Talysh (تؤلشه زوؤن, Tolışə Zıvon, Tолышә зывон)[3][4] is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan by around 500,000-800,000 people.

The name of the people appears in early Arabic sources as Al-Taylasân and in Persian as Tâlišân and Tavâliš, which are plural forms of Tâliš.

[6] Although there are no confirmed records, the language called in Iranian linguistics as Azari can be the antecedent of both Talysh and Tati.

Miller's (1953) hypothesis that the Âzari of Ardabil, as appears in the quatrains of Shaikh Safi, was a form of Talysh was confirmed by Henning (1954).

The first information about the Talysh language in Russian can be found in Volume X of Strachevsky's "Encyclopedic Dictionary" ("Справочный энциклопедический словарь"), published in St. Petersburg in 1848.

In the same year, his book "Recherches sur les dialectes persans" was published in Kazan.

In Azerbaijan there are eight cities where Talysh is spoken[citation needed]: Astara (98%), Lerik (90%), Lenkoran (90%), Masalli (36%).

Behzad Behzadi, the author of "Azerbaijani Persian Dictionary" remarks that: "The inhabitants of Astara are Talyshis and in fifty years ago (about 1953) that I remember the elders of our family spoke in that language and the great majority of dwellers also conversed in Talyshi.

To the south of Asalem, the influence of Azeri is negligible and the tendency is towards Persian along with Talysh in cities.

The Tati group of dialects is spoken across the Talysh range in the southwest[clarification needed] (Kajal and Shahrud) and south (Tarom).

Talysh also shares many features and structures with Zazaki, now spoken in Turkey, and the Caspian languages and Semnani of Iran.

These are labeled according to the four major political districts in the Talysh region: Astara, Lankaran, Lerik, and Masalli.

The morphosyntax of Northern Talysh is characterized by a complicated split system which is based on the Northwest Iranian type of accusativity/ergativity dichotomy: it shows accusative features with present-stem-based transitive constructions, whereas past-stem-based constructions tend towards an ergative behavior.

[15] In distant regions like Lavandevil and Masuleh, the dialects differ to such a degree that conversations begin to be difficult.

An orthography based on Azeri Latin is used in Azerbaijan,[4] and also in Iranian sources, for example on the IRIB's ParsToday website.

In contrast to Persian, modifiers are preceded by nouns, for example: "maryami kitav" (Mary's book) and "kava daryâ" (livid sea).

[12] Examples: There are three prefixes in Talysh and Tati added to normal forms making possessive pronouns.

The examples below are from Pirejko 1976[3] PRST:present stem REFL:reflexive pronoun NənəmotherıştəREFLzoəsonpe-dəlove.VN-LOCNənə ıştə zoə pe-dəmother REFL son love.VN-LOC'The mother loves her son'Əv3SGrəis-eboss-PREDƏv rəis-e3SG boss-PRED'S/he is a boss'Az1SGvılflowerbı-çın-ımFUT-pick.PRST-FUTbofortını2SG.ERGAz vıl bı-çın-ım bo tını1SG flower FUT-pick.PRST-FUT for 2SG.ERG'I will pick a flower for you'Əy3SG.ERGçımı1SG.POSSdəftərnotebookdıry-əşetear.apart.PP-3SG.PFV.TRƏy çımı dəftər dıry-əşe3SG.ERG 1SG.POSS notebook tear.apart.PP-3SG.PFV.TR'S/he tore apart my notebook'hovəsisterşolscarfhovə şolsister scarf'sister's scarf'bətoşəhrcitybə şəhrto city'to the city'The ergative case, on the other hand, has the following functions: indicating the subject of an ergative phrase; definite direct object (in this function, ergative case takes the form of -ni after vowel-final stems); nominal modifier in a noun phrase; the nominal element in adpositional phrases with most adpositions.

throw.PP-3SG.PFV.ERG'the child threw the apple'ImDEMkəpot-idress-ERGse-də-mbuy.VN-LOC-1SGbəforhəvə-yosister-BENIm kəpot-i se-də-m bə həvə-yoDEM dress-ERG buy.VN-LOC-1SG for sister-BEN'I'm buying this dress for (my) sister'IştəREFLzoə-nison-ERGvoğan-dəsend.VN-LOCbətoməktəbschoolIştə zoə-ni voğan-də bə məktəbREFL son-ERG send.VN-LOC to school'S/he is sending his/her son to the school'jen-iwoman-ERGdəshandjen-i dəswoman-ERG hand'a hand's woman'muallimi-iteacher-ERGton-i-kuside-ERG-ABLomə-mcome.1SG.PP-PFV.NOMmuallimi-i ton-i-ku omə-mteacher-ERG side-ERG-ABL come.1SG.PP-PFV.NOM'I approached the teacher'The accusative form is often used to express the simple indirect object in addition to the direct object.