Southern Kurdish

Southern Kurdish (Xwarin) (Template:Langx) is one of the dialects of the Kurdish language, spoken predominantly in northeastern Iraq and western Iran. The Southern Kurdish-speaking region spans from Khanaqin in Iraq to Dehloran southward and Asadabad eastward in Iran.Template:Sfnp

Name

'Southern Kurdish' is a linguistic term for a group of related dialects in Western Iran. Speakers are not familiar with the term and do not refer to the language as such. They generally identify the kind of Kurdish they speak as a local dialect (the Kurdish of a given village), or as a regional variety such as "Garūsi".

Xwarin basically means "Southern" in Southern Kurdish. As Northern Kurdish is called Kurmanji, Central Kurdish Sorani, the Southern Kurdish is called Xwarin. Some wrongly use Kalhuri to define this dialect, but Kalhuri it's a part of this dialect itself. Fayli, Kalhuri and Laki (including other tribal and regional accents) make Xwarin.^Link

Variants

Southern Kurdish has many variants, as linguist Fattah divides them into 35 varieties. These include:

• Bîcarî
  • The most septentrional variety of Southern Kurdish spoken in and around Bijar in Iran. Bîcarî is the only Southern Kurdish variety detached from the greater Southern Kurdish-speaking region.Template:Sfnp
• Qurweyî (Chahar Dawli Xarbi)
  • The Quwreyî variety is spoken around Ghorveh in Iran and is related to the variety spoken in Asadabad and other Kurdish-speaking areas in Hamadan Province.Template:Sfnp
• Kulyayî
  • The Kulyayî variety is spoken northeast of Kermanshah, principally in Sonqor County and surrounding counties. The variety also spans into the Kolyai Rural District in Hamadan Province.Template:Sfnp
• Bîlewerî
  • The principal Southern Kurdish variety in Poshtdarband Rural District in Kermanshah.Template:Sfnp
• Dînewerî
  • About 83 villages in Dinavar District speak the Dînewer variety. The differences between the Dînewerî and the Kulyayî varieties are anodine.Template:Sfnp
• Sehne / Lekî-Kirmaşanî
  • The Sehne variety, or Lekî-Kirmaşanî has many similar characteristics with Lekî and is spoken in Harsin County and in Sahneh. What distinguishes it most from Lekî is the lack of the ergative case.Template:Sfnp
• Kurdelî Template:Aka Pahlavi is quite distant, and may be a distinct language.

Other variants include: Bîstûnî, Çihrî, Hersîn, Payrawend, Kirmaşanî, Sencabî, Xalesa, Çemçemal, Qesri Şîrînî, Serpuli Zehawî, Harasam, Kelhurrî, Îwan, Erkewazî, Şêrwanî, Îlamî, Salihabadî, Rîka, Bedreyî, Melikşahî, Mêxasî, Mihran, Xaneqînî, Mendilî, Duşêxî, Kaprat, Warmizyar, Zurbatiya and Feylî.Template:Sfnp

Alphabet

The Southern Kurdish alphabet is very similar to the Central Kurdish (Sorani) alphabet, which is a derivation of the Arabic alphabet. Southern Kurdish has one additional letter "ۊ"; the Arabic letter waw with two dots above.

Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic
17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic
34	33	32	31	30	29	28	27	26	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18

See also

• Kalhor
• Khulam Rada Khan Arkawazi
• Sanjâbi
• Zangana

External links

• Kurdish Academy of Language describing Southern Kurdish
• Audio recordings of wordlists and narratives in Southern Kurdish, archived with Kaipuleohone
• southern Kurdish Wikipedia