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Kurdish
كوردی, Kurdî, К'ӧрди
Spoken in: Flag of Turkey Turkey,
Flag of Iraq Iraq,
Flag of Iran Iran,
Flag of Syria Syria,
Flag of Armenia Armenia,
Flag of Lebanon Lebanon,
Flag of Israel Israel,
(see article for full list) 
Region: Middle East
Total speakers: 39,500,000(disputed)[1][2][3][4] 
Ranking: 39 (disputed)
Language family: Indo-European
 Indo-Iranian
  Iranian
   Western Iranian
    Northwestern Iranian
     Kurdish 
Writing system: Kurdish alphabet (modified Arabic alphabet in Iraq and Iran, modified Latin alphabet in Turkey and Syria, modified Cyrillic in the former USSR) 
Official status
Official language in: Flag of Iraq Iraq
(Kurdish Autonomous Region)
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: ku
ISO 639-2: kur
ISO 639-3: variously:
kur – Kurdish (generic)
ckb – Central Kurdish
kmr – Northern Kurdish
sdh – Southern Kurdish 

Areas where Kurdish is spoken as mother tongue
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. This is a list of Countries of the world sorted by total Kurdish -speaking population. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. The Kurdish alphabet is a Writing system for the Kurdish language. The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Iraqi Kurdistan Region ( Kurdish: هه رێمى كوردستان Herêmi Kurdistan, Arabic:إقليم كردستان العراق, Iqlĩm Kurdistãn This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages Soranî ( Kurdish: سۆرانی is the name of a Kurdish dialect that is spoken in Iran and Iraq and such is a member of the Iranian languages For the dialect sometimes called Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani Kurmanji: ( Kurdish: Kurmancî called Bahdînî In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

The Kurdish language (Kurdish: Kurdî or کوردی) is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. It is mainly concentrated in the parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches [5] Kurdish belongs to the northwestern sub-group of the Iranian languages, which themselves belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages The most closely related languages to Kurdish are Balochi, Zazaki Gileki and Talysh, all of which belong to the north-western branch of Iranian languages. Balochi (بلوچی also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. The Giləki language is an ancient and living Caspian language and a member of the northwestern Iranian language branch spoken in Iran 's Mazanderan The traditional heartlands of the Talysh language are the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of Also related to Kurdish is the Persian language, which belongs to the south-western branch, especially the Lori and Bakhtiari dialects.


Contents

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. Ancient Iranian peoples who settled Greater Iran in the 2nd millennium BC first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BC. History See also History of the Kurdish people Ancient period See also Hurrians, Guti, Mannaeans, Medes The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC 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. The Median language (also Medean or Medic) is the language of the Iranian Medes. Ethnogenesis (From Greek: ethnos ( group of people nation and genesis ( a coming into being is the process by which a group of human beings comes [6] Some evidence of Hurrian influence on Kurdish is detected in its ergative grammatical structure. Hurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians (Khurrites a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly An ergative-absolutive Language (or simply ergative language is a language that treats the argument (" subject " of an Intransitive [7] A linguistic group influential on Kurdish to a lesser degree was Aramaic. Aramaic is a Semitic language with M. R. Izady (1993) identifies three-quarters of Kurdish clan names and roughly two-third of toponyms are as deriving from Hurrian,[8] e. Toponymy refers to the scientific study of place-names ( toponyms) their origins meanings use and Typology. g. , the names of the clans of Bukhti, Tirikan, Bazayni, Bakran, Mand; rivers Murad, Balik and Khabur, lake Van; the towns of Mardin, Ziwiya, Dinawarand Barzan.

History

Although Kurdish has a northwestern Iranian root, little is known about Kurdish in pre-Islamic times. The Western Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC The most notable language in this group is Median, of which little is known either. The Median language (also Medean or Medic) is the language of the Iranian Medes. The sacred book of the Yazidis, Mishefa Reş (Black Book) was written in Kurmanji Kurdish by Shaikh Adi's son in early 13th century [9]. The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Kurdish: ئزیدی or Êzidî, Arabic: يزيدي or ايزدي Assyrian/Syriac: ܓ̰ܠܟܝܐ is a For the dialect sometimes called Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani Kurmanji: ( Kurdish: Kurmancî called Bahdînî Shaykh ‘Adī ibn Musāfir al-Umawī (Arabic عدي بن مسافر الاموي Kurdish Şêx Adî (/ʃex ɑdi/ (died 1162 a descendant of Umayyad 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. Ehmedê Xanî, (or Ahmad Khani) (1650-1707 was a Kurdish writer poet and philosopher Malaye Jaziri (or Melayê Cizîrî) (1570-1640 was a Kurdish writer poet and mystic. Faqi Tayran (or Feqiyê Teyran) (1590-1660 is considered as one of the great classic Kurdish poets and writers

Current status

Today, Kurdish is an official language in Iraq, while it is banned in Syria where it is forbidden to publish material in Kurdish. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية [10] Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media. [11] Up to 2001, the use of Kurdish was still widely restricted by the Turkish government and singing in Kurdish was not allowed[12].

