Gorani language

This article is about the language spoken by Kurds. For the Slavic dialect, see Gorani dialect.
"Gurani language" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Guarani language.

Gorani
گۆرانی
Goranî
Native toIraq and Iran
RegionKurdistan (Primarily Hawraman, also Garmian and Nineveh), Kermanshah province
Native speakers
120,000 (2008)[1]
DialectsHewramî
Şebekî[3]
Sarlî[3]
Bacelanî[4] Gawrajui
Kurdish alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
hac – Gorani (Gurani)
sdb – Shabaki
sdf – Sarli
bjm – Bajelani
Glottologgura1251
ELP
Linguasphere58-AAA-b
Gorani (Hawrami) is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Gorani (Kurdish: گۆرانی, romanized: Goranî, lit. 'song')[5] also known by its main dialect; Hawrami (ھەورامی, romanized: Hewramî) is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by ethnic Kurds in northeastern Iraq and western Iran[6] and which with Zaza constitute the Zaza–Gorani languages.[3][a] Gorani is considered a Kurdish dialect by many researchers.[6][8][9][10]

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.[3] Of these, Hawrami was the traditional literary language and koiné of Kurds in the historical Ardalan region at the Zagros Mountains,[11][12] but has since been supplanted by Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish.[13] Gorani is a literary language for many Kurds.[14]

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 reports that the language is threatened in both countries 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.[15]

  1. ^ Gorani (Gurani) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
    Shabaki at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
    Sarli at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
    Bajelani at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ A Working Classification
  3. ^ a b c d "Gurani". Iranica Online. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Bajalan". Iranica Online. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  5. ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2018). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 127. ISBN 978-1538110508.
  6. ^ a b Leezenberg, Michiel (1993). "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?" (PDF). ILLC - Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam.
  7. ^ Jügel, Thomas (15 July 2016). "Parvin Mahmoudveysi, Denise Bailey. The Gorani language of Zarda, a village of West Iran". Abstracta Iranica. 34–36. doi:10.4000/abstractairanica.41149. ISSN 0240-8910.
  8. ^ Tavadze, G. (2019). "Spreading of the Kurdish language dialects and writing systems used in the middle east". Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. 13 (1): 170–174. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  9. ^ Sheyholislami, Jaffer (2015). "Language Varieties of the Kurds". In Taucher, W.; Vogl, M.; Webinger, P. (eds.). The Kurds: History, religion, language, politics. Vienna: Austrian Ministry of the Interior. pp. 30–51.
  10. ^ Hassani, Hossein; Medjedovic, Dzejla (February 2016). "Automatic Kurdish Dialects Identification". Computer Science & Information Technology ( CS & IT ). pp. 61–78. doi:10.5121/csit.2016.60307. ISBN 9781921987489. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  11. ^ Ara, Behrooz Chaman (2015). Chaman Ara, Behrooz. The Kurdish Shahnama and its Literary and Religious Implications. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1511523493.
  12. ^ "چمن‌آرا، ب، "درآمدی بر ادب حماسی و پهلوانی کُردی با تکیه بر شاهنامه کُردی"، جستارهای ادبی، سال چهل و چهارم، بهار ۱۳۹۰، شماره ۱۷۲".
  13. ^ Meri, Josef W., Medieval Islamic Civilization: A–K, index. p. 444
  14. ^ Ara, Behrooz Chaman; Amiri, Cyrus (8 August 2018). "Gurani: practical language or Kurdish literary idiom?". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 45 (4): 627–643. doi:10.1080/13530194.2018.1430536. ISSN 1353-0194. S2CID 148611170.
  15. ^ Gorani language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon


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