© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 DOI: 10.1163/187471611X600413 Journal of Persianate Studies 4 (2011) 246-271 brill.nl/jps he Extinct Dialect of Tajrish: Caspian or Persian? Habib Borjian Encyclopaedia Iranica Abstract Once spoken in the Alborz foothills north of Tehran, the vernacular of Shemirān and its admin- istrative center Tajrish was greatly influenced by the Caspian languages spoken northward across the Alborz range, in its valleys and in the Caspian littoral. his study of Tajrishi draws on the texts collected by Valentin Zhukovskii in the 1880s as well as two recent documentations of smaller size. It reveals that Tajrishi and the adjoining vernaculars constitute the southernmost part of the Caspian-Persian linguistic transition zone in Central Alborz. Keywords Persian varieties, Caspian dialects, Central Alborz, Mazandarani, Iranian languages Before Tehran expanded into a mega-metropolis in the southern foothills of Alborz, absorbing scores of surrounding rural settlements and solidifying into its present shape, the capital city of Iran was situated in a linguistically diversi- fied region. he piedmont villages and hamlets to its north, collectively known as Shemirān, are now within the municipal boundaries of the capital. Having been subjected in the last few decades to an intensive wave of building con- struction and an enormous influx of population, Shemirān has completely lost its original socioeconomic character. he same is true of the local dialects, which have gone extinct in favor of the ubiquitous colloquial Persian. he residents of the modern neighborhoods of Shemirān are generally unaware of the dialects which were spoken there one or two generations ago. he dialects of Shemirān are interesting in that they were transitional dia- lects between Persian, spoken to the south, and the Caspian dialect continuum spoken within and across the Alborz range. 1 he Caspian blend thickens as 1 Caspian can be divided into three language groups: Gilaki in the west, Central Caspian in the middle, and Māzandarāni (Maz.) in the east. he term Central Caspian, coined by Donald Stilo, embraces the dialect continuum within the Tonekābon and Kalārdasht districts of the central Alborz. On Kalārdashti, see Borjian 2010. he Caspian traits in Tajrishi are chiefly Maz., while many are also found in Central Caspian and Gilaki. My Maz. data comes from my largely