Iranian languages |
Iranian | |
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Iranic | |
Ethnicity | |
Geographic distribution | |
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Proto-language | |
Subdivisions | |
ira | |
58= (phylozone) | |
![]() Countries and areas where an Iranian language has official status or is spoken by a majority |
Part of |
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Archaeology Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India |
Peoples and societies Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian |
The Iranian or Iranic languages[2][3] are a branch of the
The Iranian languages are grouped in three stages: Old Iranian (until 400 BC), Middle Iranian (400 BC – 900 AD), and New Iranian (since 900 AD). The two directly attested Old Iranian languages are
As of 2008, there were an estimated 150–200 million native speakers of the Iranian languages.[4]
The term Iranian is applied to any language which descends from the ancestral
This use of the term for the Iranian language family was introduced in 1836 by
The Iranian languages are divided into the following branches: