View source for Sogdian language

{{short description|Extinct Eastern Iranian language of Central Asia}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Sogdian
|nativename={{lang|sog|*s{əγ}ʷδī́k ᵊzβā́k, *s{əγ}ʷδyā́u̯}},<br/>{{script|Sogo|𐼑𐼇𐼄𐼌𐼊𐼋 [*𐼀𐼈𐼂𐼀𐼋]}} {{lang|sog|swγδyk [*ʾzβʾk]}}<br/>{{script|Sogd|𐼼𐼴𐼶𐼹𐼷𐼸 (𐼰𐼵𐼱𐼰𐼸)}} {{lang|sog|swγδyk (ʾzβʾk)}}<br/>{{script|Sogd|𐼼𐼲𐼴𐼹𐼷𐼰𐼴}} {{lang|sog|sγwδyʾw}}<br/>{{script|Mani|𐫘𐫇𐫄𐫔𐫏𐫀𐫇}} {{lang|sog|swγδyʾw}}
|state=[[Sogdia]]
|region=[[Central Asia]], [[China]]
|era=1st millennium BCE – 1000 CE
|ref=linglist
|speakers2=developed into modern [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]]
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
|fam3=[[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
|fam4=[[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern]]<ref name="Gernet1996">{{cite book|author=Jacques Gernet|title=A History of Chinese Civilization|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern|url-access=registration|date=31 May 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-49781-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/282 282]–}}</ref>
|fam5=Northern
|script={{plainlist|
*[[Sogdian alphabet]]
*[[Syriac alphabet]]<ref name="LaetHerrmann1996">{{cite book|author1=Sigfried J. de Laet|author2=Joachim Herrmann|title=History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGUz01yBumEC&q=afshin+sogdian&pg=PA467|date=1 January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-102812-0|pages=467–}}</ref>
*[[Manichaean alphabet]]}}
|iso2=sog
|iso3=sog
|glotto=sogd1245
|glottorefname=Sogdian
}}
{{Contains special characters|Sogdian}}
The '''Sogdian language''' was an [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian language]] spoken mainly in the [[Central Asia]]n region of [[Sogdia]] (capital: [[Samarkand]]; other chief cities: [[Panjakent]], [[Fergana]], [[Khujand]], and [[Bukhara]]), located in modern-day [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Kazakhstan]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sogdians.si.edu/sidebars/sogdian-language/ |title = Sogdian Language and Its Scripts {{!}} The Sogdians}}</ref> and [[Kyrgyzstan]];<ref>Barthold, W. "Balāsāg̲h̲ūn or Balāsaḳūn." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online. Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden. 11 March 2008 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-1131></ref> it was also spoken by some Sogdian immigrant communities in ancient China. Sogdian is one of the most important [[Iranian languages#Middle Iranian languages|Middle Iranian languages]], along with [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]], [[Saka language|Khotanese Saka]], [[Middle Persian]], and [[Parthian language|Parthian]]. It possesses a large literary corpus.

The Sogdian language is usually assigned to a Northeastern group of the [[Iranian languages]]. No direct evidence of an earlier version of the language ("Old Sogdian") has been found, although mention of the area in the [[Old Persian]] inscriptions means that a separate and recognisable Sogdia existed at least since the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (559–323 BCE).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dresden |first1=Mark |title=The Cambridge History of Iran. The Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian periods |date=1983 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=Sogdian Language and Literature |pages=1216–1229 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521246934.022 |isbn=978-1-139-05495-9 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-iran/sogdian-language-and-literature/65240038E1B1355607F11375F59C0FB8}}</ref>

Like Khotanese, Sogdian may have possessed a more conservative [[grammar]] and [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] than Middle Persian. The modern Eastern Iranian language [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]] is the descendant of a dialect of Sogdian spoken around the 8th century in [[Osrushana]], a region to the south of Sogdia.

