Gorani language

{{Short description|Group of Kurdish dialects}}

{{About|the language spoken by Kurds|the Slavic dialect|Gora dialect{{!}}Gorani dialect}}

{{Hatnote|"Gurani language" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Guarani language.}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Gorani

| nativename = گۆرانی
Goranî

| image = Gorani.svg

| states = Iraq and Iran

| region = Kurdistan (Primarily Hawraman, also Garmian and Nineveh), Kermanshah province

| speakers = {{sigfig|300,000|2}}

| date = 2008

| ref = e25

| familycolor = Indo-European

| fam2 = Indo-Iranian

| fam3 = Iranian

| fam4 = Western

| fam5 = Northwestern[https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HM6ElEb3cPqf4FWxYVc8LqRrvFsyu0mGXXqaawgXWk/pub#ftnt142 A Working Classification]

| fam6 = Zaza–Gorani

| dialects = Hewramî
Şebekî
Sarlî{{cite web |title=Gurani |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gurani |publisher=Iranica Online |access-date=30 May 2019}}
Bacelanî{{cite web |title=Bajalan |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bajalan-kurdish-tribe |publisher=Iranica Online |access-date=30 May 2019}}
Gewrejuî
Zengeneyî

| script = Kurdish alphabet

| lc1 = hac

| ld1 = Gorani (Gurani)

| lc2 = sdb

| ld2 = Shabaki

| lc3 = sdf

| ld3 = Sarli

| lc4 = bjm

| ld4 = Bajelani

| glotto = gura1251

| glottorefname = Gurani

| lingua = 58-AAA-b

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break}}

{{col-end}}

| map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg

| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Gorani (Hawrami) is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

}}

Gorani ({{langx|ku|گۆرانی|Goranî|lit=song}}),{{cite book |first=Michael M. |last=Gunter |title=Historical Dictionary of the Kurds |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538110508 |page=127}} also known by the name of its main dialect, Hawrami ({{lang|ku|ھەورامی}}, {{small|romanized:}} Hewramî), is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by ethnic Kurds in northeastern Iraq and northwestern Iran{{cite journal |last=Leezenberg |first=Michiel |date=1993 |title=Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing? |url=https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/id/eprint/620/1/X-1993-03.text.pdf |journal=ILLC - Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam |access-date= |quote=The great majority of the Kurds speak a variety of the so-called Kurmanci or Sorani dialects; smaller numbers speak Gorani or Zaza. Although the latter two dialects are close relatives of the former two, they do not strictly speaking belong to the same branch of Indo-Iranian languages. Nonetheless, both groups are commonly thought to belong to the Nortwestern group of Iranian languages.}} and which with Zaza constitute the Zaza–Gorani languages.{{efn|The speakers of Gorani considered their language as Kurdish.{{Cite journal|last=Jügel|first=Thomas|date=2016-07-15|title=Parvin Mahmoudveysi, Denise Bailey. The Gorani language of Zarda, a village of West Iran.|url=https://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/41149?lang=en|journal=Abstracta Iranica|language=en|volume=34-36|doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.41149 |issn=0240-8910|doi-access=free}}}} Zaza and Gorani are linguistically distinct from the Kurdish language,{{Cite book |last=Allison |first=Christine |title=Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-903472-21-0 |editor-last=Postgate |editor-first=J. N. |pages=138–139 |chapter='The Kurds are Alive': Kurdish in Iraq |quote=Zaza and Gorani are two closely related north-western Iranian languages, which are, in purely linguistic terms, distinct from Sorani and Kurmanji. However, the vast majority of their speakers claim Kurdish identity, so the issue of their definition is sensitive. One might perhaps say that Zaza and Gorani are politically and socially, if not linguistically, Kurdish.}} although the great majority of their speakers consider their language to be Kurdish.{{cite journal |first=G. |last=Tavadze |title=Spreading of the Kurdish language dialects and writing systems used in the middle east |journal=Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences |date=2019 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=170–174 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332568195 |access-date=30 April 2020}}{{Cite journal |last=Jügel |first=Thomas |date=2016-07-15 |title=Parvin Mahmoudveysi, Denise Bailey. The Gorani language of Zarda, a village of West Iran. |url=https://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/41149?lang=en |journal=Abstracta Iranica |language=en |volume=34-36 |doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.41149 |issn=0240-8910 |doi-access=free}}{{cite book |first=Jaffer |last=Sheyholislami |chapter=Language Varieties of the Kurds |pages=30-51 |editor-first=W. |editor-last=Taucher |editor-first2=M. |editor-last2=Vogl |editor-first3=P. |editor-last3=Webinger |location=Vienna |publisher=Austrian Ministry of the Interior |date=2015 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291696802_Language_Varieties_of_the_Kurds |title=The Kurds: History, religion, language, politics}}

