Though usually the language family of Iranic is often referred to as "Iranian" even by the scholars, Iranic is actually the correct term for the language family and peoples.
Here's why:
-Iranian most accurately today refers to a citizen of Iran. This includes non-Iranic speaking peoples as well such as the Semitic speaking Arabs in the Khuzestan province south of Iran or the Turkic speaking Azeris and Torkomans in the North Eastern and North Western parts of the country.
-The Pashtuns while never having been historically native to Iran, but rather Afghanistan and Pakistan, so they are Iranic, but not Iranian.
-When referring to the Turkic language family, Turkic is specifically used and never Turkish which is an individual language and does not refer to the language family.
-The same is used when referring to Germanic languages. They are not referred to as "German" but as Germanic.
-The same is used when referring to the Italic language family whereas the word Italian refers specifically to the language.
-Likewise, Iranic is the most correct term to refer to a set of languages which are also spoken outside of Iran in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and other parts of the Caucasus.
Now there might be no such language as "Iranian" but the fact is Iranian is a native of Iran, weather an Iranic speaker or not. To refer to Iranic speaking peoples as Iranian is essentially declaring them citizens of Iran.
The people of Uzbekistan are Turkic, but they are not Turkish, otherwise they would be from Turkey.
The same way Iranic peoples are not necessarily indigenous to Iran and should not be called "Iranian."
Alot of people, including Iranians are slowly coming to terms with the difference between the two words.
Here's why:
-Iranian most accurately today refers to a citizen of Iran. This includes non-Iranic speaking peoples as well such as the Semitic speaking Arabs in the Khuzestan province south of Iran or the Turkic speaking Azeris and Torkomans in the North Eastern and North Western parts of the country.
-The Pashtuns while never having been historically native to Iran, but rather Afghanistan and Pakistan, so they are Iranic, but not Iranian.
-When referring to the Turkic language family, Turkic is specifically used and never Turkish which is an individual language and does not refer to the language family.
-The same is used when referring to Germanic languages. They are not referred to as "German" but as Germanic.
-The same is used when referring to the Italic language family whereas the word Italian refers specifically to the language.
-Likewise, Iranic is the most correct term to refer to a set of languages which are also spoken outside of Iran in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and other parts of the Caucasus.
Now there might be no such language as "Iranian" but the fact is Iranian is a native of Iran, weather an Iranic speaker or not. To refer to Iranic speaking peoples as Iranian is essentially declaring them citizens of Iran.
The people of Uzbekistan are Turkic, but they are not Turkish, otherwise they would be from Turkey.
The same way Iranic peoples are not necessarily indigenous to Iran and should not be called "Iranian."
Alot of people, including Iranians are slowly coming to terms with the difference between the two words.
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