A separate group of non-Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, theZaza–Gorani languages, are also spoken by several million ethnic Kurds.[16][17][18]
The literary output in Kurdish was mostly confined to poetry until the early 20th century, when more general literature became developed. Today, the two principal written Kurdish dialects are Kurmanji and Sorani. Sorani is, along withArabic, one of the two official languages ofIraq and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".[19][20]
Classification and origin
The Kurdish varieties belong to theIranian branch of theIndo-European family. They are generally classified as Northwestern Iranian languages, or by some scholars as intermediate between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian.[21]: 587 Martin van Bruinessen notes that "Kurdish has a strong South-Western Iranian element", whereas "Zaza and Gurani [...] do belong to the north-west Iranian group".[22]
Ludwig Paul concludes that Kurdish seems to be a Northwestern Iranian language in origin,[13] but acknowledges that it shares many traits with Southwestern Iranian languages likePersian, apparently due to longstanding and intense historical contacts.
Windfuhr identified Kurdish dialects asParthian, albeit with aMedian substratum. Windfuhr andFrye assume an eastern origin for Kurdish and consider it as related to eastern and central Iranian dialects.[23][24]
The present state of knowledge about Kurdish allows, at least roughly, drawing the approximate borders of the areas where the main ethnic core of the speakers of the contemporary Kurdish dialects was formed. The most argued hypothesis on the localisation of the ethnic territory of the Kurds remainsD.N. Mackenzie's theory, proposed in the early 1960s (Mackenzie 1961). Developing the ideas of P. Tedesco (1921: 255) and regarding the common phonetic isoglosses shared by Kurdish, Persian, andBaluchi, Mackenzie concluded that the speakers of these three languages may once have been in closer contact.
Varieties
Kurdish varieties are divided into three or four groups, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.[25][26]
Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani) is spoken in theKermanshah,Ilam andLorestan provinces of Iran and in theKhanaqin District of eastern Iraq.[28]Laki andKordali (Palai) are often included in Southern Kurdish,[29] but they have some distinct features.[30]
In historical evolution terms, Kurmanji is less modified than Sorani and Pehlewani in both phonetic and morphological structure. The Sorani group has been influenced by among other things its closer cultural proximity to the other languages spoken by Kurds in the region including theGorani language in parts ofIranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan.[27][31]
Since 1932 most Kurds have used the Roman script to write Kurmanji.... Sorani is normally written in an adapted form of the Arabic script.... Reasons for describing Kurmanji and Sorani as 'dialects' of one language are their common origin and the fact that this usage reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity among the Kurds. From a linguistic or at least a grammatical point of view, however, Kurmanji and Sorani differ as much from each other as English and German, and it would seem appropriate to refer to them as languages. For example, Sorani has neither gender nor case-endings, whereas Kurmanji has both.... Differences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not as great as between German and English, but they are still considerable.[27]
According toEncyclopaedia of Islam, although Kurdish is not a unified language, its many dialects are interrelated and at the same time distinguishable from otherWestern Iranian languages. The same source classifies different Kurdish dialects as two main groups, northern and central.[31] The average Kurmanji speaker does not find it easy to communicate with the inhabitants ofSulaymaniyah orHalabja.[26]
