Editing Avestan (section)

===Liturgical Avestan===
{{See also|Avesta#History}}

Both Old and Young Avestan texts are assumed to have been composed by their respective native speakers and were possibly updated and revised for an extended period of time. At two different times, however, they became fixed, purely [[sacred language|liturgical]], languages and were transmitted by an [[oral tradition]].{{Sfn|Skjaervø |2011|loc=p. 59: "Originally, this orally transmitted corpus must have been continuously updated linguistically as the spoke language evolved. Twice during this transmission, however, it was decided by priests that the text was no longer to be changed, but was to be preserved in the linguistic form it had at that time"}} Scholars like [[Jean Kellens|Kellens]], [[Prods Oktor Skjærvø|Skjærvø]] and [[Karl Hoffmann (linguist)|Hoffman]] have identified a number of distinct stages of this transmission and how they changed the Avestan during its use as the sacred language of Zoroastrianism.{{Sfn|Hoffmann|1989a|loc="Every Avestan text, whether composed originally in Old Avestan or in Young Avestan, went through several stages of transmission before it was recorded in the extant manuscripts. During the course of transmission many changes took place"}}{{Sfn|Kellens|1998}}{{Sfn|Skjaervø |2009|loc=p. 46}}

In the first stage, Old Avestan would have become the liturgical language of the early Zoroastrian community as described in the Young Avestan texts.{{Sfn|Skjaervø |2009|loc=p. 46}} [[Karl Hoffmann (linguist)|Karl Hoffmann]] for instance identifies changes introduced due to slow [[Cantillation|chanting]], the insertion of Young Avestan phonetic features into the material, attempts at standardizations as well as other editorial changes.{{Sfn|Hoffmann|Forssman|1996|loc=p. 34}} The Young Avestan texts, however, were still produced, recomposed, and handed down during this time in a fluid oral tradition.{{Sfn|Hintze|2014|loc="Like other parts of the Avesta, including Young Avestan sections of the Yasna, Visperad, Vidēvdād, and Khorde Avesta, the Yašts were produced throughout the Old Iranian period in the oral culture of priestly composition, which was alive and productive as long as the priests were able to master the Avestan language."}}

In the next stage, the Young Avestan texts crystallized as well meaning that both the Young and Old Avestan texts became the fixed, liturgical literature of non-Avestan Zoroastrian communities.{{Sfn|Skjaervø|2011|loc=p. 59: "The Old Avestan texts were crystallized, perhaps, some time in the late second millennium BCE, while the Young Avestan texts, including the already crystallized Old Avesta, were themselves, perhaps, crystallized under the Acheamenids, when Zoroastrianism became the religion of the kings"}} The transmission of this literature largely took place in Western Iran as evidenced by alterations introduced by native Persian speakers.{{Sfn|Hoffmann |1989b|loc=p. 90: "Mazdayasnische Priester, die die Avesta-Texte rezitieren konnten, müssen aber in die Persis gelangt sein. Denn es ist kein Avesta-Text außerhalb der südwestiranischen, d.h. persischen Überlieferung bekannt[...]. Wenn die Überführung der Avesta-Texte, wie wir annehmen, früh genug vonstatten ging, dann müssen diese Texte in zunehmendem Maße von nicht mehr muttersprachlich avestisch sprechenden Priestern tradiert worden sein"}} In addition, different scholars have tried to identify other dialects that may have impacted the pronunciation of certain Avestan features during the transmission, possibly before they reached [[Persis|Persia]].{{Sfn|Hoffmann|1989a}} Some Young Avestan texts, like the [[Vendidad]], show ungrammatical features and may have been partly recomposed by non-Avestan speakers.{{Sfn|Schmitt|2000|loc=p. 26: "Andere Texte sind von sehr viel geringerem Rang und zeigen eine sehr uneinheitliche und oft grammatisch fehlerhafte Sprache, die deutlich verrät, daß die Textverfasser oder -kompilatoren sie gar nicht mehr verstanden haben"}}

The purely oral transmission came to an end during the 5th or 6th century CE, when the Avestan corpus was committed to written form. This was achieved through the creation of the [[Avestan alphabet]] resulting in the [[Sasanian Avesta]].{{sfn|Schmitt|2000|loc=p. 22}} Despite this, the post Sasanian written transmission saw a further deterioration of the Avestan texts. A large portion of the literature was lost after the 10th century BCE{{sfn|Boyce|1984|p=3}} and the surviving texts show signs of incorrect pronunciations and copying errors.{{Sfn|Hoffmann|1989a}}

Many phonetic features cannot be ascribed with certainty to a particular stage since there may be more than one possibility. Every phonetic form that can be ascribed to the Sas<!-- this is inside a literal quotation -->anian archetype on the basis of critical assessment of the manuscript evidence must have gone through the stages mentioned above so that "Old Avestan" and "Young Avestan" really mean no more than "Old Avestan and Young Avestan of the [[Sasanid Empire|Sas<!-- this is inside a literal quotation -->anian period]]".{{Sfn|Hoffmann|1989a}}