Northern Kurdish language
| Northern Kurdish language | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurmancî, کورمانجی, Кӧрманщи Kurdiya Jorîn, کوردیا ژۆرین, Кӧрдьйа Жорин |
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| Native to | Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey | ||
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Native speakers
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"Very provisional" figure of 10 million in Turkey (2009) | ||
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Indo-European
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| Dialects | |||
| Latin (Turkey), Perso-Arabic (Iran, Iraq, Syria); Cyrillic (formerly in the Soviet Union), Armenian (formerly in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic) | |||
| Official status | |||
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Recognised minority
language in |
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| Language codes | |||
| ISO 639-3 | |
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| Glottolog | nort2641 |
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| Linguasphere | 58-AAA-a |
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Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Northwestern Iranian languages spoken by Kurds
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Northern Kurdish (kurdiya jorîn; کوردیا ژۆرین), also called Kurmanji (Kurmancî; کورمانجی), is a group of Kurdish dialects predominantly spoken in southeast Turkey, northwest Iran, northern Iraq and northern Syria. It is the most widespread dialect group of the Kurdish languages. While Kurdish is generally categorized as one of the Northwestern Iranian languages along with Baluchi, it also shares many traits with Southwestern Iranian languages like Persian, apparently due to longstanding and intense historical contacts, and some authorities have gone so far as to classify Kurmanji as a Southwestern or "southern" Iranian language.
Northern Kurdish is written using the Latin script in Turkey, where most of its speakers live. Northern Kurdish is the most widely spoken Kurdish language, being spoken by 80% of all Kurds. The earliest textual record of a Kurdish language dates to the 16th century.
Kurmanji is also the ceremonial language of Yazidism. The sacred book Mishefa Reş (the "Yazidi Black Book") and all prayers are written and spoken in Kurmanji.
Northern Kurdish forms a dialect continuum of great variability. Loosely, five dialect areas can be distinguished:
The most distinctive of these is Badînî.
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Wikipedia