The Tati Alphabet

Q: How many letters does the Tati alphabet have?

The Tati alphabet has 32 letters , all derived from the Perso-Arabic script shared with Persian (Farsi), Iran's national language. The 32 letters include the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet plus 4 letters unique to the Persian script: پ (pe, /p/), چ (che, /tʃ/), ژ (zhe, /ʒ/), and گ (gaf, /g/). Short vowels are generally not written in everyday Tati text but can be indicated with optional diacritical marks called harakat. As a language with a primarily oral tradition and limited standardised written form, fully-vocalised Tati texts using harakat are particularly important for language documentation and for accurately recording the distinctive Northwest Iranian vowel system of Tati, which preserves features from Middle Iranian not found in Standard Persian.

Q: What are the distinctive features of the Tati language?

Tati preserves conservative Northwest Iranian grammatical features inherited from Middle Iranian that have been eroded in Standard Persian. These include archaic morphological patterns in the verb system, a richer case structure than modern Persian, and vocabulary of Northwest Iranian origin that differs from the Southwest Iranian core of Persian. The phonological system of Tati also retains distinctions lost in Standard Tehran Persian. Tati shows the characteristic Northwest Iranian feature of maintaining the voiced stop /g/ (گ) and the voiceless stop /p/ (پ) in positions where they have been preserved from Proto-Iranian or Middle Iranian, contrasting with the developments in Southwest Iranian (Persian). Its vocabulary reflects both the inherited Northwest Iranian lexicon and centuries of contact influence from Persian (the prestige national language) and Azerbaijani Turkish (the dominant language of adjacent regions). The geographic diversity of Tati across multiple provinces has also produced significant dialect variation, making Tati a valuable subject of Iranian linguistic research.

Q: Where is Tati spoken?

Tati is spoken primarily in northern Iran , concentrated in the Gilan, Zanjan, and Qazvin provinces . These regions occupy the southern slopes of the Elburz Mountains and the surrounding highlands, an area historically characterised by linguistic diversity due to geographic isolation. The Tati-speaking communities of northern Iran are scattered across multiple towns and villages in these provinces. Beyond Iran, Tati is also spoken by Tat communities in Azerbaijan — the South Caucasus republic north of Iran. The Tat community in Azerbaijan (Tats of Azerbaijan) speaks a variety of Tati distinct from Azerbaijani Tat (which is a Southwest Iranian language). The geographical distribution across provincial borders and into Azerbaijan reflects the historical extent of Tati-speaking populations in the broader Caspian and Caucasian region.

Q: How does Tati relate to Persian and Talysh?

Tati and Persian are both Iranian languages but belong to different branches of the Iranian family. Persian is a Southwest Iranian language (the same branch as Dari and Tajik), while Tati is a Northwest Iranian language. Despite being in contact for centuries and sharing the Perso-Arabic script, Tati and Persian diverged from a common ancestor in the Middle Iranian period and follow distinct evolutionary paths in phonology, morphology, and vocabulary. Tati and Talysh are more closely related — both are Northwest Iranian languages of the Caspian region. Talysh is spoken by ~200,000–500,000 people in the Lankaran-Astara region of Azerbaijan and Gilan Province of Iran, and shares structural features with Tati reflecting their shared Northwest Iranian ancestry. The cluster of Northwest Iranian Caspian languages — Tati, Talysh, Gilaki, and Tabari — represents a geographically coherent dialect area in northern Iran that preserves archaic features of the Northwest Iranian branch.

Q: Is Tati written from right to left?

Yes. Like all Perso-Arabic scripts , Tati is written and read from right to left . Each letter connects to adjacent letters within a word (cursive), and most letters change shape depending on their position — initial, medial, final, or isolated form. The script belongs to the Arabic Unicode Block (U+0600–U+06FF) and follows the standard Persian orthographic convention of Iran. The only exception to right-to-left direction is numerals , which are written left to right even within otherwise RTL text. Tati uses the same Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (۰–۹) as Persian, standard across Iranian publications. As a language with a predominantly oral tradition and limited standardised written output, Tati written materials are relatively rare — making the Persian orthographic conventions of Iran the primary template for any written Tati texts.

