Soranî
Encyclopedia
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran
and Iraq
. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages
.
. Mackenzie writes that the present Kurdish standard called Soranî is in fact an idealized version of the Silêmanî dialect, which uses the phonemic system of the Píjhdar and Mukrî dialects. Objections have been made to the name Soranî on the grounds that the name of one dialect, Soranî, spoken in the region Soran should not be extended to cover a group of dialect (E. M. Rasul, Núserí Kurd, No. 4, Nov. 1971).
to continue to study there. This allowed Soranî, which was spoken in Silémaní, to progressively replace Hewrami (Gorani) as the literary vehicle.
as a result Sorani Kurdish has become the dominant written form of Kurdish.
is written with a modified Perso-Arabic script
; This is in contrast to the other Kurdish dialect, Kurmanji
which is spoken mainly in Turkey
and is usually written in the Latin alphabet
.
However, since the recent decade, official TV in Iraqi Kurdistan uses mostly the Latin script for Sorani.
and Iran
. It is the most widespread speech of Kurds in Iran and Iraq. In particular, it is spoken by:
.This idea has been favoured by some Soranî-speaking Kurds but it has disappointed Kurmanjis.
and no verb inflection to signal gender.
After publishing The Persian Today Corpus (The Most Frequent Words of Today's Persian), as a main program, the writer
, Iran
ian Kurdish-language scholar, Hamid Hassani
, is supposed to prepare a Soranî Kurdish Language Corpus, consisting of one-million words.
English and Sorani
As a main program, Iran
ian Kurdish-speaker scholar, Hamid Hassani
, is supposed to compile a Soranî Kurdish Language
Corpus
, consisting of one-million words.
The standard word-order in Sorani is SOV (subject-object-verb).
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
.
Name
To refer to southern Kurmanji dialects as Soranî is a recent naming by linguists after the name of the former principality of SoranSoran
m²Soran may refer to:Places*Soran Emirate, a Kurdish principality*Soran District, a region within the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq*Soran, Iraq, the seat of the district government, adjacent to DiyanaPeople*Soran clan, Kurdish clan...
. Mackenzie writes that the present Kurdish standard called Soranî is in fact an idealized version of the Silêmanî dialect, which uses the phonemic system of the Píjhdar and Mukrî dialects. Objections have been made to the name Soranî on the grounds that the name of one dialect, Soranî, spoken in the region Soran should not be extended to cover a group of dialect (E. M. Rasul, Núserí Kurd, No. 4, Nov. 1971).
Ottoman Times
In Silemani (Sulaymaniyah), the Ottoman Empire had created a secondary school (Rushdíye), the graduates from which could go to IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
to continue to study there. This allowed Soranî, which was spoken in Silémaní, to progressively replace Hewrami (Gorani) as the literary vehicle.
Modern
Since the fall of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, there have been more opportunities to publish works in the Kurdish language in Iraq than in any other country in recent times.as a result Sorani Kurdish has become the dominant written form of Kurdish.
Alphabet
Sorani KurdishKurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
is written with a modified Perso-Arabic script
Perso-Arabic script
The Persian or Perso-Arabic alphabet is a writing system based on the Arabic script. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic alphabet was adapted to the Persian language, adding four letters: , , , and . Many languages which use the Perso-Arabic script add other letters...
; This is in contrast to the other Kurdish dialect, Kurmanji
Kurmanji
Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken dialect of the Kurdish language.- Scripts and books :...
which is spoken mainly in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and is usually written in the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
.
However, since the recent decade, official TV in Iraqi Kurdistan uses mostly the Latin script for Sorani.
Demographics
The exact number of Sorani speakers is difficult to determine, but it is generally thought that Sorani is spoken by about 6 million people in IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. It is the most widespread speech of Kurds in Iran and Iraq. In particular, it is spoken by:
- Around 3 Million of the KurdsKurdish peopleThe Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
in IranIranian KurdistanIranian Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of West Azerbaijan province....
. Located south of the Urmia Lake that stretches roughly to the outside of KermanshahKermanshahKermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...
. - Around 3 million of the Kurds in IraqIraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
, including the Soran clanSoran clanThe Sorans are a Kurdish clan whose traditional homeland is the central region of Soran in northern Iraq.Their name is derived from the name of the mountainous region in the north of Iraq, the place they traditionally inhabit...
. Most of the Kurds who use it are found in the vicinity of HewlêrArbilArbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
(ArbilArbilArbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
) , Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) , Kerkuk and Diyala governorate.
