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Standartisation or Vernacularisation? Parsi Newspapers and Journals in the 19th Century

Presenter:

· Anton Zykov-Genke Inalco - Goethe University (Moscow, Russia)

Timeslot:

07/27 | 16:10-16:30 UTC+2/CEST

Abstract

The current scholarship believes that the contemporary vernacular language of Indian Zoroastrians, known as Parsi Gujarati, was coined within just three decades of the mid-19th century as a result of work by the “Parsi authors… [who] engrafted on the literary Gujarati of the 1850s, with which they were familiar, English words and derivatives of Gujarati words that only their inadequate knowledge of the language could devise”(1). My paper intends to test this statement while making use of the materials from Gujarati literary journals and newspapers published and edited by Parsis starting from 1820s, such as Rāst Goftār, Jam-e Jamshed or, most notably, Pārsī Prakāś. The proposed presentation will endeavour to understand the extent to which the development of Gujarati-language publications influenced the standardisation of the Parsi vernacular language via imposing “pure” or shudh Gujarati conventions on the Parsi speech. Simultaneously it will inquire if this process vice versa contributed to the creation of a specific Parsi language/dialect?

The paper will further attempt to bring into discussion the Persian (including pre-Islamic) genres and canons employed by Gujarati-language Parsi press. It will elaborate on the subsequent impact these literary patterns and frameworks had in shaping the perception of Parsi Gujarati by the community itself as well as outside scholars.

(1) JamaspAsa, Kaikhusroo Minocher. “GUJARATI – Encyclopaedia Iranica.” Accessed November 16, 2019.