Zaza language

The term Zazaki refers to a pair of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken by the Zaza people in eastern Turkey. (The Zaza people consider themselves Kurds and thus form part of the wider Kurdish nation.) The two Zazaki languages are Kirmanjki (Northern Zaza) and Dimli (Southern Zaza). The languages are a part of the northwestern group of the Iranian section of the Indo-European family, and belongs to the Zaza–Gorani group. Zaza shares many features, structures, and vocabulary with Gorani. Zaza also has some similarities with Talyshi and other Caspian languages. According to Ethnologue (which cites [Paul 1998]), the number of speakers is between 1.5 and 2.5 million (including all dialects). According to Nevins, the number of Zaza speakers is between 2 and 4 million.

Zaza belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. From the point of view of the spoken language, its closest relatives are Mazandarani, Hewrami, Gilaki and other Caspian languages. However, the classification of Zaza has been an issue of political discussion. It is sometimes classified as a subdialect of Kurdish. The majority of Zaza-speakers in Turkey identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.