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 list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, 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, northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and the Caucasus and

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

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. 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

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 of great variability. Loosely, six subdialect areas can be distinguished: * Northwestern Kurmanji, spoken in the

Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...

(in Kurmanji: ''Meraş''), Malatya (''Meletî'') and Sivas (''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 the ...

. * Southwestern Kurmanji, spoken in the Adıyaman (''Semsûr''), Gaziantep (''Entab'') and Şanlıurfa (''Riha'') provinces of Turkish, and Aleppo Governorate in the west of

Syrian Kurdistan Syrian Kurdistan is a Kurdish-inhabited area in northern Syria surrounding three noncontiguous enclaves along the Turkish and Iraqi borders: Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north, and Jazira in the northeast. Syrian Kurdistan is often ...

. * Northern Kurmanji or Serhed Kurdish, spoken mainly in the Ağrı (''Agirî''), Erzurum (''Erzerom'') and 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 Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

(''Mêrdîn'') and

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

(''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 ku, پارێزگای ھەولێر , other_name = , image_skyline = Collage_of_Hawler_-_Erbil_Governorate.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Clockwise, from top: ...

(''Parêzgeha Hewlêr'') in the north of Iraqi Kurdistan. * Anatolian Kurmanji is spoken in Central Anatolia (''Anatolya Navîn''), especially in Konya, Ankara, and Aksaray, by 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 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 era,

Assyrians Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

in Tur Abdin shifted from speaking their traditional 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 Silvan may refer to: * Saint Silvan, Christian martyr * Silvan (illusionist), Italian magician * Silvan Byggemarked, Danish chain store that sells building materials * Silvan Elves, woodland elves of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium * ...

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, Chechen and Circassian immigrants in Turkish Kurdistan also speak Kurmanji.

References

External links