Southern Kurdish () is one of the dialects of the
Kurdish language
Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...
, spoken predominantly in northeastern
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and western
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. The Southern Kurdish-speaking region spans from
Khanaqin in Iraq to
Dehloran southward and
Asadabad eastward in Iran.
Name
'Southern Kurdish' is a linguistic term for a group of related dialects in Western Iran. Speakers are not familiar with the term and do not refer to the language as such. They generally identify the kind of Kurdish they speak as a local dialect (the Kurdish of a given village), or as a regional variety such as "Garūsi".
Variants
Southern Kurdish has many variants, linguist Fattah divides them into 35 varieties. These include:
* Bîcarî
** The most
septentrional variety of Southern Kurdish spoken in and around
Bijar in Iran. Bîcarî is the only Southern Kurdish variety detached from the greater Southern Kurdish-speaking region.
* Qurweyî (Chahar Dawli Xarbi)
** The Quwreyî variety is spoken around
Ghorveh in Iran and is related to the variety spoken in Asadabad and other Kurdish-speaking areas in
Hamadan Province
Hamadan Province () is one of the provinces of Iran, 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Hamadan. In the Zagros Mountains, the province covers an area of 19,546 km2.
History
Hamadan province is one of the most ancien ...
.
* Kulyayî
** The Kulyayî variety is spoken northeast of Kermanshah, principally in
Sonqor County and surrounding counties. The variety also spans into the
Kolyai Rural District in Hamadan Province.
* Bîlewerî
** The principal Southern Kurdish variety in
Poshtdarband Rural District in Kermanshah.
* Dînewerî
** About 83 villages in
Dinavar District speak the Dînewer variety. The differences between the Dînewerî and the Kulyayî varieties are anodine.
* Sehne / Lekî-Kirmaşanî
** The Sehne variety, or Lekî-Kirmaşanî has many similar characteristics with
Lekî and is spoken in
Harsin County
Harsin County () is in Kermanshah province, Kermanshah province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Harsin, east of Kermanshah, above sea level.
Demographics Language and ethnicity
The population is Kurds, Kurdish and Shi'ite.
Population
A ...
and in
Sahneh. What distinguishes it most from Lekî is the lack of the
ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
.
*
Kurdelî Pahlavi is quite distant, and may be a distinct language.
[Erik Anonby, Mortaza Taheri-Ardali & Amos Hayes (2019) ''The Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI)''. Iranian Studies 52]
A Working Classification
/ref>
Other variants include: Bîstûnî, Çihrî, Hersîn, Payrawend, Kirmaşanî, Sencabî, Xalesa, Çemçemal, Qesri Şîrînî, Serpuli Zehawî, Harasam, Kelhurrî, Îwan, Erkewazî, Şêrwanî, Îlamî, Salihabadî, Rîka, Bedreyî, Melikşahî, Mêxasî, Mihran, Xaneqînî, Mendilî, Duşêxî, Kaprat, Warmizyar, Zurbatiya and Feylî.
Alphabet
The Southern Kurdish alphabet is very similar to the Central Kurdish (Sorani) alphabet, which is a derivation of the Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...
.
Southern Kurdish has one additional letter "ۊ"; the Arabic letter waw with two dots above.
See also
* Kalhor
* Khulam Rada Khan Arkawazi
* Sanjâbi
* Zangana
References
Bibliography
*
Further reading
*
External links
Kurdish Academy of Language describing Southern Kurdish
*Audio recordings of wordlists and narratives in Southern Kurdish, archived with Kaipuleohone
southern Kurdish Wikipedia
{{Authority control
Kurdish language
Languages of Kurdistan
pt:Quelúri
tr:Kelhuri