Editing Persians (section)

==Anthropology==
In modern Iran, the Persians make up the majority of the population.<ref name="Congress"/> They are native speakers of the modern dialects of [[Persian language|Persian]],<ref name="glott">{{cite web |url=http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/fars1255 |title=Subfamily: Farsic |website=Glottolog |access-date=1 May 2019}}</ref> which serves as the country's official language.<ref>{{cite web |title=Iran |url=http://www.langcen.cam.ac.uk/resources/persian/persian.php |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=16 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918060805/http://www.langcen.cam.ac.uk/resources/persian/persian.php |archive-date=18 September 2012 }}</ref>

===Persian language===
{{Main|Persian language}}
{{See also|Iranian languages|Western Iranian languages}}

[[File:BehistunInscriptiondetail.jpg|thumb|[[Old Persian]] inscribed in [[Old Persian cuneiform|cuneiform]] on the [[Behistun Inscription]].]]
The Persian language belongs to the [[Western Iranian languages|western group]] of the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]]. Modern Persian is classified as a continuation of [[Middle Persian]], the official religious and literary language of the [[Sasanian Empire]], itself a continuation of [[Old Persian]], which was used by the time of the [[Achaemenid Empire]].<ref name="Lazard"/><ref name="Ammon"/><ref name="Skjærvø"/> Old Persian is one of the oldest Indo-European languages attested in original text.<ref name="Skjærvø"/> Samples of Old Persian have been discovered in present-day Iran, [[Armenia]], Egypt, [[Iraq]], [[Romania]] ([[Gherla]]),{{sfn|Kuhrt|2013|page=197}}{{sfn|Schmitt|2000|page=53}} and [[Turkey]].<ref name="OPGTL 6">{{cite book |last=Kent |first=R. G. |title=Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon |page=6 |publisher=American Oriental Society |year=1950}}</ref> The oldest attested text written in Old Persian is from the [[Behistun Inscription]],<ref name=s2008-80-1>{{Harv|Schmitt|2008|pp=80–1}}</ref> a multilingual inscription from the time of Achaemenid ruler [[Darius the Great]] carved on a cliff in western Iran.

===Related groups===
{{See also|Iranian peoples|Iranian nationalism}}
There are several ethnic groups and communities that are either ethnically or linguistically related to the Persian people, living predominantly in Iran, and also within Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Turkey, Iraq, and the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2005 |title=SociolinguistEssex X – 2005 |publisher=Essex University |page=10 |url=http://www.essex.ac.uk/langling/documents/slx/slx_x_programme.pdf |access-date=29 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014181639/http://www.essex.ac.uk/langling/documents/slx/slx_x_programme.pdf |archive-date=14 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Tajiks]] are a people native to [[Tajikistan]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]] who speak Persian in a variety of dialects.<ref name="Iranica-Tajiks"/> The Tajiks of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are native speakers of [[Tajik language|Tajik]], which is the official language of Tajikistan, and those in Afghanistan speak [[Dari language|Dari]], one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.

The [[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tat people]], an Iranian people native to the Caucasus (primarily living in the [[Azerbaijan|Republic of Azerbaijan]] and the Russian republic of [[Dagestan]]), speak a language ([[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat language]]) that is closely related to Persian.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gruenberg |first=Alexander |year=1966 |title=Tatskij jazyk |editor-last=Vinogradov |editor-first=V. V. |encyclopedia=Jazyki narodov SSSR |volume=1: Indoevropejskie jazyki |pages=281–301 |quote=The Tat language belongs to the Southwest group of Iranian languages and is close in its grammatical structure and lexical content to the Persian and Tajik languages.}}</ref> The origin of the Tat people is traced to an Iranian-speaking population that was resettled in the Caucasus by the time of the Sasanian Empire.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=R. |editor-last=Khanam |title=Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia |volume=1: P-Z |publisher=Global Vision Publishing House |year=2005 |page=746 |quote=The contemporary Tats are the descendants of an Iranian-speaking population sent out of Persia by the dynasty of the Sasanids in the fifth to sixth centuries.}}</ref><ref name="Gernot Windfuhr 1979. pg 4">{{cite book |first=Gernot |last=Windfuhr |title=Persian Grammar: history and state of its study |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1979 |page=4 |quote=(...) Tat- Persian spoken in the East Caucasus (...)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dalby |first1=Andrew |title=Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1408102145 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dHNCgAAQBAJ |quote=(...) and Tat (a variety of Persian) (...)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Windfuhr |first1=Genot |title=Iranian Languages |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135797041 |page=417 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtpQZ1DD6tEC |quote=The Northwestern outpost of Persian is Caucasian Tat Persian (...)}}</ref><ref>V. Minorsky, "Tat" in M. Th. Houtsma et al., eds., The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples, 4 vols. and Suppl., Leiden: Late E.J. Brill and London: Luzac, 1913–38.
"Like most Persian dialects, Tati is not very regular in its characteristic features (...)".</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=21 |issue=1 |date=January 2010 |pages=147–151 |publication-date=4 March 2010 |first=C. |last=Kerslake |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=It is a comparison of the verbal systems of three varieties of Persian—standard Persian, Tat, and Tajik (...)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |title=Tabari Language Materials from Il'ya Berezin's Recherches sur les dialectes persans |first=Habib |last=Borjian |year=2006 |publisher=Brill |volume=10 |number=2 |pages=243–258 |quote=It embraces Gilani, Ta- lysh, Tabari, Kurdish, Gabri, and the Tati Persian of the Caucasus, all but the last belonging to the north-western group of Iranian language. |doi=10.1163/157338406780346005}}</ref>

