The present study provides a description of the standardization process of Persian orthography since the introduction of the Arabic alphabet, with a focus on this process in modern times (1850-2000). Using theories related to orthography standardization as its background, this work seeks an explanation for the prolonged standardization process of Persian orthography, and presents the frameworks within which this standardization has been carried out. The most recent state of Persian orthography is presented through an investigation of the current attitudes towards the problems of Persian orthography and possible frameworks for a potential reform, as well as through an investigation of the current tendencies in the manner of presenting different orthographic parameters within Persian contemporary texts. How and by whom the orthography of today’s Persian texts is governed is another aspect to be examined here. The most important conclusion to be drawn from the present study is that there is a strong tendency towards approving reform proposals that can be integrated with the present orthography, and maintain the present appearance of Persian orthography as much as possible. One of the main reasons behind this tendency is the concern of an interruption in cultural continuity in the event of an alphabet reform or any other drastic change in the present appearance of the orthography. This concern takes into account the political, social, cultural, structural, and economic conditions in Iran, as well as the complexity of language planning projects.

<p>This dissertation is an attempt to understand and map the development of Persian writings on music, focusing on their various approaches and variations of topics from the beginning of the 11th century to the end of the 15th century which can be called the classical period of Persian writing on music. </p><p>The rise of Persian musical literature as a part of Persian learned literature was a result of the political and cultural decentralization of the Abbasid Caliphate. Like most other genres of learned literature in Persian, translation and abridgements of and commentaries (<i>šarhs</i>) on Arabic works played a crucial role in the rise and es-tablishment of Persian musical literature.</p><p>The most important conclusions to be drawn from the present study are that we can distinguish between two main approaches in Persian writings on music, viz the religious and non-religious approaches, and that there is a pattern in the development of Persian writings on music which provides us with a periodization of the develop-ment of this literary genre. According to the macro periodization of Persian writings on music which is presented in this study, we can identify five different stages in the development of the genre; 1) the initial period: <i>ca</i> 1000-1110; the first intermezzo: <i>ca</i> 1110 up to 1175; 3) the period of establishment: <i>ca</i> 1175-1299; 4) the first Golden Age of the genre: <i>ca</i> 1300-1435; 5) the second intermezzo: <i>ca</i> 1435-1500.</p>

This dissertation is an attempt to understand and map the development of Persian writings on music, focusing on their various approaches and variations of topics from the beginning of the 11th century to the end of the 15th century which can be called the classical period of Persian writing on music. The rise of Persian musical literature as a part of Persian learned literature was a result of the political and cultural decentralization of the Abbasid Caliphate. Like most other genres of learned literature in Persian, translation and abridgements of and commentaries (šarhs) on Arabic works played a crucial role in the rise and es-tablishment of Persian musical literature. The most important conclusions to be drawn from the present study are that we can distinguish between two main approaches in Persian writings on music, viz the religious and non-religious approaches, and that there is a pattern in the development of Persian writings on music which provides us with a periodization of the develop-ment of this literary genre. According to the macro periodization of Persian writings on music which is presented in this study, we can identify five different stages in the development of the genre; 1) the initial period: ca 1000-1110; the first intermezzo: ca 1110 up to 1175; 3) the period of establishment: ca 1175-1299; 4) the first Golden Age of the genre: ca 1300-1435; 5) the second intermezzo: ca 1435-1500.

This work presents a first study of discourse features in Balochi narratives of Sistan. Discourse analysis investigates what are the properties that make for well-formed texts in a language. There are many approaches to discourse analysis and most approaches focus on a particular aspect of text formation. The approach to text linguistics or discourse analysis taken in this work is based on Dooley and Levinsohn’s Analyzing Discourse: A manual of basic concepts (2001). Their methodology has been refined over years of practical use and, among diverse methodologies, they follow a functional and cognitive approach. In this dissertation, Roberts’ (2009) application of Dooley and Levinsohn’s methodology to Persian is followed in the study of our Sistani Balochi text corpus. In chapters 2-7 this approach is applied to Balochi narrative text. Chapter two introduces the reader to the discourse-pragmatic structuring of sentences in BS and chapter three shows how different syntactic devices can distinguish foreground and background information in BS oral texts. In chapter four we study the deixis of time and place and how the concept of proximal and distal deixis applies across a range of deictic elements. Chapter five examines some basic connectives and how they link propositions in the discourse context, and in chapter six reported speech is studied. Chapter seven illustrates how different participants are introduced into a discourse and how their activation status is signalled throughout the discourse. Appendix 1 contains details of the Balochi text-corpus used, and Appendix 2 contains interlinearized versions of ten of the main texts used in the study. A CD with nine audio files and one video file of the ten texts from Appendix 2, plus one extra video file, is also included.

The present thesis consists of an edition of an Iranian literary work whose theme is a journey to the Other World, namely the Ardāy-Vīrāf Nāma. The version of this work which is here edited and commented on is a prose version in the Zoroastrian Persian language. A discussion about Iranian conceptions of the Other World is also an integrated part of the thesis. The text of the Ardāy-Vīrāf Nāma is edited employing a text critical method by using six manuscripts. The oldest manuscript, which has been used as the base manuscript for editing the text, was written in 896 A.Y. (Yazdgirdī)/1527 A.D. The edited text is also translated into English, and followed by a Commentary on names, unusual words and Zoroastrian terms used in the text. Other Iranian documents about journeys to the Other World are studied in this thesis as well, and all are compared to the Ardāy-Vīrāf Nāma. The Zoroastrian Persian version of this work is also compared to its Parsig version. The differences between the Zoroastrian Persian and the Parsig versions indicate that they have their background in two different world views. To prove this theory, some significant elements in the Zoroastrian Persian version, which demonstrate that this is a pre-Zoroastrian epic narrative, have been compared to some elements in the Parsig version that show that this is a religious Zoroastrian account. Possible reasons for the change in Ardāy-Vīrāf Nāma from a pre-Zoroastrian epic narrative into a Zoroastrian-religious one are also suggested. A king named Davānūs is one of the Ardāy-Vīrāf Nāma personages. In an appendix, the historical personality of Davānūs is discussed with reference to Arabic, Persian and Greek historiography.