Zoroastrian Dari ( literally Behdīnān dialect) is a Persian dialect and a Northwestern Iranian ethnolect. Zoroastrian Dari used to be spoken by almost a million people in central Iran, up until the 1880s. Nowadays, it is used as a first language by an estimated 8,000 to 15,000 Zoroastrians in and around the cities of Yazd and Kerman in central Iran, and by the Irani community in India. Dari is also known as Behdināni or pejoratively as Gabri (sometimes Gavrŭni or Gabrōni). Dari has numerous dialects. Genealogy Genealogically, Dari Persian is a member of the Northwestern Iranian language subfamily, which includes several other closely related languages, for instance, Kurdish, Zazaki, and Balochi. These Northwestern Iranian languages are a branch of the larger Western Iranian language group, which is, in turn, a subgroup of the Iranian language family. Name The language known as Zoroastrian Dari is also referred to as 'Behdinâni' ("language of the people of good religion") or pejorative yet common name, 'Gabri' ("language of the infidels"). The roots of the name 'Gabri' date back to the Muslim invasion of Iran and are resented by indigenous speakers of Dari to refer to their language. As Farudi and Toosarvandani point out: "For them, choosing to call their language Dari, the speakers of the language invoke their ancestral connections to a pre-Islamic Iran." Dialects According to Farudi and Toosarvaredani, Dari is traditionally divided into two main dialects: the variety spoken in Yazd and the one spoken in Kerman. However, this division of the language conceals the complexity of the actual dialectical situation. The Yazdi dialect has approximately thirty varieties, each distinct and unique to one of the Zoroastrian neighborhoods in and around Yazd. Were it not for the geographic proximity of the Yazdi dialects, they would be classified as distinct dialects. The Kermani dialect may also contain (or may have contained at one time) a comparable level of dialectical complexity. Endangered status Although Dari has been generally considered quintessential to Zoroastrian identity, but its vitality of it is being affected or has been affected in the past, by two main types of pressure: economic and political. The pressures affecting the vitality of Dari Persian today are largely economic. In order to obtain an economic advantage, speakers are giving up their traditional language for the dominant language of Iran, standard new Persian. Parents intentionally do not transmit Dari to their children in order that