Differences in Dari & Farsi
Persian culture remains a mystery to many in the West because of its ancient history, art and culture. Perhaps the best way to learn is to delve into language. A study of Dari and Farsi, two branches of the Persian language, gives insight into the richness and nuance of the culture. Despite their common origin, Dari and Farsi are quite different, with one stemming from an ancient tribe of mystics and another being the official language of Iran, or present-day Persia.
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Origins of Dari
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Dari originated as the language of the ancient Persian Zoroastrians, a mystical religious sect that was founded in the 6th century B.C. Common to the Yazd and Kerman regions of Persia, traditional Dari differs from Farsi mainly in intonation and the purposes for which it is spoken. The Dari Language Project, sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley, seeks to preserve Dari. It cautions that Dari may be among thousands of languages expected to die out by the end of the century. Two million Iranians speak Dari, according to the website Farsinet.
Origins of Farsi
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Farsi is the modern incarnation of the Persian language. Rather than consisting strictly of Persian or Iranian words, Farsi borrows words from several languages, including French, English and Italian, says Fariborz Rahnamoon of the Iran Chamber Society. Farsi remains the official language of Iran, and is also widely spoken in Afghanistan. (A dialect of Dari is also spoken in Afghanistan, but differs dramatically from the original.) There are 60 million Farsi speakers in Iran, according to Farsinet.
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Major Differences
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Necessity bore the first forms of Dari and Farsi, though for different reasons. The website Afghanistan Online describes Dari as being a court language, meaning that it was used in everyday conversation by the common people. Farsi, on the other hand, was used for written and scholarly work. They note that the original versions were similar but evolved away from each other over time.
Common Roots, Different Sound
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Although Farsi is the most widely spoken Persian language at present, most Iranian Farsi and Afghan Dari speakers acknowledge their common roots, according to the website Elam. They share the modernized Arabic alphabet, but the Dari sound is more similar to northern Indian languages than it is to Farsi.
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References
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