Languages of Iran

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 77. Chapters: Abduyi dialect, Abuzaydabadi dialect, Afshar language, Aimaq dialect, Aramaic language, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Azerbaijani language, Balochi language, Barbari dialect, Bashkardi language, Brahui language, Caspian languages, Central dialects (Iranian), Dari language (Zoroastrian), Dari Persian, Davani dialect, Dialects of Fars, Domari language, Eastern Armenian, Fedaghi dialect, Georgian language, Gilaki language, Gorgani dialect, Gulf Arabic, Hazaragi dialect, Iraqi Arabic, Jadgali language, Judeo-Shirazi, Khalaj language (Iranic), Kho'ini dialect, Khorasani Turkic language, Khuzestani Arabic, Koroshi dialect, Korouni dialect, Kurdish dialects, Kurdish language, Kurmanji, Language of Deylamites, Larestani language, Lishán Didán, Luri language, Mandaic language, Mazandarani language, Neo-Mandaic, Northeastern Neo-Aramaic, North Mesopotamian Arabic, Old Kazeruni dialect, Persian dialects in Khuzestan, Persian Sign Language, Qashqai language, Salchuq language, Senaya language, Sivandi language, Talysh language, Turkmen language, Vafsi language, Western Persian, Zargari Romani. Excerpt: Aramaic is a family of languages (traditionally referred to as "dialects") belonging to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the Arabic and modern Hebrew alphabets. During its 3,000-year written history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BC - 70 AD), the language that Jesus Christ probably used the most, the language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud. However, Jewish Aramaic was different from the other forms both in lettering and grammar. Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Jewish Aramaic showing the unique Jewish lettering, related to the unique Hebrew script. Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties which are sometimes called dialects, though they are distinct enough that they are sometimes considered languages. Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each time and place rather has had its own variation. Aramaic is retained as a liturgical language by certain Eastern Christian churches, in the form of Syriac, the Aramaic variety by which Eastern Christianity was diffused, whether or not those communities once spoke it or another form of Aramaic as their vernacular, but have since shifted to another language as their primary community language. Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing Christian, Jewish, and Mandean ethnic groups of West Asia-most numerously by the Assyrians in the form of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic -that have all retained use of the onc