Kurdish Language, Its Family and Dialects

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Kovara Kurdinameyê ya Navnetewî International Journal of Kurdiname

Jimar: 2 Nîsan 2020 Issue: 2 April 2020

eISSN-2687-5438 Translation – Werger

KURDISH LANGUAGE, ITS FAMILY AND DIALECTS*


ZIMANÊ KURDÎ, MALBAT Û ZARÊN WÎ
Hewa Salam KHALID 1

Abstract
Kurdish belongs to the Iranian language group within Indo-European language family. So, there are many
similarities between Kurdish and other Iranian languages. such similarities among various languages lead to
categorizing languages within some families. Kurdish is unstandardized language, and it has four main dialects. In
this arena, there is a huge gap and it has had negative effects on Kurds in general. Kurdish language is very linked
with Kurdish identity on the same time. So, the invaders of Kurdistan work hard to deform Kurdish, then destroy
Kurdish identity. The assimilation process affected many areas of Kurdistan intensively, for example; the number
of Kurdish speakers has decreased significantly in Northern Kurdistan, and Turkish language has taken its place.
Thus, we as a linguist try to clarify the Kurdish language situation linguistically. In this study, we discuss Kurdish
language family, Kurdish dialects, mutual understanding between Kurdish dialects, and analyzing the current
situation. This would be done by reviewing various sources and publishing a questionnaire among students at Koya
University. With support of the student responses, we have designed a model to illuminate mutual understanding
between Kurdish dialects in Southern Kurdistan.
Key words: Kurdish Language, Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish, Southern Kurdish, Gorani,
Zazaki, Hawrami.

Kurte
Zimanê Kurdî yek ji zimanên Îranî ye, ku ser bi malbata Hînd û Ewropî ye. Lewma hevbeşiyên zehf di
navbera Kurdî û zimanên din ên Îranî de hene. Ev wekyekî û nêzîkiya navbera hinek zimanên dinê, bûye hokara
destnîşankirina malbatên zimanan. Lê belê, dema yek dibêje Kurdî, dîsa ne xuya ye, ku mebesta wê kîjan zarê
Kurdî ye. Çimkî zimanê Kurdî, zimanekî ne-sitandard bûye û ji çar şaxên sereke pêk tê. Ew şax jî bi zar tên
binavkirin. Ji vî aliyî valatiyeke mezin heye û bandora vê valatiyê jî li ser tevahiya Kurdan çêbûye. Zimanê Kurdî
girêdirayî nasnameya gelê Kurd e. Lewma neteweyên dagîrker û hukimdarên axa Kurdistanê, ji bo têkbirina Kurdî
hewl didin, heta bikaribin nasnameya Kurdan jî têk bibin. Ev pirosêsa esîmîlasiyonê, li gelek cihên Kurdistanê
bandoreke mezin çêkiriye. Minak, li bakurê Kurdistanê jimara Kurdî axêvan kêm bûye û zimanê Tirkî di gelek

*
This is a translated article from Kurdish into English. Article details are: KHALID, H. S. (2019). Zimanê Kurdî,
malbat û zarên wî (Kurdish language, its family and dialects. Kurdiname, (1), 3-16. Retrieved from
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/kurdiname/issue/50233/637080
1
PhD in Kurdish language and culture, Lecturer, Kurdish language department, Koya University, Kurdistan
Region - Iraq
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warên cuda de cihê Kurdî girtiye. Ji ber vê yekê, em wek zimannasek Kurdî dimeyzînin û hewla ronîkirina rastiyên
zimanewanî didin. Di vê gotarê de, em behsa malbata zimanê Kurdî, zarên zimanê Kurdî û têgehiştina di navbera
van zaran de dikin û şiroveya rewşa heyî dikin. Ew jî bi palpiştiya çavkaniyên heyî û belavkirina formên rapirsî di
Zanîngeha Koya de. Li gorî bersivên xwendekaran ku temena wan di navbera 18-30 salî de ye, me li Başurê
Kurdistanê ji bo têgehiştina di navbera zarên Kurdî de modêlek ava kiriye.
Kilîle peyv: Zimanê Kurdî, Kurdî ya Bakurî, Kurdî ya Navendî, Kurdî ya Başûrî, Goranî, Zazakî,
Hewramî.

