Gorani language (Zaza-Gorani)

Gorani
گۆرانی
Native to	Iraq and Iran
Region	Primarily Hawraman and Garmian
Native speakers	1.2 million (2014)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Northwestern Iranian Zaza–Gorani Gorani
Dialects	Hawrami Kenduleyi Bajurwani Bajelani Shabaki Sarli
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(ambiguous between Gorani and Hawrami)
Glottolog	gura1251
Linguasphere	58-AAA-b
Geographic distribution of Gorani inside the Kurdic language area.   Northern   Central   Southern   Zazaki   Gorani language   mixed areas

Gorani (also Gurani) is a group of Northwestern Iranian dialects spoken by groups of Iranian and Iraqi citizens in the southernmost parts of Iranian Kurdistan and the Iraqi Kurdistan region. It is classified as a member of the Zaza–Gorani branch of the Northwestern Iranian languages.

The Hewramî dialect, although often considered a sub-dialect of Gorani, is a very distinct dialect spoken by Gorani/Hewrami people in a region called Hewraman along the Iran–Iraq border, and is sometimes considered to be a distinct language.

Gorani is spoken in the southwestern corner of province of Kurdistan and northwestern corner of province of Kermanshah in Iran, and in parts of the Halabja region in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Hawraman mountains between Iran and Iraq.Kurdish

The oldest literary documents in these related languages, or dialects, are written in Gorani.

Many Gorani speakers belong to the religious grouping Yarsanism, with a large number of religious documents written in Gorani.

Gorani was once an important literary language in the parts of Western Iran but has since been replaced by Sorani. In the 19th century, Gorani as a language was slowly replaced by Sorani in several cities, both in Iran and Iraq. Today, Sorani is the primary language spoken in cities including Kirkuk, Meriwan, and Halabja, which are still considered part of the greater Goran region.