Iranian and Persian Studies – serie

This book concerns the native language of the Jews of Shiraz, most of who live in diasporic communities outside of Iran. The language, Judeo-Shirazi, belongs to the Southwest Iranian group, as do most other native vernaculars spoken in southern Iran. None of these languages—unlike other languages of Iranic stock—has been studied in any detail. This is the first novel and detailed look into this language. The author shows Judeo-Shirazi as truly moribund. The result of a ten-year study, this book covers diachrony, phonology, morphosyntax, and lexis, drawn from more than a dozen texts collected from the Shirazi Jewish diaspora living in New York City and Los Angeles areas, as well as unpublished texts collected in Shiraz in 1969, when the speech community was still intact. Conservative as the Shirazi Jewish community  is extremely difficult to find speakers who are often old and linguistically isolated. This work draws from immensely valuable videotapes, supported by the Endangered Language Alliance in New York and the Jewish Language Project in Los Angeles. As an ethnically bounded urban language, Judeo-Shirazi is distinct among the Iranic family. Its study is significant within not only Iranic and Indo-European linguistic scholarship but also in Jewish studies.

This book brings together a diverse array of researchers and seasoned educators to present a sweeping exploration of Persian language, literature, and pedagogy. With a dual focus, the book is thoughtfully structured in two distinct parts: Part I delves into the rich landscape of Persian Language and Literature, while Part II highlights dynamic approaches and emerging perspectives in the Teaching of Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL). Across its chapters, the book traverses centuries of literary evolution and linguistic development. Topics range from the transformation of twentieth-century Persian prose fiction and the legacy of Indo-Persian traditions in the postcolonial era, to poetic portrayals of marriage, and the linguistic adaptation of Persian loanwords into Turkish. It also illuminates the mystical depths of Sufi thought through classical Persian texts and tackles key dimensions in foreign language instruction—from curriculum design to learner engagement strategies. Timely, interdisciplinary, and global in scope, Trends in Persian Language, Literature, and Pedagogy is a must-read resource for scholars, educators, and students in the fields of Persian studies, comparative literature, applied linguistics, and foreign language teaching.

This book presents a systematic and detailed analysis of Caspian linguistics, contributing new perspectives to Western scholarship. The range of the essays represents a wide array of sub-themes under the rubric of Caspian languages and linguistics, and traces connections between linguistic patterns and sociocultural transformations across Caspian societies. In doing so this work investigates the geographical, lexical, grammatical, and phonological characteristics of Caspian language families, spoken in the south and west of the Caspian Sea region. Engaging with multiple dialects in the region, the book draws upon the complex, multifarious relations that exist between lifestyle and word-usage. It is relevant to linguistics interested in West Asian languages and the various related areas of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, cultural linguistics, and historical linguistics.

This book contributes to understandings of linguistic anthropology within the context of the wider Persianate world, covering Iranian language societies in both their homelands, and in the diaspora. It demarcates language ideologies - feelings, beliefs of language, and linguistic forms in their broad terms; semiotic processes - signs and their indexical meanings; affect – emotions, or what sensory perceptions do in society; language socialization and language development; discourse analyses; and literacy, secrecy and textuality. Bringing together linguists and anthropologists to chart the far-reaching diaspora of the Iranian community under the rubric of poetics and anthropology, it is a relevant collection for scholars in Near Eastern studies, in areas of languages and linguistics, literature, semiotics, cultural studies, social sciences, and diaspora studies.

