Zaza or Zazaki (), is an

Iranian language The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are groupe ...

spoken primarily in eastern

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 ...

by the

Zazas The Zazas (also known as Kird, Kirmanc or Dimili) are a people in eastern Turkey who traditionally speak the Zaza language, a western Iranian language written in the Latin script. Their heartland consists of Tunceli and Bingöl provinces and ...

. The language is a part of the Zaza–Gorani language group of the northwestern group of the

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

branch. The

glossonym Linguonym (from la, lingua / language, and gr, ὄνομα / name) also known as glossonym (from grc, γλῶσσα / language) or glottonym (from Attic Greek: γλῶττα / language), is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of a ...

Zaza originated as a pejorative and many Zazas call their language Dimlî. While Zaza is linguistically more closely related to Gorani, Gilaki, Talysh, Tati, Mazandarani and the

Semnani language Semnani (سمنی زفون, Semani zefön) is one of the local languages of the Semnan Province of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is border ...

, Kurdish has had a profound impact on the language due to centuries of interaction, which have blurred the boundaries between the two languages. This and the fact that Zaza speakers are identified as ethnic

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

by some scholars, has encouraged many linguists to classify the language as a Kurdish dialect., "Bu program ortaokul 5, 6, 7, ve 8. sınıflar seçmeli Kürtçe dersinin ve Kürtçe’nin iki lehçesi Kurmancca ve Zazaca için müşterek olarak hazırlanmıştır. Program metninde geçen “Kürtçe” kelimesi Kurmancca ve Zazaca lehçelerine birlikte işaret etmektedir."Prof. Dr. Kadrî Yildirim & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Abdurrahman Adak & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Hayrullah Acar & Zülküf Ergün & Îbrahîm Bîngol & Ramazan Pertev
Kurdî 5 – Zazakî, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, 2012
According to

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

, Zaza is spoken by around three to four million people. Nevins, however, puts the number of Zaza speakers between two and three million.

History

Writing in Zaza is a recent phenomenon. The first literary work in Zaza is ''Mewlîdu'n-Nebîyyî'l-Qureyşîyyî'' by Ehmedê Xasi in 1899, followed by the work ''Mawlûd'' by Osman Efendîyo Babij in 1903. As the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey during a large part of the Republican period, no text was published in Zaza until 1963. That year saw the publication of two short texts by the Kurdish newspaper ''Roja Newe,'' but the newspaper was banned and no further publication in Zaza took place until 1976, when

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also exampl ...

published a few Zaza texts. Modern Zaza literature appeared for the first time in the journal ''Tîrêj'' in 1979 but the journal had to close as a result of the 1980 coup d'état. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most Zaza literature was published in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and especially

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

until the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted in Turkey in 1991. This meant that newspapers and journals began publishing in Zaza again. The next book to be published in Zaza (after ''Mawlûd'' in 1903) was in 1977, and two more books were published in 1981 and 1986. From 1987 to 1990, five books were published in Zaza. The publication of books in Zaza increased after the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted and a total of 43 books were published from 1991 to 2000. As of 2018, at least 332 books have been published in Zaza. Due to the above-mentioned obstacles, the standardization of Zaza could not have taken place and authors chose to write in their local or regional Zaza variety. In 1996, however, a group of Zaza-speaking authors gathered in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

and established a common alphabet and orthographic rules which they published. Some authors nonetheless do not abide by these rules as they do not apply the orthographic rules in their oeuvres. In 2009, Zaza was classified as a vulnerable language by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

. The institution of Higher Education of Turkey approved the opening of the Zaza Language and Literature Department in

Munzur University Munzur University ( Turkish:''Munzur Üniversitesi'') is a university located in Tunceli Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia ...

in 2011 and began accepting students in 2012 for the department. In the following year,

Bingöl University Bingöl University () is a university located in Bingöl, Turkey. It was established in 2007. The University is led by Prof. Dr. İbrahim Çapak. Bingol University, Web of Science database, according to 2019 data, 108 state universities in terms ...

established the same department.

TRT Kurdî TRT Kurdî is the first national television station that broadcasts in Kurdish dialect of Kurmanji and in Zazaki. On the channels sixth anniversary it changed its name from TRT 6 into TRT Kurdi. The channel has been mostly met with criticism fr ...

also broadcast in the language. Some TV channels which broadcast in Zaza were closed after the 2016 coup d'état attempt.

Dialects

There are two main Zaza dialects: * Northern Zaza: It is spoken in

Tunceli Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The city has a Kurds, Kurdish-majority population and was a site of the Dersim rebel ...

Erzincan Erzincan (; ku, Erzîngan), historically Yerznka ( hy, Երզնկա), is the capital of Erzincan Province in Eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is ...

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

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 a ...

, Gumushane, Mus, Kayseri provinces. Its subdialects are: :*West-

Dersim Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The city has a Kurdish-majority population and was a site of the Dersim rebellion. ...

:* East-

Varto Varto (, ku, Gimgim, grc-x-medieval, Barzanissa) is a town and district in Muş Province, Turkey. The population of Varto city is around 13,000 with another 17,000 living in the villages. The largest population from Varto in Europe is in Berlin ...

Hınıs Hınıs ( ku, Xinûs, hy, Խնուս, ''Khnus'') is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The population is 9,792 (as of 2010). Historical monuments in the town include the castle and the Ulu Cami Mosqu ...