Gorani is spoken in Iraq and Iran and has four dialects: Bajelani, Hawrami, and Sarli, some sources also include the Shabaki as a dialect of Gorani as well. Of these, Hawrami was the traditional literary language and koiné of Kurds in the historical Ardalan region at the Zagros Mountains,{{Cite book|title=Chaman Ara, Behrooz. The Kurdish Shahnama and its Literary and Religious Implications|isbn=978-1511523493|last1= Ara|first1=Behrooz Chaman|year=2015 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}{{Cite web|url=http://ensani.ir/fa/article/273257|title=چمن‌آرا، ب، "درآمدی بر ادب حماسی و پهلوانی کُردی با تکیه بر شاهنامه کُردی"، جستارهای ادبی، سال چهل و چهارم، بهار ۱۳۹۰، شماره ۱۷۲}} but has since been supplanted by Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish.Meri, Josef W., Medieval Islamic Civilization: A–K, index. p. 444 Gorani is a literary language for many Kurds.{{Cite journal |last1=Ara |first1=Behrooz Chaman |last2=Amiri |first2=Cyrus |date=2018-08-08 |title=Gurani: practical language or Kurdish literary idiom? |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2018.1430536 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=627–643 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2018.1430536 |issn=1353-0194 |s2cid=148611170|url-access=subscription }}

Gorani had an estimated 180,000 speakers in Iran in 2007 and 120,000 speakers in Iraq as well in 2007 for a total of 300,000 speakers. Ethnologue and the Documentation of Endangered Languages reports that the language is threatened in both Iran and Iraq, and that speakers residing in Iraq includes all adults and some children, however it does not mention if speakers are shifting to Sorani or not. Many speakers of Gorani in Iran also speak Sorani, Persian, as well as Southern Kurdish. Most speakers in Iraq also speak Sorani, while some also speak Mesopotamian Arabic. Furthermore in the 2010 edition of UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger Gorani (Hawrami) was classified as an endangered north-western Iranic language.{{ethnologue25|hac}}{{Cite web |title=Language |url=https://dobes.mpi.nl/projects/gorani/language/ |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=DOBES |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=PDF.js viewer |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentViewer.xhtml?v=2.1.196&id=p::usmarcdef_0000187026&file=/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_70c069f5-be69-478d-80ca-47a6ce68c154?_=187026eng.pdf&locale=en&multi=true&ark=/ark:/48223/pf0000187026/PDF/187026eng.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22:218,%22gen%22:0%7D,%7B%22name%22:%22XYZ%22%7D,null,null,0%5D |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=unesdoc.unesco.org}}Pg. 47 of the Former Source

Etymology

The name Goran appears to be of Indo-Iranian origin. The name may be derived from the old Avestan word, gairi, which means mountain.{{cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/avdict/avdict.htm#dctg|title=Avestan Dictionary|first=Joseph H.|last=Peterson}}

Literature

{{main|Ardalan#Gorani Culture in Ardalan}}

Under the independent rulers of Ardalan (9th–14th / 14th–19th century), with their capital latterly at Sanandaj, Gorani became the vehicle of a considerable corpus of poetry. Gorani was and remains the first language of the scriptures of the Ahl-e Haqq sect, or Yarsanism, centered on Gahvara. Prose works, in contrast, are hardly known. The structure of Gorani verse is very simple and monotonous. It consists almost entirely of stanzas of two rhyming half-verses of ten syllables each, with no regard to the quantity of syllables.

The names of forty classical poets writing in Gorani are known, but the details and dates of their lives are unknown for the most part. Perhaps the earliest writer is Mele Perîşan, author of a masnavi of 500 lines on the Shi'ite faith who is reported to have lived around 1356–1431. Other poets are known from the 17th–19th centuries and include Shaykh Mustafa Takhtayi, Khana Qubadi, Yusuf Yaska, Mistefa Bêsaranî and Khulam Rada Khan Arkawazi. One of the last great poets to complete a book of poems (divan) in Gurani is Mawlawi Tawagozi south of Halabja.

The Kurdish Shahnameh is a collection of epic poems that has been passed down orally from one generation to the next. Eventually, some of these stories were written down by Almas Khan-e Kanoule'ei in the 18th century. There exist also a dozen or more long epic or romantic masnavis, mostly translated by anonymous writers from Persian literature including: Bijan and Manijeh, Khurshid-i Khawar, Khosrow and Shirin, Layla and Majnun, Shirin and Farhad, Haft Khwan-i Rostam and Sultan Jumjuma. Manuscripts of these works are currently preserved in the national libraries of Berlin, London, and Paris.

= Example of Gorani poetry =

An excerpt from Şîrîn û Xesrew (Shirin and Khosrow), written in 1740 by Khana Qubadî:Xanay Qubadî, Şîrîn û Xesrew, [https://iqra.ahlamontada.com/t5716-topic (Saxkirdnewey Ferheng û Pîşekî: Muhemmed Mela Kerîm)], Korrî Zanyarî Kurd, Bexda 1975.

{{Verse translation|lang=hac-Latn|

Herçen mewaçan: Fersî şekeren

Kurdî ce şeker bell şîrînteren

Yeqînen ce dewr dunyay pirr endêş

Herkes dillşaden we ziwan wêş

|Although it's said that Persian is sweet as sugar,

But, for me Kurdish is sweeter than sugar

Clearly, in this perfidious world,

Everyone is happy with his own beautiful mother tongue.}}

Dialects

{{stub section|date=May 2019}}

= Bajelani =

Bajelani is a Gorani dialect with about 59,000 speakers, predominately around Mosul,{{cite web |title=Bajelani |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/bjm |publisher=Ethnologue |access-date=30 May 2019}} near Khanaqin and near the Khosar valley.

=Hewrami=

Hewrami ({{langx|hac-Arab|هەورامی|Hewramî|link=no}}) also known as Avromani, Awromani , Hawrami, or Horami, is a Gorani dialect and is regarded as the most archaic one.{{cite web |title=Avromani |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avromani-the-dialect-of-avroman-q |publisher=Iranica Online |access-date=30 May 2019}} It is mostly spoken in the Hawraman region, a mountainous region located in western Iran (Iranian Kurdistan) and northeastern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan). There are around 23,000 speakers, and it was classed as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO in 2010.{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/kurdish-dialect-for-hawrami-struggles-for-survival.html|title=Teacher translates Quran to save endangered Kurdish dialect|last=Menmy|first=Dana Taib|date=2020-01-31|website=Al-Monitor|language=en|access-date=2020-02-03}}

Due to concerns with the decline of Hawrami speakers, as people move away from the Hawraman region to cities like Erbil, Jamal Habibullah Faraj Bedar, a retired teacher from Tawela, decided to translate the Qur'an from Arabic into Hawrami. The translation took two and a half months and 1000 copies of the publication were printed in Tehran.

= Sarli =

Sarli is spoken in northern Iraq by a cluster of villages{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbPXAAAAMAAJ&q=sarli|title=Mullas, Sufis and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society : Collected Articles|last=Bruinessen|first=Martin Van|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Isis Press|isbn=9789754281620|pages=20|language=en}} north of the Little Zab river,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1NsBAAAQBAJ&dq=sarli+iraq&pg=PA329|title=Iraq & The Persian Gulf|last=Division|first=Naval Intelligence|date=2014-09-03 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136892660|pages=329|language=en}} on the confluence of the Khazir River and the Great Zab river, just west-northwest of the city of Kirkuk.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lEHAQAAIAAJ&q=sarli|title=Proceedings of the Twenty-Third International Congress of Orientalists, Cambridge, 21st-28th August, 1954|last=Sinor|first=Denis|date=1956-01-01|publisher=Royal Asiatic Society|pages=178|language=en}} It has fewer than 20,000 speakers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/sdf/|title=Sarli|publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=7 November 2023}} Many speakers have been displaced by conflicts in the region.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sdf|title=Sarli|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2017-03-04}} It is reportedly most similar to Bajelani but is also similar to Shabaki.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbPXAAAAMAAJ&q=sarli|title=Mullas, Sufis and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society : Collected Articles|last=Bruinessen|first=Martin Van|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Isis Press|isbn=9789754281620|pages=300|language=en}} It contains Kurdish, Turkish and Persian influences, like its neighbours Bajelani and Shabaki.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4N3mAAAAMAAJ&q=sarli+language|title=Question de la frontière entre la Turquie et l'Irak|last1=Nations|first1=League of|last2=Wirsén|first2=Einar Thure af|date=1925-01-01|publisher=Imprimeries réunies, s.a.|language=fr}}

= Shabaki =

{{main | Shabaki language}}

Phonology

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
colspan="2" |

! Labial

! Dental

! Alveolar

! Post-
alveolar

! Velar

! Uvular

! Pharyngeal

! Glottal

colspan="2" | Nasal

| m

|

| n

|

|

|

|

|

rowspan="2" | Plosive

! aspirated

| pʰ

|

| tʰ

| t͡ʃʰ

| kʰ

| q

|

| [ʔ]

voiced

| b

|

| d

| d͡ʒ

| ɡ

|

|

|

rowspan="2" | Fricative

! voiceless

| f

|

| s

| ʃ

| x

|

| ħ

| h

voiced

| (v)

| ð

| z

| ʒ

|

| (ʁ)

| (ʕ)

|

rowspan="2" | Lateral

! plain

|

|

| l

|

|

|

|

|

velarized

|

|

| ɫ

|

|

|

|

|

rowspan="2" | Rhotic

! tap

|

|

| ɾ

|

|

|

|

|

trill

|

|

| r

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" | Approximant

| w

|

|

| j

|

|

|

|

All voiceless plosives and affricates are aspirated.

  • A glottal stop [ʔ] may be heard before a word-initial vowel, but is not phonemic.
  • Sounds /ʕ ʁ/ only occur in loanwords.
  • /x/ can also be heard as [χ] among different dialects.
  • /q/ can also be aspirated as [qʰ].
  • The voiced /d/ may be lenited in post-vocal positions, and occur as a voiced dental approximant [ð̞]. In the Nawsud dialects, /d/ can be heard as an alveolar approximant sound [ɹ], and may also be devoiced when occurring in word-final positions as [ɹ̥].
  • In the Nawsud and Nodša dialects, a word-initial /w/ can be heard as a [v] or a labialized [vʷ].
  • /n/ when preceding velar consonants, is heard as a velar nasal [ŋ].

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

align="center"

!Close

|i

|

|u

Near-close

|

align="center"

!Close-mid

|e

|

|o

Mid

|

|

align="center"

!Open-mid

|

Near-open

|

|

align="center"

!Open

|

|a

|

  • Sounds /æ ə/ both can be realized as an open-mid [ɛ].{{Cite book|last1=Mahmoudveysi|first1=Parvin|title=Hawrāmī of western Iran|last2=Bailey|first2=Denise|publisher=Berlin: DeGruyter Mouton.|year=2018|location=Geoffrey Haig and Geoffrey Khan (eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of Western Asia|pages=533–568}}

Hawrami Grammar

= Nouns =

  • Hawrami distinguishes between two genders and two cases; Masculine & Feminine, and Nominative & Oblique. The two cases are otherwise referred to as the Direct and Indirect Cases.

Gender distinctions in nouns are indicated by a combination of final stress and vowel/consonant ending. Masculine nouns in the nominative form are indicated by a stressed "-O", -Δ, "-U", "-E", "-A" and all consonant endings. Feminine nouns are indicated by an unstressed "-E", "-Î", a stressed "-Ê" and rarely, a stressed "-A".

There are 3 declensions. The declensions of each gender will be demonstrated as an example.

First Declension (Masculine Consonant Ending; Feminine Short Unstressed Vowel Ending)

  • Masculine : Kur (Boy)
  • Feminine : Xatune (Queen)

Second Declension (Masculine Stressed Short Vowel Ending; Feminine Stressed "-Ê” Ending)

  • Masculine : Yane (House)
  • Feminine : Namê (Name)

Third Declension (Stressed Long "-A" Ending)

  • Masculine : Piya (Man)
  • Feminine : Dega (Village)

Source{{Cite web|last=D. N.|first=Mackenzie|date=1966|title=Hawramani - Luhoni|url=http://www.royalacademy.dk/Publications/High/737_MacKenzie,%20D.pdf}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!First Declension

!Masculine

!Feminine

align="center"

!Nominative Singular

| -ø

| -e,î

Oblique Singular

| -î

| -ê

Nominative Plural

| -ê

| -ê,î

align="center"

!Oblique Plural

| -'a

| -'a

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Second Declension

!Masculine

!Feminine

align="center"

!Nominative Singular

| -'e,-'î,-'o,-'u

| -'ê

Oblique Singular

| -'ey,-'î,-'oy,-'uy

| -'ê

Nominative Plural

| -'ê,-'ê,-'oê,-'uê

| -'ê

align="center"

!Oblique Plural

| -'a,-'a,-o'a,-,u'a

| -'a

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Third Declension

!Masculine

!Feminine

align="center"

!Nominative Singular

| -'a

| -'a

Oblique Singular

| -'ay

| -'ê

Nominative Plural

| -'ê

| -'ê

align="center"

!Oblique Plural

| -ay'a

| -ay'a

Note: " ' " indicates syllable followed will be stressed

In Hawrami, definiteness and indefiniteness are marked by two independent suffixes, "-ew", and "-(e)ke".

These suffixes decline for case and gender. The indefinite suffix "-ew" is declined by the first declension pattern while the definite suffix

"-(e)ke" follows the second declension paradigm

= Personal Pronouns =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!

!Singular

!Plural

align="center"

!First Person

| Min

| Êm'e

Second Person

| To

| Şim'e

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Third Person

!Masculine

!Feminine

!Plural

align="center"

!Nominative

| Að̞

| 'Aðe

|'Aðê

Oblique

| 'Aðî

| 'Aðê

|Aðîş'a

Gallery

IndoEuropeanTree.svg|Partial tree of Indo-European languages.{{Cite web |title=worldhistory|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1028/indo-european-language-family-tree/ |access-date=2021-12-19 |website=worldhistory.com by Multiple authors}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Textbooks

  • {{cite book| author=D. N. MacKenzie|title= The Dialect of Awroman (Hawraman-i Luhon)| publisher=Kobenhavn| year=1966}} [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AGsDjvV5QjtmrvLL_PaD9oikxQnxUBjG drive.google.com]

Further reading

  • {{cite book |editor1-last=Karim |editor1-first=Shuan Osman |editor2-last=Gholami |editor2-first=Saloumeh |title=Gorani in its Historical and Linguistic Context |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |date=2024 |doi=10.1515/9783111168852 |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94408}}

Notes