Introduction
Similar with humans, there are relativity among languages as well (Chambers &
Trudgill, 2004). When linguists studied that, they have found many similarities among
languages. So that studies to find the relaitivities among languages have started and those
languages that have resemblances catagorized in a language family. The similarities are not
because of borrowing some vocabularies, it is linked with their origion (Baldi & Cuzzolin, 2015:
820). Currently, many language families have been found. Kurdish language that is in our focus
is one language among Indo-European language family, which is the biggest language family
(Ethnologue, 2019). Just to ensure the correctness of the categorization, we have taken some
samples from the relative languages ‘Persian, Hindi and English’ and ‘Turkish and Arabic’
language as the languages from different families but in the same geographic area.
Kurdish has some dialects; we have studied the relationship among them as well. In
general, there are four main Kurdish dialects; Northern Kurdish ‘Kurmanji’, Central Kurdish
‘Sorani’, Southern Kurdish and Zazaki-Gorani (Hama Khurshid, 2008; Khalid, 2015). Mutual
understanding would change among them because of some non-linguistic factors. That is why
there are various catagorization for Kurdish dialects. Also, not using mother tongue by some
Kurds, in particular Kurds from Turkey ‘Northern Kurdistan’ is another negative point
(Opengin, 2011: 136-160), it has declined mutual understanding among Kurdish dialects. To
clarify the relationship between language and dialect, we have taken some examples from other
languages as well.
To know the role of each dialect and mapping them, we have compared many sources
and have drawn a map. We also mentioned the main accents. In conclusion, the alphabetic issue
also discussed. This is because, in some places, it would also become an obstacle in front of
understanding between Kurdish dialects.
In this study, excluding Kurdish language family, dialects and alphabet, some questions
are answered; What is the level of mutual understanding among Kurdish dialects in KRG? Is it
the same level in Kurdistan, or it might change with the context? To answer these questions, we
have reviewed the literature and published 100 forms among students at Koya University. Our
aim was to understand mutual understanding among speakers of various Kurdish dialects in
KRG – Koya University. The result may be generalized as well. We have three levels of
understanding; ‘very understandable’ for full understanding, ‘understandable’ for medium
understanding with some problems while speaking, and ‘hardly understandable’ for weak
understanding and not receive the complicate message.
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1. The language families and the origin of Kurdish


According to Ethnologue, currently there are 7111 languages (2019). There is a linkage
among many of those languages. When linguists have seen the linkage among the languages
and compared their historical roots, they founded that their origin are same. This outcome has
led to find some groups of languages that are called ‘language family’. It is a linguistic
terminology and may be divided into some sub-language groups (Baldi & Cuzzolin, 2015: 820-
821). To see the main language families, look at figure 1

Figure 1: The main language families and the percentage of their speakers (Ethnologue, 2019).

16%
Indo-European

5% Sino-Tibetan

47% Niger–Congo
8%

Afro-Asiatic
8%
Austronesian

16% The others

Indo-European is the biggest language family, which Kurdish is a language of it (Baldi &
Cuzzolin, 2015: 823; Ethnologue, 2019). After Indo-European language family, Sino Tibetan
language family is the second biggest language family, which Mandarin on of its languages and
it is the formal language of China. It is the biggest language as a mother tongue in terms of its
speakers (Ethnologue, 2019). Indo-European language family can be divided into two main
groups, which are the Western group and the Eastern group (Ismail, 1977). The Anatolian dead
languages were also a group of the family (Baldi & Cuzzolin, 2015: 824), the same is true for
the Tocharian dead languages (Ethnologue, 2019). For more information, look at figure 2.
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Figure 2: Indo-European language family (Bouckaert and the others., 2012), main languages included.

Eastern Tocharian

Tocharian Western
languages Tocharian

Kirorani

Luyan

Anatolian
Lisyan
languages

Milyan etc.

Armenian
language family
Indo-European

languages
New Greek
Greek languages
Old Greek

Bengali
Eastern
languages
Indian languages Hindi

Urdu etc.
Indo-Iranian
languages
Persian
Albenian
languages Iranian
languages Kurdish

Russian Pashtu etc.

Belto-Slavic
Bulgarian
languages

Serbian etc.

English

Germanic
German
languages

Swedish
Western
languages
Italian

Latin languages French

Spanish etc.

Welsh

Celtic languages Irish

Cornish etc.

