In this book, the author presents the first inventory of research done in Persian on Iranian languages and dialects (excluding Persian). Aside from linguistic works, it also includes publications in Iranian languages and dialects, i.e., local dialect poetry and folklore and publications on these. Since Iranian national dialectology has seen an enormous upsurge during the last two or three decades, and because publications from before 1980 are sufficiently known to international scholarship, this work concentrates on books and articles published after 1980 and contains approximately 3,600 titles. Most of these concern Iranian languages and dialects spoken in Iran, such as Taleshi, Gilaki, Semnani, Kurdish or Lori (altogether, 27 languages or dialect groups). Aside from this, local varieties of Persian, historical dialects such as that of the Fahlaviyyat poetry, and non-Iranian minority languages and dialects such as Azeri Turkic or Arabic are also covered. Iranian languages and dialects spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, or works published there, are also considered, but constitute only a small part of the publications.

The volume aims to make accessible to international scholarship the diversity and richness of Persian publications on and in Iranian languages and dialects. The arrangement of the 27 linguistic groups follows a combination of genetic and areal/regional features that is explained in the introduction. The publications relating to each of these groups are divided into generalities, phonology, morphology/syntax, lexicon, and literature, sometimes with additional subdivisions. Each title is translated, or its main contents are summarized. The systematic part of the bibliography is supplemented by an alphabetical inventory (according to the authors' names). The introduction also offers an account of Iranian dialectology, with its history and main concepts, and is followed by an overview of recent non-Persian scholarship on Iranian languages and dialects. The volume concludes with an index of all names of places, tribes, and languages that occur in it.

The work presented here is the first of its kind and breaks new ground in Iranian dialectology and bibliography. It aims to provide a reference work for all disciplines that are interested in the languages spoken in Iran: Iranian, Turkic, Semitic and Kurdish studies. The comprehensive coverage of literature in minority languages and dialects also has the potential to provide new impulses to literary and folklore studies in these disciplines.

Ludwig Paul

1963 Born in Munich
1985-86 Studying Linguistics and Islamic Studies at Bonn University
1985-95 Studying Iranian Studies and Linguistics in Bonn, Göttingen, Peshawar (Pakistan)
and Tehran (Iran); PhD in Iranistik, University of Göttingen
1995-96 Post-doc fellow at the Van Leer Institute (Jerusalem)
1996-2003 Assistant Professor, University of Göttingen
2002 Post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) in Iranistik, University of Göttingen
2003- Professor of Iranian Studies, University of Hamburg
2011/16/21 Visiting Professorships in Jerusalem (Israel) and Yerevan (Armenia)

Main areas of research: 1. Iranian Historical Linguistics, with a focus on the history of Persian; 2. West Iranian Dialectology, with a focus on Kurdish and Kurdoid languages