Kurmanji
| Kurmanji (Kurmancî) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Turkey , Syria , Iraq , Iran , Armenia | |
| speaker | ~ 14,605,670 | |
| Linguistic classification |
Indo-European
|
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in | - | |
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 Iraq Armenia
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 |
kmr |
|
Kurmanji ( Persian كورمانجى Kurmancî ( proper spelling ) , DMG kurmānğī ) or North Kurdish is one of the three Kurdish languages that belong to the north-west Iranian languages .
About 65% of all Kurds speak Kurmanji. The Kurmanji speakers or Kurmanish people are mainly at home in Turkey and Syria , but also in Iraq , Iran , Lebanon , Armenia and some other former Soviet republics . Kurmanji is also spreading strongly in Europe , primarily through immigration. In Kurdology , the term Northern Kurdish is also used for Kurmanji in German-speaking countries.
Kurmanji forms the group of Kurdish languages with Sorani (Central Kurdish ) and South Kurdish . There are differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar between these languages. In addition, in contrast to Kurmanji, Sorani Kurdish is usually written with Persian script .
classification
-
Indo-European languages
-
Indo-Iranian languages
-
Iranian languages
- Western Iranian languages
- Northwest Iranian languages
-
Kurdish languages
- Kurmanji
-
Kurdish languages
- Northwest Iranian languages
- Western Iranian languages
-
Iranian languages
-
Indo-Iranian languages
Political situation of the language
Turkey
The Kurmanji language was subject to restrictions and bans in the Republic of Turkey for decades. Publishing, broadcasting TV or radio programs, singing, teaching the language, and from the 1980s to the 1990s even speaking the language was forbidden. With the Language Prohibition Act of 1983, the use of any other language that was not the first official language of a state recognized by Turkey was forbidden and prison sentences ranging from 6 months to 3 years could be pronounced. The law was valid until 1991. According to the Political Parties Act of 1983, parties were only allowed to use Turkish at their events. Kurmanji was thus forbidden. In 2014, this language ban was deleted from the Political Parties Act with Act 6529. Since January 2009 there has been a Kurdish-language state television broadcaster in Turkey with TRT 6 . At the Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi in Mardin , chairs for Kurdish and Assyrian languages and literature were established at the Institute for Living Languages . The University of Tunceli has also been offering Kurmanji as an elective in addition to the Zaza language since 2010 .
Soviet Union
The situation in the Soviet Union was better because of its minority policy. There were Kurdish publications and even Kurdish institutes in Saint Petersburg and in the Armenian SSR as early as the 1920s and 1930s .
Armenia and Iraq
Ezdiki (or Êzîdîkî) means "Jesidisch" and is a part of the Jesiden used to distinguish itself with this language designation against Kurds. Ezdiki is no different from Kurmanji. The Yazidis in Armenia have been officially recognized as an ethnic minority with their Ezdiki language as the minority language since 2002.
Kurmanji as a literary language
Kurmanji is the most widely spoken Kurdish language . It is used almost exclusively in north-west Iraq, clearly predominantly in south-east Turkey and partly in northern Iraq and west of Iran. Kurmanji has been written in Latin letters since the 1930s.
pronunciation
alphabet
(See main article Kurdish writing systems )
Northern Kurdish is mainly written in the Kurdish-Latin alphabet . Of the 31 letters, the pronunciation of which largely matches the spelling, eight are vowels (ae ê i î ou û) and 23 are consonants (bc ç dfghjklmnpqrs ş tvwxyz).
Lower case letters: abc ç de ê fghi î jklmnopqrs ş tu û vwxyz Upper
case letters: ABC Ç DE Ê FGHI Î JKLMNOPQRS Ş TU Û VWXYZ
There is also the digraph Xw in Northern Kurdish .
