Kurdish language

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{{Infobox Language |name=Kurdish |nativename=Kurdî |familycolor=Indo-European |states=Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Lebanon |region=Middle East |speakers=20–40 million (disputed) |rank=33 (disputed) |fam2=Indo-Iranian |fam3=Iranian |fam4=Western Iranian |fam5=Northwestern Iranian |script=Arabic (Iraq and Iran), Latin (Turkey and Syria), Cyrillic (the former USSR) |nation=Iraq |iso1=ku |iso2=kur |lc1=kur|ld1=Kurdish (generic)|ll1=none |lc2=ckb|ld2=Central Kurdish|ll2=Sorani |lc3=kmr|ld3=Northern Kurdish|ll3=Kurmanji |lc4=sdh|ld4=Southern Kurdish }}

Kurdish (Kurdî) is an Indo-Iranian language spoken in the region loosely called Kurdistan, including Kurdish populations in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.<ref>Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Iranic languages</ref> Kurdish is an official language in Iraq while it is banned in Syria. Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media.<ref>Special Focus Cases: Leyla Zana, Prisoner of Conscience</ref> In Iran, though it is used in the local media and newspapers, there are some restrictions on its use in education. Teaching Kurmanji Kurdish is prohibited in Iranian schools.<ref>Ethnologue report for Northern Kurdish</ref>

The Kurdish language belongs to the western sub-group of the Iranian languages which belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages family. The most closely related language to Kurdish is Talysh.

Contents

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History

The prehistory of Kurds and hence their original spoken language is poorly known, but their ancestors have inhabited the same upland region for millennia. Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously held view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes, although many Kurds still accept this explanation of their origin [1]. The original language of ancestors of Kurds might have been the predecessor of Caucasian languages. After development of agriculture, they spread to the area where we later find Caucasian language's origin. They were from very begining up to pre-Islamic age in contact with ancient Indo-Europeans such as Hittites and immigrant Indic Mittanis and later with Iranic Medes and Persians which gradually and as a whole all had a significant influence on the vocabulary of language of Kurds. Another linguistic group linguistically influent on the Kurds but in a lesser degree were Semitic-speakings such as their historical neighbouring Aramaics and later in post-islamic era their new neighbouring Arabic-speaking immigrants. Image:Kurdish 86.jpg Yet more than three-quarters of Kurdish clan names and roughly two-third of topographical and urban names are of Hurrian (Khurrite) origin, e.g., the names of the clans of Bukhti, Tirikan, Bazayni, Bakran, Mand; rivers Murad, Balik and Khabur, lake Van; the towns of Mardin, Ziwiya, Dinawar and Barzan...etc. (There have been attempts in recent century especially by Turkish government to change Kurdish names into Turkish).

In post-Islamic era many Kurdish scholars tended to use Arabic instead of Kurdish in their works. In the beginning of the 20th century those countries who control over Kurdistan refused to accept Kurdish as an official language and made restrictions on its use. Today while in Iraq Kurdish is an official language there are restrictions in Turkey and Iran although a limited usage is allowed but Syria still opposes to the use of Kurdish in the country.

In March 2006, Turkey allowed private television channels to begin airing Kurdish language programs. However, the Turkish government said that they must steer clear of showing children's cartoons, educational programs that teach the Kurdish language, and can only broadcast for 45 minutes a day or four hours a week. The programs must carry Turkish subtitles.<ref>Turkey to get Kurdish television</ref>

So it is safe to say that the Kurdish language has its own historical development, continuity, grammatical system and living vocabularies in comparison to other members of the Iranian language family

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Grammar

The Kurdish language is a typical example of an ergative language. There are many variations of ergatitviy such as split-ergativity of ergative-absolutive especially in the past tense forms in the Kurdish language. In Kurdish object agrees with the subject and the verb agrees with the object and this is unlike Persian, Turkish and Arabic in which object has an accusative marker and the verb in all tenses agrees with the subject of the sentence. Kurdish shows also a clitic reversing in all tense forms in sentences. Linguists believe Kurdish has inherited this attribute of ergativity from language of Hurrians (Khurrites) who are believed as a main ancestor of the Kurds.

Some simple examples of ergative-absolutive in Kurdish (Sorani):
  • Pênûsekeyan bo hênayn.
  • Pênûs-eke-yan bo hêna-yn.
  • Object-definite-subject preposition verb(past)-object.
  • Pen-the-they for brought-us.
  • They brought the pen for us.

In the above example the word pênûs(-eke) [= (the) pen] which is the object of the sentence agrees with the subject in case and becomes pênûseke-yan, and the verb hêna (brought) agrees with the indirect object of the sentence in case and becmoes hêna-yn.

