4. Persian, Farsi, Dari, Tajiki: Language Names and Language Policies

Persian is an important language today in a number of countries of west, south and central Asia. But its status in each is different. In Iran its unique status as the only official or national language continues to be jealously guarded, even though half—probably more—of the population use a different language (mainly Azari/Azeri Turkish) at home, and on the streets, though not in formal public situations, and not in writing. Attempts to broach this exclusive status of Persian in Iran have increased in recent decades, but are still relatively minor. Persian (called tajiki) is also the official language of Tajikistan, but here it shares that status informally with Russian, while in the west of the country Uzbek is also widely…