Recognition of the Linguistic- Geographical Distribution of Lori Language Varieties in Three Provinces of Hamadan, Lorestan and Khuzestan: Using a Dialectometric Approach

Subject Areas : Linguistics,dialectology,folklore,literature

Shiva Piryaee ¹ (Linguistics Department Assistant, Encyclopedia of Iranian Languages and Dialects, The Center for The Great Islamic Encyclopedia)

Received: 2023-07-13 Accepted : 2023-09-18 Published : 2023-08-23

Keywords:

Abstract :

In this research, the linguistic data of 80 locations in the geographical area of southern Hamadan province, Lorestan province, and northern Khuzestan province have been studied by using a mapping and dialectometric software package (Gabmap) and Levenshtein's distance algorithm. The aim of this study is to obtain a concise clustering of the common language varieties in the region and how they relate to each other by drawing maps, plots, and diagrams, and finally to obtain an image of the linguistic and ethnological status of the residents of the area. The required data of this research includes 100 words that were collected by field and library methods from 80 native speakers; therefore a total of 8000 words were measured in this study. As a result of this research, three main language varieties of Northern Lori, Lori Bakhtiari and Laki were identified in the area. According to this research, five subclusters (Northern Lori A, North Lori B1, North Lori B2, Lori Bakhtiari A and Lori Bakhtiari B) were identified. These subclusters are different from the previous classifications of Lori varieties and are distributed in the geographical area as a linguistic continuum. Examining the phonetic and lexical alternations of the data in this research also confirms the continuous nature of these language varieties.