Tati Alphabet at a Glance

32 Perso-Arabic letters of the Tati writing system, following the standard Persian orthographic convention used in Iran
Tati is a Northwest Iranian language spoken by approximately 30,000–80,000 people in the Gilan, Zanjan, and Qazvin provinces of northern Iran, as well as by Tat communities in Azerbaijan ^[1]
Tati belongs to the Northwest Iranian branch alongside Talysh, Gilaki, and Kurdish; it is distinct from Azerbaijani Tat (a Southwest Iranian language) and Jewish Tat (Judeo-Tat) ^[4]
ISO 639-3 code: ttt; uses the Perso-Arabic abjad following the standard Persian orthographic tradition of Iran ^[3]
Preserves conservative Northwest Iranian phonological and morphological features inherited from Middle Iranian, distinguishing it from Standard Persian ^[2]
Tati speakers are predominantly multilingual in Persian (the national language of Iran) and often in Azerbaijani Turkish, the dominant language of adjacent regions
Includes 4 letters unique to Persian script — پ (pe), چ (che), ژ (zhe), گ (gaf) — not found in classical Arabic

Tati (ISO 639-3: ttt) is a Northwest Iranian language spoken by approximately 20,000–100,000 people in northern Iran — primarily in Alborz, Gilan, and Zanjan provinces — and by a diaspora in Azerbaijan ^[1]. It uses the 32-letter Perso-Arabic abjad shared with Standard Persian, written right to left.

Tati belongs to the Northwestern Iranian branch, closely related to Talyshi and Gilaki. Its closest relative in the Caucasus is Caucasian Tati (Jewish Tat), a distinct language despite sharing the name ^[3].

Tati preserves archaic Northwest Iranian features including ergative verb agreement patterns from Middle Iranian not found in Standard Persian ^[4].

Tati Consonants

[AH-lef]

[BEH]

[PEH]

[TEH]

[SEH]

[JEEM]

[CHEH]

[HEH-JEE-mee]

[KHEH]

[DAHL]

[ZAHL]

[REH]

[ZEH]

[ZHEH]

[SEEN]

[SHEEN]

[SAWD]

[DAWD]

[TAW]

[ZAW]

[AYN]

[GHAYN]

[FEH]

[QAHF]

[KAHF]

[GAHF]

[LAHM]

[MEEM]

[NOON]

[VAWV]

[HEH]

[YEH]

[AH-lef]

The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet; represents a glottal stop /ʔ/ in initial position or a long vowel /aː/. In Tati, alef functions as a vowel carrier following the standard Persian orthographic convention used in Iran. Tati preserves archaic Northwest Iranian vowel features inherited from Middle Iranian, and the alef is integral to representing these vowel qualities in the Perso-Arabic writing system used by Tati communities of northern Iran.

[BEH]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/, like "b" in "bed". A core letter of the Perso-Arabic abjad. In Tati, /b/ appears in inherited Northwest Iranian vocabulary and in loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish, the dominant contact languages in the Tati-speaking regions of Gilan, Zanjan, and Qazvin provinces.

[PEH]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/, like "p" in "pen". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Urdu script not found in classical Arabic. In Tati, /p/ is a productive phoneme in both the inherited Northwest Iranian core lexicon and in loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani integrated into the Tati language of northern Iran.

[TEH]

Voiceless alveolar stop /t/, like "t" in "top". In Tati, both ت and ط are pronounced as /t/. A common consonant in Tati vocabulary. The Northwest Iranian phonological heritage of Tati includes consonant correspondences with its related languages Talysh and Gilaki that reflect shared Northwest Iranian ancestry; Tati preserves conservative consonant patterns from Middle Iranian distinguishing it from Southwest Iranian Persian.

[SEH]

Pronounced as /s/ in Tati, identical to س. In Classical Arabic ث represents /θ/, but Tati — like all modern Iranian languages — pronounces this as the alveolar fricative /s/. Retained in writing to preserve the traditional spelling of Arabic loanwords in Tati formal and religious registers, following the standard Persian orthographic convention of Iran.

[JEEM]

Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/, like "j" in "jam". Present in Tati vocabulary, appearing in inherited Northwest Iranian words and in Persian and Azerbaijani loanwords. The /dʒ/ phoneme is well-attested in the Northwest Iranian branch, and Tati maintains it as part of its consonant inventory in the dialects of northern Iran.