==History==


During the period of the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] (ca. 7th century CE), Sogdian was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' in Central Asia of the [[Silk Road]],<ref name="Lung2011">{{cite book|author=Rachel Lung|title=Interpreters in Early Imperial China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wa5xAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151|date=7 September 2011|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=978-90-272-8418-1|pages=151–}}</ref><ref>[[Eliot Weinberger|Weinberger, E.]], "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22032 China's Golden Age]", [[The New York Review of Books]], 55:17. Retrieved on 2008-10-19.</ref> along which it amassed a rich vocabulary of [[loanword]]s such as ''tym'' ("hotel") from the [[Middle Chinese]] /tem/ ({{zh|[[wikt:店|店]]}}).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Silk Road: A New History|first=Valerie|last=Hanson|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|page=136}}</ref>

The economic and political importance of Sogdian guaranteed its survival in the first few centuries after the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquest of Sogdia]] in the early eighth century.<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East'', London: [[Bloomsbury]], 2019, pp. 4-5.</ref> A dialect of Sogdian spoken around the 8th century in [[Osrushana]] (capital: Bunjikat, near present-day [[Istaravshan]], Tajikistan), a region to the south of Sogdia, developed into the [[Yaghnobi language]] and has survived into the 21st century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Bergne|title=The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3coojMwTKU8C&pg=PA6|date=15 June 2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-283-7|pages=6–}}</ref> It is spoken by the [[Yaghnobi people]].
<gallery widths="150px" heights="150px">
File:British Museum stamp-seal (Registration number 1870,1210.3).jpg|Seal with two facing busts and Sogdian inscription "Indamic, Queen of Zacanta", [[Kushano-Sasanian]] period, 300-350 CE. British Museum 119999.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stamp-seal; bezel British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1870-1210-3 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}</ref>
File:Sogdian text Manichaean letter.jpg|Sogdian text from a Manichaean [[creditor]] letter from around 9th to 13th century
File:Manicheans.jpg|[[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] priests ([[Yugur|Uyghur]] Turks) writing Sogdian manuscripts, in [[Gaochang|Khocho]], [[Tarim Basin]], {{c.|8th/9th century AD}}
</gallery>

==Discovery of Sogdian texts==
The first discovered Sogdian text was the [[Karabalgasun inscription]], however, it was not understood until 1909 that it contained text in Sogdian.{{sfn|Sims-Williams|2022|p=484}}

[[File:Sogdian Christian Text Written in Estrangelo.jpg|thumb|Sogdian [[Church of the East|Christian]] text written in [[Estrangelo]], discovered at [[Turpan]], 9th—11th century.]]
[[Aurel Stein]] discovered 5 letters written in Sogdian known as the "Ancient Letters" in an abandoned watchtower near [[Dunhuang]] in 1907, dating to the end of the Western Jin dynasty.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= ANCIENT LETTERS|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|date=December 15, 1985 |last=Sims-Williams |first=N.  |pages=7–9|volume=II|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ancient-letters }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/851 |title=SOGDIAN ANCIENT LETTER II|last= Keramidas|first=  Kimon |website= NYU|publisher= Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/sogdlet.html |title=The Sogdian Ancient Letters 1, 2, 3, and 5 |others=translated by Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams|website=Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=5032|title= Aurel Stein Discovers the Sogdian "Ancient Letters" 313 CE to 314 CE|last=Norman |first=Jeremy  |website=History of Information }}</ref><ref>Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 3. Reproduced from Susan Whitfield (ed.), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith (2004) p. 248.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sogdians.si.edu/ancient-letters/ |title=Ancient Letters |website=THE SOGDIANS Influencers on the Silk Roads |publisher= Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/869 |title= SOGDIAN ANCIENT LETTER III: LETTER TO NANAIDHAT|last= Keramidas|first=  Kimon |website= NYU|publisher= Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://ringmar.net/irhistorynew/index.php/welcome/introduction-4/from-temujin-to-genghis-khan/5-2-a-nomadic-state/5-3-how-to-conquer-the-world/5-4-dividing-it-all-up/sogdian-letters/|title= Sogdian letters |website= ringmar.net|date= 5 March 2021 |publisher=History of International Relations }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Vaissière|first=  Étienne de la |date=2005 |title= Sogdian Traders: A History|url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/book/9789047406990/BP000005.xml |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies|volume=10|publisher=Brill |chapter=CHAPTER TWO ABOUT THE ANCIENT LETTERS|pages=43–70 |isbn=978-90-47-40699-0|doi=10.1163/9789047406990_005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789047406990/BP000005.xml | doi=10.1163/9789047406990_005 | chapter=About the Ancient Letters | title=Sogdian Traders | year=2005 | pages=43–70 | publisher=Brill | isbn=9789047406990 | last1=Vaissière | first1=Étienne de la }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Livšic |first=Vladimir A. |editor1-last=Orlov |editor1-first=Andrei |editor2-last=Lourie|editor2-first=Basil |date=2009 |title =Symbola Caelestis: Le symbolisme liturgique et paraliturgique dans le monde chrétien |url= https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/scri/5/1/article-p344_21.xml|location= Piscataway|publisher=Gorgias Press |chapter=SOGDIAN “ANCIENT LETTERS” (II, IV, V)|page=344-352 |isbn=9781463222543}}</ref> The finding of manuscript fragments of the Sogdian language in China's [[Xinjiang]] region sparked the study of the Sogdian language. [[Robert Gauthiot]], (the first Buddhist Sogdian scholar) and [[Paul Pelliot]], (who while exploring in Dunhuang, retrieved Sogdian material) began investigating the Sogdian material that Pelliot had discovered in 1908. Gauthiot published many articles based on his work with Pelliot's material, but died during the [[First World War]]. One of Gauthiot's most impressive articles was a glossary to the Sogdian text, which he was in the process of completing when he died. This work was continued by [[Émile Benveniste]] after Gauthiot's death.<ref name=Utz>Utz, David. (1978). ''Survey of Buddhist Sogdian studies.'' Tokyo: The Reiyukai Library.</ref>

