Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 25, 2026

Sangsari language

Sangsari or Sangisari is an Iranian language spoken mainly in the Semnan and Tehran provinces of Iran, especially in the Sangesar town and in several surrounding villages. There are around 50,000 Sangsari speakers.

Last revised
Jun 25, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
521 w
Citations
20
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Sangsari
سنگسری‎, Sangesari
Native toSemnan, Mazanderan, Tehran, Golestan & Markazi provinces of Iran
RegionElburz
EthnicitySemnani
Native speakers
43,000 (2021)1
Persian alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3sgr
Glottologsang1315
ELPSangisari

Sangsari or Sangisari is an Iranian language spoken mainly in the Semnan and Tehran provinces of Iran, especially in the Sangesar (Mahdi Shehr) town and in several surrounding villages. There are around 50,000 Sangsari speakers.2

Classification

Ethnologue classifies Sangsari in the Semnani group of Northwestern Iranian languages that also includes Lasgerdi, Semnani, and Sorkhei.3 Glottolog classifies the Sangsari language within the Komisenian subgroup of the Northwest Iranian branch of the Iranian languages.4 Glottolog's classification has also been adopted by Wiktionary.5 Whereas the Komisenian languages consist of Sangsari, Lasgerdi, Sorkhei and Aftari languages6 the Semnani languages consist of Semnani and Biyabuneki.7 Sangsari is also, linguistically, close to Zaza, spoken in Anatolia.891011 Jost Gippert classifies Sangsari, Zaza and Balochi together within the Hyrcanian subgroup.9

Phonology

The vowels of Sangsari are /a, aː, e, eː, i, o, oː, u, uː/. The consonants are the same as in Persian.12

Grammar

Sangisari, similar to Semnani, Zaza and Tati, has a two-gender, case and ergative system. It distinguishes two numbers in pronouns, singular and plural, and marks two cases, the direct (nominative) and the oblique and distinguishes between masculine and feminine in the third person singular for both the direct and oblique case.1314

Pronouns

English Sangsari Semnani Zaza Tatia Tatib Tatic Tatid Tatie
i a a ez az az az az az
you tö tö tı ta ta tö ta tə
he nö u o o u a a av
she nā una a oa ua ā aya ava
we ham hamā mā amā ǰema čama amā âmâ
you xā šemā šımā šomā šemā šəma šömā šâmâ
they anun uni ê/inā o unehā āhā ay avə
See also

See also

notes

  1. Hazārrūdi
  2. Alviri-Vidari
  3. Eštehārdi
  4. Cālī
  5. Khalkhali
References

References

  1. Sangsari at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. Ethnologue listing for Sangisari
  3. Ethnologue listing of Semnani languages
  4. "Glottolog 4.4 - Komisenian".
  5. "Category:Komisenian languages - Wiktionary". 19 April 2019.
  6. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Komisenian". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  7. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Semnani-Biyabuneki". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  8. Selcan, Zülfü (1998). Grammatik der Zaza-Sprache, Nord-Dialekt (Dersim-Dialekt). Berlin: Wissenschaft und Technik Verlag. pp. 42, 50–52.
  9. "Die iranischen Sprachen: Hyrkanische Gruppe". Zazaki.de. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  10. Lecoq, P. (1989) Le classement des langues irano-aryennes occidentales, in: C.-H. de Fouchecour I Pb. Gignoux (Hg.), Etudes irano-aryennes offertes a Gilbert Lazard, Paris pp. 247-264.
  11. Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1995). "DIALECTOLOGY". Encyclopaedia Iranica. VII (4): 362–370.
  12. Lecoq, pg. 309.
  13. Lecoq, Pierre (1989). "Les Dialectes Caspiens Et Les Dialectes Du Nord-ouest De L'iran". In Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum (in French). Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. 301, 309, 314, 318. ISBN 3-88226-413-6.
  14. کلباسی, ایران (2005). "ویژگی‌های شاخص گویش سمنانی" [The Main Characteristics of Semnani Dialect] (PDF). Language and Linguistics. 1 (2): 140.

Pierre Lecoq. 1989. "Les dialectes caspiens et les dialectes du nord-ouest de l'Iran," Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Ed. Rüdiger Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. Pages 296–314.