This ground-breaking book offers an in-depth exploration of the multifaceted nature of politeness and impoliteness in Persian, shedding light on how these communicative strategies are deeply woven into the sociocultural fabric of Iranian society. Anchored in rigorous scholarship, it examines the ways in which Persian speakers manage face, navigate social hierarchies, and express solidarity or dissent through language. From the ritualized and often paradoxical practice of ta’ārof to subtle pragmatic cues that signal respect, resistance, or relational alignment, the chapters reveal how linguistic behavior reflects broader cultural values and social expectations. Bringing together leading scholars and experienced practitioners in the fields of pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and cultural studies, the volume offers a rich interdisciplinary perspective on Persian interactional norms. It investigates both everyday exchanges and institutional discourse, highlighting the dynamic interplay between language, identity, and power. By situating Persian politeness phenomena within a global framework, the book challenges Western-centric models and contributes to a more inclusive understanding of linguistic etiquette and interpersonal communication. It is an essential resource for scholars, educators, and students in the fields of pragmatics, sociolinguistics, anthropology, and cultural linguistics, in particular those interested in the politeness features of non-Western languages and the cultural dimensions of discourse.

This volume introduces Alikāyi, an Iranian language spoken on the southern fringe of the Alborz Mountains south of the Caspian Sea. The book offers a fresh perspective on Caspian linguistics. Highlighting the language’s most significant features—such as its unique possession marker, pronominal clitics in nominal morphosyntax, and an innovative verbal system marked by drift toward periphrastic constructions—the book situates Alikāyi within the wider Caspian-language continuum through typological and lexical comparisons. It also explores sociocultural, ecological, and historical dimensions of the Alikāyi tribe, providing insights into patterns of contact, migration, and identity. Texts included at the end of the volume enrich the sociolinguistic portrait and illuminate broader issues in Iranic philology, including tribal formation in medieval Persia. This concise but multifaceted study will appeal to scholars of Iranian linguistics and to researchers engaged in comparative and typological work.

This book traces the long struggle between Iran's national narrative and the competing ideological metanarratives, Islamic and Marxist, that sought to displace it, culminating in the 1979 Revolution, when the national narrative appeared defeated. Yet through social and literary resistance, it gradually regained hegemony, sustained by Persian literature, pre-Islamic civilizational heritage, and civic values that persisted beneath ideological domination. Through their novels, women writers exposed the mechanisms of female subjugation while reclaiming Iran's literary legacy, civic values, and cultural pride- helping forge what this book defines as civil society nationalism: a coherent, affirmative, and organic nationalist movement. This book situates these novels within a broader constellation of cultural resistance: suppressed arts, protest slogans, diaspora media, and the transformative energy of successive uprisings, from the reform era of 1997-2005 to the Women, Life, Freedom movement of 2022 and the Lion and Sun uprising of 2025. Together, these developments reveal how cultural memory does not merely sustain identity- it reorganizes political imagination, transforming historical continuity into collective aspiration. Theoretically, the book makes a case for narrative studies over discourse analysis as the sharper framework for understanding both the 1979 Revolution and Iran's ongoing political transformation. A national narrative is, at its core, a story: layered, dynamic, and enduring- and Iran's, though periodically interrupted, has never been extinguished. Drawing on literary studies, narrative theory, and political history, this book provides new perspectives. “A triumph for a distinguished literary historian and critic of Persian literature… a must read for modern literary critics of Persian literature.”Homa Katouzian (University of Oxford) “This splendid study is a must for anyone who is interested in Iran, her politics, her rich modern literary tradition, and the complexities of everyday life… It is rich in its selection of topics, innovative in analysis, and perceptive in contextualizing social dynamics within pivotal historical events.”Asghar Seyed-Gohrab (Utrecht University)

This volume offers a new perspective on the Zagros region literary tradition. Gurani literature boasts a collection of the region’s oldest oral and written literary traditions. Despite its significance, the repertoire and its essential function in the preservation and transmission of historical, cultural, and literal data of the Guran region’s population has mostly remained unexplored. This volume represents various Guran regions on the southeastern and southern fringes of Kurdish territory and touches upon broad themes of oral and written texts, including epics, folktales, religious texts, poetry, and romances. These detailed and ground-breaking contributions will be an invaluable source for facilitating further research on the Gurani literary tradition; as well as being a significant guide to studying its impact on Persian and Zagros region literary history. Furthermore, this work will provide the reader with a new perspective and insight into the complexity and variety of literature in the Persianate world, moving toward a more inclusive view of literature.

