Zaza-Gorani languages
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| Zaza-Gorani | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Eastern Turkey, North-Western Iran, and Northern Iraq |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Zaza-Gorani |
| Subdivisions: |
Dimli (Southern Zazaki)
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The Zaza-Gorani languages are a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages. It consists of six related languages: Gorani, Bajelani, Kirmanjki (Northern Zazaki), Dimli (Southern Zazaki), Sarli and Shabaki. Whether to consider them separate languages or only dialects is disputed.
Gorani is classified by linguists as a non-Kurdish independent Iranian language belonging to the Zaza-Gorani branch.[1] Vladimir Minorsky, an authority in this field mentions in his work "The Goran": "Gûrânî is very distinct from Kurdish there cannot be any doubt...".[2] Languages in this group belongs to Northwestern Iranian Languages group, and they share many lexical and grammatical similarities with other Iranian languages such as Gilaki, Mazandarani, Persian, Kurdish, Balochi, and others.
[edit] Origins
The area of the Northwestern Iranian languages was largely overrun by Turkic languages, subsequently known as Azeri or Azerbaijani, introduced in the eleventh century. By the sixteenth century, this language had ousted the indigenous Iranian languages except from the peripheral area along the Caspian coast. Two of these north-western dialects, however, survive outside the area; they are Gorani and Zaza. The Gorani moved south, but their language, now much declined, survives only in the neighbourhood of Kermanshah. As the language of an obscure sect, Gorani became the vehicle of a considerable literature. The Zaza people, living in some small communities among the Kurds of Eastern Turkey, are descended from immigrants from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian and have in part retained the language of their ancestors, which they themselves call Dimli.
