The 'Kurdish language' is the language spoken by
Kurds. It is mainly concentrated in the region of
Kurdistan, which includes parts of
Iran,
Iraq,
Syria and
Turkey.
[1]
The Kurdish language belongs to the western sub-group of the
Iranian languages, which themselves belong to the
Indo-Iranian branch of the
Indo-European language family. The most closely related languages to Kurdish are
Balochi,
Gileki and
Talysh, all of which belong to the north-western branch of Iranian languages. Also related to Kurdish is the
Persian language, which belongs to the south-western branch.
Origin and roots
From about the 10th century BC,
Iranian tribes spread in the area now corresponding to
Kurdistan, among them
Medes, speakers of a
Northwest Iranian dialect. Gradual linguistic assimilation of the various indigenous peoples to this
Median language in the course of the Iron Age marks the beginning of Kurdish
ethnogenesis.
[2] Some evidence of
Hurrian influence on Kurdish is detected in its
ergative grammatical structure.
[3]. A linguistic group influential on Kurdish to a lesser degree was
Aramaic. M.R. Izady (1993) identifies three-quarters of Kurdish clan names and roughly two-third of
toponyms are as deriving from Hurrian.
[4], 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.
History
Although Kurdish has a
northwestern Iranian root, little is known about Kurdish in pre-Islamic times. The most notable language in this group is
Median, of which little is known either. The sacred book of the
Yazidis, ''Mishefa Reş'' (Black Book) was written in
Kurmanji Kurdish by
Shaikh Adi's son in early 13th century
[5]. From the 15th to 17th centuries, classical Kurdish poets and writers developed a literary language. The most famous classical Kurdish poets from this period are Ali Hariri,
Ahmad Khani,
Malaye Jaziri and
Faqi Tayran.
In the beginning of the 20th century the countries that controlled the Kurdish-speaking regions refused to accept Kurdish as an official language and placed restrictions on its use,even in basic right such as naming childern in kurdish. Today, only in Iraq, Kurdish is an official language. In Turkey the use of Kurdish is allowed, though with restrictions; In Iran, Kurdish is used in some publications, but it is not allowed to be taught in schools. Syria still opposes the use of Kurdish in the country.
In March 2006, Turkey allowed private
television channels to begin airing Kurdish language programming. However, the Turkish government said that they must avoid showing children's
cartoons, or 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-9F30-8D16A9DEE206.htm Turkey to get Kurdish television].Thanks to satalite channel now a day,there are more and more Kurdish satalite available,such as Kurdsat,Kurdistan tv,Zagros,Nawroz,Roj,Mezopotamia,and many more.
Kurdish blogs have emerged in recent years as virtual fora where Kurdish-speaking Internet users can express themselves in their native Kurdish or in other languages.
Today, Kurdish is an official language in
Iraq while it is banned in
Syria where it is forbidden to publish material in Kurdish.
[6] Before August
2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media.
[7] The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters ''X'', ''W'', ''Q'' which do not exist in the
Turkish alphabet has led to prosecution and harassment in
2000 and
2003 [8] [9].
In
Iran, though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it is forbidden in schools
[10]
[11]. As a result many Iranian Kurds have left for
Iraqi Kurdistan where they can study in their native language
[12].
Grammar
The Kurdish language is a typical example of an ergative language. There are many variations of
ergativity such as
split ergativity or
ergative-absolutive, especially in the past tense forms in the Kurdish language. In the ergative case, the ''subject'' is oblique, and the ''verb'' agrees with the ''object'' and thus is unlike Persian, Turkish and Arabic in which the ''object'' has an accusative marker and the verb in all tenses agrees with the ''subject'' of the sentence. Kurdish also shows
clitic reversing in all tense forms in sentences. Linguists believe Kurdish has inherited this attribute of ergativity from the language of the Hurrians (Khurrites) who are believed to be one of the main ancestors of the Kurds.
:'A simple example of ergative-absolutive in Kurdish' (Kurmanji):
★ Wan nan çêkir
★ Subject-object-verb
★ They-bread-made
★ They made the bread.
In the above example, ''wan'' is oblique and ''nan'' is absolute. In the ergative case the verb ''çêkir'' (to make) agrees with the object ''nan''. Furthermore, ergativity only occurs in the past tense when the verb is transitive. When the verb is intransitive, sentence structure follows the standard subject-verb agreement. Lastly, the article ''the'' is automatically assumed if the object is absolute.
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 so.
Dialects
According to
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kurdish has two main northern and central dialects. The northern dialect, or
Kurmanji is spoken in northern half of Iraqi Kurdistan, Caucasus, Turkey, Syria and northwest of Iran. The central group, called Kurdi, or
Sorani, is spoken in west of Iran and central part of Iraqi Kurdistan.
[13].
According to Philip Kreyenbroek (1992), it may be misleading to call Kurmanji and Sorani/Kurdi "dialects" because they are in some ways as different from one another as German and English. However, it is useful to comment on the differences between the two varieties.
