Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the

Kurdish languages Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language ...

, spoken predominantly in southeast

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, northwest and northeast

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, northern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, northern Syria and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

and Khorasan regions. It is the most widely spoken form of Kurdish. The earliest textual record of Kurmanji Kurdish dates back to approximately the 16th century and many prominent Kurdish poets like

Ehmedê Xanî Ehmedê Xanî ( ku, ئەهمەدێ خانی , Ehmedê Xanî; 1650, Hakkari – 1707, Bayazid), was a Kurdish intellectual, scholar, mystic and poet who is considered the founder of Kurdish nationalism. He was born in the Hakkâri region in ...

(1650–1707) wrote in this dialect. Kurmanji Kurdish is also the common and ceremonial dialect of

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...

. Their sacred book '' Mishefa Reş'' and all prayers are written and spoken in Kurmanji.

Phonology

Phonological features in Kurmanji include the distinction between aspirated and

unaspirated In linguistics, a tenuis consonant ( or ) is an obstruent that is voiceless, unaspirated and unglottalized. In other words, it has the "plain" phonation of with a voice onset time close to zero (a zero-VOT consonant), as Spanish ''p, t, ...

voiceless stop In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...

s and the presence of facultative phonemes. For example, Kurmanji Kurdish distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated

s, which can be aspirated in all positions. Thus contrasts with , with , with , and the affricate with .

Dialect continuum

Kurmanji forms a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

of great variability. Loosely, six subdialect areas can be distinguished: * Northwestern Kurmanji, spoken in the Kahramanmaraş (in Kurmanji: ''Meraş''),

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city h ...

(''Meletî'') and

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

(''Sêwaz'') provinces of the northwest of

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of th ...

. * Southwestern Kurmanji, spoken in the

Adıyaman Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish. Etymology An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...

(''Semsûr''),

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

(''Entab'') and

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ...

(''Riha'') provinces of Turkish, and Aleppo Governorate in the west of Syrian Kurdistan. * Northern Kurmanji or Serhed Kurdish, spoken mainly in the Ağrı Province, Ağrı (''Agirî''), Erzurum Province, Erzurum (''Erzerom'') and Muş Province, Muş (''Mûş'') provinces of the northeast of Turkish Kurdistan, as well as adjacent areas. * Southern Kurmanji, spoken in Al-Hasakah Governorate in the east of Syrian Kurdistan, Sinjar District (''Şingal'') in the west of Iraqi Kurdistan, and in several adjacent parts of the south of Turkish Kurdistan, centered on the Mardin Province, Mardin (''Mêrdîn'') and Batman Province, Batman (''Êlih'') provinces. * Southeastern Kurmanji or Badînî, spoken in Hakkâri Province (''Parêzgeha Colêmêrgê'') in the southeast of Turkish Kurdistan, and the Dohuk Governorate (''Parêzgeha Dihokê'') and parts of Erbil Governorate (''Parêzgeha Hewlêr'') in the north of Iraqi Kurdistan. * Anatolian Kurmanji is spoken in Central Anatolia (''Anatolya Navîn''), especially in Konya, Ankara, and Aksaray, by Kurds of Central Anatolia, Anatolian Kurds

Ezdîkî and Yazidi politics

Among some Yazidis, the glossonym Ezdîkî is used for Kurmanji to differentiate themselves from Kurds. While Ezdîkî is no different from Kurmanji, some attempt to prove that Ezdîkî is an independent language, including claims that it is a Semitic language. This has been criticized as not being based on scientific evidence and lacking scientific consensus. On January 25, 2002, Armenia ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and placed Kurdish under state protection. However, because of the divided Yazidis in Armenia, Yazidi community in Armenia and after strong criticism from parts of the community, the authorities chose to ratify the charter by mentioning both "Kurdish" and "Yezidi" as two separate languages. This resulted in the term Êzdîkî being used by some researchers when delving into the question of minority languages in Armenia, since most Kurdish-speakers in Armenia are Yazidis. As a consequence of this move, Armenian universities offer language courses in both Kurmanji and Êzdîkî as two different dialects.

Kurmanji among other groups

During the end of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman era, Assyrian people, Assyrians in Tur Abdin shifted from speaking their traditional Turoyo language, Turoyo language to either Kurmanji or Arabic. Kurdophone Armenians also exist and there were prior to the Armenian genocide around 110 Kurmanji-speaking Armenian villages in Beşiri and Silvan, Diyarbakır, Silvan. Bulgarians, Bulgarian, Chechens, Chechen and Circassians, Circassian immigrants in Turkish Kurdistan also speak Kurmanji.

References

External links

*
Wîkîferheng
Kurdish (Kurmanji) Wiktionary
Kurdish Institute
Kurdish language, history, books and latest news articles.
Egerîn, Kurdish (Kurmanji) search engine

* {{Authority control Languages of Armenia Kurdish language Languages of Iran Languages of Turkey Languages of Iraq Languages of Syria Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Georgia (country) Languages of Lebanon Languages of Jordan Languages of Russia Languages of Kazakhstan Languages of Kyrgyzstan Languages of Turkmenistan Languages of Kurdistan

Phonology

Dialect continuum

Ezdîkî and Yazidi politics

Kurmanji among other groups

See also

References

External links