The Most Similar Languages to Balochi

Balochi, spoken by millions of Baloch people in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, is an Indo-European language. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Balochi are Persian, Tajik, Kurdish, Mazandarani, and Zazaki.

1. Persian (82.6)
   Also known as Farsi, Persian is the national language of Iran a close relative of Balochi. They share significant grammatical and lexical similarities. Balochi has preserved many archaic features that have evolved in modern Persian, offering linguists valuable insights into the historical development of the Persian language. There are also many Persian loanwords in Balochi.
2. Tajik (76.2)
   Tajik, the official language of Tajikistan, is another close relative of Balochi. However, they are written in different scripts: Balochi uses the Arabic script, whereas Tajik is written in the Cyrillic script due to Soviet influence. The two languages share similar vocabulary, grammatical structures, and phonetics.
3. Kurdish (67.7)
   Spoken by the Kurdish people across several countries including Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, Kurdish is another language with strong ties to Balochi. Kurdish belongs to the Northwestern Iranian languages. Kurdish shares many grammatical structures and vocabulary with Balochi.
4. Mazandarani (65.6)
   Mazandarani is primarily spoken along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in Iran. This language is part of the Northwestern Iranian language group and shares a substantial amount of vocabulary and grammatical features with Balochi. This is because both have been influenced to varying degrees by Persian.
5. Zazaki (64.7)
   Zazaki is primarily spoken in eastern Turkey. Zazaki exhibits significant similarities with Kurdish, particularly in its vocabulary and grammar. The language has several dialects. Zazaki’s close relationship with other Northwestern Iranian languages, including its preservation of many ancient Iranian linguistic features, highlights its similarity to Balochi.

(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)