The [[Lurs]], an ethnic Iranian people native to western Iran, are often associated with the Persians and the [[Kurds]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard N. |title=Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, Part 3, Volume 7 |year=1983 |publisher=Beck |isbn=978-3406093975 |page=29}}</ref> They speak various dialects of the [[Luri language]], which is considered to be a descendant of [[Middle Persian]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-xxi-provincial-dialects |title=Isfahan xxi. PROVINCIAL DIALECTS |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |volume=XIV |pages=93–112 |date=5 April 2012 |first=Donald |last=Stilo}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=C.S. |last=Coon |title=Iran: Demography and Ethnography |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam |volume=IV |publisher=E.J. Brill |pages=8–10}}</ref><ref name="EIS">{{cite encyclopedia |first=C.S. |last=Coon |title=Iran |chapter=Demography and Ethnography |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |volume=IV |publisher=E.J. Brill |pages=10–8 |quote=The Lurs speak an aberrant form of Archaic Persian (...)}}</ref>

The [[Hazaras]], making up the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/ |title=Afghanistan – The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=17 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2011/11/2011111284512336838.html |title=Hazara community finds safe haven in Peshawar |publisher=Al Jazeera English |date=12 November 2011 |access-date=13 November 2011 |first=Kamal |last=Hyder}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |title=Country Profile: Afghanistan |publisher=Library of Congress |date=August 2008 |access-date=5 May 2019}}</ref> speak a variety of Persian by the name of [[Hazaragi]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hazara-4 |title=HAZĀRA iv. Hazāragi dialect |access-date=5 June 2014 |date=20 March 2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |first=Charles M. |last=Kieffer |pages=90–93 |volume=XII}}</ref> which is more precisely a part of the Dari dialect continuum.<ref>{{cite book |first=Franz |last=Schurmann |year=1962 |title=The Mongols of Afghanistan: An Ethnography of the Moghôls and Related Peoples of Afghanistan |publisher=Mouton |location=The Hague, Netherlands |page=17 |oclc=401634}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1224&context=theses |last=Jamal |first=Abedin |title=Attitudes Toward Hazaragi |year=2010 |publisher=Theses |page=217 |access-date=5 May 2019}}</ref> The [[Aimaq people|Aimaq]]s, a semi-nomadic people native to Afghanistan,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Janata |first=A. |editor-first=Ehsan |editor-last=Yarshater |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=AYMĀQ |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aymaq-turk |edition=Online |publisher=Columbia University |location=United States}}</ref> speak a variety of Persian by the name of [[Aimaq dialect|Aimaqi]], which also belongs to the Dari dialect continuum.<ref name="glott"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Aimaq |url=http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Aimaq.html |encyclopedia=World Culture Encyclopedia |publisher=everyculture.com |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref>

Persian-speaking communities native to modern Arab countries are generally designated as ''Ajam'',<ref name="Islam Today"/> including the [[Ajam of Bahrain]], the [[Ajam of Iraq]], and the [['Ajam of Kuwait|Ajam of Kuwait]].

The [[Parsis]] are a Zoroastrian community of Persian descent who migrated to [[South Asia]], to escape religious persecution after the fall of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marashi |first=Afshin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDHnDwAAQBAJ |title=Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India & the Making of Modern Iran |date=2020-06-08 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-1-4773-2082-2 |language=en}}</ref> They have had a significant role in the development of India, [[Pakistan]] and [[Sri Lanka]], and also played a role in the development of [[Iranian nationalism]] during the late Qajar years and Pahlavi dynasty.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ringer |first=Monica M. |title=Iranian Nationalism and Zoroastrian Identity |date=2012 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137013408_13 |work=Iran Facing Others: Identity Boundaries in a Historical Perspective |pages=267–277 |editor-last=Amanat |editor-first=Abbas |access-date=2023-03-17 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137013408_13 |isbn=978-1-137-01340-8 |editor2-last=Vejdani |editor2-first=Farzin}}</ref> They are primarily located in the western regions of India principally the states of [[Gujarat]] and [[Maharashtra]], with smaller communities in other parts of India and in South and Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palsetia |first=Jesse S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC |title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City |date=2001-01-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-12114-0 |language=en}}</ref> They speak a dialect version of [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], and no longer speak in Persian.<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Palsetia |first1=Jesse S. |title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City |date=2001 |publisher=Brill |page=13}}</ref> They do however continue to use [[Avestan]] as their liturgical language.<ref name="Brill"/> The Parsis have adapted many practices and tendencies of the Indian groups that surrounded them, such as Indian dress norms, and the observance of many Indian festivals and ceremonies.<ref name="Brill"/>