View source for Social:Kurdish languages

{{Short description|Northwestern Iranian dialect continuum}}
<noinclude>{{User:RMCD bot/subject notice|1=?|2=Talk:Kurdish languages#Requested move 15 January 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Kurdish
| nativename       = {{lang|ku-Latn|Kurdî}} / {{lang|ku-Arab|کوردی}}
| image            = Kurdish_Language.svg
| imagescale       = 0.6
| imagecaption     = 
| states           = [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], Iraq, [[Religion:Iran|Iran]], [[Place:Syria|Syria]], [[Place:Armenia|Armenia]], [[Place:Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]]
| region           = [[Place:Kurdistan|Kurdistan]], [[Earth:Anatolia|Anatolia]], [[Earth:Caucasus|Caucasus]], Khorasan, Kurdish diaspora
| ethnicity        = Kurds
| speakers         = {{sigfig|24.699970|2}} million
| date             = 2019–2020
| ref              = <ref>{{e25|kur}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Social:Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = Iranian
| fam4             = Western
| fam5             = Northwestern
| ancestor         = 
| ancestor2        = 
| dia1             = Northern Kurdish <small>(Kurmanji)</small>
| dia2             = Central Kurdish <small>(Sorani)</small>
| dia3             = Southern Kurdish <small>(Xwarîn, Palewani)</small>
| script           = {{Plain list|
* [[Social:Kurdish alphabets#Hawar alphabet|Hawar alphabet]] <small>(Latin script; used mostly in Turkey and Syria)</small>
* [[Social:Kurdish alphabets#Sorani alphabet|Sorani alphabet]] <small>(Perso-Arabic script; used mostly in Iraq and Iran)</small>
* [[Social:Kurdish alphabets#Cyrillic script|Cyrillic alphabet]] <small>(former Soviet Union)</small>
* [[Social:Kurdish alphabets#Armenian alphabet|Armenian alphabet]] <small>(1921–29 in Soviet Armenia)</small><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=MacCagg |editor1-first=William O. |editor2-last=Silver |editor2-first=Brian D. |date=1979 |title=Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers |publisher=Pergamon Press |isbn=9780080246376 |page=94 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=ru:Курдский язык |url=http://www.krugosvet.ru/enc/gumanitarnye_nauki/lingvistika/KURDSKI_YAZIK.html |publisher=[[Krugosvet]] |language=ru |quote=...в Армении на основе русского алфавита с 1946 (с 1921 на основе армянской графики, с 1929 на основе латиницы).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Khamoyan |first1=M. |title=Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia |volume=12 |chapter=Քրդերեն [Kurdish language] |date=1986 |page=492 |language=hy |quote=...գրկ. լույս է տեսնում 1921-ից հայկ., 1929-ից՝ լատ., 1946-ից՝ ռուս. այբուբենով...}}</ref>
}}
| dia4             = Laki<ref name="Iranatlas" >{{cite web |title=Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.classification |website=Languages of Iran |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref>
| iso1             = ku
| iso2             = kur
| iso3             = kur
| lc1              = kmr
| ld1              = Northern Kurdish
| lc2              = ckb
| ld2              = Central Kurdish
| lc3              = sdh
| ld3              = Southern Kurdish
| lc4              = lki
| ld4              = Laki Kurdish
| lingua           = 58-AAA-a (North Kurdish incl. Kurmanji & Kurmanjiki) + 58-AAA-b (Central Kurdish incl. Dimli/Zaza & Gurani) + 58-AAA-c (South Kurdish incl. Kurdi)
| glotto           = kurd1259
| glottorefname    = Kurdish
| nation           = {{flag|Iraq}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Iraq's Constitution of 2005 |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iraq_2005.pdf?lang=en |access-date=14 April 2019 |page=4}}</ref>{{efn|Official at state level}}
*{{flag|Kurdistan Region}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Kurdistan: Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region |url=https://unpo.org/article/538?id=538 |access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref>
{{flag|Rojava}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Social Contract - Sa-Nes |url=http://rojavabenelux.nl/?page_id=1862 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209113945/http://rojavabenelux.nl/?page_id=1862 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 December 2018 |publisher=Self-Administration of North & East Syria Representation in Benelux |access-date=22 March 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rojava could be a model for all Syria |url=https://www.nationalia.info/interview/1905/rojava-could-be-a-model-for-all-syria |access-date=22 March 2019 |work=Salih Muslim |agency=Nationalita |date=29 July 2014}}</ref>
| minority         = {{flag|Armenia}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Pavlenko |first=Aneta |year=2008 |title=Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries |location=Bristol, UK |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-84769-087-6 |pages=18–22}}</ref>
| notice           = IPA
| map              = 
| mapcaption       = 
| map2             = Kurdish languages map.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|Geographic distribution of Kurdish dialects and other Iranian languages spoken by Kurds}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{{legend|#ef6662|'''Kurmanji''' ''(Northern Kurdish)''}}
{{legend|#c63143|'''Sorani''' ''(Central Kurdish)''}}
{{legend|#c8a65d|'''Goroni''' ''(Southern Kurdish)''}}
{{legend|#a56c24|'''Zazaki'''}}
{{legend|#b3d423|'''Mixed dialect areas'''}}
{{col-end}}
}}