As it is seen, both Tocharian and Anatolian language groups are dead, only there are some
available writings that were written in the mentioned languages.
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Within the Indo-European language family, Kurdish is a language among the Iranian language
group. So, Kurdish share a lot of similarities with Persian, Pashto, Balochi and other Iranian
languages. Also, there are a lot of parallels between Kurdish and Hindi, but it is less than the
parallels among the Kurdish with the mentioned Iranian languages. Furthermore, the similarities
decline when we compare it with other languages from other groups of Indo-European
languages.
Although, there are a lot of resemblances between Kurdish and other neighboring languages
like Arabic and Turkish, the resemblances are not original. This is because their origins are not
same (Ismail, 1977; Ethnologue, 2019).
To make it clearer, we have translated 10 pure Kurdish words into some languages, which are
chosen randomly. We have found that the words share a lot of similarities with Persian, it also
has some similarities with Hindi. But It does not have such similarities with English and they
are far from Arabic and Turkish. The experiment is a very basic comparative method to find the
basic information and test phonology and morphology among languages (Baldi & Cuzzolin,
2015: 821). Look at the first table:
Table 1: Some pure Kurdish words in other languages.

Northern
Persian Hindi English Turkish Arabic
Kurdish
‫آب‬ पानी ‫ماء‬
av water su
ab panî ma'
‫دو‬ दो ‫اثنان‬
du two iki
du do esnan
‫درخت‬ पेड़ ‫شجرة‬
dar tree ağaç
dirext pêd şecere
‫کردن‬ करना ‫فعل‬
kirin do yapmak
kerden karana fa‘al
‫کوه‬ पहाड़ ‫جبل‬
çiya mountain dağ
kûh pahad cebel
‫من‬ मैं ‫أنا‬
ez, min I ben
men mein ena
‫برادر‬ भाई ‫شقيق‬
bira brother erkek kardeş
berader bihayî şeqîq
‫نه‬ नहीीं ‫ال‬
na no
ne nehîn Hayır la
‫دیروز‬ बिता कल ‫االمس‬
duh yesterday dün
dîruz bîta kal el'emis
‫در‬ द्वार ‫باب‬
derî door kapı
der divar bab
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Those languages that are in the same language family, in particular those in are the same group,
they share a lot of similarities not only in morphology. The second table shows the pronouns of
Kurdish, Persian, and English.
Table 2: Pronouns in Kurdish, Persian and English

Northern Kurdish Persian English


ez/ min men - ‫من‬ I/ my
tu/ te tu - ‫تو‬ you/ your
ew/ wî, wê āo - ‫او‬ she, he, it/ he, his, its
em/ me ma - ‫ما‬ we/ our
hûn/ we şuma - ‫شما‬ you/ your
ew/ wan anha - ‫انها‬ they/ their

So, we can say that putting Kurdish among Indo-European languages is supported by many
facts. Those basic examples, just to show the facts. In particular between Kurdish and Persian

2. Kurdish language dialects


Those who studied Kurdish, divided Kurdish dialects according to their understanding.
Some of them were very successful, while some of them could not be successful. For example,
many of the orientalists said that Zazaki and Gorani are not Kurdish dialects (Hassanpour, 1993:
120; Khalid, 2013: 35-36). To clarify this misunderstanding, we are going to compare Kurdish
with some other languages. Many orientalists depend on mutual understanding between Gorani
- Zazaki with other Kurdish dialects. So, we would ask that have they seen the other language
examples? Is mutual understanding the main feature for the line between language and dialect?
According to the last methods, the relationship between languages and dialects does not only
depend on mutual understanding. It is linked with many other factors, for example; politics,
economy, culture and so on. The Norwegian, Swedish and Danish examples are meaningful
here. Those languages share many similarities and there is mutual understanding among them,
but they are different languages. While, there are some German dialects, there is not mutual
understanding between them, but they have counted as German dialects. In the same time the
standard German and Scandinavian languages are very similar, but they are different languages
(Chambers & Trudgill, 2004: 3-4). So, if dialect division does not rely on mutual understanding
only, why this fueature should be applied on Kurdish?

