Which Kurdî do you speak?

[kurdistani]

The point I am making we need not try and create new words... we can import words from European languages..... Language purity is what the Turks tried to do and found that they counld not....

[Diri]

Let me just say that Turkish is the only language in the world that can be called an "ARABIC DIALECT"... They have more Arabic words then they need... If you remove the Kurdish and Arabic words from Turkish you will sitt and call everybody "Han" AND "Hanim" while other words such as ben, sen, siz and "o" will jump into your mind... And nothing more... Thatt is all...

[Delal]

As a student of Turkish Linguistics (not a Turk, not a supporter of Turks, but someone who only studies their language-I need to make that clear lest someone accuse me of supporting something that I don't) it is unfair to say that Turkish is not Turkish but more Arabic.

First of all, they come from completely different language trees and have a completely different linguistic history. Turkish is from the turkic/altaic language branch and Arabic is a semitic language.

Now the subject of loan words is very different. There is a lot of carry-over words from Arabic, but that is strictly from the Islamic influence into the culture. The same can be said for Persian which also has a lot of Arabic carry-over words, but Persian and Arabic are also from different language families and no one here would say that they are the same by any means.

It is untrue that all words in Turkish that end with an "a" is an Arabic word. I can think of no root words in Turkish that end with an "a", however, "a" does appear at the end of a lot of Turkish words, but it is only as a grammarical marker.

[Diri]

Hmm - Well that "a" was just as a pin point about what I meant - so I see what you mean...

Yes - they are from Ural-Altai, Semetic and Indo-European language groups... So I know that they are worlds apart... But I was talking about the loan words and what you call carry-over words... These are very prominent in Turkish... You can in some cases not have a discussion in Turkish if you are to remove the Arabic, Kurdish and Persian words... And likewise Persian can not be used to it's "full" extent unless you have the Arabic elements...

That is what I am so proud of - in Kurdish we have few and almost non-exsistent foreign words - And I am talking about the standardized Kurmancî and Soranî forms...

[Delal]

I don't think that you can really categorize any language in our modern world with having a more pure language than the next....for example there are a lot of words in English that get added into any lexicon....it is a part of globalization when you look at any language and evaluate it's loan words. In most linguistic journals where articles have been written on this subject you will find that a language has less loan words in one of two instances: there is a massive program to rid the language of these loan words (which for the most part has failed) or that the language speakers are isolated and the specific dialect that they speak has not been introduced to those terms. For example someone from an isolated Kurdish village might speak a form of Kurdish that is loan-word free, but an individual from a larger Kurdish city would use loan words. So I don't think that you could truly prove that your assumption is true, at least not without a massive amount of linguistic research into the various languages in question.

[kardox]

i speak kurmanci saro(bahdini branch) but I also speak and understand Sorani, karmashani, and even understand konya and Ankara Kurds
In the future i would love to learn zazaki and hawrami

medya , i thought that in Sena they spoke Ardalani ??

Best wishes

[dyaoko]

medya , i thought that in Sena they spoke Ardalani ??

Best wishes

well aradlan was a king familly in this region...so everything here is caleld aradalani also...

like in kurdish old maps they call sena and citeis around "Ardalan"
and also the langauge is speaken there...

infact Ardalani is nothing diffrent from other dailects...it is just sorani with a little diffrent acent.

[Mosul]

diri why do you make up so much stuff!!!!!! you can have a opinion but it has to stay an opinion. Turkey is not realted to Arabi at all, like delal said, the olny arabic words they will have are islamic ones, like all non-arab muslims use. There is nothing wrong with bowwrowing words from other langauges, me a Bahdeen, i do not know how to say hi in kurdish, and i have never heard hi in kurdish, so we use, arabic Mehraba or Ahleen. There is nothing wrong with that, the English use spanish words all the time. The most important thing, is that we keep the basis of our language, we can do that, and still bowwrow from other languages.

[Diri]

This is SO disapointing - you don't KNOW how to say HELLO???


ÊVAR BASH - GOOD EVENING
SHEV BASH - GOOD NIGHT
ROJ BASH - GOOD DAY!
SILAW - HI/HELLO!


And no - English doesn't use SPANISH words... I don't make up ANYTHING - People here call Persian a dialect of Arabiz so why is it so strange to say that Turkish is - I WAS BEING SARCASTIC - for your information...

And YOU don't know - I have lived in Turkey and I visite every know and then... Have you ever been in Turkey??? And look who is talking... He can't say "hello" in Kurdish...

I know more than you do - this is true...

Yes - they are from Ural-Altai, Semetic and Indo-European language groups... So I know that they are worlds apart... But I was talking about the loan words and what you call carry-over words... These are very prominent in Turkish... You can in some cases not have a discussion in Turkish if you are to remove the Arabic, Kurdish and Persian words... And likewise Persian can not be used to it's "full" extent unless you have the Arabic elements...

