The Avestan languages (Old and Young Avestan) are the languages of the Zoroastrian ritual.
They are the oldest East Iranian languages attested (see introduction).
Avestan texts are written in a script unique for its phonetic details.
For example, the writing system distinguishes between released and unreleased stops.
Due to conditioned sound changes the consonant system is extremely rich and distinguishes series of voiced and unvoiced fricatives (see sounds).
Allomorphy is much more prevailing than in the closely related Early Vedic (see words).
Like in Greek and Hittite, plural neuters may agree with verbs in the singular (see structures).
Hintze, Almut & Benedikt Peschl 2020, Avestan – Introduction, Part 1: Historical, geographical and cultural background. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49082.
Hintze, Almut 2020, Avestan – Introduction, Part 2: Avestan texts and ritual practice. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49083.
Hintze, Almut 2020, Avestan – Introduction, Part 3: Avestan script and sound. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49084.
Peschl, Benedikt 2020, Avestan – Phonology, Part 1: Problems in the tradition, segmental phonology. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49086.
Peschl, Benedikt 2020, Avestan – Morphology, Part 2: Nominal stem formation and inflection. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49089.
Peschl, Benedikt 2020, Avestan – Morphology, Part 3: The verb. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49090.
Text samples: an Old Avestan text: Yasna 44.3–4, a verse from the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti, Y 35.2, stylistic feature: anaphora, selected grammatical features
Hintze, Almut 2020, Avestan – Text sample. In Saverio Dalpedri, Götz Keydana, and Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online (electronic resource). Göttingen: University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49095.