Colloquial subdivisions
Following includes the traditional internal variants of Soranî. However, nowadays, due to widespread media and communications, most of them are regarded as dialects of standard Soranî:- Mukriyani; The language spoken south of Lake UrmiaLake UrmiaLake Urmia , ancient name: Lake Matiene) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran, near Iran's border with Turkey. The lake is between the Iranian provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea...
with MahabadMahabad-Culture:Muhammad Qazi translated more than 70 important literary works into Persian. Other writers and poets have hailed from Mahabad in the 19th and 20th century including Wafaei , Hejar , Hêmin , Abdorrahamn Zabihi and Giw Mukriyani...
as its center, including the cities of PiranshahrPiranshahrPiranshahr is a city in and the capital of Piranshahr County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 57,692, in 12,184 families....
, Bokan, Sardasht, Oshnavieh, Lajan and the Kurdish speaking parts of Naghadeh and Miandoab. This region is traditionally known as Mukriyan. - Ardalani, spoken in the cities of Sanandaj, Marivan, Kamyaran, Divandarreh, Ghorveh and Dehgolan in Kordestan province and the Kurdish speaking parts of Tekab and Shahindej in West Azerbaijan province. This region is known as Ardalan.
- Garmiani, in and around Kirkuk
- Arbili, spoken in and around the city of Hawler (ArbilArbilArbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
) in Iraqi KurdistanIraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
.Its main distinction is changing the consonant /l/ into /r/ in many words. - Babani, spoken in and around the city of Sulaymaniya in Iraq and the cities of Saghez and Baneh in Iran.
- Jafi, spoken in the towns of Javanroud, Ravansar and some villages around Sarpole Zahab and Paveh.
As an official language
A recent proposal was made for Soranî to be the official language of the Kurdistan Regional GovernmentKurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
.This idea has been favoured by some Soranî-speaking Kurds but it has disappointed Kurmanjis.
Grammatical features
There are no pronouns to distinguish between masculine and feminineand no verb inflection to signal gender.
After publishing The Persian Today Corpus (The Most Frequent Words of Today's Persian), as a main program, the writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian Kurdish-language scholar, Hamid Hassani
Hamid Hassani
Hamid Hasani is an Iranian scholar and researcher, concentrated on Persian lexicography, dictionary-making, and Persian corpus linguistics, also an expert on Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish...
, is supposed to prepare a Soranî Kurdish Language Corpus, consisting of one-million words.
Dictionaries and translations
There are a substantial number of Soranî dictionaries available, amongst which there are many that seek to be bi-lingual.English and Sorani
- English-Kurdish Dictionary by Dr. Selma Abdullah and Dr. Khurhseed Alam
- Raman English-Kurdish Dictionary by Destey Ferheng
As a main program, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian Kurdish-speaker scholar, Hamid Hassani
Hamid Hassani
Hamid Hasani is an Iranian scholar and researcher, concentrated on Persian lexicography, dictionary-making, and Persian corpus linguistics, also an expert on Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish...
, is supposed to compile a Soranî Kurdish Language
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
Corpus
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
, consisting of one-million words.
The standard word-order in Sorani is SOV (subject-object-verb).
Sorani and Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) comparison
| Sorani | Kurmanji Kurmanji Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken dialect of the Kurdish language.- Scripts and books :... |
English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
|---|---|---|
| min (for all verbs) | min (for transitive verbs)/ ez (for intransitive verbs) | I |
| dest | dest | hand |
| to | tu | you |
| ew | ew | him/her |
See also
- Kurdish languageKurdish languageKurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
- Kurdish alphabetKurdish alphabetThe Kurdish language is written either using a variant of the Latin alphabet, according to a system introduced by Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan in 1932 , or using a variant of the Persian alphabet, the so-called Sorani alphabet, named for the city of Soran, Iraq.The Hawar is used in Turkey, Syria and...
- Sorani grammarSorani grammar-Sorani:Sorani Kurdish is written with the Arabic alphabet, it has 8 vowels:î[i], û[u], i[I], u[ʊ] , e[e], o[o], a[æ] ,â[ɑ].-Nouns:A Kurdish noun in the absolute state,i.e. without any ending of any kind, gives a generic sense of the noun. It is...
- Northern Kurdish
- Southern KurdishSouthern KurdishSouthern Kurdish , also called Kermānšāhi, belongs to the Northwestern Iranian languages and is predominantly spoken in western Iran and eastern Iraq. In Iran, it is spoken in the provinces of Kermanshah and Ilam. In Iraq it is spoken in the region of Khanaqin , all the way to Mandali, Pehle...
- Soran EmirateSoran EmirateSoran was a Kurdish emirate that was established in 1816. It ruled over the northeastern part of Kurdistan until it was removed by Ottoman troops in 1835. Its capital for most of that time was the city of Rawanduz....
External links
- the New Testament in Soranî
- the Kurdish Academy of Language (unofficial)
- Working with Sorani Speaking Patients NHS (UK) Guide