[CHEH]

Voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/, like "ch" in "chair". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Urdu script. In Tati, چ appears in inherited vocabulary and in Persian/Azerbaijani loanwords. The /tʃ/ phoneme is productive in the Tati phonological system of northern Iran, reflecting Northwest Iranian consonant features shared with related languages of the Caspian region.

[HEH-JEE-mee]

Voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ in Classical Arabic; in Tati this letter is pronounced as the plain glottal fricative /h/, merging with ه, following the standard Iranian pattern. Tati does not preserve the pharyngeal quality of Arabic /ħ/ in borrowed vocabulary, consistent with other Northwest Iranian languages of northern Iran.

[KHEH]

Voiceless velar fricative /x/, like "ch" in Scottish "loch". Well-preserved in Tati; خ appears in both inherited Northwest Iranian vocabulary and in Persian and Azerbaijani loanwords. The /x/ phoneme is characteristic of Iranian languages throughout northern Iran, and Tati maintains it as a productive phoneme distinct from /h/.

[DAHL]

Voiced alveolar stop /d/, like "d" in "dog". A non-connecting letter in the Perso-Arabic script. Common in Tati vocabulary. Tati's Northwest Iranian phonological heritage includes characteristic consonant correspondences with Talysh and Gilaki, and /d/ participates in the regular sound correspondences that characterise the Northwest Iranian branch in northern Iran.

[ZAHL]

Pronounced as /z/ in Tati, merging with ز. In Classical Arabic ذ represents /ð/ (like "th" in "that"), but Tati — like all modern Iranian languages — pronounces this as the alveolar fricative /z/. Retained in the traditional spelling of Arabic loanwords used in Tati written texts following standard Persian orthographic conventions.

[REH]

Alveolar tap or trill /r/, like a rolled "r". A non-connecting letter. One of the most frequent consonants in Tati vocabulary. The rhotic in Tati is part of a distinctive Northwest Iranian consonant inventory showing systematic correspondences with its related languages Talysh and Gilaki, reflecting the common Northwest Iranian ancestry of the Caspian languages of northern Iran.

[ZEH]

Voiced alveolar fricative /z/, like "z" in "zoo". A non-connecting letter. In Tati, the letters ز، ذ، ض، and ظ all converge on the /z/ pronunciation following standard Iranian conventions. The /z/ phoneme is productive in Tati vocabulary across its inherited Northwest Iranian core lexicon and in loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani.

[ZHEH]

Voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like "s" in "measure". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Urdu script. This sound appears in Tati vocabulary, particularly in Persian loanwords. ژ is a non-connecting letter and one of the distinctive markers of the Persian script family used in Tati writing in Iran.

[SEEN]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, like "s" in "sun". In Tati, the three Arabic sibilant letters ث، س، and ص all merge into /s/. Highly frequent in Tati vocabulary inherited from Northwest Iranian, as well as in Persian, Azerbaijani, and Arabic loanwords absorbed into the Tati lexicon through centuries of contact in northern Iran.

[SHEEN]

Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, like "sh" in "ship". Fully preserved in Tati; ش appears in both inherited Northwest Iranian vocabulary and in Persian/Azerbaijani loanwords. The /ʃ/ phoneme is phonologically stable in Tati and represents an important feature shared with neighbouring Iranian and Turkic languages of the Caspian and Caucasian region.

[SAWD]

Emphatic /sˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Tati, this letter is pronounced as plain /s/, merging with س. The pharyngeal emphasis of Arabic ص is not maintained in Tati pronunciation. Retained in writing to preserve the traditional spelling of Arabic loanwords, particularly in Islamic religious vocabulary used in Tati-speaking communities of northern Iran.

[DAWD]

In Tati, ض is pronounced as /z/, merging with ز. The historically emphatic Arabic /dˁ/ has merged with /z/ in Tati as in all modern Iranian languages. Retained in the traditional spelling of Arabic loanwords used in Tati formal and religious contexts following standard Persian orthographic conventions.

[TAW]

Emphatic /tˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Tati, this letter is pronounced as plain /t/, merging with ت. Retained in writing to preserve the spelling of Arabic loanwords. Tati speakers do not distinguish ط from ت in everyday speech, following the general Iranian pattern shared with Persian throughout Iran.

