The Yazgulyam language (also Yazgulyami, Iazgulem, Yazgulam, natively yuzdami zevég, Tajik yazgulomi) is a member of the Pamir subgroup of the Iranian languages, spoken by ca. 4,000 native speakers (as of 1994) along the Yazgulyam River, Gorno-Badakhshan, Tadjikistan. Together with Shugni, it is classified as the Shugni-Yazgulami subgroup of the Pamir languages. Virtually all speakers are bilingual in the Tajik language. The Pamir languages of the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia are Shughni, Sarikoli, Yazgulyam, Munji, Sanglechi-Ishkashimi, Wakhi, and Yidgha. ... The Iranian languages are a part of the Indo-European language family with estimated 150-200 million native speakers. ... Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAR) is a mountainous province (region) of Tajikistan. ... The Republic of Tajikistan (Тоҷикистон), formerly known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, is a country in Central Asia. ... Tajik or Tadjik (own name: Taҗйкы, Tojikí, تاجیکی in Persian script) is a descendant of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia. ...

The language was first recorded by Russian traveller G. Arandarenko in 1889, listing 34 Yazgulami words recorded in 1882. The language was described in greater detail by French linguist, R. Gauthiot in Notes sur le yazggoulami, dialecte iraniren des Confins du Pamir (1916). 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ...

The Yazgulyam people are an exception among the speakers of Pamir languages in that they do not adhere to Ismailism. The Ismaili ( اسماعيلي, Persian Esmaaili) branch of Islam is the second-largest Shia community, after the Twelvers who are dominant in Iran. ...

In 1954 the Yazgulami living on the mountain slopes were resettled, about 20% of them forcibly, to the Vakhsh valley, where they live dispersed among the Tadjiks, Uzbeks, Russians and other ethnic groups. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Vakhsh River, also known as the Surkhob (in north-central Tajikistan) and the Kyzyl-Suu (in Kyrgyzstan) is a Central Asian river, and one of the main rivers of the nation of Tajikistan. ...

Phonology

The phonology of the Yazgulyam language differs from the basic "Shugni-Roshani" type its system of dorsal consonants: In addition to the velar and uvular stops g, k, q and fricatives x̌, γ̌, x, γ,, Yazgulami has a palatalized and a labialized series, transcribed as ḱ, ǵ (palatalized velars), k° g° x̌° (labialized velars, there is no labialized velar voiced fricative) and q° x° γ° (labialized uvulars). A significant number of labialized consonants etymologically correspond to Proto-Iranian *Cv or *Cu, e.g. x̌°arg < *hvaharā- "sister", while others are unrelated to Proto-Iranian v, e.g. sk°on < skana- "puppy". Dorsal consonants are articulated with the back of the tongue against either the hard palate, or the flexible velum just behind it, or even against the uvula. ...

This threefold system of articulation of dorsals has been compared typologically to the three reconstructed rows of dorsals in the Proto-Indo-European language. The polygenetic rise of the labialized series from the simpler Satem system of Proto-Iranian may also be seen as a parallel of the rise of the labiovelars within the Centum group. The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ... The Satem division of the Indo-European family includes the following branches: Indo-Iranian, Baltic and Slavic, Armenian, Albanian, perhaps also a number of barely documented extinct languages, such as Phrygian, Thracian, and Dacian (see: Indo-European languages). ... A labiovelar sound is one produced with the lips and velum simultaneously. ... Centum is the collective name for the branches of Indo-European in which the so-called Satem shift, the change of palato-velar *k^, *g^, *g^h into fricatives or affricates, did not take place, and the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh). ...

Literature

• Payne, John, "Pamir languages" in Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum ed. Schmitt (1989), 417–444.

External links

• http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/yazgulamis.shtml
• http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Languages/yazgulami.htm
• http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Tajikistan
• http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-yazgulyami.html