First Part: Introduction (1 hour) - At the beginning of the class, we will learn about the Indo-European language family and its Indo-Iranian subbranch, and who were the pioneers that laid the foundations of our knowledge of this branch and what was the process by which their studies progressed. It will be explained in linguistic terms how the Iranian and Indian branches are correlated to each other.
Brake (15 minutes).
The second part (45-50 min.) - In the second part of the class, our attention will focus on the Iranian branch's internal divisions. As we know, Iranian languages are divided into two major groups, East and West Iranian, which are further divided into northern and southern subgroups. During the class, the phonetic principles that govern those divisions and many further explanations will be provided.
Discussion (30 min.) - At the end of the class, students will be familiarised with the scholarly literature related to the issue. They will have an opportunity to ask their questions and points of interest related to the topic. After that, they will be assigned a homework article/s to read at home.
Literature:
Korn, A. (2016). A partial tree of Central Iranian: A new look at Iranian subphyla. Indogermanische Forschungen, De Gruyter, 2016, 121 (1), pp.401-434.
Paul, L. (1998). The Position of Zazaki among West Iranian Languages. In Nicholas Sims-Williams (ed.), Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies held in Cambridge, 11th to 15th September 1995. Part I: Old and Middle Iranian Studies, 163-177.
Schmitt, R. (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1989.