Kurmanji or northern Kurdish is more archaic than the other dialects in both phonetic and morphological structure, and it is conjectured that the differences between central and northern dialects, have been caused by the proximity of central group to the other Iranian languages.
[14].
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 of northern and central. Northern group (Kurmanji) is spoken in
Turkey,
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Mosul and Bahdinan regions in Iraq and Kurdish communities in
Khorasan (northeast of Iran). Central group (Sorani) is spoken in
Arbil,
Sulaimaniya,
Kirkuk (all in Iraq) ,
Mahabad and
Sanandaj (in Iran).
[14].
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 | PIE |
|---|
| 'ez' "I" | 'äzəm [ezìm]' | | 'aham' | 'egō' | 'I' (< OE ''ić'') | 'ich' | 'ego' | 'aš' | 'ja' (OCS ''azŭ'') | '' |
| 'jin' "woman" | 'ghenãnãmca [ghenâ]' "woman" | 'zan' | 'janay-' | 'gynēka' | 'queen' | (OHG 'quena') | | (OPruss. 'genna') | 'žená' "wife" | '' |
| 'leystin(bileyzim)' "to play (I play)" | ' ' | | 'réjati' | 'paizo' | ' ' | 'leich' | ' ' | 'láigīti' | ' ' | '' "to jump, to spring, to play"[6] |
| 'mezin' "great" | 'maz-', 'mazant' | | 'mah(ī)-/mahānt-' | 'megas' | 'much' (< OE ''mićil, myćil'') | (OHG 'mihhil') | 'magnus' | | | '' "big, great" [7] |
| 'mêzer' "headband/turban" | | 'mithra-' "god name"(Old Persian) | 'mitrah' | 'mitra' "headband, turban," | 'mitera' "bishop's tall hat" - from Greek[8]) | 'Mitra' - from Greek | 'mitra' - from Greek) | | 'mir' "world, peace" | '' "to tie" ([9], p38) |
| 'pez' "sheep" | 'pasu-' "sheep, goats" | | 'paśu' "animal" | | 'fee' (< OE 'feoh' "cattle") | 'Vieh' "cattle" | 'pecus' "cattle" | 'pekus' "ox" | 'pastuh' "shepherd" | '' "sheep"[10],[11] |
| 'çiya' "mountain" | | 'chakād' "summit" | 'kakúd-', 'kakúbh-' "peak/summit" | | | | 'cacūmen' | | | '' "top"[12] ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>kakud-+etymology+Kurd&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca |
| 'zîndu' "alive" 'jiyan' "to live" | 'gaêm [gaya]' | 'zende' "alive", 'zîstan' "to live" | 'jīvati' | 'zoi' "life", 'zō' "live" | 'quick' | 'quick' "bright" | 'vīvus' "alive", 'vīvō' "live", 'vīta' "life" | 'gývas' | 'živój' | '' |
| 'mang' "moon" | 'māh-' | 'māh' | 'mās-' | 'mēn' "month" | 'moon', 'month' | 'Mond', 'Monat' | 'mēnsis' "month" | 'mėnuo/mėnesis' | 'mésjac' | '' |
| '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" | 'umerét’'"to die", 'mërtvyj' "dead" | '' |
| 'ser' "head" | 'sarah-' | 'sar' | 'śiras-' | 'ker[as]' "horn", 'kara' "head", 'krā[nion]' "cranium" | dial. 'harns' "brain" | '[Ge]hir[n]' "brain" | 'cereb[rum]' "brain" | | 'cherep' "skull" | '' |
| 'sed' "hundred" | 'satəm' | 'sad' | 'śatam' | '[he]katon' | 'hund[red]' | 'Hund[ert]' | 'centum' | 'šimt[as]' | 'sto' | '' |
| '[di]zan[im]' "I know" 'zan[în]' "to know" | 'zan-' | '[mi]dān[am]' "I know", 'dān[estan]' "to know" | 'jān[āti]' | '[gi]gnō[skō]' | 'know' | 'kennen' | 'nō[scō]', '[co]gn[itus]' | 'žin[au]'"I know" 'žin[oti]' "to know" | 'zná[ju]'"I know" 'zn[at’]'' "to know" | '' |
there are 7 dialects
Writing system
Main articles: Kurdish alphabet
The Kurdish language uses three different writing systems. In Iran and Iraq it is written using a modified version of the
Arabic alphabet (and more recently, sometimes with the
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.
[13] Also see the
VOA News site in Kurdish.
[14] Kurdish in the former USSR is written with a modified
Cyrillic alphabet. There is also a proposal for a unified international recognised Kurdish alphabet based on
ISO-8859-1.
[16]
Phonology
According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, Kurdish has the following phonemes:
Consonants
#Just as in many English dialects, the velarized lateral does not appear in the onset of a syllable.
