sound of Sogdian language - The tale of Rustam & Rakhsh

the approximate sound of Classical Sogdian language.

The Sogdian Version of the "Rustame tale" was writrent by the Sogdian community in Dunhuang Sog. δrw'n /θruwān, δruwān, žuwān, ẓ̌uwān/ (China)

Sogdian had many dialects, of which some are better attested and some very poorly.

Some of the Sogdian dialects are:
Classical Sogdian (Panjakent, China documents etc.)
dialect of Samarkand (very similar or identical to Classical Sogdian)
dialect of Bukhara
dialect of Chach/Kangju (Tashkent)
ʼštn dialect (Vessantara jātaka)
dialect of Ustrōshana (mod. Istaravshan)
dialect of Zhetysu/Semirechye (Kazakhstan + Kirghizstan)
dialect of pyttmʼn/Buttam(ān)/Buṭṭam(ān) (mod. Zarafshon)
and probably more unattested ones.

further the language can also be divided into several varieties:

Old Sogdian? (Sog. ashem vohu)
Classical Sogdian (see above)
Manichean Sogdian
Christian Sogdian
Buddhist Sogdian
Brahmi Sogdian

here the phonetic transcription of the
"Rustam tale" is more or less outdated. It also seems that the author, who provided this text, missed some words from the original transliteration of the Sogdian script (the missed words were put in brackets)

Grammar:

In contrast to Middle Persian, Sogdian exhibits a very complex morphological system with gender differentiation into masculine, feminine, and neuter categories. The language displays a system of six grammatical cases for light stem which is further divided into:

Light stem: masc. a-stems neut. a-stems fem. ā-stems masc. u-stems fem. ū-stems masc. ya-stems

nouns, whereas heavy stem or contracted stem nouns show a reduced case system of 2-3 cases,

cont. stems: masc. aka-stems neut. aka-stems
fem. ākā-stems

resulting from the operation of the distinctive "Rhythmic law" phenomenon, which is a feature unique to Sogdian.

As the form of the word can change depending on its gender and stem type, it is essential for learners of Sogdian to have a good understanding of the language's grammar and vocabulary to effectively communicate in the language.

Source: Recording (Eran ud Turan), Phonetic transcription (Lubomír Novák)