Gorani (linguistics)

All you want to know about Gorani (linguistics)

Gorani
Hewrami, Howrami, Hawramani, Awromani, Gurani, Gorani
Spoken in: Iraq and Iran 
Region: Hawraman
Total speakers: About 500,000 in Iran and Iraq, unknown numbers elsewhere
Language family: Indo-European
 Indo-Iranian
  Iranian
   Western
    Northwestern
     Zaza-Gorani
      Gorani
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: ira
ISO 639-3: –
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
For other uses see Gorani.

Gorani (also Gurani and Hewrami) is a Kurdish language or a Kurdish dialect spoken in western Iran.It is a member of Zaza-Gorani branch of North-Western Iranian languages.[1] It is distinct from Kurmanji and Sorani.[2] and is closer to Gilaki. Gorani is spoken in the province of Kurdistan and province of Kermanshah in Iran, and in the Halabja region in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Hewraman mountains between Iran and Iraq. Encyclopedia Britannica considers Gorani to be a branch of Kurdish [1]. While some scholars may reject the classification of Gorani as belonging to the Kurdish branch of Iranian languages, it is said that a large number of people who speak Gorani identify as Kurds.[3]

The oldest literary documents in these related languages, or dialects, are written in Gorani. Hewrami, considered a sub-dialect of Gorani, is a very distinct dialect spoken by Kurds in a region called Hewraman along the Iran-Iraq border. Many Gorani speakers belong to the religious grouping Yarsanism, with a large number of religious documents written in Gorani.

Since the nineteenth century, Gorani has slowly been replaced by Sorani in several cities, both in Iran and Iraq. For large populations of Kurds, Sorani has replaced Gorani in cities such as Kirkuk, Meriwan and Halabja, which are still considered part of the greater Goran region.

Contents

Literature

Under the independent rulers of Ardalan (9th-14th / 14th-19th cent.), 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 around 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.

Some Gorani literature works:

  • Shîrîn u Xusrew by Khana Qubadi (lived 1700-1759), published 1975 in Bagdad.
  • Diwan des Feqe Qadiri Hemewend, 19th century
  • The Koran in Gorani, translated in the 20th Century by Haci Nuri Eli Ilahi (Nuri Eli Shah).

Hewrami

Hewrami or Hawrami refers to specific variation or dialect of Gorani and is regarded as the most archaic of the Gorani group.[4] It is classified as an Iranian language by Ethnologue. It is mostly spoken in Hewraman (also Hawraman or Huraman) in western Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) and northeastern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan). The key cities of this region are Pawe in Iran and Halabja in Iraq. Hewrami is sometimes called Auramani or Hurami by people foreign to the region. Hewrami is very similar to Avestan, the language of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism[2]. Prayers are still recited by Hewrami by using a style called Siya Çeman (pron: See-ya Cha-man) in Hewrami, where the one reciting the prayer uses high notes to sing holy verses of Zoroastrian faith. Today, some Hewrami speakers use the Siya Çeman style of singing to perform traditional songs and even modern songs in Hewrami.

Several Zazaish scholars regard Hewrami as one of the oldest dialects of the Goran-Zaza language. Some linguists also claim that Hewrami has similarities to the language of the ancient Hurrian tribes that once dominated regions in Kurdistan and is the closest surviving dialect to a Proto-Pehlewani language. Some scholars claim that the name Hewrami has close links to the Zoroastrian faith and assert that the name actually originated from Ahuraman, (see Hawraman).

Generally, the majority of Hewrami-speakers can also speak Sorani and Persian in order to communicate with other people in neighboring cities.

Sources

  1. ^ J N Postgate, Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, [Iraq] : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, p.138.
  2. ^ J N Postgate, Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, [Iraq] : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007, p.138.
  3. ^ hawraman
  4. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica - Alphabetical

External links

See also

v • d • e
Iranian languages
Old
W
E
Middle
W
E
Modern
W
E
Bartangi · Ishkashmi  · Khufi · Munji · Oroshori · Ossetic · Parachi · Pashto · Roshani (Roshni) · Sanglechi · Sarikoli · Shughni · Wakhi · Vanji · Yaghnobi · Yidgha · Yazgulami · Zebaki
W = Western · E = Eastern · Italics indicate extinct languages
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorani_(linguistics)"

No comments have been added.



Your name:

City:

Country:

Your comments:

Security check *
(Please enter the number into adjoining box)

 

  • Ads

           
eXTReMe Tracker