Basseri dialect

Basseri dialect (Persian: گویش باصری) is a Persian or Southwestern Fars dialect spoken in Fars province by the Basseri people. It is part of the Southwestern Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages. Basseri dialect consists of many exclusive Persian words with Old and Middle Persian roots and less Arabic Loanwords, which is a consequence of living in the mountains, nomadism and less connection with urban Persians.

Basseri
باصری/باسری
Pronunciation	Pārsi-e Bāseri
Native to	Iran
Region	Fars
Ethnicity	Basseri Persians
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Southwestern Persian/Southwestern Fars Basseri
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	bass1257
Distribution of Basseri people in Fars

Phonology

Vowels

Basseri dialect has 6 vowels including /æ/ , /ɒ/ , /o/ , /e/ , /i/ , and /u:/; and also 2 diphthongs including /ow/ and /ey/.

	Front	Back
Close	i	uː
Mid	e	o
Open	æ	ɒ

Consonants

Basseri Persian has 22 consonants, in contrast with Iranian Persian with 23 consonants. In this dialect, /ʒ/ is merged into /dʒ/.

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p b	t d			k ɡ	q	ʔ
Affricate			tʃ dʒ
Fricative	f v	s z	ʃ		x		h
Flap or Tap		ɾ
Approximant		l		j

Distribution

Basseri dialect is spoken among the Basseries in central Fars province. Counties like Abadeh, Eqlid, Pasargad, Jahrom, Marvdasht, Shiraz, Khorrambid, Larestan, and Sarvestan are among the traditional living range of the Basseri.

Similarities with English

Some words in Basseri dialect are similar to English words.

Basseri	English	standard Persian	st. Persian transcription
Var	Wear	پوشیدن	Pušidan
Jong	Young	جوان	Javān
Pati	Empty	خالی	Xāli
Babe	Baby	عزیزم	Azizam
Babu	Baby	نوزاد	Nowzād
Kap	Cap	کلاه	Kolāh
Sol	Soil	خاک	Xāk
Sekal	Skeleton	استخوان	Ostoxān

See also

• Dialects and varieties of Persian language