Various Sogdian pieces have been found in the [[Turpan|Turfan]] text corpus by the [[German Turfan expeditions]]. These expeditions were controlled by the [[Ethnological Museum of Berlin]].<ref name=Utz /> These pieces consist almost entirely of religious works by Manichaean and Christian writers, including [[Bible translations into Sogdian|translations of the Bible]]. Most of the Sogdian religious works are from the 9th and 10th centuries.<ref name=iranian>''[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293577/Iranian-languages/74634/The-Middle-Iranian-stage#ref=603453 "Iranian Languages"]''(2009). [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved on 2009-04-09</ref>

Dunhuang and Turfan were the two most plentiful sites of Manichean, Buddhist, and Christian Sogdian texts. Sogdiana itself actually contained a much smaller collection of texts, discovered in the early 1930s near Mt. Mug in [[Tajikistan]]. These texts were business related, belonging to a minor Sogdian king, [[Divashtich]]. These business texts dated back to the time of the Muslim conquest, about 700.<ref name=iranian />{{sfn|Sims-Williams|2022|p=490}}

Between 1996 and 2018, a number of inscribed fragments have been found at Kultobe in [[Kazakhstan]]. They date back to the [[Kangju]] culture, are significantly earlier than the 4th century A.D. and showcase an archaic state of Sogdian.{{sfn|Sims-Williams|2022|p=492}}

In the years between 2003 and 2020, three new bilingual Chinese-Sogdian epitaphs have been discovered and published.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bo |first1=Bi |last2=Sims-Williams |first2=Nicholas |title=The Epitaph of a Buddhist Lady: A Newly Discovered Chinese-Sogdian Bilingual |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=2020 |volume=140 |issue=4 |pages=803–820 |url=https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jaos/article/view/590/450 |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref>

==Writing system==
Like all the writing systems employed for Middle Iranian languages, the [[Sogdian alphabet]] ultimately derives from the [[Aramaic alphabet]]. Like its close relatives, the [[Pahlavi scripts]], written Sogdian contains many [[logogram]]s or [[ideogram]]s, which were Aramaic words written to represent native spoken ones. The Sogdian script is the direct ancestor of the [[Old Uyghur alphabet]], itself the forerunner of the [[Traditional Mongolian alphabet]].