Last theories of nationalism suggests that becoming member of a group is optional and its
individual decision. So, if one is a member of a group, but it refuses, we cannot force him/her
to be a part of the group, and it was called immagned community (Anderson, 1999).
Furthermore, we know that the Zazas, Gorans and the Hawramies play a great role within
Kurdish community and Kurds also see them as a significant part of themselves (Hassanpour,
1993: 120). The role of Shaykh Saed Piran, Salahaddin Demirtash, Azad Hawrami and Yilmaz
Guney is prove for what we are saying. So, by supporting the Andarson theory and the reality
of Kurdish community, we accept the facts and see Gorani - Zazaki as a dialect of Kurdish
language. Historically, the famous Kurdish historian Sharafkhani Badlisi catagorized Zazas
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among Gorans, and he says there are for Kurdish groups; Kurmanj, Lur, Kalhur, and Goran
(Şerefxanê Bedlîsî, 2014, r.62). Currently, the Kurmanjs have become two new groups, which
are; Northern Kurds ‘Northern Kurmanjs’ and Central Kurds. Their dialects are called Northern
Kurdish ‘Kurmanji’ and Central Kurdish ‘Sorani’. Kalhur generally called southern Kurdish,
which some Lurs also included. While the other Lurs do not define themselves as Kurd under
Shiitism influence. Goran dialect is well-known by Gorani or Zazaki-Gorani.

So that we accept the Kurdish dialect catagorization by Fuad Hama Khurshid with some minor
changes. Hama Khurshid divided Kurdish into four dialects; Northern Kurmanji, Central
Kurmanji, Southern Kurmanji and Gorani (2008). It is not very different with Jaffer
Shayholislami who catagorize Kurdish language into five dialects and he has separated Gorani
and Zazaki into independent dialects (Sheyholislami, 2015: 31-36). I will count Gorani-Zazaki
as a same dialect due to the fact that both dialects are very similar in terms of phonology and
morphology.
I will show my understanding below, and I have mentioned the main sub-dialects as well. While
there might various views regarding the sub-dialects. For example; Kochgiri and Dersim
Kurmanji are very similar. So that some researchers put them into one sub-dialect while some
others do not. Also, it is true for Koyi, Hawleri and Sorani sub-dialects. Historically, the famous
Kurdish poet Ahmadi Khani is the first person who mentioned Kurdish sub-dialcets, and he
said:
Bohtî û Mihemmedî û Silîvî
Hin le`l û hinek ji zêr û zîvî (Khani, 2017, p.468).

Khani mentioned three Kurdish sub-dialects as an example of all the Kurdish sub-dialects and
accents, and he said that all of them are sweet and worthy. To know more information about
Kurdish sub-dialects, look figure 3.
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Bahdini

Tori

Sarhadi

Northern Kurdish Boti

Rojavayi

Kochgiri

Khorasani

Mukryani

Slemani

Central Kurdish Sorani

Ardalani
Kurdish language
Garmyani

Krmashani

Laki
Southern Kurdish
Kalhuri

Luri

Northern Zazaki

Southern Zazaki

Zazaki-Gorani Gorani

Bajalani

Hawramani

Figure 3: Kurdish dialects and sub-dialects.

Dialects are seen among all languages in the world. This feature is linked with identity and
nationalism as well. Kurdish situation is different from other languages, because Kurdistan is
not an independent state. So, Kurds do not have a standard language. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Central
Kurdish has taken the role and it is used in formal places, education and media. Lately, other
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dialects have taken some steps. People of the Duhok province wanted to use their sub-dialect,
which is Bahdini in education. So they converted education into their sub-dialect (Khalid,
2013). But their decition worsned the situation of Northen Kurdish dialect and it has becomes
an obstacle in front of locals as well. This is because they study in Bahdini sub-dialect, while
‘academic Kurdish’ has been accepted as the standard for Northern Kurmanji. The later wildely
used among Northern Kurds and in diaspora, and it is writen in Latin alphabet. Currently, it is
a formal language in the Kurdish defacto administration in Northern Syria ‘Rojava’. If the
situation continue like that in Bahdinan region, Northern Kurdish dialect would face a new
division. As such, the issue would have a negative impact on Kurdish language in general, and
on Northern Kurdish in particular. So, the Northern Kurdish power would decrease in front of
its competor ‘Central Kurdish’.
To understand the impact of the usage of Central Kurdish in the formal places in KRG, we have
collected data among students at Koya university. To know the basic information about
participants, look at table 3.
Table 3: General information

No. of participants 100 university students, age (18-30)


sex 43% male 57% female
Mother tongue 98% Kurdish 2% Other languages
Mother dialect of Kurdish Northern Central Southern Gorani
speakers Kurdish 8% Kurdish 78% Kurdish 7% (Hawrami) 7%

