Tāleshi Indications in Tāti Districts of Khalkhāl

Although Tāleshi and Tāti of Khalkhāl are two dialects that have affected each other in various levels, the degree of this effect in different places are not the same. In fact the very closeness of the two dialects has been a major reason for impossibility of drawing clear borderlines between them. It happens that Tāti varieties can be seen in the heart of Tāleshi districts, or Tāleshi varieties are found in the center of Tāti districts. Askestān and Asbu, as villages of Shāhrood region of Khakhāl, are located on the way Tālesh- Shāhrood, being tightly linked with Tālesh, but unfortunately this fact has been neglected in linguistic researches. This article postulates that Askestāni and Asbui, in spite of the dominant belief, are varieties of Tāleshi. This claim is supported by focusing on linguistic characteristics of Tāti and Tāleshi, the history of the interrelation between the two dialects, geographical parameters of the area, as well as the phonological, morphological, and lexical examples.