[ZAW]

Emphatic consonant in Classical Arabic; in Tati, ظ is pronounced as /z/ like ذ، ز، and ض. The letter is preserved in the traditional spelling of Arabic-origin vocabulary used in Tati formal and religious registers; the emphatic quality is not maintained in Tati phonology, following the standard Persian orthographic convention.

[AYN]

Voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ in Arabic; in Tati, ع is typically realised as a glottal stop /ʔ/ or simple vowel onset following standard Persian phonological conventions. The pharyngeal quality of Arabic ع is not systematically preserved in Tati speech, as in other modern Iranian languages of northern Iran.

[GHAYN]

Voiced uvular fricative /ɣ/, produced at the back of the throat. Present in Tati in Persian/Arabic loanwords. The uvular fricative /ɣ/ (غ) contrasts with the velar stop /g/ (گ) in Tati vocabulary, following the standard Persian phonological distinction shared across Iranian languages of northern Iran.

[FEH]

Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, like "f" in "fun". Present in Tati primarily in loanwords from Persian, Azerbaijani, and Arabic. The /f/ phoneme in Tati appears in borrowed vocabulary from the dominant contact languages of northern Iran — Persian (the national language) and Azerbaijani Turkish (widely spoken in adjacent regions).

[QAHF]

Voiceless uvular stop /q/ in Classical Arabic; in Tati, ق may be realised as the uvular /q/ in formal or careful speech following Persian convention, or as a glottal stop /ʔ/ in casual speech. ق appears primarily in Arabic loanwords absorbed into Tati through the Islamic religious tradition and Persian contact in northern Iran.

[KAHF]

Voiceless velar stop /k/, like "k" in "key". Distinct from ق (uvular); consistently represents /k/ in Tati. A productive phoneme in Tati vocabulary across both the inherited Northwest Iranian core lexicon and in loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani, the two major contact languages in the Tati-speaking areas of northern Iran.

[GAHF]

Voiced velar stop /g/, like "g" in "go". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Urdu script. In Tati, /g/ appears in inherited Northwest Iranian vocabulary and in Persian/Azerbaijani loanwords. The /g/ phoneme is phonemically distinct from the uvular fricative /ɣ/ (غ) in Tati phonology, following the standard Persian convention used throughout Iran.

[LAHM]

Lateral alveolar approximant /l/, like "l" in "lamp". Fully preserved in Tati. ل participates in the obligatory lam-alef ligature لا in the Perso-Arabic script. One of the most frequent consonants in Tati vocabulary across all lexical layers — inherited Northwest Iranian core words and loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani.

[MEEM]

Bilabial nasal /m/, like "m" in "man". A very common consonant in Tati vocabulary. م appears in inherited Northwest Iranian words and in Persian/Azerbaijani loanwords integrated into the Tati lexicon of northern Iran. The bilabial nasal is phonologically stable and highly productive in Tati morphology.

[NOON]

Alveolar nasal /n/, like "n" in "noon". One of the most frequent consonants in Tati vocabulary; ن is productive in inherited Northwest Iranian vocabulary and in loanwords from Persian and Azerbaijani. Tati verbal morphology shows distinctive Northwest Iranian patterns around nasal consonants that reflect its position alongside related Caspian languages Talysh and Gilaki.

[VAWV]

In Tati, و represents /v/ (labiodental approximant) or the long vowel /uː/, following the standard Persian phonological convention of Iran. This contrasts with Eastern Iranian languages such as Yidgha and Munji, which preserve the archaic /w/ pronunciation. As a Northwest Iranian language, Tati uses /v/ for this letter, consistent with Persian and Talysh.

[HEH]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/, like "h" in "hat". In Tati, final ه can represent /h/, /a/, or /e/ following Persian orthographic conventions. The glottal fricative is an active phoneme in Tati vocabulary across both the inherited Northwest Iranian core and in loanwords from Persian, the lingua franca of Iran.

[YEH]

Palatal approximant /j/ in consonantal position (like "y" in "yes"), or long vowel /iː/ in vocalic position. In Tati, ی participates in the vowel system of this Northwest Iranian language, which preserves some archaic Iranian vowel contrasts inherited from Middle Iranian. Tati's vowel system reflects its position in the Northwest Iranian branch and shows features shared with Talysh and Gilaki.

