Documentation:Larestani Language Knowledgebase

Larestani Language Knowledgebase

The Lārestāni Language

Lārestāni is an undocumented language belonging to the group of South-Western Iranian languages, as a descendent of Middle Persian (Moridi 335). It is spoken principally in the southern region of the Fars province in Iran in the cities of Evaz, Fishvar, Gerash, Khonj, and Lar among others, as well as in the Bastak County of the Hormozgan Province (Moridi and Ourang 189). There are further dialects of the language, where differences are mostly seen in the pronunciation, however some morphological differences may also be noted, and the dialects are typically named after the city/region they are spoken in. The speech community extends beyond the Fars province, with speaking populations in the Hormozgan Province, as well as in Gulf-Arab countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (Moridi and Ourang 189). The language is known by other names, as well; including Lari, Khodmooni, and Achomi. There is no consistency in the naming of the language currently, which poses challenges for unifying the state of knowledge.

The Project

Although I was aware of the presence and the circulation of different materials regarding my heritage language, I often found it extremely hard to locate resources and to then gain access to them. Sometimes, bibliographies such as Glottolog are not entirely comprehensive or kept up to date and to further complicate this, they may not consider grey literature or other web resources among the sources that they collate, which poses some difficulty in assessing the depth and breadth of available material. The aim of this project is to develop a knowledgebase collating the resources and related language materials available on the underdocumented Lārestāni language spoken in the Fars province of Iran and any supplementary cultural/social materials.

The creation of a resource such as this provides community members with an overview of the available literature, and insight into how those resources can then be accessed. In doing so, not only could resources be made more accessible to the community but creating such a knowledgebase can help identify gaps in the literature for future work. The platform has been designed as a platform that can be continually updated and modified as more resources are located or access has been gained to them.

This resource is by no means entirely comprehensive as of yet, as I am continuing to locate and access materials and as other individuals continue to produce research and resources for Lārestāni. It primarily serves as a starting point for a space wherein these materials can be compiled and continuously updated that is accessible for community members to use or to contribute to.

Navigating the Resource

The present database has been organized according to two primary categories relating to the type of content: 1. Linguistic Resources and 2. Cultural Resources. The former outlines a list of texts and web resources to do specifically with the language itself, as well as secondary sources that do not directly investigate the Lārestāni Language - including reviews of other work. The Cultural Resources include peer-reviewed texts and other web resources that address Lārestānī culture, land, and/or people but do not necessarily deal with linguistics.

The resources have been listed chronologically in order to follow the progress and process of research and other resources that have been presented with regards to Lārestāni. Within these, each resource can be clicked on to open a page on the individual document that includes relevant metadata, such as the title of the publication, author, publisher, year of publication, language alongside information on how and where the resource was accessed. Links have been provided for material that is available online and in a digital format.

The Methodology tab details the process behind the creation of this resource and how resources were compiled in order to make this process more transparent for others wishing to contribute to this ongoing knowledgebase or those wanting to create similar resources for their own communities and languages.

Contact Information

Hello! My name is Fatemeh Ghayedi and I'm a native speaker of Lārestānī from Akbarābād in the Central District of Khonj, Fars Province, Iran.

This resource is meant to be a useful place for community members to survey the resources available on our heritage language, and along with this, to be a space for cultivating community engagement. The knowledge-base presented here is not a comprehensive and all-encompassing resource but rather a starting point to compile the resources available on our language, culture, and people; so that it is more easily and readily accessible to our community. With this being said, any suggestions or additions to the knowledge-base are welcome and appreciated, as well as any questions and concerns regarding the platform. I can be reached at my email: ghayedi.fatemeh@gmail.com