Linguistically, Afshārī is classified as a dialect belonging to the South Oghuz group of Turkic languages (southwestern branch of Turkic) (Johanson, History of Turkic, 82–3), or else as a dialect of South Azerbaijani (Azeri). As they were embedded in a Fārsī-speaking environment, however, in many cases Fārsī became the mother tongue of the Afshārs. Other groups became bilingual (as in Kirmān). Additionally, the contact between the different languages seems to have transformed the original dialect (cf. Johanson, Discoveries, 14–6). In 2009 a linguistic comparison of different Afshār groups remains outstanding.
Afshar is distinguished by many loanwords from Persian and a rounding of the phoneme /a/ to [ɒ], as occurred in Uzbek. In many cases, vowels that are rounded in Azerbaijani are not rounded in Afshar. An example of this is /jiz/ (meaning 100), which is /jyz/ in standard Azerbaijani.[6]
According to Lars Johanson, emeritus professor of Turcology and linguistics at the University of Mainz, and Eva Csato, professor emeritus in Turkic languages at Uppsala University, state that the Afshar dialect as SWS; Southwestern South Oghuz group that includes the dialects of Iran (such as Qashqai, Sonqori, Aynallu, etc.) and Afghanistan (e.g., Afshar).[7]
^Michael Knüppel, E. "TURKIC LANGUAGES OF PERSIA: AN OVERVIEW". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2021-03-28. 1.4. Southern-Oghuz. 1.4.1. Afšār. The Afšār language was once spoken in a wide area in western and southwestern Persia from Kermānšāh to the shores of the Persian Gulf.