Vowels
The vowel pairs and , and , and and contrast in length and not quality. This distinction shows up in the writing system, for instance in the Kurdish Latin alphabet, short vowels are represented by ''o'', ''u'', ''i'' and ''e'' and long vowels have a circumflex ( ^ ), such as ''û'', ''î'' and ''ê''. Unlike Arabic, all vowels in Kurdish are mandatory and should be written down.
Dictionaries
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.
Kurdish-English dictionaries
★ Rashid Karadaghi,
The Azadi English-Kurdish Dictionary
★
Chyet, Michael L., Kurdish Dictionary: Kurmanji-English, Yale Language Series, U.S., 2003 (896 pages) (see
[17])
★ Abdullah, S. and Alam, K., English-Kurdish (Sorani) and Kurdish (Sorani)-English Dictionary, Star Publications / Languages of the World Publications, India, 2004
[18]
★ Awde, Nicholas, Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish (Kurmanci, Sorani and Zazaki) Dictionary and Phrasebook, Hippocrene Books Inc., U.S., 2004
[19]
★ Raman : English-Kurdish (Sorani) Dictionary, Pen Press Publishers Ltd, UK, 2003, (800 pages)
[20]
★ Saadallah, Salah, English-Kurdish Dictionary, Avesta/Paris Kurdish Institute, Istanbul, 2000, (1477 pages)
[21]
★ Amindarov, Aziz, Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish Dictionary, Hippocrene Books Inc., U.S., 1994
[22]
★ Rizgar, Baran (M. F. Onen), Kurdish-English/English-Kurdish (Kurmancî Dictionary) UK, 1993, 400 p. + 70 illustrations
[23]
References
1. Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Iranic languages
2. A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martiez-Lasoa and J. Alonso-Garcia, ''The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples'' Human Immunology 62 (2001) No. 9:1057.
3. A. Arnaiz-Villena, E. Gomez-Casado, J. Martinez-Laso, ''Population genetic relationships between Mediterranean populations determined by HLA distribution and a historic perspective'', Tissue Antigens, vol.60, p. 117, 2002[1]
4. M.R. Izady, ''Exploring Kurdish Origins'', Kurdish Life, No. 7, Summer 1993
5. [2]
6. Repression of Kurds in Syria is widespread, Amnesty International Report, March 2005.
7. Special Focus Cases: Leyla Zana, Prisoner of Conscience
8. [3](p.8)
9. [4]
10. The Kurdish Language and Literature, by Joyce Blau, Professor of Kurdish language and civilization at the National Institute of Oriental Language and Civilization of the University of Paris (INALCO).
11. The language policy of Iran from State policy on the Kurdish language: the politics of status planning
by Amir Hassanpour, University of Toronto
12. Neighboring Kurds Travel to Study in Iraq
13. [5]
14. D.N. MacKenzie, ''Language'' in ''Kurds & Kurdistan'', Encyclopaedia of Islam.
15. D.N. MacKenzie, ''Language'' in ''Kurds & Kurdistan'', Encyclopaedia of Islam.
16. The Kurdish Unified Alphabet
17. [15]
18. [16]
19. ISBN 0-7818-1071-X
20. ISBN 1-904018-83-1
21. [17]
22. ISBN 0-7818-0246-6
23. ISBN 1-873722-05-2
See also
★
List of countries by Kurdish-speaking population
★
Kurdish grammar
★
Kurdish literature
★
Kurmancî
★
Kurdish Institute of Paris
★
Kurdish Institute of Istanbul
★
Kurdistan
★
List of Kurdish people
★
Kurdish culture
★
Bahdini
External links
★
The Kurdish Institute of Paris - Language and Literature
★
Kurdish Institute of Istanbul
★
KAL: The Kurdish Academy of Language
★
Kurdish Kurdish links and language information, dictionary etc.
★
★
Online Kurdish-English Dictionary
★
On-line Kurdish-English Dictionary
★
Online English to Kurdish to English Dictionary (By Erdal Ronahî)
★
Online Kurdish-German-Kurdish Dictionary
★
Online Kurdish-English Ferheng Dictionary
★
Online Turkish-Kurdish-Turkish Dictionary
★ http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Linguistics-and-Philosophy/24-942Grammar-of-a-Less-Familiar-
★
Comparison between alphabets used in Kurdish
Religious texts
★
Holy Bible in Kurdish
★
New Testament in Soranî Kurdish, International Bible Society
Kurdish broadcast programs
★
Voice of America, Kurdish Service
★
Zayele, Radio Sweden
★
SBS Radio's Kurdish Language Program, Australia
★
"Evangeliums-Rundfunk of Germany" (ERF)- Christian Programs in Kurdish Kurmanji, Germany
★
"Evangeliums-Rundfunk of Germany" (ERF)- Christian Programs in Kurdish Sorani, Germany
★
KurdSat Broadcasting Ltd., Sulaimania, Iraqi Kurdistan
★
Kurdistan TV, Iraqi Kurdistan
★
Zagros TV , Satellite Channel, Iraqi Kurdistan
★
KNNTV
★
Tehran Kurdish Radio
★
Roj TV Streaming of Kurdish TV
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