Kurdish, Central

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A language of Iraq

ISO 639-3
ckb
Alternate Names
Kurdi, Sorani
Autonym
زمانێ سۆرانی‎ (zimanê soranî)
User Population

4,700,000 in Iraq (2020). Total users in all countries: 5,266,050.

Location

Arbil, As Sulaymaniyah, At Ta’mim (Kirkuk), and Diyala governorates; Salah ad Din governorate: east of Tuz Khurmatu; all areas are south of Great Zab river; diaspora communities elsewhere.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (2005, Constitution, Article 4(1)).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Kurdish
Dialects

Hewleri (Arbili), Xoshnaw, Pizhdar, Suleimani (Silemani), Warmawa, Rewandiz, Bingird, Kerkuki, Garmiyani, Jafi. In Sulaimaniya, Hewleri and Kerkuki dialects seen as mutually intelligible. A member of macrolanguage Kurdish [kur].

Typology

SOV; no grammatical gender or case; noun head initial; tense-split ergative pattern; 9 vowel phonemes, 31 consonant phonemes (McCarus 2009).

Language Use

All domains. Children learn it first. Positive attitudes.

Language Development

Taught in all primary and secondary schools in Kurdish Autonomous Region. Literary standard is based on Sorani (from Suleimaniye) variety. Fully developed. Bible: 2017.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Kurdish, Central
Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab], primary usage.

Other Comments

Muslim.

Also spoken in:

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