Another example:
  • Ew pezaneyan hêna(-n op) wa eskerekan berdyan pêda dan.
  • Ew pez-an-e-yan hêna(-n) wa esker-eke-an berd-yan pêda da-n
  • PreDet Object1-pL-PostDet-Subject1 past(verb)(-n: optional object case) conj subject-Def-PL Comp-subject2 IA Past(verb) Object1
  • That-sheep-PL-that-they brought which soldier-the-PL stone-they on gave-them
  • They brought those sheeps which soldiers stoned them.

In the example above the word sheep which is the object of the sentence agrees with the subject in case and accepts the suffix -yan , the same goes with the word stone and its subject soldier. The verb brought can optionally agree with the word sheep, while the verb pêda da agrees with it in case.

In addition to these, Kurdish uses various adpositions i.e. both prepositions and postpositions marking at the same time on a head noun. None of its neighbouring languages do it.

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Dialects

Kurdish dialects can be divided into three main groups: the Northern Kurdish group of dialects also called Kurmanji and Badínaní, the Central Kurdish group of dialects also called Sorani, the Southern Kurdish group of dialects.

Some linguists consider two other branches for Kurdish language: the Dimílí group, also called Zaza, and the Auramani group, also called Gorani [2]. However, some other linguists consider Zaza-Gorani as a different sub-group of Northwestern Iranian languages [3].

The detailed classification of Kurdish dialects is problematic. There is no widely-accepted appellative system for the various Kurdish dialects; not only in Western scholarly opinion, but even among the Kurds themselves. This often prompts arguments if these four different dialects are a language on their own or not.

All of the native designators for local language and dialects are based on the way the spoken language of one group sounds to the unaccustomed ears of the other. For instance, Dimila and their vernacular, Dimili, are called "Zaza" by the Badínaní speakers, with reference to the preponderance of Z sounds in their language (Nikitin 1926). Meanwhile, the Dimila call the Badínaní dialect and its speakers "Xerewere". The Gorans refer to the Soraní as "Kurkure" and "Wawa". The Soraní speakers in turn call the Gorans and their vernacular, Goraní or "Mechû Mechû", and refer to the tongue and the speakers of Badínaní as "Je Babu".

A proposed system for the classification of the dialects is as follows [citation needed]:

  • Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji)
    • In Iran, tribes of Herki, Milan, Shekak, Jelali, Heydari in Northern regions and western Azarbaijan province
    • In Iran, Kurds in Khorasan.
    • In Turkey, almost all the Kurds who live in Erzurum, Dogubayazid, Hakkari, Shamdinan, Behdinan, Abdin, Mardin and Diyarbakir.
    • all Kurds who live in the former Soviet Union.
    • In Iraq, most of the tribes who live in Duhok, Akra, Amedi, Zakho and Sanjar, Mosul.
    • In Syria, all Kurds.
  • Central Kurdish (Sorani)
  • Southern Kurdish (Pehlewanî)
    • Kermashani Kurdish dialect
    • Gorani Kurdi dialect
      • Old Gorani - Kurdish dialect of Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq, Yaristan, Kakeyi)
      • Macho Macho religious dialect
      • Old Gahvarei dialect
      • Old Korejoei dialect
      • Old Bivenji dialect
      • Old Kinduleh dialect
      • Bajelani (or Bajalani) dialect spoken in Iraq opposite Sarpul-e Zohab
    • Sanjabi dialect
    • Kalhur dialect
    • Laki dialect [4]
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Indo-European linguistic comparison

Due to the fact that Kurdish language is an Indo-European language, there are many words that are cognates in Kurdish and other Indo-European languages such as Avestan, Persian, Sanskrit, German, English, Latin and Greek. (Source: Altiranisches Wörterbuch (1904) for the first two and last six.)

Kurdish Avestan Persian Sanskrit Greek English German Latin Lithuanian Russian transcriptionPIE
ez "I" azəm aham egō I ich ego aš ja Template:PIE
jin "woman" janay- "woman" zan janay- gynē queen Königin regina žmona žena Template:PIE
mezin "great" maz-, mazant "gross" mahī/máh-/mahānt-megas mega mega magnus milžiniškas Template:PIE "big, great" [5]
mêzer "headband/turban" mitrah mitra miter(bishop's tall hat) Mitra mitra Template:PIE "to tie" [6],[7](p38)
pez "sheep"pasu- "sheep, goats" pashu "animal" fee from feoh"cattle" Vieh "cattle" pecu "cattle" pekus "ox" Template:PIE "sheep"[8],[9]
çiya "mountain" chakād "summit"kakúd-, kakúbh- "peak/summit" Gipfel from *xagila- "head" cacūmen kalnas Template:PIE "top"[10]
zîndu "alive" jiyan "to live" jī-/gay- zende "alive", zîstan "to live" jīvati bios "life", zōō "live" quick quick "bright" vīvus "alive", vīvō "live", vīta "life" gyvas živoj Template:PIE
mang "moon" māh- māh mās- mēn "month" moon, month Mond, Monat mēnsis "month" mėnuo/mėnesis mesjac Template:PIE
mirdu "dead", mirdin "to die" mar-, məša- morda "dead", mordan "to die" marati, mrta- brotos "mortal", ambrosios "immortal" murder Mord "murder" morior "die", mors "death" mirti "to die" umeret"to die" Template:PIE
ser "head" sarah- sar śiras- keras "horn", kara "head", krānion "cranium" dial. harns "brain" Gehirn "brain" cerebrum "brain" Template:PIE
sed "hundred" satəm sad śatam hekaton hundred Hundert centum šimtas sto Template:PIE
dizanim "I know" zanîn "to know" zan- dānam "I know", dānestan "to know" jānāti gignōskō know kennen nōscō, co-gnitus žinau"I know" žinoti "to know" znaju"I know" znat' "to know" Template:PIE
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Writing system