To understand mutual understanding among Kurdish dialects, we had asked some questions.
We published the questionnares in modified-Arabic alphabet, which is the formal alphabet for
Kurdish language in KRG. There were three scales to understand mutual understanding; ‘very
understandable’ for full understanding, ‘understandable’ for medium understanding with some
problems while speaking, and ‘hardly understandable’ for weak understanding. The results
show that all the participants know Central Kurdish fluently. Although, the Central Kurdish
speakers also have great understanding for Northern and Southern Kurdish. Mutual
understanding between Northern Kurdish with Southern Kurdish, Central Kurdish for Gorani,
Northern and Southern Kurdish with Gorani is weak. So, I have made a model to understand
the mutual understanding between Kurdish dialects. Look at figure 4.
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Figure 4: Mutual understanding among Kurdish dialect speakers at Koya university.

There are many factors that encourge the speakers of the other dialects to learn Central Kurdish,
which mainly are politics, media, education, economy and so on. While there are not such
factors to push Central Kurdish speakers to learn the other dialects of Kurdish. The result would
change in other cities, for example in Halabja or Sanandaj. This is because the Hawrami
speakers and the Central Kurdish speakers live within the same cities there. While those
Hawrami speaker who live in Koya, they were obligated to learn Central Kurdish. However,
the Central Kurdish speakers are not in the same situation. The same is true for the relationship
between the Northern Kurdish and Southern Kurdish dialects. Both of them have a strong
relationship with Central Kurdish, while they do not have such contact together. The geographic
factor and politics play key roles, for example there are 400 km between Duhok and Khanaqin,
where their dialect isoglosses, while both cities have a long and direct border with Central
Kurdish (Google map, 2019). So that, dialect continuum have increased understanding between
Central Kurdish and other dialects (Khalid, 2015: 36). In contrast, there is not such geographical
continuum between Northern Kurdish and Southern Kurdish, Northern Kurdish and Gorani
‘Hawrami’, Gorani ‘Hawrami’ and Southern Kurdish. With support of the map and the previous
analaysis (Ethnologue, 2019; Haig & Öpengin, 2015; Hassanpour, 1993; Khalid, 2015;
Sheyholislami, 2015; Hama Khurshid, 2008) and finding the gaps, I have drawn the below map,
which shows the map of the Kurdish dialects in Kurdistan. Kurdish is also spoken oversas, in
particular in Khlorasan, Central Anatolia, Jordan, some former Soviet countries, Israel and
diaspora. For more information, look at the map.
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Dersim
Turkey
Wan

Urmia lake

Iran
Sanandaj
Afrin
Syria Krmashan
Diyarbakir

Erbil
Northern Kurdish Southern Kurdish

Central Kurdish Zazaki - Gorani


Iraq

Mixed areas City

Lakes and dams

Map: Kurdish dialect division in Kurdistan.

Our results show higher mutual understanding among Kurdish dialects comparing with the
previos studies. For example, there are some studies show the low level of understanding
between Northern and Central Kurdish (Haig & Öpengin, 2015: 247), while it is meduim
according to our study. There are many factors for such differences; the participants of our
questionnaire were university students and they have friends from various places. They have
had Kurdish education from kindergarden to university. Also, media and social media play a
great rol in Iraqi Kurdistan. In contrast, the role of Kurdish media is less in the other parts of
Kurdistan, and non-Kurdish media have taken the role; for example among Kurds in Turkey
(Opengin, 2011: 146). Our result is a positive change, and it should be taken into account to
increase the relationship among young generation whose speak in different dialects of Kurdish.

