A Study of the Differences Between the Kurmanji Dialect of Biglar and Other Kurmanji Dialects of the Neighboring Villages

زبانشناسی و گویش های خراسان

Article 1, Volume 5, Issue 8, April 2013, Pages 1-19   

Document Type: علمی - پژ‍وهشی

DOI: 10.22067/lj.v5i8.34482

Authors

Javad Ghanbari Beglar^* ; Mahmoud Elyasi; Ali Izanloo

Abstract

Kurmanji is probably the most well known variety of Kurdish Language. Apart from such countries as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and some areas in western Iran, it is spoken in Khorasan-e Shomali and Khorasan-e Razavi Provinces in north-east Iran. The residents of Biglar –a village near Quchan in north-west Khorasan-e Razavi Province- as well as many other people living in the neighboring villages speak this Kurdish dialect. Since there are some prominent differences between the Kurmanji dialect of Biglar and other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the neighboring villages, this paper is to describe these differences and discuss the factors involved in such a variation among the dialects. In this article, having introduced the differences, the major external and internal factors involved have also been discussed. Results show that the Kurmanji Dialect of Biglar represents some phonological, morphological, and syntactic differences with other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the area, and that two other major languages spoken in the region, i.e. local Turkish and Persian are among the most known factors involved in such an event. It was also shown that the dialect was mostly affected by Turkish, and to a lesser degree, by Persian. Among the internal factors involved, lacking distinction between the Present and Past forms of transitive verbs is worth mentioning, a phenomenon which can still be tracked in other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the neighboring villages.

Keywords

Kurdish Language; Kurmanji Dialect; the Kurmanji Dialect of Biglar; Language Change