Yaghnobi language - one of two living Northeastern Iranian languages, spoken in high valley of the Yaghnob river in Zarafshan area of Tajikistan, considered to be direct descendant of Sogdian by many linguists. Most or all Yaghnobi speakers are bilingual in Tajik. Yaghnobi is used mostly for daily family communication, Tajik is used by Yaghnobi speakers as written language. Estimated number of speakers 2000-6000.

Yaghnobi was used as a lexical basis of secret language in some tajik speaking communities outside Yaghnob river valley.

Two main dialects are: western and eastern, differs mostly in phonetics. Western -t corresponds to eastern -s, e.g. met - mes (day). Western -ay corresponds to eastern -e, i.e. wayš - weš (grass)

Phonetics: 8 vowels - 5 short, 3 long - and 27 consonants.