'''Kurdish''' ({{lang|ku|script=Latn|links=no|Kurdî}}, {{lang|ckb|links=no|کوردی}}) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of [[Place:Kurdistan|Kurdistan]] and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish languages constitutes a dialect continuum, many of which are not [[Social:Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]],<ref name="Iranica" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kreyenbroek |first1=Philip G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZ6JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |title=The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview |last2=Sperl |first2=Stefan |date=2005-08-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-90766-3 |language=en}}</ref> belonging to Western Iranian languages in the [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]]. The main three dialects or languages of Kurdish are Northern Kurdish ({{lang|ku-Latn|Kurmanji}}), Central Kurdish ({{lang|ku-Latn|Sorani}}), and Southern Kurdish ({{lang|ku-Latn|Xwarîn}}).

A separate group of non-Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, the Zaza–Gorani languages, are also spoken by several million ethnic Kurds.<ref name="ReferenceB">Kaya, Mehmet. The Zaza Kurds of Turkey: A Middle Eastern Minority in a Globalised Society. {{ISBN|1-84511-875-8}}</ref><ref name="gulf2000.columbia.edu">{{cite web|url=http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Mid_East_Linguistic_lg.jpg |title=Languages of the Middle East|access-date=23 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118184312/http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Mid_East_Linguistic_lg.jpg |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgDi9qFT41oC |title=A Modern History of the Kurds: Third Edition - David McDowall - Google Books |date=2004-05-14 |isbn=9781850434160 |access-date=2012-12-18|last1=McDowall |first1=David |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> The majority of the Kurds speak [[Social:Kurmanji|Kurmanji]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Kurmanji Kurdish |url=https://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Kurmanji/kurmanji_1_grammar.pdf |url-status=dead |access-date=24 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194105/http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Kurmanji/kurmanji_1_grammar.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> and most Kurdish texts are written in [[Social:Kurmanji|Kurmanji]] and Sorani. Kurmanji is written in the Hawar alphabet, a derivation of the Latin script, and Sorani is written in the Sorani alphabet, a derivation of Arabic script.

