The Arabic dialects of South Khorasan, particularly in the counties of Nehbandan and Darmian, are not merely means of communication but fundamental elements of cultural identity and invaluable intangible heritage for Iran. Given the accelerating rate of dialect extinction, systematic recording and documentation are the only ways to prevent the complete loss of this linguistic diversity and cultural treasure. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to investigate the internal word-formation processes and derivational patterns—such as active participles, passive participles, and intensive forms—in the Arabic dialect of Toutesk village. Data were collected through field interviews with native speakers, supplemented by library sources.



Findings reveal that while Toutesk Arabic closely resembles Standard Arabic in forming words from proper nouns and verbs, it deviates significantly in categories such as passive voice and non-active verb structures. The primary driver of these deviations is the deep and centuries-long influence of Persian due to sustained language contact. Concrete evidence of Persian influence includes: the deletion of the dual number in both nouns and verbs, the formation of compound words following Persian patterns, syntactic similarities in sentence structure, and morphosyntactic alignment with Persian pluralization rules.



Furthermore, increasing urban migration among speakers and the declining daily use of the dialect have disrupted its natural intergenerational transmission. This has intensified linguistic convergence with Persian across phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels. As a result, the Toutesk Arabic dialect is on a gradual but clear trajectory toward attrition and potential extinction, unless proactive language planning and systematic documentation intervene. This research not only provides a valuable repository of morphological data on this understudied dialect but also serves as a critical reminder of the urgent need to safeguard linguistic diversity as an integral component of national identity.