The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca. the 4th century BC The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 300 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period). The Avestan language Avestan is an Eastern Iranian language known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name. The language must also at some time have been a natural language, but how long ago that was is unknown. Its status as a sacred language ensured its continuing use for new compositions long after is often classified as early Eastern Iranian, but this is uncertain. The largest living Eastern Iranian language is Pashto Pashto , also known as Afghani, is an Indo-European language spoken primarily in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Pashto belongs to the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family. The number of Pashto speakers is estimated to be about 40 million.[citation needed] The Constitution of Afghanistan declares that Pashto is an official with some 40 million speakers, a major language of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, or the Middle East. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast and western Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian dialects, the Middle Eastern Iranian preserves word-final syllables.
The living Eastern Iranian languages are spoken in a contiguous area, in Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, or the Middle East. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast as well as the adjacent parts of western Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (Tajik: Вилояти Мухтори Кӯҳистони Бадахшон/Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon; Russ.: Горно-Бадахшанская автономная область, ГБАО) is an autonomous, mountainous province in the east of Tajikistan. Located in the Pamir Mountains, it makes of eastern Tajikistan Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east. Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan but, and the far west of Xinjiang Xinjiang is an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million sq. km. Xinjiang borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant region An autonomous region is a first-level administrative subdivision of People's Republic of China. Like Chinese provinces, an autonomous region has its own local government, but an autonomous region theoretically has more legislative rights. In practice, they only have the right to appoint the governor (from the local minority)[citation needed]. In of China China is an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia seen variously as a nation or multinational entity[citation needed], while it also has two other living members in widely separated areas, the Yaghnobi language The Yaghnobi language is a living East Iranian language . Yaghnobi is spoken in the upper valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by the Yaghnobi people. It is considered to be a direct descendant of Sogdian and has often been called Neo-Sogdian in academic literature of northwestern Tajikistan Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east. Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan but (descended from Sogdian) and the Ossetic language Ossetian , also sometimes called Ossete, is an East Iranian language spoken in Ossetia, a region on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains of the Caucasus The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain (Mount Elbrus) (descended from Scytho-Sarmatian). These are remnants of a vast ethno-linguistic continuum that stretched over most of Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to Afghanistan in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent in the 1st millennium BC The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of many successive empires, and spanned from 1000 BC to 1 BC.
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