Semnani language

File:Caspian languages.png

Map depicting areas where Semnani languages are spoken (alongside Caspian languages)

Semnani (سمنی زفون, Semani zefön) (known also as Komisenian languages) is one of the local languages of the Semnan province of Iran. Despite the common misconception that Semnani is a Persian dialect, the language belongs to the Northwestern branch of the Western Iranian languages. Like other Caspian languages, it bears some resemblance to the Old Iranian Median language and was influenced by Parthian in a later process.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link			(Template:IPA link)
Plosive	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Affricate				Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Tap			Template:IPA link
Trill			(Template:IPA link)
Approximant			Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

(Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Allophones are in parentheses.)

Grammar

Syntax

Subjects in Semnani must have gender agreement with the verb in their immediate clause.

Bibliography

Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. Pages 296–314.

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