, Sarız, Koçgiri * Southern Zaza: It is spoken in primarily

Bingöl Bingöl ( diq, Çolig; ku, Çewlik; hy, Ճապաղջուր, translit=Chapaghjur) is a city in Eastern Turkey and the capital of Bingöl Province. Etymology One of the historical names for the city, ''Bingöl'' literally means ''thousand lak ...

Çermik Çermik ( hy, Ջերմուկ, lit=hot springs, Jermuk; ku, Çermûk) is a town and district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The population is 50,390 as of 2021. The mayor is Şehmus Karamehmetoğlu from the Justice and Development Party (Turkey ...

Dicle Dicle ( ku, Pîran, ota, پيران) is a town and district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey. The population was 8,436 in 2010. The Mayor is Felat Aygören from the Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey), HDP. Dicle is the Turkish language, Turkish n ...

Eğil Eğil ( Hittite: 𒅔𒃲𒀀𒉿 ''Ingalawa'', ota, اکيل, ku, Egil) is a town and district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. As of 2018, the district's population is 23,369. The elected mayor Mustafa Akkul of the Peoples' Democratic Party ...

Gerger Gerger ( ku, Aldûş) is a town of Adıyaman Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Gerger District.Palu Palu, which is officially known as the City of Palu (Indonesian: ''Kota Palu''), is the capital and largest city of Central Sulawesi. Palu is located on the northwestern coast of Sulawesi and borders Donggala Regency to the north and west, Pari ...

and

Hani, Turkey Hani ( ota, هانی ''Hani'', ota, پالی معدن ''Palimaden'', ku, Hênê) is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The population was 8,146 in 2010. History The locals in Hani took part in the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925. Sub ...

. Its subdialects are: * Sivereki, Kori, Hazzu, Motki, Dumbuli, Eastern/Central Zazaki, Dersimki. Zaza shows many similarities with

Kurmanji Kurdish Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern ...

: * Similar personal pronouns and use of these *

Enclitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a wo ...

use of the letter "u" * Very similar ergative structure * Masculine and feminine ezafe system * Both languages have nominative and oblique cases that differs by masculine -î and feminine -ê * Both languages have forgotten possessive enclitics, while it exists in such other languages as Persian, Sorani, Gorani, Hewrami or Shabaki * Both languages distinguish between aspirated and unaspirated

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 * Similar vowel phonemes Ludwig Paul divides Zaza into three main dialects. In addition, there are transitions and edge accents that have a special position and cannot be fully included in any dialect group.

Grammar

As with a number of other Indo-Iranian languages like 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 ...

, Zaza features

split ergativity In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergati ...

in its

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

, demonstrating ergative marking in

past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience t ...

and

perfective The perfective aspect (abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole; i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the imp ...

contexts, and nominative-accusative alignment otherwise. Syntactically it is nominative-accusative.

Grammatical gender

Among all Western Iranian languages only Zaza and

Kurmanji Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Sy ...

distinguish between masculine and feminine

grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...

. Each noun belongs to one of those two genders. In order to correctly

decline Decline may refer to: *Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time * "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi * ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX *The Decline (band), Australian ...

any noun and any

modifier Modifier may refer to: * Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning ** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun ** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...

or other type of word affecting that noun, one must identify whether the noun is feminine or masculine. Most nouns have inherent gender. However, some

nominal Nominal may refer to: Linguistics and grammar * Nominal (linguistics), one of the parts of speech * Nominal, the adjectival form of "noun", as in "nominal agreement" (= "noun agreement") * Nominal sentence, a sentence without a finite verb * Nou ...

roots have variable gender, i.e. they may function as either masculine or feminine nouns.

Phonology

Vowels

A vowel may also be realized as when occurring before a consonant. may become lowered to an when occurring before a velarized nasal ; , or occurring between a palatal approximant and a palato-alveolar fricative . Vowels , , or become nasalized when occurring before , as , , or .

Consonants

becomes a velar when following a velar consonant.

Alphabet

The Zaza alphabet is an extension of the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

used for writing the Zaza language, consisting of 32 letters, six of which (ç, ğ, î, û, ş, and ê) have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language.

Gallery

IndoEuropeanTree.svg, Partial tree of Indo-European languages. Iranian_tongues_de.svg, Gippert, Jost (1999), Iranische Sprachen / Iranian Languages Iranian_Family_Tree_v2.0.png, Position of Zaza language in Iranian Languages

References

Literature

* Arslan, İlyas. 2016
Verbfunktionalität und Ergativität in der Zaza-Sprache
Dissertation, Universität Düsseldorf. * Blau, ''Gurani et Zaza'' in R. Schmitt, ed., ''Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum'', Wiesbaden, 1989, , pp. 336–40 (About Daylamite origin of Zaza-Guranis) * Gajewski, Jon. (2004) ''"Zazaki Notes"'' Massachusetts Institute of Technology. * Gippert, Jost. (1996
''"Historical Development of Zazaki"''
University of Frankfurt * Haig, Geoffrey. and Öpengin, Ergin
''"Introduction to Special Issue Kurdish: A critical research overview''"
University of Bamberg, Germany * Larson, Richard. and Yamakido, Hiroko. (2006
''"Zazaki as Double Case-Marking"''
Stony Brook University and University of Arizona. * Lynn Todd, Terry. (1985
''"A Grammar of Dimili"''
University of Michigan
Mesut Keskin, Zur dialektalen Gliederung des Zazaki. Magisterarbeit, Frankfurt 2008.
(PDF) * * Paul, Ludwig. (1998)
''"The Position of Zazaki Among West Iranian languages"''
University of Hamburg * Werner, Brigitte . (2007
''"Features of Bilingualism in the Zaza Community"''
Marburg, Germany