan province|Isfahan]]
|350,000
|{{Pct|350000|4893000|2}}
|Bakhtiyari dialect
|-
|[[Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province|Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad]]<ref name ="IranAtlas">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Kohgiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad Province |url=https://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.kohgiluyeh_va_boyer_ahmad_heritage |access-date=29 December 2024}}</ref>
|510,000
|{{Pct|510000|712900|2}}
|Southern Lori
|-
|[[Lorestan province|Lorestan]]
|450,000
|{{Pct|450000|1765030|2}}
|Northern Lori

|}

==Internal classification==
The language consists of Central Luri, [[Bakhtiari dialect|Bakhtiari]], and Southern Luri.<ref name="Beth Dougherty; Edmund Ghareeb (2013) p 209" /> Central Luri is spoken in northern parts of [[Lurs|Luri]] communities including eastern, central and northern parts of [[Lorestan province|Luristan]] province, southern parts of [[Hamadan province|Hamadan]] province mainly in [[Malayer]], [[Nahavand]] and [[Tuyserkan]] counties, southern regions of [[Ilam province]] and southeastern parts of [[Markazi province]]. Bakhtiari is used by [[Bakhtiari people]] in South [[Luristan]], [[Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari]] province, significant regions in north and east of [[Khouzestan]] and western regions of [[Isfahan province]]. Finally, Southern Luri is spoken throughout [[Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad]] province, and in western and central regions in [[Fars province]], northern and western parts of [[Bushehr province]] and southeastern regions of [[Khouzestan]]. Several Luri communities are spread sporadically across the [[Iranian Plateau]] e.g. [[Khorasan province|Khorasan]] (Beyranvand and Bakhtiari Luri descendants), [[Kerman]], [[Guilan]] and [[Tehran]] provinces.<ref name="iranicaonlineii">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Anonby|first=Erik J.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-language-ii|title=LORI LANGUAGE ii. Sociolinguistic Status|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|issn=2330-4804|date=20 December 2012|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref><ref name="iranica1"/>

==Phonology==
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|iː}}
|{{IPA link|uː}}
|-
|{{IPA link|ɪ}}
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|- align="center"
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPA link|a}}~{{IPA link|æ}}<sup>1</sup>
|{{IPA link|ɑː}}
|}
# /{{IPA link|a}}/ may also range to a higher /{{IPA link|æ}}/ in the Northern dialect.

* Vowels /{{IPA link|ɛ}}, {{IPA link|ɔ}}/ may also be realized as more close [{{IPA link|e}}, {{IPA link|o}}] within diphthongs or before glide sounds.
* /{{IPA link|ɛ}}, {{IPA link|ɔ}}/ can also be heard as higher [{{IPA|ɛ̝, ɔ̝}}] in Southern Luri.
* /{{IPA link|a}}/ can also be raised as [{{IPA link|ə}}] or [{{IPA link|ɛ}}] before semivowels.

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palato-alveolar consonant|Palato-<br>alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]/<br>[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|q}}
|{{IPA link|ʔ}}<sup>4</sup>
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|{{IPA link|ɢ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|{{IPA link|x}}<sup>2</sup>
|{{IPA link|χ}}
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|({{IPA link|v}})
|{{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʒ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɣ}}<sup>2</sup>
|{{IPA link|ʁ}}<sup>3</sup>
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}<sup>1</sup>
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Tap and flap consonants|Tap]]/[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}<sup>5</sup>
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|ʋ}}
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|({{IPA link|w}})
|
|
|}

# /{{IPA link|ɲ}}/ occurs in Northern Luri.
# Velar fricatives /{{IPA link|x}}, {{IPA link|ɣ}}/ as equivalent to uvular fricatives /{{IPA link|χ}}, {{IPA link|ʁ}}/, occur in Northern Luri.
# /{{IPA link|ʁ}}/ occurs in Southern Luri.
# /{{IPA link|ʔ}}/ occurs in Northern Luri, as well as in words borrowed from Persian.
# /{{IPA link|ɾ}}/ can also be heard as a trill [{{IPA link|r}}] in Southern Luri.

* /{{IPA link|h}}/ also occurs as a glide to elongate short vowels (e.g. /oh/; {{IPA|[ɔː]}}). 
* [{{IPA link|v}}, {{IPA link|w}}] occur as allophones of a labiodental approximant /{{IPA link|ʋ}}/.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bakhtiari Studies: Phonology, Text, Lexicon|last=Anonby|first=Erik|year=2014|location=Uppsala University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Phonology of Southern Luri|last=Anonby|first=Erik|year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Tales from Luristan|last=Amanolahi; Thackston|first=Sekandar, Wheeler M.|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1987|location=Harvard Iranian Series, 4}}</ref>

==Vocabulary==
In comparison with other [[Iranian languages]], Luri has been less affected by foreign languages such as [[Arabic]] and [[Turkic languages|Turkic]]. Nowadays, many ancient Iranian language characteristics are preserved and can be observed in Luri grammar and vocabulary. According to diverse regional and socio-ecological conditions and due to longtime social interrelations with adjacent ethnic groups especially [[Kurds]] and [[Persians]], different dialects of Luri, despite mainly common characteristics, have significant differences. The northern dialect tends to have more [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] loanwords inside and southern dialects ([[Bakhtiari dialect|Bakhtiari]] and Southern Luri) have been more exposed to [[Persian language|Persian]] loanwords.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Lur-History-and-Cultural-Relations.html |title=Lur – History and Cultural Relations |website=everyculture.com |access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Languages|Linguistic}}
* [[Bakhtiari dialect]]
* [[Borujerdi dialect]]
* [[Dialects of Fars]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Freidl, Erika. 2015. ''Warm Hearts and Sharp Tongues: Life in 555 Proverbs from the Zagros Mountains of Iran.'' Vienna: New Academic Press. {{ISBN|978-3-7003-1925-2}}
* F. Vahman and G. Asatrian, ''Poetry of the Baxtiārīs: Love Poems, Wedding Songs, Lullabies, Laments'', Copenhagen, 1995.[https://books.google.com/books/about/Poetry_of_the_Baxti%C4%81r%C4%ABs.html?id=KKgypdL4gJoC]

== External links ==
{{Incubator|code=lrc|language=Northern Luri}}
{{Incubator|code=luz|language=Southern Luri}}
* {{WALS|lur|Lur}}
* {{UDHR|lori|Lor}}
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baktiari-tribe Bakhtiari tribe] [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-dialects Lori dialect], Encyclopædia Iranica
* [http://anonby.balafon.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/jra-172-171-197.pdf Luri language: How many languages? – By Erik John Anonby – The Royal Asiatic Society, 2003 – Printed in the UK]

{{Languages of Iran}}
{{Languages of Iraq}}
{{Iranian languages}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Languages of Iran]]
[[Category:Southwestern Iranian languages]]