On the Hypothesis Proposing Ancient Dialects Coexisting with Old Persian Language in Fars Province of Iran

Morgenstierne (1960) proposed a hypothesis about an ancient dialect in the south of Iran coexisting with Old Persian. As a piece of evidence for this, he pointed to the dialectal differences of words equivalent to the Persian word “šepeš” (louse) in Fars dialects, especially its difference in Kalimi and Laristani dialects compared to other dialects of Fars. Based on what was recorded as “Ө” in place of “s” in some words, Rezai Baghbidi (2003) claimed that the Shirazi dialect recorded in poems in the classical texts is reminiscent of an ancient dialect different from Old Persian. Before these two, Henning (1934) had regarded the sound “Ө” (which later changed to “t”) in some Shirazi and Manichaean words as a change of the sound “s” that must have occurred in the late middle era of the Iranian history. Finally, this discussion shows that the Old Shirazi (or Fars) dialect hypothesis faces some questions, which if not answered, result in support for Henning’s hypothesis.