Judeo-Hamedani–Borujerdi
Judeo-Hamadani Judeo-Borujerdi | |
---|---|
Judeo-Persian | |
Native to | Iran |
Native speakers | 8 of Judeo-Hamadani (2001)[citation needed] |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | jude1268 |
ELP | Judeo-Hamadani |
Judeo-Hamadani and Judeo-Borujerdi constitute a
In 1920, Hamadan had around 13,000 Jewish residents. According to members of the community that Donald Stilo encountered in 2001-02, there were only eight people from the Jewish community left in Hamadān at the time, but others can still be found in Israel, New York City, and most predominantly in Los Angeles.[2]
Judeo-Hamadani Classification
In western Iran, the district of Hamadan is split between
As Habib Borjian points out, Hamadan was once the capital of
Grammar
If we look at the chart above, we can see how Judeo-Hamadani is compared to some of the other Judeo-Median Languages. Judeo-Hamadani appears most similar to Kashani in terms of morphosyntax, evidenced by shared passive and imperfect markers. Judeo-Hamadani also shares many lexical items with Judeo-Isfahani, including "throw", "want", "cat", and "dog". This overlap, though notable and suggests similar origins or contact, is not significant enough for these languages to be mutually intelligible. In fact, due to language contact, dialectal shift, and diaspora, none of the Judeo-Median languages are mutually intelligible. According to Habib Borjian, "Tentative studies reveal that Tuyserkani agrees with Hamadani in all major grammatical points and lexical items (Stilo 2003), and that the dialects of Borujerd and Nehavand15 are close (Yarshater 1989)".[3]
Phonology
The consonant inventory of Judeo-Hamadani is: /p, b, t, d, č, ǰ, ž, k, g, q~γ, f, v, s, z, š, x, h, m, n, r, l, y/. There may also be a pharyngeal /ħ/ especially in words borrowed from Hebrew and Arabic.
Its vowel inventory is /i, e, ə, a, u, ō, o, ā/. Stilo states that ə is probably a variant of e.[1]
Judeo-Hamadani also has diphthongs, including āā, ao, uā, ayi, āy, ey, iye, av, and āv. The suprasegmentals of the language, including rhythm, tone, intonation, and stress, are influenced by the current Persian (non-Judeo) Hamadani dialect.[1]
Lexicon
Judeo-Hamadani contains many loanwords from Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, and Hamadani, the non-Jewish dialect spoken in Hamadan. Loanwords provide insight into language contact and historical cultural overlap. For example, the term venadig "window glass" appears in Judeo-Hamadani, spelled venedig in Hamadani, identical to the German Venedig "Venice." The Hamadani word likely originally referred to glass imported from Venice and used in windows. Like venedig, other loanwords were likely transferred to Judeo-Hamadani from Hamadani proper, or through direct contact with speakers of other languages.[1]
Morphology
Nouns
Judeo-Hamadani's morphology is similar to Persian's. Below is a list of nominal morphological characteristics of Judeo-Hamadani:
- substantives have no distinction of grammatical gender;
- numbers have no distinction between the direct and oblique case;
- postpositional rā/ro mark definite direct objects;
- the plural suffix -(h)ā marks substantives that are both inanimate or animate;
- indefinite markers commonly occur together, and appear as ye(y) "one" and an unstressed -i (Judeo-Esfahani also possesses this characteristic); and,
- modifiers follow the noun.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns in Judeo-Hamadani are identical to those in Persian save for two differences: Judeo-Hamadani has the -ā- vowel in mān "I," and uses the form hāmā "we" as opposed to the Persian mā. Clitics in Judeo-Hamadani are mobile, and there is a general tendency for movement forward, to the left. They can also appear inside the verb when it is possible. Like other contemporary Iranian languages, Judeo-Hamadani only has one pronominal clitic form for all cases: the oblique.[1]
Verbs
Preverbs
Judeo-Hamadani commonly uses preverbs he-, vā and vor-. Often, preverbs cause no semantic change in the verb root. However, in cases like vā-ker-ān "I open," there is a meaning change of "ker". In general, preverbs precede any negative particle, clitics, and durative particle, and always occur in the initial position.[1]
he-ne=m-e-gefte PV-NEG=1S.OBL-DUR-take.PP "I have not bought"
Tenses
Judeo-Hamadani has eight tenses, present, imperfect, subjunctive, imperative, preterit, present perfect, past perfect, and progressive.
Tense | Formation | Example |
---|---|---|
present | by suffixed and unstressed e- (durative marker) | e-ker-u "makes, does" |
imperfect | by suffixed and unstressed e- (durative marker) | e-ker-u "makes, does" |
subjunctive | prefix be- | be-š-im "we would go" |
imperative | prefix be- | be-gir "take it!" |
preterit | prefix be- | be=m-vād "I told" |
present perfect | prefix be- | be=m-e-šnofte "I have heard") |
past perfect | prefix be- | be=m-xorte bo "I had eaten" |
progressive | on the basis of the colloquial Persian construction with the modal verb dāštan | mān dār-ān bar-gard-ān az kenisā "I am returning from synagogue" |
References
- ^ S2CID 234006069.
- ^ a b c Encyclopaedia Iranica
- ^ a b c Borjian, Habib (2014). "What is Judeo-Median and how does it differ from Judeo-Persian?". The Journal of Jewish Languages.
- ^ a b Borjian, Habib (2014). "What is Judeo-Median and how does it differ from Judeo-Persian?". Journal of Jewish languages.
Further reading
- Gholami, Saloumeh (2021). "Judeo-Hamadani: The Language of Jews in Hamadan and Its Origins". Iranian Studies. .
External links
- Omniglot.com
- Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran
- Iranian American Jews Archived 2011-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Iranian Jewish Chronicle Magazine
- Judeo Hamadani Speech
- Jewish Languages Project