Aug 23, 2008, 6:02 PM

Overlooking dialect associated with forgetting identity: academic

TEHRAN, Aug. 23 (MNA) -- overlooking dialect is associated with forgetting civilization and identity, the professor of the University of Ferdowsi in Mashhad, Taqi Vahidian, told MNA.

“Although people thought that the current Persian language is rooted in the dialect spoken in Fars province, the Mashhadi dialect is the closest one to modern Persian,” he claimed.

“The Mashhadi dialect is somewhat different from the Persian dialect in some of its tones and stresses,” he said.

Vahidian lamented that the use of the Mashhadi dialect by villains in Iranian TV series and cinema, saying that such portrayal of unsavory characters caused people to distance themselves from the dialect.

Such stereotypes tend to isolate people, reduce social interactions and lead to the loss of identity in the future, he said.

It also has a great impact on literary understanding by next generations and causes many social problems, he concluded.

SB/YAW

END

MNA

News Code 29523