2014 Articles

The Balochi dialect of the Korosh

Borjian, Habib

Koroshi is the Balochi dialect spoken by the Korosh (Koroš), a group associated with the Qashqa’i tribes of Fārs in southwestern Iran. Entirely isolated from the main body of the Baloch habitat, Koroshi distinguishes itself in grammar and lexicon among Balochi varieties. The phonology of Koroshi demonstrates a solid Balochi pedigree but not without major mutations. Likewise, the nominal case-number system of Koroshi shows significant deviation from most other Balochi dialects. In verb morphosyntax a salient peculiarity is the coexistence of two parallel systems of the imperfective, which appear to be stabilising in an evolutionary process of the Koroshi aspect system. Borrowing from the neighbouring languages is salient in the lexical domain, where Persian, the Fārs dialects, and Qashqa’i Turkish each play a part as the source language. Given all these peculiarities the degree of mutual intelligibility between Koroshi and other Balochi dialects is yet to be established.