Eastern Iranian Languages - Phonological Differences

Phonological Differences

Eastern Iranian languages have wide-spread sound changes, e.g. č > c, d > ð > l, and b > v/w, as shown in the table below.

Avestan Pashto Munji Sanglechi Wakhi Shughni Parachi Ormuri Yaghnobi Ossetic
aēva-
"one"
yaw yu vak yi yiw žu ī iu
čaθwārō
"four"
calṓr čfūr cəfúr cībɨr cavṓr čōr cār tafór cippar
hapta
"seven"
ōwə ōvda ōvδ ɨb ūvd hōt avd avd
dasa
"ten"
las los / dā1 dos δas δis dōs das das dæs
gav-
"cow"
γ γṓw uγūi γīw žōw gū gioe γov x”ug
brātar-
"brother"
wrōr vəróy vrūδ vīrīt virṓd b marzā2 virūt ærvad

Another sound change found in the Shughni–Yazgulyam branch and Pashto dialects is ṣ̌ > x̌ > x, e.g. "meat" is ɡuṣ̌t in Wakhi but changes to guxt in Shughni, and Southern Pashto γwaṣ̌a ("meat") changes to γwaa in Central Pashto and γwaxa in Northern Pashto.

The neighboring Indo-Aryan languages have exerted a pervasive external influence on Eastern Iranian, as it is evident in the development in the retroflex consonants (in Pashto, Wakhi, Sanglechi, Khotanese, etc.) and aspirates (in Khotanese, Parachi and Ormuri).

Read more about this topic:  Eastern Iranian Languages

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