Tati Vowel Diacritics (Harakat)

[FAH-tah]

[KAS-rah]

[DAM-mah]

[SHAD-dah]

[SOO-koon]

[TAN-ween]

[FAH-tah]

Fatha — a small diagonal stroke above a consonant marking the short vowel /a/. In Tati, fatha marks the open front vowel /a/. Tati's Northwest Iranian vowel system retains distinctions inherited from Middle Iranian, and harakat including fatha are useful for accurately representing Tati vowels in linguistic documentation of this language of northern Iran.

[KAS-rah]

Kasra — a small diagonal stroke below a consonant marking the short vowel /e/ or /i/. In Tati, kasra marks a short front vowel. The Tati vowel inventory includes distinctions inherited from Northwest Iranian, and kasra is used in fully-vocalised Tati texts — particularly in linguistic documentation — to indicate specific vowel qualities of this language of the Gilan, Zanjan, and Qazvin regions.

[DAM-mah]

Damma — a small hook-shaped mark above a consonant marking the short vowel /o/ or /u/. In Tati, damma marks a short back-rounded vowel. Tati preserves vowel contrasts from Middle Iranian, and damma is used in fully-vocalised texts to represent back vowel qualities in this Northwest Iranian language of northern Iran.

[SHAD-dah]

Shadda — a small diacritical mark indicating gemination (consonant doubling). Geminated consonants occur in Tati vocabulary, primarily in Arabic loanwords used in religious registers. Shadda is important in fully-vocalised Tati texts to distinguish geminated from simple consonants in borrowed Arabic and Persian vocabulary.

[SOO-koon]

Sukun — a small circular mark indicating the absence of a following vowel (a bare consonant). Used in fully-vocalised Tati texts to show consonant clusters and word-final consonants. Tati has consonant clusters reflecting its Northwest Iranian heritage, making sukun particularly useful in accurate linguistic documentation of this language of northern Iran.

[TAN-ween]

Tanwin fath — double fatha marking the -an ending in indefinite accusative Arabic nouns. In Tati, tanwin appears in Arabic loanwords used in formal and religious speech registers, following the standard Persian/Perso-Arabic convention shared across Iran. One of three tanwin markers inherited from the Arabic grammatical tradition.

Eastern Arabic Digits (۰–۹)

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit zero (۰), corresponding to Western 0. Used in Tati texts following Persian/Iranian numeral conventions. Written left to right within otherwise RTL Tati text.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit one (۱), corresponding to Western 1. Tati written numerals follow Persian convention, reflecting the dominant influence of Persian as the national language of Iran.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit two (۲), corresponding to Western 2. Standard across Tati written materials following Persian script conventions of Iran.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit three (۳), corresponding to Western 3. Used in Tati written texts following standard Persian/Iranian numeral conventions.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit four (۴), corresponding to Western 4. Standard across Tati written materials following Persian script conventions.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit five (۵), corresponding to Western 5. The Eastern Arabic-Indic five (۵) has a characteristic shape different from the Western Arabic 5. Standard in Tati written materials.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit six (۶), corresponding to Western 6. Standard in Tati written materials following Persian numeral conventions of Iran.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit seven (۷), corresponding to Western 7. Standard across Tati written materials following Persian/Iranian conventions.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit eight (۸), corresponding to Western 8. Used in Tati written texts following Persian/Iranian numeral conventions.

Eastern Arabic-Indic digit nine (۹), corresponding to Western 9. Standard in Tati written materials following Persian conventions of Iran.

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How many letters does the Tati alphabet have?

What language is Tati?

What are the distinctive features of the Tati language?

Where is Tati spoken?

How does Tati relate to Persian and Talysh?

Is Tati written from right to left?

References:

[1] Glottolog 5.1. "Tati [tati1270]". Retrieved from Glottolog: Tati
[2] Unicode Consortium. "Arabic Unicode Block (U+0600-U+06FF)". Retrieved from Unicode Arabic Block
[3] SIL International. "ISO 639-3 Language Code: ttt — Tati". Retrieved from SIL ISO 639-3: ttt
[4] Encyclopaedia Iranica (Columbia University). "TATI LANGUAGE". Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Iranica: Tati Language