ZAZAKI

'Zazaki' ('Zazaish') is a language spoken by Zazas in eastern Anatolia (Turkey). According to Ethnologue, the Zazaki language is a part of the northwestern group of the Iranian section of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.^[1]. Zazaki shares many features, structures, and vocabulary with Gilaki language, spoken in northern Iran, along the Caspian coast. According to Ethnologue (which cites [Paul 1998]^[2]), the number of Zazaki speakers is between 1.5 and 2.5 million (including all dialects).

Contents

Zazaki dialects and regional variants

Zazaki literature and broadcast programs

Controversy over classification

Some linguistic studies on Zazaki (Zazaish)

Notes

References

See also

External links

Zazaki dialects and regional variants

There are three main Zazaki dialects:

★ 'Northern Zazaki' ^[3]: It is spoken in Tunceli, Erzincan, Erzurum, Sivas, Gumushane, Mus (Varto), Kayseri (Sariz) provinces.
Its sub-dialects are:
:
★ West-Dersim
:
★ East-Dersim
:
★ Varto
:
★ Border dialects like Sarız, Koçgiri (Giniyan-idiom)

★ 'Central Zazaki': It is spoken in Elazığ, Bingöl, Solhan, Girvas and Diyarbakır provinces.
Its sub-dialects are:
:
★ Bingol
:
★ Palu
:
★ Border dialects like Hani, Kulp, Lice, Ergani, Piran

★ 'Southern Zazaki' ^[4]: It is spoken Şanlıurfa (Siverek), Diyarbakır (Cermik, Egil), Adiyaman, Malatya provinces.
Its sub-dialects are:
:
★ Siverek
:
★ Cermik, Gerger
:
★ Border dialects like Mutki and Aksaray

Zazaki literature and broadcast programs

The first written statements in the Zazaki language were compiled by the linguist Peter Lerch in 1850. Two other important documents are the religious writings (Mewlıd) of Ehmedê Xasi of 1899, and of Usman Efendiyo Babıc (published in Damascus in 1933); both of these works were written in the Arabic alphabet.
The use of the Latin alphabet to write Zazaki became popular only in the diaspora in Sweden, France and Germany at the beginning of the 1980s. This was followed by the publication of magazines and books in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul. The efforts of Zaza intellectuals to advance the comprehensibility of their native language by alphabetizing were not fruitless: the number of publications in Zaza has multiplied. The rediscovery of the native culture by Zaza intellectuals not only caused a renaissance of Zaza language and culture, it also triggered feelings among younger generations of Zazas (who, however, rarely speak Zaza as a mother tongue) in favor of this modern Western use of the Zaza language, rekindling their interest in their ancestral language. The diaspora, has also generated a limited amount of Zaza-language broadcasting. Moreover, after restrictions were removed on local languages in Turkey during their move toward accession to the European Union, the state-owned TRT television lanched a Zazaki TV program and a radio program on Fridays.

Controversy over classification

As with many other languages in the region, the exact positioning of Zazaki in terms of language families is controversial; it parallels a similar controversy about the relationship of the various ethnic groups and is politically fraught. Ethnologue favors the following hierarchy: ^[1]

★ Northwestern Iranian languages

★
★ Kurdish language

★
★
★ Kurmanji language

★
★
★ other sublanguages/dialects of Kurdish

★
★ Zaza-Gorani language group

★
★
★ 'Dimli/Zazaki'

★
★
★ Gorani

★
★ Caspian Languages

★
★
★ Mazandarani

★
★
★ Gilaki
On the other hand, Encyclopedia Britannica considers Zaza to be a sub-dialect of Kurdish according to the following classification^[6]:

★ Northwestern Iranian languages

★
★ Kurdish language

★
★
★ Kurmanji

★
★
★ Sorani

★
★
★ 'Zazaki'

★
★
★ Gorani

★
★
★ Laki and Kermanshahi
The US State Department "Background Note" lists the Zazaki language as one of the major languages of Turkey, along with Turkish (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, and Arabic. ^[7]. Despite the Ethnologue's classification, Kurdish Academy, which describes itself an "electronic non-governmental organization (e-NGO), lists Zazaki as a dialect of Kurdish language ^[8]. However, this classification is not supported by linguistics and regarded as political rather than scientific. ^[9]
Linguists connect the word Dimli with the Daylamites in the Alborz Mountains near the shores of Caspian Sea in Iran and believe that the Zaza have immigrated from Deylaman towards the west. Zazaki shows many connections the Iranian dialects of the Caspian region, especially Gilaki language.
The Zazaki language shows similarities with (Hawrami or Gorani), Shabaki and Bajelani. Gorani, Bajelani, and Shabaki languages are spoken around Iran-Iraq border; however, it is believed that they are also immigrated from Northern Iran to their present homelands. These languages are sometimes put together in the Zaza-Gorani language group, but also ''Goran-Zazaistan'' by those who want emphasize their distinctness from the Kurds.

Some linguistic studies on Zazaki (Zazaish)

★ Paul, Ludwig. (1998) ''"The Position of Zazaki Among West Iranian languages"'' University of Hamburg,[3].

★ Lynn Todd, Terry. (1985) ''"A Grammar of Dimili"'' University of Michigan,[4].

★ Gippert, Jost. (1996) ''"Historical Development of Zazaki"'' University of Frankfurt University,[5].

★ Gajewski, Jon. (2003) ''"Evidentiality in Zazaki"'' Massachusetts Institute of Technology,[6].

★ Gajewski, Jon. (2004) ''"Zazaki Notes"'' Massachusetts Institute of Technology,[7].

★ Larson, Richard. and Yamakido, Hiroko. (2006) ''"Zazaki as Double Case-Marking"'' Stony Brook University and University of Arizona,[8].

★ Iremet, Faruk. (1996) "The difference between Zaza, Kurdish and Turkish" Stockholm, Sweden,[9].

Notes

1. Ethnolgue on Zazaki classification
2. The Position of Zazaki Among West Iranian languages by Paul Ludwig
3. Ethnologue on Northern Zazaki
4. Ethnolgue on Southern Zazaki
5. Ethnolgue on Zazaki classification
6. Britannica on Zazaki classification
7. The US State Department "Background Note" on Turkey
8. Kurdish Academy on "Kurdish Language"
9. Zazas and Zazaki

References

★ Bozdağ, Cem and Üngör, Uğur. Zazas and Zazaki. (Zazaki Literature.)

★ Blau, ''Gurani et Zaza'' in R. Schmitt, ed., ''Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum'', Wiesbaden, 1989, ISBN 3-88226-413-6, pp. 336-40 (About Daylamite origin of Zaza-Guranis)

See also

★

External links

★ Dimli (on the Ethnologue site)

★ Kirmanjki (on the Ethnologue site)

★ Academic Research Center of Zazaki - (In several languages, including English)

★ Zaza Language & Culture (In Zazaki, Turkish, English, and German)

★ ZazaPress (In Zazaki, Turkish, English and Swedish)

★ Iremet Publishing (In Zazaki, Turkish and Swedish)

★ Zazaki Language Institute (In German, Zazaki, and Turkish)

★ Ethnic Differentiation among the Kurds: Kurmancî, Kizilbash and Zaza

★ MIT OpenCourseWare online course in Zazaki

★ A Zazaki Radio: Miraz FM

★ Zazaishe Online Community