Talysh (also Talishi, Taleshi or Talyshi) is one of the Northwestern Iranian languages. Talysh is spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Northern Talysh (the part in the Republic of Azerbaijan) was historically known as Talish-i Gushtasbi.
Talysh has 3 major dialects — Northern (in Azerbaijan and Iran), Central (in Iran), and Southern (in Iran), regarded by some linguists as separate languages. These dialects also have a number of subdialects. There are no statistical data on the numbers of Talysh-speakers, but estimates show their number to be not less than 500,000 on either side of the border, bringing the total number of Talysh-speakers to over one million people.