The Mokriani variety of Sorani is widely spoken in Mokrian. Piranshahr and Mahabad are two principal cities of the Mokrian area.[32]
Zaza–Gorani languages, which are spoken by communities in the wider area who identify as ethnic Kurds, are not linguistically classified as Kurdish.[16][17][18] Zaza-Gorani is classified as adjunct to Kurdish, although authorities differ in the details.[21]: 589 groups Kurdish with Zaza Gorani within a "Northwestern I" group, whileGlottolog based onEncyclopædia Iranica prefers an areal grouping of "Central dialects" (or "Kermanic") within Northwest Iranic, with Kurdish but not Zaza-Gorani grouped with "Kermanic".[33]
Gorani is distinct from Northern and Central Kurdish, yet shares vocabulary with both of them and there are some grammatical similarities with Central Kurdish.[34] TheHawrami dialects of Gorani includes a variety that was an important literary language since the 14th century, but it was replaced by Central Kurdish in the 20th century.[35]
European scholars have maintained that Gorani is separate from Kurdish and that Kurdish is synonymous with the Northern Kurdish group, whereas ethnic Kurds maintain that Kurdish encompasses any of the unique languages or dialects spoken by Kurds that are not spoken by neighbouring ethnic groups.[36]
Gorani is classified as part of the Zaza–Gorani branch of Indo-Iranian languages.[37] TheZaza language, spoken mainly in Turkey, differs both grammatically and in vocabulary and is generally not understandable by Gorani speakers but it is considered related to Gorani. Almost all Zaza-speaking communities,[38] as well as speakers of the closely relatedShabaki dialect spoken in parts ofIraqi Kurdistan, identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.[16][39][40][41][42][43]
According to M. Leezenberg, the term "Kurdish dialect" could refer to either a "dialect of the Kurdish branch of Northwestern Indo-Iranian languages" (such as Kurmanji and Sorani), or a "dialect spoken by people who consider themselves Kurds" (such as Zaza and Gorani).[44] He added that the situation of Zazas, who overwhelmingly identified as Kurds, and Goranis, who were certainly Kurds and identified as such, was opposite from the situation of Yazidis, who spoke a Kurdish language but for religious reasons often did not identify as Kurds and were not seen as Kurds by other Kurds until the rise of secular nationalism.[45]
Geoffrey Haig and Ergin Öpengin in their recent study suggest grouping the Kurdish languages into Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish, Southern Kurdish,Zaza, and Gorani, and avoid the subgrouping Zaza–Gorani.[46]
ProfessorZare Yusupova has carried out much work and research into the Gorani dialect (as well as many other minority/ancient Kurdish dialects).[47]
History
During his stay inDamascus, historianIbn Wahshiyya came across two books on agriculture written in Kurdish, one on the culture of the vine and the palm tree, and the other on water and the means of finding it out in unknown ground. He translated both from Kurdish into Arabic in the early 9th century AD.[48]
Among the earliest Kurdish religious texts is theYazidi Black Book, the sacred book ofYazidi faith. It is considered to have been authored sometime in the 13th century AD byHassan bin Adi (b. 1195 AD), the great-grandnephew of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (d. 1162), the founder of the faith. It contains the Yazidi account of the creation of the world, the origin of man, the story ofAdam andEve and the major prohibitions of the faith.[49] According toThe Cambridge History of the Kurds, "the first proper 'text'" written in Kurdish is a short Christian prayer. It was written in Armenian characters, and dates from the fifteenth century.[50] From the 15th to 17th centuries, classical Kurdish poets and writers developed a literary language. The most notable classical Kurdish poets from this period wereAli Hariri,Ahmad Khani,Malaye Jaziri andFaqi Tayran.
