Achomi language

Achomi (Persian:اچُمی), also known as Khodmooni and Larestani, is a Middle Persian (Parsig) derived and Southwestern Iranian language spoken by the Achomi people in southern Fars and western Hormozgan and by significant numbers of Ajam citizens in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and other neighbouring countries.

It is the predominant language of Khur, Gerash, Larestan, Lamerd, Khonj, and Evaz counties in Fars and Bastak County and Ruydar in Hormozgan province.

Moreover, many cities, towns, and villages in Iran have their own particular dialect, such as Larestan, Khur, Khonj, Gerash, Evaz, Ashkanan, Bastak, Lar, and Banaruiyeh. The majority of Achomi speakers are Sunni Muslims, with a minority being Shia Muslims.

The Achomi language is considered a descendant of the Sassanid Persian language or Middle Persian.

Etymology and name of the language

There are different ways to refer to this language.

• Achomi: Native speakers often refer to their language as "ačomī", which means "I go" in the language. Other explanations for this name are the language's frequent usage of the [tʃ] consonant, and that Arabs, with whom these people traded, called them 'Ajam', which means non-Arab.
• Khodmooni: In GCC states surrounding the Persian Gulf, Achomis are referred to as Khodmooni'. This translates to "of our own kind".
• Lari: This language is sometimes called Lari. To reiterate, 'Lar' originates from 'Lad' which means "the origin of everything". It is also important to note that Lari can be used to refer to a dialect or a language.

History

Achomi language and its various local dialects such as Lari, Evazi, Khonji, Gerashi, Bastaki, etc... and is a branch of the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) language of the Sassanid Empire.

Today, the language is known as an endangered language. In particular, UNESCO refers to it as a "definitely endangered" language with approximately 1,180,000 speakers. It also does not have official language status in Iran. This is because Iran only recognizes standard Persian as an official language. However, Iran allows the use of minority languages, such as Achomi, in the media and the education system (alongside Persian). Nevertheless, Achomi remains an endangered language with many dialectal differences gradually disappearing because of the domination of Iranian Tehrani New Persian (Farsi).

Many Iranians moved to GCC States in order to pursue better economic opportunities. This included Achomis. These Achomis are often multilingual. Achomi migrants still speak this language in their homes, however, this variety has been influenced by the Arabic language a little but is mutually intelligible with standard Persian.

Classification

The language is a branch of the Pahlavi Parsig language. This means that it shares the ergative structure of Pahlavi. It is also an analytical language. This can be linked back to its membership in the southwestern branch of Middle-Iranian languages.

Except for the regional accent, pronunciation of certain words, and a slight variation in grammar, this old language has been the common language of the Southwestern Pars Province and parts of Hormozgan province for nearly 1,800 years despite the various conquests of the region since the fall of the Sassanid Empire.

Dialects

Achomi has many dialects. These dialects correspond to Larestan's different towns. Examples of these dialects include Lari, Evazi, Gerashi, Khonji and Bastaki. These dialectical variations may present themselves through pronunciation. There may also be grammatical and word differences between the dialects. Hence, if the speaker is from Evaz, they are referred as speaking Evazi, and if they are from Bastak their dialect is known as Bastaki.

An example of a dialectal variation: in some particular regions, Achomi people say raftom for "I went" (very similar to the Persian raftam), but in some other regions, just as Lar people, they say chedem (Kurdish: dichim or dechim) instead.

Samples

Vocabulary

Grammatical features

Past tense verbs

First type

To make simple past verbs

The ids (om / ot / osh / mo / to / sho) + The simple past root of the first type.

Example:

Second type

The root of the past simple second type + ids (em / esh / ruleless / am / ee / en)

Example:

And...

Ergativity

To create an ergative verb in past tense we can use the verb root plus its proper prefix.

For example, in Achomi, the root for the verb "to tell" is "got" (gota equals "tell").

Another example: "deda" means "see," and "dee" Kurdish (Deed or dee) is the root verb. So:

Simple present

To create a simple present or continued present tense of a transitive verb, here's another example:

For the verb "see" ("deda"):

adead'em, adeda'esh, adeaday,...

Sentences

Poetry

See also

• Kuwaiti Persian
• Kumzari language

External links

• on Instagram.