Sogdian language

The Sogdian language was an Eastern Iranian language spoken mainly in the Central Asian region of Sogdia (capital: Samarkand; other chief cities: Panjakent, Fergana, Khujand, and Bukhara), located in modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan[4] and Kyrgyzstan;[5] it was also spoken by some Sogdian immigrant communities in ancient China.

No direct evidence of an earlier version of the language ("Old Sogdian") has been found, although mention of the area in the Old Persian inscriptions means that a separate and recognisable Sogdia existed at least since the Achaemenid Empire (559–323 BCE).

The modern Eastern Iranian language Yaghnobi is the descendant of a dialect of Sogdian spoken around the 8th century in Osrushana, a region to the south of Sogdia.

Gauthiot published many articles based on his work with Pelliot's material, but died during the First World War.

[25] These pieces consist almost entirely of religious works by Manichaean and Christian writers, including translations of the Bible.

[26] Dunhuang and Turfan were the two most plentiful sites of Manichean, Buddhist, and Christian Sogdian texts.

They date back to the Kangju culture, are significantly earlier than the 4th century A.D. and showcase an archaic state of Sogdian.

However, unlike it, these consonant signs would also sometimes serve to express the short vowels (which could also sometimes be left unexpressed, as they always are in the parent systems).

[31] In transcribing Sogdian script into Roman letters, Aramaic ideograms are often noted by means of capitals.