Khorasani dialect

The Khorasani (Xorasani) dialect is one of the dialects of the Persian language that some people in the historical regions of Khorasan and Qumis speak. The Khorasani dialect was spoken by the native and original people of this historical territory, which encompassed the modern-day countries of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and all the northeastern parts of Iran.

The Persian dialect of Khorasani is one of the original and important dialects of the Persian language. It is valued highly due to the large number of people who speak it and also due to the strong base that the Persian language has always had in Khorasan. Many words that were part of the Middle Persian language are still popular and have remained alive and working in Khorasani, but have been lost in other Persian dialects.

Sub-divisions
The Khorasani dialect is generally divided into two groups: Eastern Khorasani and Western Khorasani.

Eastern Khorasani (or Tajiki) is spoken in central and eastern parts of Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Western Khorasani is spoken in Khorasan Province and eastern parts of Semnan Province in Iran, and Herat and surrounding provinces in Afghanistan.

Distribution
The Khorasani Persian dialect is the only Iranian Persian dialect that is spoken outside of Iran. It is spoken in the east from Herat, from the west to the border of Mazandaran (Shahroud, Damghan), and from the north in Bojnourd. However, as we move towards the north of Khorasan, the presence of Kurdish and Turkic languages of Khorasan and the effects of these two languages on the Persian dialect of the region increases. From the south of Khorasan to the nearby city of Nehbandan, the dialects of Sistan and Kerman become more apparent.

Ivanov and Kolbasi’s Classification of Khorasani Persian
Ivanov divides the Khorasani dialects into three main groups: the northern group, which is spoken in Jovin, Sabzevar and Neishabur; the central group which is common in Tarshiz and Gonabad; and the southern group whose speakers live in Qain, Tun and Birjand. In his opinion, the difference between these three groups is very small and they cannot be considered separate dialects; In addition, these groups have borrowed many words from each other.

However, unlike Ivanov, Kolbasi places the dialects of Khorasan region under a distinct branch of the modern south western Iranian languages, with varieties including Sabzevari, Nishabori, Kashmiri, Kakhki, Qaeni and Birjandi among the dialects, while considering Mashadi as a standard dialect of standard Iranian Persian.

Numbers
Numbers in the Khorasani Persian dialect are not very different from standard Persian, but differ in pronunciation.