[pepula]

i speak sorani and i am mainly from kerkuk.

the problem with kurdish is that even those in southern kurdistan find it hard to sometimes understand each other. i'm not talking about myself but for example sorani in hewler differs quite a bit with sorani from sulaimany.
i myself understand kurmanji, and that should be the most important thing: understanding each other so that we can all integrate and communicate, not divide ourselves up. for if our language is united, we are all united as a whole.

we should have a standard kurdish dialect. i mean there is standard arabic,spanish, french etc.

we should also all put an effort into learning certain words and meanings of the unfamiliar dialects. for me this is mainly kurmanji-as my kurdish is generally mixed with a lot of farsi and arabic(due to my bringing up).

my dad finds it funny when i speak kurmanj, because he can see that i am trying-which you dont see a lot in kurdistan nowadays.

[Dilsad]

First of all, the point of any language is to allow communication between people.

I do like looking and replacing foreign words used in Kurdish with existing kurdish ones.
Now, there will be words that can't be created/found and some of those are the newer words, such as in technology/science/medicine.

Let's not do like in france where we have pretty much forbid any english words in everyday governement business.

We can't use week-end anymore for week-end...we use "fin de semaine" wich means "end of the week"...
or the worst is "coourriel" instead of e-mail ..pretty dump since every one uses e-mail...

My point is that the truth there is not such things as pure kurdish or pure arabic or pure turkish or french...a language that doesn't interact with others is called a dead language like latin...
and I don't thikn any of us wants our kurdish be considered a dead language ?

D.

[Diri]

You are quite the smart boy Dilsad

Let's see... Okey - A standard Kurdish - WITH loan words... In such sectores where Kurdish is limited...

I think that would be a REAL challange... Kurdish has two main dialects: Kurmancî and Goranî... About 33 million of the estimated 40 speak Kurmancî - leaving about 7 million to Goranî - which includes Zazakî... (If we think for one second that ALL Kurds speak some form of Kurdish)

Now - The Goranî speakers appereantly ALSO in large numbers speak Kurmancî... Because they have to deal with Kurmancî speakers all the time... In South and Easte Kurdistan the Goranî speak South Kurmancî (Soranî) and in North Kurdistan the Zazakî speak North Kurmancî (Kurmancî)...

So which dialect should be the "standard Kurdish" ? These two dialects North and South Kurmancî are two different ways of speaking - one says "Ez" the other says "Min"... One says "Bêje" the other says "Billê"...

I prupose that they take the dialect spoken on the "borders" between Soranî and Kurmancî and use them as basis for the new standard Kurdish... In my oppinion - this new "standard Kurdish" should be made up of words that ALL Kurds understand - so perhaps it is serving to get rid of words which are used in ONLY one part of Kurdistan... They should remain local words...

And words should be loaned from English specially and also from other European languages - I do however not think that we NEED Arabic/Turkich/Persian words - they are also trying to loan from Europe... SO should we...

And back to the Standard Kurdish dialect - Maybe it is best to keep two official dialects - Kurmancî and Soranî??? Norway has this - so does Germany and others... But look at Sweden - they have standarized Swedish into the Stockholm version (capital city)... Would it be fair to teach only Hewlêrî dialect? (Or Kirkukî dialect in the future of South Kurdistan)

[Mosul]

behdeens use arabic to say hello, so im not aware of your words. Diri i have been kurdish longer then you brother, dont try to insult me with your vactions. you obviously do not know much about kurdistan or the Middle east, as i have been observing. You like to make up informations to suit your arguments, and even though people on here tell you your wrong, you swear you are right. Think it over brother.

[Delal]

well said.

[Diri]

behdeens use arabic to say hello, so im not aware of your words. Diri i have been kurdish longer then you brother, dont try to insult me with your vactions. you obviously do not know much about kurdistan or the Middle east, as i have been observing. You like to make up informations to suit your arguments, and even though people on here tell you your wrong, you swear you are right. Think it over brother.

Been Kurdish longer than me??? What does that mean my brother? Are you older perhaps? I am 20 - how old are you? I have much knowledge about Kurdistan... But I have never claimed that I have travelled the Middle East...

I don't "make" info - I read it and find counter info abou the subject and finally try to give a nuanced portrait... I don't see things as black or white - if that is what you mean...

I can advocate one side and then jump to the other side because there may be a hint of truth in everything... I don't swear anything my brother - I only give my oppinion... And that I am entitled to have without being subject to pressure from you or others... Not everybody has to agree you know - we can agree that we disagree and that we differ in oppinion...