A Comparative Study of Phonological Transformation in Gathas and Yazdi Zoroastrian Dialect

Gathas is ancient scriptures from Zoroaster which is a priceless treasure left behind by ancient Iranians. In this paper, the words of the first seven chapters (Chapters 28-34) of the seventeen chapters of Gathas were studied in terms of phonological transformation process, and in some cases in terms of etymology, phonology, and grammar. It is a descriptive, analytical, documentary and comparative study. Regarding the consonants, the study showed the main and stable form of ancient consonants and their transformations over time. Meanwhile, grammatical points, real forms of ancient consonants, and the subsequent transformations in the course of history were examined in three periods: Old Persian, Middle Persian, and contemporary Persian. In some cases, the study mentioned and compared the persistence and transformation of ancient consonants in the dialect of Muslims and Zoroastrians in Yazd. Consequently, the transformation of consonants from old period to the middle and contemporary period tended to reduction process. The results showed that the consonants have transformed more in Yazdi Muslim dialect and standard dialect rather than Yazdi Zoroastrian dialect. In Gathas and ancient scriptures, phonological transformation of phonemes /t/ to /d/, /p/ to /f/, /v/ to /b/ had higher frequency in Old Persian and Middle Persian compared to contemporary Persian.