Dr. Zviadi Tskhvediani & Paata Japaridze,
AkakiTsereteli State University, Georgia
According to the historical source of Iskander Beg Munshi in 1615 the Georgians and Armenians were first exiled to Iran by Shah Abbas. Their majority settled down in the Shah’s favorite resorts by the Caspian Sea: Farahabad and Ashraf (now Behshahr – full historic name بلاد الأشرف (arab. bilād al-ʼašraf). Today in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran ethnically Georgian population lives in the village ofGorjī Mahalleh situated 10 kilometers away from the city of Behshahr in the direction towards the city of Sari. In August 2014 a team of Georgian scholars 2014 (project leader: Paata Japaridze) visited Mazandaran in order to explore the culture, speech and lifestyle of the so-called “Mazandarani Georgians”. In 2014-2016 three scientific expeditions took place. The present paper deals with the dialectological and folclore data/materials regarding folk games collected and recorded in Gorjī Mahalleh:čančar bāzi; kamarband bāzi; yer bә kinge; xajejoz (xaje=xatije, joz=paridan) ; taftavixamīre mā .The texts of these games are significant in terms of Mazandarani dialect. Research into the language of Mazandarani Georgians is of vital importance to better understanding of ethno-linguistic contacts.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The International Conference on Current Issues of Languages, Dialects and Linguistics (WWW.LLLD.IR), 2-3 February 2017, Iran-Ahwaz.
