Literary Tajiki. The Uzbek loanwords in literary Tajiki (originally a language developed by the Soviets on the basis of dialects that differed most strongly from standard Persian, written in Arabic script until 1930, in Latin script from 1930-40, since then in Cyrillic) were described by Doerfer (based on Bertel’s; see, in particular, the index in Doerfer, IV, pp. 554-72). We must distinguish two layers of Turkish loanwords in literary Tajiki: On one hand there are loanwords that are also attested in literary standard Persian and therefore quite old, for instance, āzūq, āzūqa, Tajiki ozuqa “provisions,” or Persian yāl, Tajiki yol “horse’s mane” (both attested since the 5th/11th century, see Doerfer, II, pp. 56-57, and IV, pp. 105-06). Such words represent a common standard Persian and Tajiki Persian stock of loanwords. On the other hand, many Uzbek loanwords are only found in Tajiki Persian, for instance, ang “intelligence” (Bertel’s, p. 26; Doerfer, II, p. 130).

The number of Uzbek loanwords in literary Tajiki is quite high, exceeding by far the number of Turkish loanwords in standard Persian, and are common in the colloquial language, as well. It should also be remembered that of the some 2,000 Turkish words listed in Doerfer’s dictionary some were not integrated loanwords but only Turkish words used in particular contexts. Sometimes the Turkish words represented fads that were used for a short period only and then went out of common use. Certain authors, for instance Moʿīn-al-Dīn Naṭanzī (author of Montaḵab al-tawārīḵ-e moʿīnī, comp. 817/1414, ed. J. Aubin, Tehran, 1336 Š./۱۹۵۷), are also particularly fond of showing off their knowledge of Turkish or Mongolian. The total number of integrated Uzbek loanwords in literary Tajiki is therefore more likely to be only about a third of the 2,000 listed by Doerfer.

It is interesting to note that the Uzbek loanwords in Darī, or Afghan Persian, often show different forms from those in Tajiki and more often coincide with the standard Persian forms (cf. Kiseleva and Mikolaĭchik). Thus to Tajiki qapidan “to catch” corresponds Darī and literary Persian qāpīdan. The Uzbek loanwords in literary Persian, literary Tajiki, and literary Darī still need to be investigated; however, it appears that Darī contains fewer Turkish loanwords than Tajiki.

A comparison between the Turkish loanwords in standard Persian and Tajiki Persian further reveals that Persian contains a fairly large number of loanwords from the sphere of state and government, whereas Tajiki Persian has a larger number of loanwords from a lower social level, including words such as yarma “groats.” This would seem to indicate that Persian received the Turkish loanwords via the higher classes, rulers and officers, reigning nobility and officers, but Tajiki through its contact with the Uzbek common people.

The influence of Uzbek may also have contributed to the preservation of the initial voiceless velar plosive q- in Tajiki Persian, attested since the 10th/16th century, which has become a voiced velar plosive in standard Persian (written ḡ, which in Arabic, however, is a fricative), possibly under Azeri influence (cf. Oranskiy, pp. 59-60, 62-63, quoting Lazard).

Finally, it must be pointed out that the form of the Uzbek loanwords in Tajiki are much closer to Old Turkish than those of modern Uzbek. Thus, for instance, modern Uzbek botir “hero,” but Tajiki botur, Old Turkish bātur. Similarly both Persian qošūn, qūšūn “army” and Tajiki qŭšun are closer to Mongolian qošiγun than Uzbek qŭšin “army.”
There are numerous verbal constructions borrowed from Uzbek, of which the following from literary Tajik may serve as examples: navišta dodan < Uzb. yozib bermoq “to write for another’s profit,” literally “to give writing”; navišta giriftan < Uzb. yozib olmoq “to write for one’s own profit,” lit. “to take writing”; xŭrda didam < Uzb. yeb kŭrdim “I tried to eat, I tasted the meal,” lit. “I looked eating”; kanda karda firistod < Uzb. kulib yubordi “he burst out laughing (suddenly and surprisingly),” lit. “he sent laughing”; kitobro ḵonda šudam < Uzb. kitobni ŭqib bŭldim “I read the book through (completion of an action),” lit. “I became reading the book.” The syntactical use of participles, infinitives, and gerunds is just as in Uzbek (both in literary and northern Tajiki): kitobi man ḵondagi, kitobi ḵondagiam, kitobi ḵondagii man < Uzb. yozgan kitobim (also mening yozgan kitobim, men yozgan kitob “the book I’ve read,” literally “my-book reading, the book of my reading.” A kind of referative aspect is formed by the participle in -dagi/-tagi, for example, raftagi-am < Uzb. ketgan-dir-man “(one may suppose that) I have gone,” lit. “I am gone.” As in Uzbek the infinitive is used frequently, for example, (northern Tajik) kalkos-va daromadan bat < Uzb. kolḵozga kirmiš blan “after (with) having come to the kolkhoz,” lit. “to-the kolkhoz to come after (with).” The use of the perfect participle in -da/-ta as a gerund, also found in standard Persian, is common in long sentences, where Uzbek would use participles in -ib, for instance, piramard ba piyola reḵtani čoi nimsard šudai čoynikro lozim nadonista, onro bardošta az nŭlaš tamom nŭsid “the old man, not thinking it necessary to pour the tea, which had cooled down in the teapot, into the cup, raising (the teapot) drank (it) up from the spout.”