The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, having emerged during the Middle Iranian era (4th century BC to 9th century AD). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle-era Western Iranian dialects, the Middle-era Eastern Iranian dialects preserve word-final syllables.
The largest living Eastern Iranian language is Pashto, with at least 80 million speakers between the Oxus River in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. The second-largest living Eastern Iranian language is Ossetic, with roughly 600,000 speakers across Ossetia (split between Georgia and Russia). All other languages of the Eastern Iranian subgroup have fewer than 200,000 speakers combined.
Most living Eastern Iranian languages are spoken in a contiguous area: southern and eastern Afghanistan and the adjacent parts of western Pakistan; the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region in eastern Tajikistan; and the westernmost parts of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. There are also two living members in widely separated areas: the Yaghnobi language of northwestern Tajikistan (descended from Sogdian); and the Ossetic language of the Caucasus (descended from Scytho-Sarmatian and is hence classified as Eastern Iranian despite its location). These are remnants of a vast ethno-linguistic continuum that stretched over most of Central Asia, parts of the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Western Asia in the 1st millennium BC — an area otherwise known as Scythia. The large Eastern Iranian continuum in Eastern Europe would continue up to the 4th century AD, with the successors of the Scythians, namely the Sarmatians.[1]
^J.Harmatta: "Scythians" in UNESCO Collection of History of Humanity – Volume III: From the Seventh Century BC to the Seventh Century AD. Routledge/UNESCO. 1996. pg. 182
and 24 Related for: Eastern Iranian languages information
Avestan language is often classified as early EasternIranian. As opposed to the Middle-era Western Iranian dialects, the Middle-era EasternIranian dialects...
The Iranianlanguages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranianlanguages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken...
The Western Iranianlanguages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranianlanguages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC)...
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranianlanguages (branch of the Indo-European...
The Pamir languages are an areal group of the EasternIranianlanguages, spoken by numerous people in the Pamir Mountains, primarily along the Panj River...
Tarim "Tocharian" languages were "centum" languages within the Indo-European family, whereas Bactrian was an Iranian, thus "satem" language. Bactrian is a...
list of ancient Iranian peoples includes the names of Indo-European peoples speaking Iranianlanguages or otherwise considered Iranian ethnically or linguistically...
The Scythian languages (/ˈsɪθiən/ or /ˈsɪðiən/ or /ˈskɪθiən/) are a group of Eastern Iranic languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle...
The Nuristani languages, also known as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranianlanguage family, alongside the much larger...
Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of EasternIranianlanguages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin...
Parachi (Parāčī) is an Iranianlanguage. Parachi is spoken by some 600 individuals of the Parachi ethnic group in eastern Afghanistan, mainly in the upper...
confused with Iran's claim. Afghanistan portal Languages portal Persian languageIranian Persian Tajik Persian Hazaragi dialect Languages of Afghanistan...
other symbols instead of Sogdian characters. The Sogdian language was an EasternIranianlanguage spoken mainly in the Central Asian region of Sogdia (capital:...
on is the fact that Pashto is an EasternIranianlanguage sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranianlanguages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and...
spoken by the Baloch and belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family. As an Iranianlanguage, it is classified in the Northwestern group. Glottolog...
degree, by the Iranian peoples and the Iranianlanguages. It is defined by having been long-ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires, under whom...
scriptural language of Zoroastrianism; the Avesta serves as their namesake. Both are early EasternIranianlanguages within the Indo-Iranianlanguage branch...
Parthian was a Western Middle Iranianlanguage. Language contact made it share some features of EasternIranianlanguages, the influence of which is attested...
Yaghnobi is an EasternIranianlanguage spoken in the upper valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by the Yaghnobi people. It...
EasternIranianlanguage that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Greater Caucasus. It is the native language of...
spoken in Tajikistan because Sarikoli is an EasternIranianlanguage, closely related to other Pamir languages largely spoken in the Badakshan regions of...
Wakhi language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Wakhi (Wakhi: وخی/В̌aхi, IPA: [waχi]) is an Indo-European language in the EasternIranian branch...
over 70 languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family...