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 as recently as 2008. The Turkish alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters a certain number of which ( Ç, 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Over the past two years, numerous human rights activist and politicians all over southeastern Turkey, have been taken to court due to use of Kurdish, sometimes as minor as only a few words: sending a greeting card with the words happy new year in Kurdish, for example, or saying my dear sisters in a speech at a political rally. Such lawsuits have become so common that in some cases the accused is simply fined for using the letters W, X or Q — present in the Kurdish but not the Turkish alphabet — in an official capacity. In cases involving elected politicians, like Abdullah Demirbas (mayor of Sur, Diyarbakir's central district), the language usage is sometimes considered disloyalty and can carry a prison sentence[13][14] [15].

In Iran, though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it is forbidden in schools [16] [17]. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. As a result many Iranian Kurds have left for Iraqi Kurdistan where they can study in their native language[18]. Iraqi Kurdistan Region ( Kurdish: هه رێمى كوردستان Herêmi Kurdistan, Arabic:إقليم كردستان العراق, Iqlĩm Kurdistãn

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 word cartoon has various meanings based on several very different forms of Visual art and Illustration. The programs must carry Turkish subtitles. [19] 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. Kurdish satellite television is also available in the Middle East and Europe. Satellite television is Television delivered by the means of Communications satellites as compared to conventional Terrestrial television and Cable

Dialects

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kurdish has two main dialects: a northern and a central one. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc The northern dialect, Northern Kurmanji also commonly referred to simply as Kurmanji (and sometimes Bahdini), is spoken in northern half of Iraqi Kurdistan, Caucasus, Turkey, Syria and northwest of Iran. For the dialect sometimes called Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani Kurmanji: ( Kurdish: Kurmancî called Bahdînî The central group, called Sorani, is spoken in west of Iran and central part of Iraqi Kurdistan. Soranî ( Kurdish: سۆرانی is the name of a Kurdish dialect that is spoken in Iran and Iraq and such is a member of the Iranian languages [20]. Linguists often classify both dialects as part of the same Kurmanji branch (as well as the larger branch) of the Kurdish language. For the dialect sometimes called Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani Kurmanji: ( Kurdish: Kurmancî called Bahdînî An other classification of Southern Kurdish dialects suggests as following: Kalhori, Feyli, Gurani and classifies these dialects as one branch of Kurdish language dialects. Kalhori (kurd Kelhurî Kurdish is a subdialect of Kurdish spoken in the tribes of Zangeneh Sanjabi, Ahmadwand Behtoori Nanakali the Payrawands and the residents Feyli (also Fayli or Faili) is one of the southern dialects of the Kurdish language, spoken in Southern Kurdistan and Eastern Kurdistan

A third group, the southern dialects (ironically are spoken in both Northern and Southern Kurdistan regions) are largely referred to by linguists as the Zaza-Gorani branch. History See also History of the Kurdish people Ancient period See also Hurrians, Guti, Mannaeans, Medes Zaza-Gorani is a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages. [21] Linguistically, Zaza-Gorani languages belong to North Western Iranian Languages group like Kurdish, Gilaki, Mazandarani. Zaza-Gorani is a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages. Gilaki can refer to Gilaki language Gilaki people The Zazaki language still preserved its gender construction while Kurdish, Persian and many other Iranian languages lost it. The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. Furthermore, Zazaki has preserved "v" sounds at the beginning of sentences while Kurdish, Persian, and Belochi lost it to "b" and "g" sounds.

The use of the word "Kurdish" to describe the language or languages that Kurds speak may be the very cause of controversies regarding the differences among the dialects or languages. Outside of foreign conversation or literatures, the majority of Kurds use the name of the dialect they speak in order to describe their dialect or language, and sometimes even one another. The use of the word, Kurdish, by contrast, has been used more often to simply describe the ethnic identity of the Kurds reflecting the significant differences between the dialects or languages.

Some linguistic scholars assert that the term "Kurdish" has been extrinsically applied in describing the language the Kurds speak, while Kurds intuitively have used the word to simply describe their ethnic or national identity and refer to their language as Kurmanji, Sorani, Hewrami, or whatever other dialect or language they are native to. Some historians have noted that only until recent history have a small minority of Kurds who speak the Sorani dialect begun referring to their language as Kurdî, in addition to their identity, which is translated to simply mean Kurdish. [22]

Kurmanji and Sorani

According to Philip Kreyenbroek (1992), it may also be misleading to call Northern Kurmanji and Sorani "dialects" because they are in some ways as different from one another as nothern and southern German . Soranî ( Kurdish: سۆرانی is the name of a Kurdish dialect that is spoken in Iran and Iraq and such is a member of the Iranian languages [23] However, both dialects are widely accepted as part of a Kurmanji branch of languages spoken by Kurds. For the dialect sometimes called Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani Kurmanji: ( Kurdish: Kurmancî called Bahdînî

Kurmanji or Northern Kurmanji 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. [24].

