Kurdish (Kurdî, کوردی; pronounced [ˈkuɾdiː]) is a continuum of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken by the Kurds in Western Asia. Kurdish forms three languages known as Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji), Central Kurdish (Sorani), and Southern Kurdish (Palewani). A separate group of non-Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, the Zaza–Gorani languages, are also spoken by several million Kurds. Studies as of 2009 estimate between 8 and 20 million native Kurdish speakers in Turkey. The majority of the Kurds speak Northern Kurdish ("Kurmanji").
Phonology[]
Grammar[]
- Split-Ergative Language which exhibits ergative/absolutive marking in both nouns and verbs in the past tense and nominative/accusative marking in non-past tenses
- Nouns are divided into masculine/feminine classes
- 3 cases that include Nominative/Oblique/Vocative
- 3 Tenses Past/Present/Future
Orthography[]
Common difficulties[]
The Foreign Service Institute has classified Kurdish as a "Hard" language. It is estimated that learning Kurdish to a Professional Working Proficiency in the language (a score of Speaking-3/Reading-3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale) will take an average of 44 weeks (1100 class hours).[1]
Resources[]
References[]
- ↑ U.S. Department of State; FSI's Experience with Language Learning; https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/sls/c78549.htm