| Letter | Sound value | description |
|---|---|---|
| a | [ a ] | like German a in "lawn" |
| b | [ b ] | as in German b |
| c | [ dʒ ] | like dsch in "jungle" |
| ç | [ tʃ ] | like ch |
| d | [ d ] | like German d |
| e | [ ɛ ] | short open e, as German "ä" in "would" |
| ê | [ e ] | long closed e as in "tendon" |
| f | [ f ] | like German f |
| G | [ g ] | like German g |
| H | [ h ] | like dt. h |
| i | [ ə ] | short Schwa -Laut, like the e in German "pause" |
| î | [ i ] | as in German "love" |
| j | [ ʒ ] | like the j in "Journal" |
| k | [ k ] | like German k |
| l | [ l ] | like German l |
| m | [ m ] | like German m |
| n | [ n ] | like German n |
| O | [ o ] | long closed o as in German "oven" |
| p | [ p ] | as in German p |
| q | [ q ] | k formed far back in the throat (no German equivalent) |
| r | [ r ] | rolled tongue tip r |
| s | [ s ] | always voiceless, as in "Ast" |
| ş | [ ʃ ] | like German sch |
| t | [ t ] | like German t |
| u | [ ʊ ] | like German u in "and" |
| û | [ u ] | long clear u, as in German "Schuh" |
| v | [ v ] | like German w |
| w | [ w ] | like engl. w in "week" |
| x | [ χ ] | as German in "Bach" |
| y | [ j ] | like German j in "jacket" |
| z | [ z ] | voiced s as in "sun" |
Special features of the sound system:
- The Kurmanji has no uniform sound system. The south-east mouth species are opposed to the north-west mouth species of Kurmanji. In these dialects, which are spoken in the provinces of Kahramanmaraş, Malatya and Konya, some other sounds are used. In the following, some vowels and consonants are enumerated, which it largely affects: the long open a is pronounced like a long open o , as in English Baseb a ll . The short e is often found as a short a . The speakers pronounce the ç like a German z . The sound c is a voiced alveolar affricate for them , ie a " ds " with a voiced s . In addition, the question pronouns kî (who) and kengî (when) are perceived as "çî" and "çincî". The prepositions bi (with), ji (from, from) and li (in, to) are pronounced "ba", "ja" and "la".
It should be noted that there is a dialect continuum in Kurmanji . This means that the numerous dialects in these two dialect groups flow into one another. There is no alphabet for the north-west mouth species. Most speakers of this Kurmanji language switch to the Turkish language in their correspondence.
pronoun
Personal pronouns in the subject case
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| I | Ez |
| You | Do |
| He she it | Ew |
| We | Em |
| your | Hûn |
| You, she | Ew |
Personal pronouns in the object case
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| me, me, my | Min |
| you, you, your | Te |
| him, him, his (masculine) | Wî |
| you, you (feminine) | wê |
| us, our | Me |
| you, yours | We |
| you, you, you (m + n) | Wan |
Question pronouns
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| who | kî |
| How | çer / çilo / çawa |
| What | çi |
| Why | çima |
| Where | ku |
| When | kengî |
| Which | kîjan |
| How much | çend |
grammar
Nominal categories
The noun ( noun , adjective , pronoun ) in Northern Kurdish has the following categories:
| No | category | Realizations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | genus | Masculine (m) / feminine (f) |
| 2 | number | Singular (sg) / plural (pl) |
| 3 | case | primary: rectus / obliquus ; secondary case derived from obliquus |
| 4th | Definiteness | determined (unmarked) / undefined (marked) |
| 5 | Attribution | see morphemes |
case
Northern Kurdish only differentiates between two cases, namely the subject case ( casus rectus ) and the object case ( casus obliquus ) and thus has a two-cus flexion . The case rectus corresponds to the German nominative , while the case obliquus takes on functions that are usually expressed in other languages with the genitive , the dative , the accusative and the locative . In addition to these two forms, there is also a vocative .
Casus rectus of personal pronouns :
| Northern Kurdish | German |
|---|---|
| ez | I |
| do | you |
| ew | he she |
| em | we |
| hûn | Ye |
Casus obliquus of personal pronouns:
| Northern Kurdish | German 1 |
|---|---|
| min | I, mine, me, me |
| te | you, yours, you, you |
| vî (here), wî (there) 2 | he, his, him, him |
| vê (here), wê (there) 2 | she, hers, her, she |
| me | we, our, us, us |
| we | you, your, you, you |
| van (here), wan (there) 3 | they, theirs, them, them |
Morphemes
If a noun is to be defined more precisely, the noun merges with the respective morpheme. There are different morphemes, below are just examples of gender forming morphemes.
Morphemes in the rectus case
| Male singular | Female singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| ê | a | ên |
Examples:
Morphemes in the rectus case
- Your love - Evîn a te
- His name - Nav ê wî
- Our children - Zarok ên me
Morphemes in the case obliquus
| Male singular | Female singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| î | ê | on |
Examples:
- A man's house - Mala mêrek î
- The woman's dress - Kirasê jin ê
- Home of the Kurds - Welatê Kurd an
conjugation
Present normal form
The present tense is formed in Kurdish by adding a prefix di- and the personal ending.
