Sattsaev, Elbrus B.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2021. IIS 41 (80).

Abstract:
Iranian languages and dialects are spread over a vast territory. The southernmost of the
Iranian languages is Baloch. In the extreme northwest of the Iranian-speaking massif, the
Ossetian is widespread, which reaches 44 degrees north latitude. The dialectal classification of
modern Iranian languages is based on their history. Differentiation between Iranian dialects
occurred in the ancient Iranian language era. Today modern Iranian languages are divided
into two main linguistic groups: Western Iranian and Eastern Iranian. The political status of
Iranian languages is different. Most Iranian languages are unwritten and are not used in the
official sphere. A large part of Iranian languages and dialects are on the verge of extinction. The
closeness of the Iranian languages is different. Separate isoglosses of differentiation unite or, on
the contrary, alienate the Iranian languages from each other. These isoglosses surprisingly reveal
the intertwining and partial similarity or difference of the compared languages – Ossetian and
Baluch – belonging to different subgroups. The Ossetian language belongs to the northeastern
(Saka) subgroup of the Iranian languages. He is a descendant of Scythian dialects. Ossetian
is considered a developed Iranian language with a high political status. Baloch is part of the
northwestern subgroup of Iranian languages. The main region of its distribution is the historical
province of Baluchistan. The settlements of the Ossetians and Baluchis are geographically
very distant from each other. The spread of the Baloch language on the territory of modern
Baluchistan dates back to a relatively late time and is explained by the migration of the Baluchis
to the southeast of the Iranian-speaking massif. According to most scholars, the Baluchis come
from the northeastern regions of Iran, where they closely communicated with the Scythian-
Sarmatians. The Baloch language is distinguished by the presence of archaic elements. He
retained the eight-phonemic system of vocalism with the opposition of vowels in duration, which
is similar to the Digor dialect of the Ossetian language. The Baluch and Ossetian languages
have preserved an ancient lexical and grammatical fund. Both languages have lexemes that are
common. Moreover, these lexemes are absent in other Western Iranian and even Eastern Iranian
languages. Analogies are observed in the declination system of these languages. According to
the majority of Ossetian scholars, the Ossetian declension is not a continuation of the ancient
Iranian declension and is developed from its own Ossetian elements, which are similar to the
neighboring Iranian languages. In our opinion, a similar process is observed in the Baloch
language, where there is a question of the number of cases. Different scholars have the number
of allocated cases in the Baloch language ranging from three to eight, and their allocation is
based on different principles. Many similarities are observed in the system of pronouns and
adjectives in the compared languages. We can observe similarities in the verbal system of both
languages. This is a dibosity, a system of tenses, an infinitive, etc. The ancestors of the Balochi
formed in the area of the modern southeastern part of the Caspian Sea coast and Khorasan by
mixing the western and eastern Iranians. The Eastern Iranians here were the Aparni / Parni
tribe, who are considered part of the Sakas. Saki waves invaded the Parthian state that existed
here from the moment of its inception. Settling among the sedentary population, the Saks
assimilated over time. Historically, the Balochis are descendants of the Parthians. The Parthians
repeatedly clashed with the Alans, there were several wars between them, where the Parthians
were defeated. The Baloch language goes back to one of the Parthian Pahlavi dialects. In the area
of the northwestern Iranian languages, there are situations when we cannot definitely decide on
the status of a given local-linguistic variety.

Keywords: isoglossa, ossetian language, Baloch language, north-western Iranian languages, north-eastern Iranian languages, Parthians, boys, Massagets, Alans, Kerman, Baluchistan, Khorasan, case system, local form of speech, linguistic classification

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