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 Encyclopaedia of Islam ( EI) is the standard Encyclopaedia of the Academic discipline of Islamic studies. 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). Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Azerbaijan ( English; Azərbaycan officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Respublikası is the largest and most populous country in the South For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul Central group (Sorani) is spoken in Arbil, Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk (all in Iraq), Mahabad and Sanandaj (in Iran). Arbil (also written Erbil or Irbil; BGN: Arbīl; Kurdish: هه‌ولێر Hewlêr Sulaimaniya ( BGN: Kurdish: سلێمانی, Slêmanî, Sulaimānīyah;) is a city Kirkuk (also spelled Karkuk or Kerkuk; Kurdish: كه‌ركووك Kerkûk; Arabic: كركوك Turkish:Kerkük; Mahabad ( Persian: مهاباد Kurdish: مهاباد (Mahabad Mehabad or Mihabad also known by the alternative name سابلاخ Sablax) is a Sanandaj or Sine ( سنندج, Sanandaj; Kurdish: سنه, Sine) is the capital of the Iranian province [25].

The reality is that the average Diyarbakir Kurmanji speaker will find it easy to communicate with the inhabitants of Suleymania or Halabja. [26] [27]


A potentially unified form, emerging either via natural or organised merger of Kurmanji and Sorani is humorously dubbed Soranji by Kurds.

A new term coined recently by Mehrdad Izady, a writer on Kurdish subjects is Pahlawani which tries to link the Iranian languages of Zaza-Gorani branch to Kurmanji and Sorani. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. Zaza-Gorani is a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages. [4] Zaza and Gorani are two languages from north-western Iranian branch and are distinct from Kurmanji and Sorani. [28]

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. Cognates in Linguistics are words that have a common origin They may occur within a language such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly (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) *h₁eĝh₂om
lepik "Hand" (OE lōf "fillet, band") (OHG lappo "palm (of the hand)") lṓpa"paw, claw" lápa *tlāp-[5]
jin "woman" ghenãnãmca [ghenâ] "woman" zan janay- gynēka queen (OHG quena) femina (OPruss. genna) žená "wife" *gʷenh₂-
leystin(bileyzim) "to play(I play)" réjati paizo play leich láigīti *(e)lAig'- "to jump, to spring, to play"[6]
mezin "great" maz-, mazant mah(ī)-/mahānt- megas much (< OE mićil, myćil) (OHG mihhil) magnus milžinas "giant" moguchiy *meĝh₂- "big, great" [7]
mêzer "headband/turban" mitrā- "god name"(Old Persian) mitrah mitra "headband, turban", mitre "bishop's tall hat" - from Greek[8]) Mitra - from Greek mitra - from Greek) mir "world, peace" *mei- "to tie" ([9], p38)
pez "sheep" pasu- "sheep, goat" paśu "animal" fee (< OE feoh "cattle") Vieh "cattle" pecus "cattle" pekus "ox" pastuh "shepherd" *pek̂-u- "sheep"[10],[11]
çiya "mountain" kūh, chakād "peak/summit" kakúd-, kakúbh- "peak/summit" cacūmen *kak-, *kakud- "top"[12] [13]
zîndu "alive" jiyan "to live" gaêm [gaya] zind[e] "alive", zî[stan] "to live", zaideh "child" jīvati zoi "life", zō "live" quick quick "bright" vīvus "alive", vīvō "live", vīta "life" gývas živój *gʷih₃(u̯)-
mang meh hîv "moon, month" māh- māh "moon, month" mās- mēn "month" moon, month Mond, Monat mēnsis "month" mėnuo/mėnesis mésjac *meh₁ns-
mird[u] "dead", mird[in] "to die" mar-, məša- mord[a] "dead", mord[an] "to die" marati, mrta- brotos "mortal", ambrosios "immortal" murder Mord "murder" morior "die", mors "death" mirti "to die" umerét’"to die", mërtvyj "dead" *mer-, *mr̻to-
ser "head" sarah- sar śiras- ker[as] "horn", kara "head", krā[nion] "cranium" dial. Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages to make sure old Cyrillic letters are displayed properly (For example instead of just Ѣ write Ѣ Prussian is an extinct Baltic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland harns "brain" [Ge]hir[n] "brain" cereb[rum] "brain" cherep "skull" *k̂erh₂s-
sed "hundred" satəm sad śatam [he]katon hund[red] Hund[ert] centum šimt[as] sto *dk̂m̻tom
[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" *ĝneh₃-

