The Iranian languages form the major eastern branch of the Indo-European group of languages, itself part of the larger Indo-Iranian family. Estimated to have between 150 and 200 million native speakers, the Iranian languages constitute one of the world’s major language families. This comprehensive volume offers a detailed overview of the principle languages which make up this group: Old Iranian, Middle Iranian, and New Iranian. The Iranian Languages is divided into fifteen chapters. The introductory chapters by the editor present a general overview and a detailed discussion of the linguistic typology of Iranian. The individual chapters which follow are written by leading experts in the field. These provide the reader with concise, non-technical descriptions of a range of Iranian languages. Each chapter follows the same pattern and sequence of topics, taking the reader through the significant features not only of phonology and morphology but also of syntax; from phrase level to complex sentences and pragmatics. Ample examples on all levels are provided with detailed annotation for the non-specialist reader. In addition, each chapter covers lexis, sociolinguistic and typological issues, and concludes with annotated sample texts. This unique resource is the ideal companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students of linguistics and language. It will also be of interest to researchers or anyone with an interest in historical linguistics, linguistics anthropology and language development. Gernot Windfuhr is Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Michigan; he has published widely on Persian and Iranian languages and linguistics and related languages, as well as on other aspects of Iranian culture including Persian literature and Pre-Islamic Iranian religions.

Old Tibetan Studies, edited by Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, is an inquiry into secular and religious Old Tibetan documents from Central Asia and Tibet. The volume is written with the intent to confront facts and textualization and contribute to the clarification of particular aspects of the administrative and legislative organization, the ecclesiastical institution, and the religious, monastic, intellectual and material culture of Old Tibet and its borderlands. The material is critically examined from different perspectives, focusing on classical disciplines (history, linguistics, lexicography, philology, codicology and diplomatics). With contributions by Roland Bielmeier, Anne Chayet, Helga Uebach, Kazushi Iwao, Siglinde Dietz, Yoshiro Imaeda, Bianca Horlemann, Brandon Dotson,Tsuguhito Takeuchi and Cristina Scherrer-Schaub.

The 3rd European Conference of Iranian Studies, at which more than 130 papers were presented, was held in Cambridge in 1995. A selection of the best contributions will be published in two volumes, of which the second will be concerned with Iranian culture in the Islamic period. This first volume, which is illustrated with 17 plates, contains 18 important and thought-provoking papers - 15 in English and 3 in French - on Old and Middle Iranian. The papers, grouped thematically under the headings "Religions and Culture of ancient Iran" and "Texts and languages", cover a diversity of themes relating to Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Mithraism; Sasanian history, glyptic and numismatics; and Iranian philology, linguistics, and dialectology.

The current companion will offer a survey of the Afroasiatic, Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, and Turkic languages in contact with Iranian languages. Comparatively few of Iran's minority languages are well-documented or even widely known outside of a small cadre of specialists. A volume that organizes sketches of the non-Iranian languages of Iran offers a unique perspective on the history and structure of the Iranian language.