The article investigates the evolution of gender in the Iranian languages. Special attention is given to the study of West and East Iranian languages in the historical perspective. On the basis of a wide range of various linguistic data the generalities and peculiarities of the grammar of Iranian languages, especially the category of gender, are described and characterized in detail. Iranian linguistic group belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, which are currently spoken on a vast territory. The most numerous branch of this family is Indo-Iranian, which includes Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages. Their separation began with the migrations of the ancestors of modern Indo-Aryans to Northwest India. The history of Iranian-speaking tribes and peoples, who in the past lived on the geography stretching from the shores of Black sea in the west to the borders of China in the east and from the southern Urals in the north to the shores of the Persian Gulf and India in the south, covers a vast period of time – from the II millennium BC up to the present day. The dialects of many tribes by the turn of the new era still retained a significant degree of initial community, inherited from the ancient Iranian source language close to Avestan.

Keywords: gender, grammar, Iranian languages, Indo-European languages, Western Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian languages.

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