This three-volume work chronicles three decades of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (1628–1658). The first two volumes are by Abdul-Hamid Lahauri, and the third volume, now printed for the first time, is by Muhammad Waris. Since it is a court chronicle, the emphasis throughout is on the rise and fall of courtiers, governors, administrators, and military commanders and on incessant military campaigns in the Deccan, Bengal, and Afghanistan, but valuable details of life at court and the architecture of one of India’s most avid builders are also included. This is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Mughal India as well as those interested in Persian and Iranian studies.

This three-volume work chronicles three decades of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (1628–1658). The first two volumes are by Abdul-Hamid Lahauri, and the third volume, available for the first time, is by Muhammad Waris. Since it is a court chronicle, the emphasis throughout is on the rise and fall of courtiers, governors, administrators, and military commanders and on incessant military campaigns in the Deccan, Bengal, and Afghanistan, but valuable details of life at court and the architecture of one of India’s most avid builders are also included. This is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Mughal India as well as those interested in Persian and Iranian studies.

This three-volume work chronicles three decades of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (1628–1658). The first two volumes are by Abdul-Hamid Lahauri, and the third volume, available for the first time, is by Muhammad Waris. Since it is a court chronicle, the emphasis throughout is on the rise and fall of courtiers, governors, administrators, and military commanders and on incessant military campaigns in the Deccan, Bengal, and Afghanistan, but valuable details of life at court and the architecture of one of India’s most avid builders are also included. This is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Mughal India as well as those interested in Persian and Iranian studies.

This book analyzes Persian carpets through the holistic and multifaceted perspective of cultural linguistics and semiotics, unveiling the deep connections between art, tradition, and collective memory. Persian carpets have been admired as masterpieces of intricate craftsmanship and profound cultural symbolism throughout history. This book takes this appreciation to an entirely new level by drawing on a new analytical framework and offering a platform for future studies in cultural conceptualizations and semiotics. By weaving together elements of history, culture, and artistic expression, this book presents an innovative perspective on Persian carpets, highlighting the deep and varied cultural heritage of Iran and its enduring influence on global art and civilization. Beyond academic circles, the book serves a wide and diverse readership—from students and researchers in visual arts, cultural linguistics, semiotics, anthropology, history, sociolinguistics, and Persian studies, to art enthusiasts and general readers captivated by the cultural richness of Persian carpets. Whether viewed as a scholarly resource or a fascinating journey into Iranian artistry, this book stands as a must-read for anyone drawn to the profound meaning woven into these magnificent artifacts.

This book investigates the ethical and aesthetic implications of modern Persian narratives. While the dominant traditions of Persian narrative studies reduce all that is in the text to the telos of meaning built on historical facts, this book analyzes narrative experimentation that engages in a critical negotiation with the excesses of the presentation of life. To locate the ethical at the intersection of the narrative and aesthetic, this book articulates an ethical account of a diverse range of narratives in modern Persian Literature in order to demonstrate alternative encounters with manifestations of life, such as pain, death, and trauma. Relevant to literary students and scholars in Near Eastern Studies, and in Persian literature and comparative literature in particular, the book highlights how narrative is a product of societal kinetics.

This book is the first of its kind in providing a lexicon of kinship terms prevalent in the Western dialects of Iran, with a parallel glossary in English. It engages the dialects and their terminology in the English language to bring to purview how language imitates life, particularly in rural settings. Subsequently, it gives a glimpse into the irrefutable relation that exists between culture and word usage. In doing so, it serves as a cultural manifesto as it pertains to Persian language, poetics, and applied linguistics and is relevant to linguists, cultural scholars, Anthropologists and students in Persian language, literature, and culture and certainly all Iranian languages.