The classification of Laki as a dialect of Southern Kurdish or as a fourth language under Kurdish is a matter of debate,<ref name="Iranatlas">{{cite web |title=Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.classification |website=Languages of Iran |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref> but the differences between Laki and other Southern Kurdish dialects are minimal.<ref name="iranicaonline">{{cite web |title=Lak Tribe |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lak-tribe |work=Iranica Online |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref>

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 with [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], one of the two official languages of Iraq and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".<ref>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."</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=node/194 |title=Kurdish language issue and a divisive approach |publisher=Kurdish Academy of Language |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017021048/http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=node%2F194 |archive-date=17 October 2015 }}</ref>

==Classification and origin==
The Kurdish languages belong to the Iranian branch of the [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European family]]. They are generally classified as Northwestern Iranian languages, or by some scholars as intermediate between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian.<ref name=":1">Gernot Windfuhr, ed., 2009. ''The Iranian Languages''.  Routledge.</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2022}} 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".<ref>Bruinessen, M.M. van. (1994). [http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Competing_Ethnic_Loyalties.htm Kurdish nationalism and competing ethnic loyalties] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112203117/http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Competing_Ethnic_Loyalties.htm |date=12 November 2011 }}</ref>

Ludwig Paul concludes that Kurdish seems to be a Northwestern Iranian language in origin,<ref name="Iranica">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Kurdish language I. History of the Kurdish language|author-last=Paul|author-first=Ludwig|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i|access-date=28 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20111204130713/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i|archive-date=4 December 2011}}</ref> but acknowledges that it shares many traits with Southwestern Iranian languages like [[Social:Persian language|Persian]], apparently due to longstanding and intense historical contacts.

Windfuhr identified Kurdish dialects as [[Social:Parthian language|Parthian]], albeit with a [[Social:Median language|Median]] substratum. Windfuhr and Frye assume an eastern origin for Kurdish and consider it as related to eastern and central Iranian dialects.<ref>Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), "Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes", Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457-471</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft: Alter Orient-Griechische Geschichte-Römische Geschichte. Band III,7: The History of Ancient Iran|last=Frye|first=Richard N.|publisher=C.H.Beck|year=1984|isbn=9783406093975|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000frye/page/29 29]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000frye/page/29}}</ref>

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 remains D.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, and Baluchi, Mackenzie concluded that the speakers of these three languages may once have been in closer contact.

==Subdivisions==
Kurdish is divided into three or four groups, where dialects from different groups are not mutually intelligible without acquired bilingualism.<ref>Hassanpour, A. (1992). Nationalism and language in Kurdistan. San Francisco: Mellon Press. Also mentioned in: [http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=node/712 kurdishacademy.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709211539/http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=node%2F712 |date=9 July 2016 }}</ref><ref name=":0">Postgate, J.N., Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, [Iraq]: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-903472-21-0}}, p.139</ref>

*Kurmanji is the largest dialect group, spoken by an estimated 15 to 20 million Kurds in Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq, and northwest and northeast Iran.
*Sorani is spoken by an estimated 6 to 7 million Kurds in much of [[Place:Iraqi Kurdistan|Iraqi Kurdistan]] and the Iranian Kurdistan Province.<ref name="kreyenbroek">Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "On the Kurdish Language", a chapter in the book ''The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview''. The book is previewable at [https://books.google.com/books?id=DkI1u4ta5w4C Google Book Search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026091607/https://books.google.com/books?id=DkI1u4ta5w4C |date=26 October 2022 }}.</ref> Sorani is a written standard of Central Kurdish developed in the 1920s (named after the historical Soran Emirate) and was later adopted as the standard [[Social:Kurdish alphabets|orthography]] of Kurdish as an official language of Iraq.<ref>Joyce Blau, ''Methode de Kurde: Sorani'', Editions L'Harmattan (2000), [https://books.google.com/books?id=2aV7QiWQlfIC&pg=PA20  p. 20]</ref>
*Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani) is spoken in the Kermanshah, Ilam and Lorestan provinces of Iran and in the Khanaqin District of eastern Iraq.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tavadze|first=Givi|date=2019|title=Spreading of the Kurdish Language Dialects and Writing Systems Used in the Middle East|url=http://science.org.ge/bnas/t13-n1/24_Tavadze.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://science.org.ge/bnas/t13-n1/24_Tavadze.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences|page=172}}</ref> Laki and Kordali (Palai) are often included in Southern Kurdish,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mabry |first1=Tristan James |title=Nationalism, language, and Muslim exceptionalism |date=2015 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |isbn=9780812246919}}</ref> but they have some distinct features.<ref>Erik Anonby, Mortaza Taheri-Ardali & Amos Hayes (2019) ''The Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI)''. Iranian Studies 52. [https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HM6ElEb3cPqf4FWxYVc8LqRrvFsyu0mGXXqaawgXWk/pub#ftnt142 A Working Classification] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016065304/https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HM6ElEb3cPqf4FWxYVc8LqRrvFsyu0mGXXqaawgXWk/pub#ftnt142 |date=16 October 2021 }}</ref>