As in other writing systems descended from the [[Proto-Sinaitic script]], there are no special signs for vowels. As in the parent Aramaic system, the consonantal signs ’ y w can be used as [[mater lectionis|matres lectionis]] for the long vowels [a: i: u:] respectively. However, unlike it, these consonant signs would also sometimes serve to express the short vowels (which could also sometimes be left unexpressed, as they ''always'' are in the parent systems).<ref name=clauson/> To distinguish long vowels from short ones, an additional aleph could be written before the sign denoting the long vowel.<ref name=clauson>Clauson, Gerard. 2002. Studies in Turkic and Mongolic linguistics. P.103-104.</ref>

The Sogdian language also used the [[Manichaean alphabet]], which consisted of 29 letters.<ref>Gershevitch, Ilya. (1954). ''A Grammar of Manichean Sogdian.'' p.1. Oxford: Blackwell.</ref>

In transcribing Sogdian script into Roman letters, Aramaic ideograms are often noted by means of capitals.

==Phonology==

===Consonants=== 
The consonant inventory of Sogdian is as follows (parentheses mark allophones or marginal phonemes):{{sfn|Yoshida|2010|p=285}}

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]/[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- 
! [[Occlusive|Plosive]]/[[Affricate]]
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|p}} ({{IPA link|b}})
|
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|t}}, ({{IPA link|d}}, {{IPA link|ts}})
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ|č}} ({{IPA link|ʤ|ǰ}}) 
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|k}} ({{IPA link|g}})
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|f}} {{IPA link|β}}
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|θ}} {{IPA link|ð|δ}}
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|s}} {{IPA link|z}}
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|ç|š}} {{IPA link|ʝ|ž}}
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|x}} {{IPA link|γ}}
|- 
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|m}}
|
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|n}}
| 
| style="font-size:larger;" |({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|-
! [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]/[[Semivowel|Glide]]
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|w}}
|
| style="font-size:larger;"| {{IPA link|r}} ({{IPA link|l}})
| style="font-size:larger;" |{{IPA link|j|y}}
| style="font-size:larger;" |({{IPA link|h}})
|}

===Vowels===

Sogdian has the following simple vowels:{{sfn|Yoshida|2010|p=284}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! !! Front !! Central !! Back
|-
! Close
| {{IPAlink|iː}} {{IPAlink|i}} || ({{IPA link|ɨ}}) || {{IPAlink|u}} {{IPAlink|uː}}
|-
! Mid
| {{IPAlink|eː}} {{IPAlink|e}} || ({{IPA link|ə}}) || {{IPAlink|o}} {{IPAlink|oː}}
|-
! Open
| {{IPAlink|a}} || {{IPAlink|aː}} ||
|}

Sogdian also has three rhotacized vowels: ə<sup>r</sup>, i<sup>r</sup>, u<sup>r</sup>.{{sfn|Yoshida|2010|p=285}}

The diphthongs in Sogdian are āi, āu, and those where the second element is a rhotacized vowel or a nasal element ṃ. {{sfn|Yoshida|2010|p=285}}

==Morphology==

Sogdian has two different sets of endings for so-called 'light' and 'heavy' stems. A stem is heavy if it contains at least one heavy syllable (containing a long vowel or diphthong); stems containing only light vowels are light. In heavy stems, the stress falls on the stem, and in light stems, it falls on the suffix or ending.{{sfn|Yoshida|2010|p=286}}

===Nouns===

====Light stems====

{|class="wikitable"
! Case || masc. ''a''-stems || neut. ''a''-stems || fem. ''ā''-stems || masc. ''u''-stems || fem. ''ū''-stems || masc. ''ya''-stems || fem. ''yā''-stems || plural
|-
| nom. || -i || -u || -a, -e || -a || -a || -i || -yā || -ta, -īšt, -(y)a
|-
| voc. || -u || -u || -a || -i, -u || -ū || -iya || -yā || -te, -īšt(e), -(y)a
|-
| acc. || -u || -u || -u, -a || -u || -u || -(iy)ī || -yā(yī) || -tya, -īštī, -ān(u)
|-
| gen.-dat. || -ē || -yē || -ya || -(uy)ī || -uya || -(iy)ī || -yā(yī) || -tya, -īštī, -ān(u)
|-
| loc. || -ya || -ya || -ya || -(uy)ī || -uya || -(iy)ī || -yā(yī) || -tya, -īštī, -ān(u)
|-
| instr.-abl. || -a || -a || -ya || -(uy)ī || -uya || -(iy)ī || -yā(yī) || -tya, -īštī, -ān(u)
|}

