Yazgulyam Language

The Yazgulyam language (also Yazgulyami, Iazgulem, Yazgulam; Tajik: yazgulomi) is a member of the Pamir subgroup of the Iranian languages, spoken by ca. 4,000 native speakers (as of 1994) along the Yazgulyam River, Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. Together with Shugni, it is classified as the Shugni-Yazgulami subgroup of the Pamir languages. Virtually all speakers are bilingual in the Tajik language.

The Yazgulami language consists of two dialects, one of these is spoken higher in the mountains, the other lower. The differences are not significant and are limited to the vocabulary. Differences in the vocabulary are also detectable between the languages used in different villages in the lower mountains. The Vanji language (also Vanži) is a close relation to Yazgulami, which has become extinct now. Other languages spoken in the Pamirs differ greatly from the Yazgulami language. The disparities are the largest in the vocabulary.

The language was first recorded by Russian traveller G. Arandarenko in 1889, listing 34 Yazgulami words recorded in 1882. The language was described in greater detail by French linguist Robert Gauthiot in Notes sur le yazggoulami, dialecte iraniren des Confins du Pamir (1916).

The Yazgulyam people are an exception among the speakers of Pamir languages in that they do not adhere to Ismailism.

In 1954 the Yazgulami living on the mountain slopes were resettled, about 20% of them forcibly, to the Vakhsh valley, where they live dispersed among the Tadjiks, Uzbeks, Russians and other ethnic groups.