3. Kurdish alphabets
When we talk about language and education, the alphabet would be in the first sight.
Because, we use alphabet to write languages. Alphabet is not language, it is a way to write a
language (Saussure, 1998). According to Saussure method, we may analyze the Kurdish
situation like that; Kurds from Iran and Iraq learn Arabic and Persian easier, while the same
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languages are more difficult for Kurds in Turkey. This is because the orthography of these
countries is different.
Till now, there is not a unified alphabet for Kurdish. It has had a negative impact on Kurdish
language and become a complex issue, its solution is difficult as well. Having different alphabet
and significant differences between Northern and Central Kurdish dialects lead to decrease
understanding (Haig & Öpengin, 2015: 247). Currently, Kurds use three various alphabets:
First, modified Arabic alphabet, which is used wildely by Iranian and Iraqi Kurds. This alphabet
is mostly used to write Central Kurdish, Southern Kurdish, and Hawrami. Also, It is used for
Northern Kurdish – Bahdini sub-dialect in Duhok province. This alphabet has been more
developed and many books writen in it. Historicaly, Kurdish classic poets have used a kind of
similar alphabet, for example Malay Jaziri, Nali, Masturay Ardalani and so on. Sheyholislami
dates back its roots for the fifteenth century, while it is modified according to Kurdish phonetic
in the last century (Sheyholislami, 2015: 36).
Second, Latin alphabet, which is widely used by Turkey Kurds and Syrian Kurds. With the
emergence of Turkish republic and Kurdish defeat to build their state, Kurdish language had
been prohabited by Turkey, where is a home for Northern Kurdish and Zazaki dialects. Turkish
authorities were strongly against the Arabic alphabet and Kurdish language. So, Kurds were
obligated to get used to with the new situation. Jaladat Ali Badirkhan has suggested the basis
for Kurdish latin alphabet in Hawar Magazine in 1932 (Jawari, 1998). Kurdish Latin alphabet
has been very important for Kurds in Turkey due to the fact that the alphabet is similar with
Turkish alphabet. So, it helped Kurdish students to write in Kurdish by the similar alphabet that
they learn from schools. Even though the alphabet is very similar with Turkish alphabet, Turkish
authorities have been against Kurdish Latin alphabet and the three letters ‘Q, X, W’ had been
forbidden for decades. This is because those letters are not available in Turkish Latin (Aslan,
2009: 14).
Third, is Cyrillic alphabet (Sheyholislami, 2015). The Cyrillic alphabet is the Russian language
alphabet; it was used by the former Soviet Kurds as well. However, Russian Kurds who speak
Northern Kurdish converted to Latin alphabet lately.
Generally, the Iraqi and Iranian Kurds are more ready for accepting the Latin alphabet because
the alphabet is used in media, daily life and writing, and they educate themselves about it. Also,
there are some people who support the idea of changing Central Kurdish alphabet into Latin
(Sheyholislami, 2015: 36-37). While, there is not such readiness among Turkey Kurds. There
are few Turkey Kurds who know the modified Arabic alphabet. The interesting thing here is
the usage of Latin alphabet in Syrian Kurdistan ‘Rojava’. Currently, they are the only part of
Kurdistan whose use different alphabet with their central state.

Conclusion
After analyzing the literature and publishing questionnare among Koya University
students, there are some results; Kurdish language is an Indo-European language and have a lot
of similarity with the other Indo-Iranian languages, in particular Persian. It has four main
dialects; Northern Kurdish ‘Kurmanji’, Central Kurdish ‘Sorani’, Southern Kurdish, and
Zazaki–Gorani. Mutual understanding among Kurdish dialects would change with the context,
however, it does not exlude non of the dialects out of Kurdish language. Pointing Kurdish
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dialects is not only a linguistic decision, it is also linked with Kurdish society whose indivisuals
believe in their Kurdishness. There are also other examples like that worldwide, which are
shown in the study.
For saving Kurdish languages, all dialects should survive. However, Kurds need a common
language to understand eachother clearly, just similar to all other standardized languages. To
do that, a linguistic plan is needed. So, the role of both KRG and Rojava authorities is the key.
They also have impact on the other two oppresed parts ‘Iranian and Turkish Kurdistan’. Basic
solution should start from alphabet unification, and dialect continuum areas should be on focus
for the language standardization. The planners should seek for common areas, not raising the
differences.

Koya university is a great example. This study suggests that if Kurdish dialects be in contact,
understanding would increase. Thus, each one may speaks in its dialect and understand the
others as well. So that the language would take its acceptable path.

Regarding education in Kurdish dialects, there is a scientific fact; education in mother tongue
is a human right, and Kurds have asked for it. However, education in dialects and sub-dialects
is not a human right. No community asks for education in its vilage, town or city’s accent.

References
Anderson, B. (1999). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
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Aslan, S. (2009). Incoherent State: The Controversy over Kurdish Naming in Turkey. European
Journal of Turkish Studies, 10, 1-20.

Baldi, P., & Cuzzolin, P. (2015). Indo-European Languages. International Encyclopedia of the
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