TheItalian priest Maurizio Garzoni published the first Kurdish grammar titledGrammatica e Vocabolario della Lingua Kurda inRome in 1787 after eighteen years of missionary work among the Kurds ofAmadiya.[51] This work is very important in Kurdish history as it is the first acknowledgment of the widespread use of a distinctive Kurdish language. Garzoni was given the titleFather of Kurdology by later scholars.[52] The Kurdish language was banned in a large portion of Kurdistan for some time. After the1980 Turkish coup d'état until 1991 the use of the Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey.[53]
Current status
Road signs nearDiyarbakır showing the place names in Turkish and Kurdish
Today,Sorani is an official language in Iraq. In Syria, on the other hand, publishing materials in Kurdish is forbidden,[54] though this prohibition is not enforced any more due to theSyrian civil war.[55]
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media.[56][57] In March 2006, Turkey allowed private television channels to begin airing programming in Kurdish. However, the Turkish government said that they must avoid showing children'scartoons, or educational programs that teach Kurdish, and could broadcast only for 45 minutes a day or four hours a week.[58] The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) started its24-hour Kurdish television station on 1 January 2009 with the motto "we live under the same sky".[59] The Turkish prime minister sent a video message in Kurdish to the opening ceremony, which was attended by Minister of Culture and other state officials. The channel uses theX,W, andQ letters during broadcasting. However, most of these restrictions on private Kurdish television channels were relaxed in September 2009.[60] In 2010, Kurdish municipalities in the southeast began printingmarriage certificates, water bills, construction androad signs, as well as emergency, social and cultural notices in Kurdish alongside Turkish. Also Imams began to deliver Fridaysermons in Kurdish andEsnaf price tags in Kurdish. Many mayors were tried for issuing public documents in Kurdish language.[61] The Kurdish alphabet is not recognized in Turkey, and prior to 2013 the use of Kurdish names containing the lettersX,W, andQ, which do not exist in theTurkish alphabet, was not allowed.[62][63] In 2012, Kurdish-language lessons became an elective subject in public schools. Previously, Kurdish education had only been possible in private institutions.[64]
In Iran, though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it is not used in public schools.[65][66] In 2005, 80 Syrian and Iranian Kurds took part in an experiment and gained scholarships to study inKurdistan Region, Iraq, in their native tongue.[67]
InKyrgyzstan,96.21% of the Kurdish population speak Kurdish as their native language.[68] In Kazakhstan, the corresponding percentage is 88.7%.[69]
^MacCagg, William O.; Silver, Brian D., eds. (1979).Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers. Pergamon Press. p. 94.ISBN9780080246376.Since the most active Soviet Kurdish center has been and continues to be Yerevan, the first alphabet used for publishing Kurdish in the USSR was the Armenian alphabet.
^Курдский язык (in Russian).Krugosvet....в Армении на основе русского алфавита с 1946 (с 1921 на основе армянской графики, с 1929 на основе латиницы).
^Khamoyan, M. (1986). "Քրդերեն [Kurdish language]".Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (in Armenian). Vol. 12. p. 492....գրկ. լույս է տեսնում 1921-ից հայկ., 1929-ից՝ լատ., 1946-ից՝ ռուս. այբուբենով...
^"Social Contract – Sa-Nes". Self-Administration of North & East Syria Representation in Benelux. Archived fromthe original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved22 March 2019.
^Allison, Christine. The Yezidi oral tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan. 2001. "However, it was the southern dialect of Kurdish, Sorani, the majority language of the Iraqi Kurds, which received sanction as an official language of Iraq."
^Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), "Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes", Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457-471
^Hassanpour, A. (1992). Nationalism and language in Kurdistan. San Francisco: Mellon Press. Also mentioned in:kurdishacademy.orgArchived 9 July 2016 at theWayback Machine
^abPostgate, J.N., Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, [Iraq]: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007,ISBN978-0-903472-21-0, p.139
^abcPhilip G. Kreyenbroek, "On the Kurdish Language", a chapter in the bookThe Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. The book is previewable atGoogle Book SearchArchived 26 October 2022 at theWayback Machine.
^Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "On the Kurdish Language", a chapter in the book The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview.
^Meri, Josef W. Medieval Islamic Civilization: A-K, index. p444
^Edmonds, Cecil. Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: politics, travel, and research in north-eastern Iraq, 1919–1925. Oxford University Press, 1957.
^J. N. Postgate, Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, [Iraq]: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, p. 138.
^Abd al-Jabbar, Falih. Ayatollahs, sufis and ideologues: state, religion and social movements in Iraq. University of Virginia 2008.
^Sykes, Mark. The Caliphs' last heritage: a short history of the Turkish Empire
^O'Shea, Maria. Trapped between the map and reality: geography and perceptions of Kurdistan.ISBN0-415-94766-9.
^Library Information and Research Service. The Middle East, abstracts and index
^Meiselas, Susan. Kurdistan: in the shadow of history. Random House, 1997.
^Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?, Michiel Leezenberg, pp. 2. ILLC - Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam
^Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?, Michiel Leezenberg, pp. 7, 12. ILLC - Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam