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 the Gorani language in parts of Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan.<ref name="kreyenbroek" /><ref name="autogenerated1">D.N. MacKenzie, ''Language'' in ''Kurds & Kurdistan'', Encyclopaedia of Islam.</ref>

Philip G. Kreyenbroek, an expert writing in 1992, says:
{{quote|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.<ref name=kreyenbroek/>}}

According to ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', although Kurdish is not a unified language, its many dialects are interrelated and at the same time distinguishable from other Western Iranian languages. The same source classifies different Kurdish dialects as two main groups, northern and central.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> The reality is that the average Kurmanji speaker does not find it easy to communicate with the inhabitants of [[Place:Sulaymaniyah|Sulaymaniyah]] or [[Place:Halabja|Halabja]].<ref name=":0"/>

Some linguistic scholars assert that the term "Kurdish" has been applied extrinsically in describing the language the Kurds speak, whereas some ethnic Kurds have used the word term to simply describe their ethnicity and refer to their language as ''Kurmanji'', ''Sorani'', ''Hewrami'', ''Kermanshahi'', ''Kalhori'' or whatever other dialect or language they speak. Some historians have noted that it is only recently that the Kurds who speak the Sorani dialect have begun referring to their language as ''Kurdî'', in addition to their identity, which is translated to simply mean Kurdish.<ref>[http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/history/articles-his/his-articles-02.html]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501191513/http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/history/articles-his/his-articles-02.html|date=1 May 2008}}</ref>

The Mokriani variety of Sorani is widely spoken in Mokrian. Piranshahr and Mahabad are two principal cities of the Mokrian area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dissertation.xlibx.info/d1-other/240081-1-background-the-language-community-and-fieldwork-introduction-the.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305034800/http://www.dissertation.xlibx.info/d1-other/240081-1-background-the-language-community-and-fieldwork-introduction-the.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-03-05|title=Background to the language, community, and fieldwork 1.1 Introduction The present work is a grammatical description of the Mukri variety of Central|website=www.dissertation.xlibx.info}}</ref>

==Zazaki and Gorani==
Zaza–Gorani languages, which are spoken by communities in the wider area who identify as ethnic Kurds, are not linguistically classified as Kurdish.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="gulf2000.columbia.edu" /><ref name="Books.google.com" /> Zaza-Gorani is classified as adjunct to Kurdish, although authorities differ in the details.<ref name=":1" />{{page needed|date=December 2014}} groups Kurdish with Zaza Gorani within a "Northwestern I" group, while [[Social:Glottolog|Glottolog]] based on ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' prefers an areal grouping of "Central dialects" (or "Kermanic") within Northwest Iranic, with Kurdish but not Zaza-Gorani grouped with "Kermanic".<ref>Glottolog 2.3, [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/cent2264 Subfamily: Central Iran Kermanic] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213173827/http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/cent2264 |date=13 December 2014 }}. "The Central dialects thus constitute the southernmost group of the so-called Northwest Iranian dialects," 
[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/central-dialects Central Dialects] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905072810/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/central-dialects |date=5 September 2013 }} (iranicaonline.org)</ref>

