Socio-linguistic Variables of the Persian Language in Nehbandani Dialect: Consonants

This study concerns the relationship between social variables such as sex, age, and education and linguistic (homophonic) variables of the Persian language in the Nahbandani Dialect. The linguistic variables in the speech of 24 very young, young, and old speakers of the dialect were identified. The results of the study showed that level of education, as a social variable, did not reduce the use of nonstandard forms, but distinguished literate old participants from the illiterate ones. Moreover, men’s speech was found to be closer to the standard speech. In cases where women’s speech tended to be closer to the standard dialect, the difference between men’s and women’s speech was insignificant and the role of age was not distinctive. The increase in the age of the adolescents having literate parents and literate adults correlated with the increase in the use of standard linguistic forms. In adolescent groups, sex turned out to be an insignificant factor in half of the linguistic variables under study.