E.g .: kirin- do
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| I do | Ez dikim |
| Are you doing | Do dikî |
| He / She / It does | Ew dike |
| We do | Em dikin |
| You do | Hûn dikin |
| they do | Ew dikin |
In some verbs, the prefix is assimilated to the stem. As an example, another word for walking in . Instead of Ez diherim , the short form Ez darim or Ez terim is used.
E.g .: çûn- go
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| I go | Ez diçim |
| You go | Tu diçî |
| He / she / it goes | Ew diçe |
| We go | Em diçin |
| You go | Hûn diçin |
| they go | Ew diçin |
Another example of an irregular verb is to know with the infinitive zanîn , where the prefix di is left out in a few dialects. However, this is not very common.
| German | Normal form | short form |
|---|---|---|
| I know | Ez dizanim | Ez zanim |
| You know | Do dizanî | Tu zanî |
| He / She / It knows | Ew dizane | Ew zane |
| We know | Em dizanine | Em zanin |
| You all know | Hûn dizanine | Hûn zanin |
| You know | Ew dizanin | Ew zanin |
Present progressive
Progressive forms are created by adding an "e" to the present tense. However, the Y rule applies to the third person singular, since there is already an "e" at the end. The German language forms progressive forms only in dialects, so the following example is not high-level language:
| German | Kurmanji |
|---|---|
| I'm going | Ez diçime |
| You are going | Tu diçîyî |
| He / she / it is going | Ew diçiye |
| We are going | Em diçine |
| You are going | Hûn diçine |
| You are going | Ew diçine |
Future tense
Instead of di- the prefix bi- is used for the future tense . In addition, an ending "ê" is added to the subject, but it is unstressed and can be separated or written together.
- I will sell bread. - Ez ê nan bifiroşim.
However, there are many irregular verbs. For morphological reasons it is not called Ezê "biherim" but:
- I will go. - Ezê herim.
Splittergativity
Northern Kurdish, like other modern Iranian languages, has a preterital splitgativity . In transitive verbs in the past tense, the agent is not in the rectus, but in the obliquus, and the direct object in the rectus (and not obliquus). This construction can easily be explained by the emergence of the past tense from a verbal adjective, which had a passive meaning in transitive verbs and an active meaning in intransitive verbs: instead of "I saw you" it actually means literally "you [rectus] through." seen me [Obliquus] ". This type of construction already occurs in Old Persian and in almost all Central Iranian languages, some of the New Iranian have retained it.
Perfect:
Example:
- Min casus obliquus tu casus rectus dîtî. = I saw you
But:
- Ez Casus rectus çûm = I have gone.
Here the agent is in the case rectus, because “go” is an intransitive verb.
literature
No guarantee:
- Usso Bedran Barnas, Johanna Salzer: Textbook of the Kurdish language. A standard work for beginners and advanced learners . 1994, ISBN 3-901545-00-X .
- Paul Ludwig: Kurdish word for word . Reise Know-How Verlag, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-89416-285-6 (Kurmandschi).
- Petra Wurzel: Kurdish in 15 lessons . Komkar, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-927213-05-5 .
- Petra Wurzel: Rojbaş. Introduction to the Kurdish language . Reichert, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-88226-994-4 .
- Ilhan Kizilhan: Just learn Kurdish . Hackbarth Verlag, St. Georgen 2000, ISBN 3-929741-26-1 .
- Abdullah Incekan: Kurdish compact. Text and exercise book with answer key and CD . Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-89500-720-0 .
- Bêrîvan Isabella: Basic Kurdish vocabulary. 2015, ISBN 978-3-95490-055-8 .
Web links
Dictionaries
Individual evidence
- ↑ kmr
- ↑ Agnes Grond: Literale Lebenswelten: A case study on socialization processes in a Kurdish migrant family . Walter de Gruyter, 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-051743-9 ( google.ch [accessed on September 13, 2018]).
- ↑ Matthes Buhbe: Turkey: Politics and Contemporary History . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-95873-0 ( google.ch ).
- ↑ Official website of the Institute for Living Languages ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tunceli Universitesi'nde Kürtçe ve Zazaca seçmeli dil oldu . In: Radikal , April 9, 2010
- ↑ Victoria Arakelova: Healing Practices among the Yezidi Sheikhs of Armenia. In: Asian Folklore Studies , Vol. 60, No. 2, 2001, p. 321
- ↑ Garnik Asatryan, Viktoria Arakelova: The ethnic minorities of Armenia. ( Memento of the original from December 7th, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: Caucasian Center for Iranian Studies, 2002, p. 18
