r/Kurdiman

What Kurdish dialects do I speak?

I speak Southern Kurdish of the Guran tribe as my mother tongue and I understand other SK subdialects too like Kallhurri (which is basically the same as Gurani SK) and I am able to understand Malikshahi (Ilami) too and also somewhat Laki.

I also speak a rather standardised form of Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) and the Central Kurdish ("Sorani") standard subdialect from Silemani (Babani). I am able to communicate in these two dialects but not communicate perfectly and it gets more difficult the further the subdialect is from the standardised form.

I also speak a little bit of Eastern Kurdish (Hawrami) and that is Zardayi EK (from the Guran area) and a mixed version of Hawramani subdialects (since I haven't memorised which exact form or words belong to which EK subdialect of Hawraman).

Recently I also tapped into Western Kurdish (Kirdki, unfortunately known as "Zazaki") but I am nowhere yet.

I will also study some other Iranic tongues like Balochi and Farvi or Khuri or Garmsiri at least as far as there are resources available to me. I need to do this anyway because with them I will understand the origin and development of Kurdish and Iranic better but by studying them I will also be able to speak them as far as I go.

But this is besides the point. I am happy with myself speaking several Kurdish dialects but I am nowhere near done. I have to master the speech of NK and CK perfectly and then acquire the skills of EK just the same and then learn WK as well. And when I am able to fluently converse, speak, listen and understand and read and write I will consider myself in the position to say I am able to speak Kurdish with all Kurds. Even if there are still further subdialects of each dialect that I would need to learn for that to be truly true.

And the point is: We as Kurds have to learn the other Kurdish group's languages if we say we are proud Kurds and we adhere at a free Kurdish people and a free Kurdistan. We don't have the luxury not to. We are in this situation and in this situation we have to put more effort into our Kurdish identity and our skills as Kurds as our duty.

Same post on X / twitter: https://x.com/i/status/2052294119716778178

-------------------------

Daily Reminder: Guran Kurds are commonly Yarsani Kurds and usually from a continuous area of northwestern Kirmāshān.

As for Gūrān = Eastern Kurdish speaker, (Hawrami etc.) you have to understand that while this was true originally and later on partially this is not true anymore. This notion serves for ethnological and anthropological and linguistic purposes only.

Now there are exceptions too e.g. there are some Jāf that once joined the Gūrān but stayed sunnite muslims and still spoke CK at home. No idea if they still exist as part of the Gūrān confederation.

There are also Gūrān in former Ardalān area but obviously they have been assimilated as they speak CK and are not Yārsānī.

There is also the Gorān tribe of Bādīnān, they are NK/CK speaking sunnite muslims and they descend from actual EK speakers of Karkūk/Halabja area close to Hawrāmān and had apparently become CK speaking muslims before they ended up in Bādīnān.

Same post on twitter: https://x.com/i/status/2049157516026687759

---

Iranian Persians who consider themselves Iranians by identity and ethnicity and as the people of an Iranian ethnostate and want all the non-persian Iranians to do the same are stuck at immense fallacy. It is cope and bias.

If you tell Kurds that as Kurds they have to know other Kurdish dialects then the normal ones will agree and accept that way of thought. Even if they will not do the act themselves, they know this is the brotherly/sisterly familiarity we need to have with each other.

But dare you tell an Iranian Persian that they should learn Kurdish or Balochi or Lurish or Gilaki or another Iranic tongue that is not his beloved Farsiye Darbari, since he claims that they are all Iranians together ... they will accuse you of nationalism, separatism and whatever other ignorant and fascistic idea they could have.

Mind you, on contrary to everybody else I am aware of the Western Iranic background, frame and setting of the Kurds on EVERY single academic field to fullest extent.

But it doesn't mean much if we are talking about Kurds. Or "Iranians". It doesn't matter which state my parents or grandparents or which empire my ancestors were citizens of.

I am a Kurd and my native tongue is Kurdish. Persian or another language has nothing to do with me. Historically, it may have been a lingua franca or a language of script? Well, so was arabic. And today it is English. So this argument is useless.

Even if we consider a scenario where Kurds and Iranians/Persians inhabit a federalistic state, this will only ever be acceptable to the least if we have FULL AND FREE CONTROL of our own lands in Kurdish language and by Kurds. So what do we need that then for?

All we need is for Kurdistan to be liberated and independent and to find to our true Kurdish sense of identity.