Southern Kurdish

Southern Kurdish (Kurdish: زۆڤان کوردیی باشووری ,کوردی خوارگ‎, romanized: Zûwane Kurdîy başûrî, Kurdiy xwarig),[2] also known as Kurdiy xwarîn is one of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in eastern Iraq and western Iran.[3] The Southern Kurdish-speaking region spans from Khanaqin in Iraq to Dehloran southward and Asadabad eastward in Iran.[4]

Southern Kurdish
Kurdish: کوردیی باشووری ,کوردی خوارگ‎
Native toEastern Iraq, Western Iran
RegionKurdistan
Native speakers
3 million in Iran, 350,000 in Iraq[1]
Perso-Arabic (Sorani alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3sdh
Glottologsout2640
Linguasphere58-AAA-c
Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Iranian languages spoken by Kurds

Variants

Southern Kurdish has many variants, linguist Fattah divides them into 35 varieties. These inculde:

  • Bijarî
    • The most septentrional variety of Southern Kurdish spoken in and around Bijar in Iran. Bijarî is the only Southern Kurdish variety detached from the greater Southern Kurdish-speaking region.[5]
  • Qorwa (Chahar Dawli xarbi)
    • The Qorwa variety is spoken around Ghorveh in Iran and is related to the variety spoken in Asadabad and other Kurdish-speaking areas in Hamadan Province.[6]
  • Kolyayî
    • The Kolyayî 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.[7]
  • Bilawar
  • Dinawar
    • About 83 villages in Dinavar District speak the Dinawar variety. The differences between the Dinawar and the Kolyayî varieties are anodine.[9]
  • Sahana / lakî-kirmashanî
    • The Sahana variety, or lakî-kirmashanî has many similar characteristics with Laki and is spoken in Harsin County and in Sahneh. What distinguishes it most from Laki is the lack of the ergative case.[9]
  • Kurdali a.k.a. Palai is quite distant, and may be a distinct language.[10]

Alphabet

The Southern Kurdish alphabet is very similar to the Central Kurdish (Sorani) alphabet, which is a derivation of the Arabic alphabet. Southern Kurdish has one additional letter "ۊ"; the Arabic letter waw with two dots above.

ع‎ ش‎ س‎ ژ‎ ز‎ ڕ‎ ر‎ د‎ خ‎ ح‎ چ‎ ج‎ ت‎ پ‎ ب‎ ا‎ ئـ‎
1716151413121110987654321
ێ‎ ی‎ ۊ‎ ۆ‎ و‎ ە‎ ھ‎ ن‎ م‎ ڵ‎ ل‎ گ‎ ک‎ ق‎ ڤ‎ ف‎ غ‎
3433323130292827262524232221201918

See also

Notes
  1. Southern Kurdish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. "Kurdish, Southern". Ethnologue. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  3. "Kurdish language i. History of the Kurdish language". Iranica Online. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  4. Fattah (2000), pp. VII.
  5. Fattah (2000), pp. 16–17.
  6. Fattah (2000), pp. 18–19.
  7. Fattah (2000), p. 19.
  8. Fattah (2000), p. 20.
  9. Fattah (2000), p. 21.
  10. Erik Anonby, Mortaza Taheri-Ardali & Amos Hayes (2019) The Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI). Iranian Studies 52. A Working Classification

Biography
  • Fattah, Ismaïl Kamandâr (2000), Les dialectes Kurdes méridionaux, Acta Iranica, ISBN 9042909188
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