Kurdish language
Northwestern Iranian dialect continuum / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kurdish (Kurdî, کوردی) is a Northwestern Iranian language or group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan,[11][12] namely in Turkey, northern Iraq, northwest and northeast Iran, and Syria.
Kurdish | ||
---|---|---|
Kurdî / کوردی | ||
Native to | Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan | |
Region | Kurdistan, Anatolia, Caucasus, Khorasan, Kurdish diaspora | |
Ethnicity | Kurds | |
Native speakers | 26 million (2020–2022)[1] | |
Dialects |
| |
| ||
Official status | ||
Official language in | Iraq[6][lower-alpha 1] Rojava[8][9] | |
Recognised minority language in | ||
Language codes | ||
ISO 639-1 | ku | |
ISO 639-2 | kur | |
ISO 639-3 | kur – inclusive codeIndividual codes: kmr – Northern Kurdishckb – Central Kurdishsdh – Southern Kurdishlki – Laki Kurdish | |
Glottolog | kurd1259 | |
Linguasphere | 58-AAA-a (North Kurdish incl. Kurmanji & Kurmanjiki) + 58-AAA-b (Central Kurdish incl. Dimli/Zaza & Gurani) + 58-AAA-c (South Kurdish incl. Kurdi) | |
Geographic distribution of Kurdish dialects and other Iranian languages spoken by Kurds
| ||
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Kurdish varieties constitute a dialect continuum,[13] with some mutually unintelligible varieties,[11] and collectively have 26 million native speakers.[14] The main varieties of Kurdish are Kurmanji, Sorani, and Southern Kurdish (Xwarîn). The majority of the Kurds speak Kurmanji,[15] and most Kurdish texts are written in Kurmanji and Sorani. Kurmanji is written in the Hawar alphabet, a derivation of the Latin script, and Sorani is written in the Sorani alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script.
A separate group of non-Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, the Zaza–Gorani languages, are also spoken by several million ethnic Kurds.[16][17][18]
The classification of Laki as a dialect of Southern Kurdish or as a fourth language under Kurdish is a matter of debate,[2] but the differences between Laki and other Southern Kurdish dialects are minimal.[19]
The literary output in Kurdish was mostly confined to poetry until the early 20th century, when more general literature became developed. Today, the two principal written Kurdish dialects are Kurmanji and Sorani. Sorani is, along with Arabic, one of the two official languages of Iraq and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".[20][21]