Gorani is distinct from Northern and Central Kurdish, yet shares vocabulary with both of them and there are some grammatical similarities with Central Kurdish.<ref>Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "On the Kurdish Language", a chapter in the book The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview.</ref> The Hawrami 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.<ref>Meri, Josef W. Medieval Islamic Civilization: A-K, index. p444</ref>

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.<ref>Edmonds, Cecil. Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: politics, travel, and research in north-eastern Iraq, 1919–1925. Oxford University Press, 1957.</ref>

Gorani is classified as part of the Zaza–Gorani branch of Indo-Iranian languages.<ref>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.</ref> The Zaza 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Bruinessen_Ethnic_identity_Kurds.pdf |title=The Ethnic Identity of the Kurds in Turkey |access-date=2015-10-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015152331/http://www.let.uu.nl/~Martin.vanBruinessen/personal/publications/Bruinessen_Ethnic_identity_Kurds.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref> as well as speakers of the closely related Shabaki dialect spoken in parts of [[Place:Iraqi Kurdistan|Iraqi Kurdistan]], identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>Abd al-Jabbar, Falih. Ayatollahs, sufis and ideologues: state, religion and social movements in Iraq. University of Virginia 2008.</ref><ref>Sykes, Mark. The Caliphs' last heritage: a short history of the Turkish Empire</ref><ref>O'Shea, Maria. Trapped between the map and reality: geography and perceptions of Kurdistan. {{ISBN|0-415-94766-9}}.</ref><ref>Library Information and Research Service. The Middle East, abstracts and index</ref><ref>Meiselas, Susan. Kurdistan: in the shadow of history. Random House, 1997.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Opengin |first1=Ergin |last2=Haig |first2=Geoffrey |title=Kurdish: a critical research overview |url=https://www.academia.edu/9265357 |website=Academia.edu |language=en}}</ref>

The notable professor Zare Yusupova has carried out a lot of work and research into the Gorani dialect (as well as many other minority/ancient Kurdish dialects).<ref name="research-gate-book-1">{{cite book |last=Leezenberg |first=M. |date=15 June 2016 |title=Soviet Kurdology and Kurdish Orientalism |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254810726 |page=10 |publication-date=15 June 2016 |access-date=24 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427211418/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254810726_Soviet_Kurdology_and_Kurdish_Orientalism |archive-date=27 April 2018}}</ref>

==History==
<!--[[File:Old Kurdish alphabet.png|thumb|Old alphabet used previously for Kurdish, according to Ibn Wahshiyya 856 AC.]]-->

During his stay in [[Place:Damascus|Damascus]], historian Ibn 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn-Waḥšīya |first=Aḥmad Ibn-ʿAlī |translator=Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall|title=Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic Characters Explained: With an Account of the Egyptian Priests, Their Classes, Initiation, and Sacrifices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GZEAAAAcAAJ |access-date=28 March 2013 |year= 1806|publisher=Bulmer |page=53 }}</ref>

Among the earliest Kurdish religious texts is the ''[[Religion:Yazidi Black Book|Yazidi Black Book]]'', the sacred book of Yazidi faith. It is considered to have been authored sometime in the 13th century AD by ''Hassan 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 of [[Biography:Adam|Adam]] and Eve and the major prohibitions of the faith.<ref>John S. Guest, ''The Yezidis: A Study in Survival'', Routledge Publishers, 1987, {{ISBN|0-7103-0115-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7103-0115-4}}, 299 pp. (see pages 18, 19, 32)</ref> According to ''The 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Kurds |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-108-47335-4 |pages=613 |editor-last=Bozarslan |editor-first=Hamit |editor-last2=Gunes |editor-first2=Cengiz |editor-last3=Yadirgi |editor-first3=Veli}}</ref> From the 15th to 17th centuries, classical Kurdish poets and writers developed a literary language. The most notable classical Kurdish poets from this period were Ali Hariri, Ahmad Khani, Malaye Jaziri and [[Biography:Faqi Tayran|Faqi Tayran]].

The Italian priest Maurizio Garzoni published the first Kurdish grammar titled ''Grammatica e Vocabolario della Lingua Kurda'' in [[Place:Rome|Rome]] in 1787 after eighteen years of missionary work among the Kurds of [[Place:Amadiya|Amadiya]].<ref>Ernest R. McCarus, ''Kurdish Language Studies'', The Middle East Journal, Published by Middle East Institute, Washington, 1960, p.325</ref> 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 title ''Father of Kurdology'' by later scholars.<ref>[http://www.institutkurde.org/en/conferences/kurdish_studies_irbil_2006/Mirella+GALETTI.html#_ftn5 Kurdistan and Its Christians] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210082050/http://www.institutkurde.org/en/conferences/kurdish_studies_irbil_2006/Mirella+GALETTI.html |date=10 February 2009 }}, Mirella Galetti, World Congress of Kurdish Studies, 6–9 September 2006</ref> The Kurdish language was banned in a large portion of Kurdistan for some time. After the 1980 Turkish coup d'état until 1991 the use of the Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey.<ref>Ross, Michael. ''The Volunteer'' (chapter: The Road to Ankara)</ref>

==Current status==
[[File:Road sign double toponyms Amed DSC00179.JPG|thumb|Road signs near [[Place:Diyarbakır|Diyarbakır]] showing the place names in Turkish and Kurdish]]

Today, Sorani is an official language in Iraq. In [[Place:Syria|Syria]], on the other hand, publishing materials in Kurdish is forbidden,<ref>[http://web.amnesty.org/wire/March2005/Syria Repression of Kurds in Syria is widespread] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015034722/http://web.amnesty.org/wire/March2005/Syria |date=15 October 2007 }}, Amnesty International Report, March 2005.</ref> though this prohibition is not enforced any more due to the Syrian civil war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/syria-kurdistan-self-governance-teach-kurdish-language.html|title=After 52-year ban, Syrian Kurds now taught Kurdish in schools|date=6 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510184634/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/syria-kurdistan-self-governance-teach-kurdish-language.html|archive-date=10 May 2016}}</ref>

Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/zana.html |title=Special Focus Cases: Leyla Zana, Prisoner of Conscience |publisher=Amnestyusa.org |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050510082350/http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/zana.html |archive-date=10 May 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw6195.asp |title=Kurdish performers banned, Appeal from International PEN |publisher=Freemuse.org |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113034636/http://www.freemuse.org/sw6195.asp |archive-date=13 January 2012}}</ref> 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's [[Engineering:Cartoon|cartoon]]s, or educational programs that teach Kurdish, and could broadcast only for 45 minutes a day or four hours a week.<ref>[http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D4687417-BAB7-426A-9F30-8D16A9DEE206.htm Turkey to get Kurdish television] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513082443/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D4687417-BAB7-426A-9F30-8D16A9DEE206.htm |date=13 May 2006 }}</ref> The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) started its 24-hour Kurdish television station on 1 January 2009 with the motto "we live under the same sky".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=15316 |title=Kurdish TV starts broadcasting in Turkey |publisher=Kurdmedia.com |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112035549/http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=15316 |archive-date=12 January 2012}}</ref> 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 the ''X'', ''W'', and ''Q'' letters during broadcasting. However, most of these restrictions on private Kurdish television channels were relaxed in September 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trt.net.tr/Haber/HaberDetay.aspx?HaberKodu=139bfcf2-18ef-46b2-937b-010ad9411f0f |title=TRT HABER - Özel Kürtçe Kanala Yeşil Işık |publisher=Trt.net.tr |date=28 November 2011 |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118223608/http://www.trt.net.tr/Haber/HaberDetay.aspx?HaberKodu=139bfcf2-18ef-46b2-937b-010ad9411f0f |archive-date=18 January 2012}}</ref> In 2010, Kurdish municipalities in the southeast began printing [[Social:Marriage certificate|marriage certificate]]s, water bills, construction and road signs, as well as emergency, social and cultural notices in Kurdish alongside Turkish. Also Imams began to deliver Friday [[Religion:Khutbah|sermons]] in Kurdish and Esnaf price tags in Kurdish. Many mayors were tried for issuing public documents in Kurdish language.<ref>{{cite news|title=On trial for speaking Kurdish|url=http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/on-trial-for-speaking-kurdish.htm|access-date=12 June 2013|newspaper=ANF-Firatnews|date=11 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615172358/http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/on-trial-for-speaking-kurdish.htm|archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref> The Kurdish alphabet is not recognized in Turkey, and prior to 2013 the use of Kurdish names containing the letters ''X'', ''W'', and ''Q'', which do not exist in the [[Social:Turkish alphabet|Turkish alphabet]], was not allowed.<ref name="cla3a">{{cite web | url = http://www.unhchr.ch/minorities/statements10/CLA3a.doc | title = Submission to the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights: Working Group of Minorities; Tenth Session, Agenda Item 3 (a) | first = Saniye | last = Karakaş | publisher = United Nations Commission on Human Rights |date=March 2004 | access-date = 2006-11-07 | format = [[Software:Microsoft Word|MS Word]]|quote = Kurds have been officially allowed since September 2003 to take Kurdish names, but cannot use the letters x, w, or q, which are common in Kurdish but do not exist in Turkey's version of the Latin alphabet. [...] Those letters, however, are used in Turkey in the names of companies, TV and radio channels, and trademarks. For example Turkish Army has company under the name of AXA OYAK and there is SHOW TV television channel in Turkey. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070628171743/http://www.unhchr.ch/minorities/statements10/CLA3a.doc <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/10/24/turkey_prime_minister_erdogan_s_democratizaton_package_legalizes_letters.html |title=Turkey legalizes the letters Q, W, and X. Yay Alphabet! |author=Mark Liberman |work=Slate |date=2013-10-24 |access-date=2013-10-25 }}</ref> In 2012, Kurdish-language lessons became an elective subject in public schools. Previously, Kurdish education had only been possible in private institutions.<ref>{{cite news|title=Turkey to allow Kurdish lessons in schools|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/06/2012612133656956705.html|access-date=12 June 2013|newspaper=Aljazeera|date=12 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313145427/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/06/2012612133656956705.html|archive-date=13 March 2013}}</ref>

In [[Religion:Iran|Iran]], though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it is not used in public schools.<ref>[http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language/ ''The Kurdish Language and Literature''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013085526/http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language |date=13 October 2008 }}, by Joyce Blau, professor of Kurdish language and civilization at the National Institute of Oriental Language and Civilization of the University of Paris (INALCO)</ref><ref>[http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~siamakr/Kurdish/KURDICA/1999/APR/Iran-policy.html The language policy of Iran from State policy on the Kurdish language: the politics of status planning] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609144508/http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~siamakr/Kurdish/KURDICA/1999/APR/Iran-policy.html |date=9 June 2009 }}
by Amir Hassanpour, University of Toronto</ref> In 2005, 80 Iranian Kurds took part in an experiment and gained scholarships to study in Kurdish in [[Place:Iraqi Kurdistan|Iraqi Kurdistan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4528599 |title=Neighboring Kurds Travel to Study in Iraq |publisher=Npr.org |date=9 March 2005 |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126080226/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4528599 |archive-date=26 January 2012}}</ref>