Template:Main The Kurdish language uses three different writing systems. In Iran and Iraq is written using a modified version of the Arabic alphabet (and more recently sometimes with Latin Alphabet in Iraqi Kurdistan). In Turkey and Syria, it is written using the Latin alphabet. (As an example, see the following online news portal published in Iraqi Kurdistan [11]. Also see the VOA News site in Kurdish [12]). Kurdish in the former USSR uses a modified Cyrillic alphabet. There is also a proposal for a unified international recognised Kurdish alphabet based on ISO-8859-1.<ref>The Kurdish Unified Alphabet</ref>

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Phonology

According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, Kurdish has the following phonemes:

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Consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Apical Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Stops Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Fricatives Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Affricates Template:IPA
Nasals Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Laterals Template:IPATemplate:Fn
Flaps Template:IPA
Trills Template:IPA
Approximants Template:IPA Template:IPA

Template:Fnb: Non-Latin scripts also have letters for Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA. These may indicate variation among dialects in phoneme inventory, language change, or influence from nearby languages.

Template:Fnb: Just as in many English dialects, the velarized lateral does not appear in the onset of a syllable.

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Vowels

front central back
short long short long short long
close Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
mid Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
open Template:IPA

The vowel pairs Template:IPA and Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA, and Template:IPA and Template:IPA contrast in length and not quality. This distinction shows up in the writing system; long vowels have a circumflex ( ^ ) and short vowels do not. As it is with most languages, Kurdish short vowels are not represented at all in the Arabic script..

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Dictionaries

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Kurdish-only dictionaries

  • Wîkîferheng (Kurdish Wiktionary)
  • Husein Muhammed: Soranî Kurdish - Kurmancî Kurdish dictionary (2005)
  • Khal, Sheikh Muhammad, Ferhengî Xal (Khal Dictionary), Kamarani Press, Sulaymaniya, 3 Volumes,
Vol. I, 1960, 380 p.
Vol. II, 1964, 388 p.
Vol. III, 1976, 511 p.
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Kurdish-English dictionaries

  • Chyet, Michael L. , Kurdish Dictionary: Kurmanji-English, Yale Language Series, U.S., 2003 (896 pages) (see [13])
  • Abdullah, S. and Alam, K. , English-Kurdish (Sorani) and Kurdish (Sorani)-English Dictionary, Star Publications / Languages of the World Publications, India, 2004 (see [14])
  • Awde, Nicholas, Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish (Kurmanci, Sorani and Zazaki) Dictionary and Phrasebook, Hippocrene Books Inc., U.S., 2004 (see [15])
  • Raman : English-Kurdish(Sorani) Dictionary, Pen Press Publishers Ltd, U.K., 2003, (800 pages) (see [16])
  • Saadallah, Salah, English-Kurdish Dictionary, Avesta/Paris Kurdish Insititue, Istanbul, 2000, (1477 pages) (see [17])
  • Amindarov, Aziz, Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish Dictionary, Hippocrene Books Inc.,U.S., 1994 (see [18])
  • Rizgar, Baran (M. F. Onen), Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish (Kurmancî Dictionary) UK, 1993, 400 p. + 70 illustrations (see [19])
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References

<references/>

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See also

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External links

Template:InterWiki

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Religious texts

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Kurdish broadcast programs

ar:لغة كردية da:Kurdisk (sprog) de:Kurdische Sprache el:Κουρδική γλώσσα eo:Kurda lingvo fa:زبان کردی fr:Kurde ko:쿠르드어 io:Kurda linguo id:Bahasa Kurdi it:Lingua curda he:כורדית ku:Zimanê kurdî nl:Koerdisch ja:クルド語 nn:Kurdisk språk pl:Język kurdyjski pt:Língua curda ru:Курдский язык sv:Kurdiska tr:Kürtçe zh:库尔德语

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