Writing system

Main article: Kurdish alphabet

The Kurdish language uses three different writing systems. The Kurdish alphabet is a Writing system for the Kurdish language. 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). The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. In Turkey and Syria, it is written using the Latin alphabet. As an example, see the following online news portal published in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan Region ( Kurdish: هه رێمى كوردستان Herêmi Kurdistan, Arabic:إقليم كردستان العراق, Iqlĩm Kurdistãn [14] Also see the VOA News site in Kurdish. [15] Kurdish in the former USSR is written with a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by There is also a proposal for a unified international recognised Kurdish alphabet based on ISO-8859-1. ISO 8859-1, more formally cited as ISO/IEC 8859-1 is part 1 of ISO/IEC 8859, a standard Character encoding of the Latin alphabet. [29]

Phonology

According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, Kurdish has the following phonemes:

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Apical Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal		 Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g q
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ç x ɣ ħ ʕ h
Affricate ʧ ʤ
Lateral l ɫ1
Flap ɾ
Trill r
Approximant ʋ j
  1. Just as in many English dialects, the velarized lateral does not appear in the onset of a syllable. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Uvulars are Consonants articulated with the back of the Tongue against or near the uvula, that is further back in the mouth than Velar consonants A pharyngeal consonant is a type of Consonant which is articulated with the root of the Tongue against the Pharynx. Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both In Phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of Consonantal sound which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the In Phonetics, a trill is a Consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the Place of articulation. Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants

Vowels

front central back
short long short long short long
close i iː ʉ u uː
mid e eː ə o
open a

The vowel pairs /i/ and /iː/, /e/ and /eː/, and /u/ and /uː/ contrast in length and not quality. A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as A mid vowel is a Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as 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

Vol. Wiktionary (a Portmanteau of Wiki and Dictionary) is a multilingual, Web -based project to create a Free Husein Muhammed is a Kurdish writer and translator He is the editor-in-chief of the Kurdish electronic journal Kovara Mehname. I, 1960, 380 p.
Vol. II, 1964, 388 p.
Vol. III, 1976, 511 p.

Kurdish-English dictionaries

References

  1. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Turkey
  2. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Iraq
  3. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Iran
  4. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Syria
  5. ^ Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Iranic languages
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ M.R. Izady, Exploring Kurdish Origins, Kurdish Life, No. 7, Summer 1993
  9. ^ Keo - Religion
  10. ^ Repression of Kurds in Syria is widespread, Amnesty International Report, March 2005. Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is a Western based international Non-governmental organization which defines its mission as "to
  11. ^ Special Focus Cases: Leyla Zana, Prisoner of Conscience
  12. ^ Kurdish performers banned, Appeal from International PEN
  13. ^ Minority Rules, By Meline Toumani, The New York Times, 17 February 2008.
  14. ^ [1](p. 8)
  15. ^ [2]
  16. ^ 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). The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO is located in Paris, France
  17. ^ The language policy of Iran from State policy on the Kurdish language: the politics of status planning by Amir Hassanpour, University of Toronto
  18. ^ Neighboring Kurds Travel to Study in Iraq
  19. ^ Turkey to get Kurdish television
  20. ^ Kurdish language - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  21. ^ Ethnologue report for Zaza-Gorani
  22. ^ Keo - History
  23. ^ J N Postgate, Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, British School of Archaeology in Iraq. Amir Hassanpour, (1943-) is a prominent Iranian Kurdish scholar and researcher , [Iraq] : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, p. 139.
  24. ^ D. N. MacKenzie, Language in Kurds & Kurdistan, Encyclopaedia of Islam.
  25. ^ D. N. MacKenzie, Language in Kurds & Kurdistan, Encyclopaedia of Islam.
  26. ^ Postgate, J. N. , Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, [Iraq] : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007. , ISBN 9780903472210, p. 139
  27. ^ Irangeles : Iranians in Los Angeles by Ron Kelley; Jonathan Friedlander; Anita Y Colby; Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies. ; University of California, Los Angeles. International Studies and Overseas Programs. p. 156.
  28. ^ J N Postgate, Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, [Iraq] : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, p. 138.
  29. ^ The Kurdish Unified Alphabet
  30. ^ Kurdish-English Dictionary - Chyet, Michael L. - Yale University Press
  31. ^ [3]
  32. ^ ISBN 0-7818-1071-X
  33. ^ ISBN 1-904018-83-1
  34. ^ Saladin's English - Kurdish Dictionary by Salah Saadallah (Saladin's English - Kurdish Dictionary by Salah Saadallah): Tulumba.com
  35. ^ ISBN 0-7818-0246-6
  36. ^ ISBN 1-873722-05-2

See also

External links

Religious texts

Kurdish broadcast programs

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