In Kyrgyzstan, {{pct|12700|13200|2}} of the Kurdish population speak Kurdish as their native language.<ref>{{cite web|title=. Number of resident population by selected nationality, mother tongue in 2009 |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_phc/Kyrgyzstan/A5-2PopulationAndHousingCensusOfTheKyrgyzRepublicOf2009.pdf |access-date=9 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710092216/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/Kyrgyzstan/A5-2PopulationAndHousingCensusOfTheKyrgyzRepublicOf2009.pdf |page=53|archive-date=10 July 2012 }}</ref> In Kazakhstan, the corresponding percentage is 88.7%.<ref name="kazakhstan">{{cite web|title=Table 4.1.1 Population by individual ethnic groups |url=http://www.eng.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/2011/%D0%90%D0%9E%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC.pdf |work=Government of Kazakhstan |publisher=stat.kz |access-date=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227170112/http://www.eng.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/2011/%D0%90%D0%9E%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC.pdf |page=21|archive-date=27 February 2012 }}</ref>

==Phonology==

==Grammar==

==Writing system==
{{Main|Social:Kurdish alphabets}}
==See also==
* Kurdish people
* Kurdish culture
* Kurdish literature
* Kurdish Institute of Paris
* Kurdish Institute of Istanbul
* List of countries by Kurdish-speaking population

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=ku|Kurmanji Kurdish}}
{{InterWiki|code=ckb|Sorani Kurdish}}
{{Incubator|sdh|language=Southern Kurdish}}
{{Incubator|lki|language=Laki}}
{{Wikivoyage|Kurdish phrasebook|Kurdish|phrasebook}}

* [http://ku.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ser%C3%BBpel Wîkîferheng] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031024645/http://ku.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ser%C3%BBpel |date=31 October 2015 }} (Kurdish [[Social:Wiktionary|Wiktionary]])
* [https://books.vejin.net/ VejinBooks, collection of Kurdish literary and historical texts]
* [https://lex.vejin.net/ Vejin Dictionaries, collection of Kurdish dictionaries] (written in Arabic script)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170911233756/http://www.kurdishacademy.org/ The Kurdish Academy of Language] (unofficial)
* [http://www.kurdinus.com/Transliterate.html Kurdînûs, a tool for writing in Kurdish and to convert texts from Arabic script to Latin script and vice versa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130161509/https://kurdinus.com/Transliterate.html |date=30 November 2021 }}
* [http://egerin.com/ Egerîn, Kurdish (Kurmanji) search engine]
* [http://inkurdish.com/ inKurdish: English–Kurdish Translation]
* [http://dictio.kurditgroup.org Dictio: English–Kurdish (Sorani) Dictionary]
* [http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language/ The Kurdish Institute of Paris: Language and Literature]
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i Kurdish Language and Linguistics, at Encyclopedia Iranica] (article written by Ludwig Paul)
* [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/ Reference Grammar with Selected Readings both for Sorani and Kurmanji, written by W. M. Thackston (Harvard University)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120121152214/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/ot_grp7/ot_kurdishwritten_20050223.html History of Kurdish Written Literature, at Encyclopedia Iranica] (article written by Philip G. Kryeenbroek)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130402201810/http://www.kurdishlanguage.org/ Kurdish Language Initiative] of [https://web.archive.org/web/20100601222228/http://seywan.org/ Seywan Institute]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115180810/http://www.enstituyakurdi.org/ Kurdish Institute of Istanbul]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170911233756/http://www.kurdishacademy.org/ KAL: The Kurdish Academy of Language]
* {{curlie|Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Indo-European/Indo-Iranian/Iranian/Kurdish/}}
* [http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-942-grammar-of-a-less-familiar-language-spring-2003/ Grammar of a Less Familiar Language] (MIT OpenCourseWare)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120723065907/http://vahidrch.persiangig.com/document/ph.pdf Southern Kurdish phonetic]
* [http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/leezenberg/GInflCK.pdf Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712070357/http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/leezenberg/GInflCK.pdf |date=12 July 2019 }}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312070136|title=Writing Kurdish Alphabetics in Java Programming Language|publisher=IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2016}}

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{{Languages of Iran}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdish Language}}
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]

{{Sourceattribution|Kurdish languages}}