Perry J.R. A Tajik Persian Reference Grammar. - Leiden-Boston:
Brill, 2005. - 522p.
Preface
This work aims to provide quick, easy, and comprehensive access to the grammatical structures of Tajik Persian of Central Asia, as used in writing and educated speech from the early years of the twentieth century onward. The detailed lists of contents and tables, plus three separate indexes, will enable users at any level of competence, whether familiar with the Cyrillic or the Perso-Arabic writing system, to find a particular paradigm or syntagm with illustrations of usage. The range and types of Tajik exemplified and the approach and procedures employed here are described in the first three sections of the Introduction; grammatical terms and abbreviations used are defined in the last three sections.
Tajik Persian has been changing rapidly in the past three generations. This is partly a response to natural processes as its speakers come to grips with political and social upheavals; partly due to the influence of Uzbek, Russian and other foreign languages; and in particular the result of two waves of govement-sponsored linguistic engineering. It is one of the objects of this grammar to note aspects of these changes, the better to meet the various needs of scholars and students as this remarkable language approaches its centenary (or, from a broader perspective, the fifth decade of its second millennium).
My debt to the work of other scholars may be gauged from the Bibliography; Gilbert Lazard, Lutz Rzehak, and Geot Windfuhr merit particular mention for personal help and encouragement beyond their publications. I am happy to acknowledge an award from the U. S. Department of Education under the Title VI Inteational Research and Studies Program during 2002-03, which enabled me to undertake this project unencumbered by academic duties. Sincere thanks are due to several Tajik friends and colleagues for direct and indirect assistance with grammatical points, notably Gulnora Aminova, Azim Baizoyev, and especially Hadiya Nazirova. I am particularly grateful to multiliterate metagrammarian Judith Wilks for her meticulous copy-editing and
proofing, and for applying a user's perspective to some potentially opaque passages. The expert advice of Brill's editor, and of the anonymous reader, provided a further safety net. Any shortcomings in the final product are to be laid at my door alone.
Chicago, September 2004
Preface
This work aims to provide quick, easy, and comprehensive access to the grammatical structures of Tajik Persian of Central Asia, as used in writing and educated speech from the early years of the twentieth century onward. The detailed lists of contents and tables, plus three separate indexes, will enable users at any level of competence, whether familiar with the Cyrillic or the Perso-Arabic writing system, to find a particular paradigm or syntagm with illustrations of usage. The range and types of Tajik exemplified and the approach and procedures employed here are described in the first three sections of the Introduction; grammatical terms and abbreviations used are defined in the last three sections.
Tajik Persian has been changing rapidly in the past three generations. This is partly a response to natural processes as its speakers come to grips with political and social upheavals; partly due to the influence of Uzbek, Russian and other foreign languages; and in particular the result of two waves of govement-sponsored linguistic engineering. It is one of the objects of this grammar to note aspects of these changes, the better to meet the various needs of scholars and students as this remarkable language approaches its centenary (or, from a broader perspective, the fifth decade of its second millennium).
My debt to the work of other scholars may be gauged from the Bibliography; Gilbert Lazard, Lutz Rzehak, and Geot Windfuhr merit particular mention for personal help and encouragement beyond their publications. I am happy to acknowledge an award from the U. S. Department of Education under the Title VI Inteational Research and Studies Program during 2002-03, which enabled me to undertake this project unencumbered by academic duties. Sincere thanks are due to several Tajik friends and colleagues for direct and indirect assistance with grammatical points, notably Gulnora Aminova, Azim Baizoyev, and especially Hadiya Nazirova. I am particularly grateful to multiliterate metagrammarian Judith Wilks for her meticulous copy-editing and
proofing, and for applying a user's perspective to some potentially opaque passages. The expert advice of Brill's editor, and of the anonymous reader, provided a further safety net. Any shortcomings in the final product are to be laid at my door alone.
Chicago, September 2004