====Heavy stems====

{|class="wikitable"
! Case || masc. || fem. || plural
|-
| nom. || -∅ || -∅ || -t
|-
| voc. || -∅, -a || -e || -te
|-
| acc. || -ī || -ī || -tī, -ān
|-
| gen.-dat. || -ī || -ī || -tī, -ān
|-
| loc. || -ī || -ī || -tī, -ān
|-
| instr.-abl. || -ī || -ī || -tī, -ān
|}

====Contracted stems====

{|class="wikitable"
! Case || masc. ''aka''-stems || neut. ''aka''-stems || fem. ''ākā''-stems || pl. masc. || pl. fem.
|-
| nom. || -ē || (-ō), -ē || -ā || -ēt || -ēt, -āt
|-
| voc. || (-ā), -ē || (-ō), -ē || -ā || (-āte), -ēte || -ēte, -āte
|-
| acc. || (-ō), -ē || (-ō), -ē || -ē || -ētī, -ān || -ētī, -ātī
|-
| gen.-dat. || -ē || -ē || -ē || -ētī, -ān || -ētī, -ātī
|-
| loc. || -ē || -ē || -ē || -ētī, -ān || -ētī, -ātī
|-
| instr.-abl. || (-ā), -ē || (-ā), -ē || -ē || -ētī, -ān || -ētī, -ātī
|}

===Verbs===

====Present indicative====
{|class="wikitable"
! Person || Light stems || Heavy stems
|-
| 1st. sg. || -ām || -am
|-
| 2nd. sg. || -ē, (-∅) || -∅, -ē
|-
| 3rd. sg. || -ti || -t
|-
| 1st. pl. || -ēm(an) || -ēm(an)
|-
| 2nd. pl. || -θa, -ta || -θ(a), -t(a)
|-
| 3rd. pl. || -and || -and
|}

====Imperfect indicative====
{|class="wikitable"
! Person || Light stems || Heavy stems
|-
| 1st. sg. || -u || -∅, -u
|-
| 2nd. sg. || -i || -∅, -i
|-
| 3rd. sg. || -a || -∅
|-
| 1st. pl. || -ēm(u), -ēm(an) || -ēm(u), -ēm(an)
|-
| 2nd. pl. || -θa, -ta || -θ(a), -t(a)
|-
| 3rd. pl. || -and || -and
|}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Sims-Williams |first1=Nicholas |editor1-last=Parry |editor1-first=Ken |editor2-last=Mikkelsen |editor2-first=Gunner |title=Byzantium to China: Religion, History and Culture on the Silk Roads |date=2022 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004517981 |pages=483–497 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/58146 |access-date=6 September 2024 |chapter=The Rediscovery of Sogdian}}
* {{cite book |last1=Yoshida |first1=Yutaka |editor1-last=Windfuhr |editor1-first=Gernot |title=The Iranian Languages |date=2010 |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |pages=279–335 |chapter=Sogdian}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Sogdian_language.ogg|date=2006-01-02}}
{{refbegin}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041009124244/http://www.iranologie.com/history/ilf.html Iranian Language Family]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170812032357/https://fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Sogdian/index.html Introduction to Manichaean Sogdian] by P. Oktor Skjærvø
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090931/http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Sogdian/s01_introduction.pdf Introduction to Manichaean Sogdian (Introduction only)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20211111065740/https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Sogdian/sogdiancomplete.pdf Introduction to Manichaean Sogdian (full text)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040905091926/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/indologie/lil/sd-search.html Sogdian Dictionary]
{{refend}}

{{Iranian languages}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sogdian Language}}
[[Category:Sogdian language| ]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 4th century]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Eastern Iranian languages]]
[[Category:Lingua francas]]