Zaza-Gorani

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Zaza–Gorani
زازا-گۆرانی
(Proposed)
Geographic
distribution		Turkey (Zaza)
Iran and Iraq (Gorani)
Native speakers
Zaza 1.5 million[1]
Gorani 300,000[2]
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Subdivisions
Language codes

Zaza and Gorani are two languages belonging to the Northwestern Iranian branch of the Iranian languages.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The archaic linguistic features of the two languages[15][16] have led some researchers to propose that they form a Zaza-Gorani subgroup.[14]

Classification

The proposed Zaza–Gorani languages are the Zaza languages and the Gorani dialects.[17] The Zaza language is defined as a macrolanguage consisting of two distinct individual languages; Southern Zaza and Northern Zaza,[18][19] which are distinguished primarily by their phonological differences[20] and spoken in various regions of Turkey. The Gorani dialects, on the other hand, consist of Shabaki, Hawrami, Bajelani, Kakayi and Sarli, spoken in small pockets in Iran and Iraq.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Both the Zaza languages and the Gorani dialects are classified as Northwestern Iranian languages in their own right by international linguistic authorities and many other linguists and Iranologists.[5][28][7][9][29][6][10][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]

Speakers

The Zaza language is the ancestral language of Zazas and the Zaza people are traditionally considered to be descendants of the Daylamites,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][33][50][51][52][53][54][55] an medieval martial society indigenous to Northern Iran who progressively expanded their presence into Anatolia during the medieval period.[43][52] The Gorani dialects, on the other hand, are spoken by Gorans (Shabaks, Bajalans) and it is hypothesized within historical linguistics that the Gorani-speaking communities underwent a collective displacement from the Caspian basin to their current geographic localities during an undocumented period of early history.[12][56][57][58] According to some, most of their speakers consider themselves ethnic Kurds.[59][60][61][62] However, many Zazas and Gorans oppose it and emphasize their own separate identity distinct from the Kurds.[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75]

Criticism

Despite the some similarities, there are significant linguistic differences between the Zaza and Gurani languages. Due to these differences, there is no generally accepted view that the Zaza and Gurani languages together form a Zaza-Gorani group on their own in contrast to other Northwestern language groups. The significant linguistic differences between the Zaza and Gorani languages were first noted by Karl Hadank, the first linguist to linguistically study and analyze the Zaza language. Hadank, in the Zâzâ und Gûrânî section of his prominent work, Mundarten der Zâzâ, demonstrated significant linguistic differences between Zaza and Gorani, including important phonological differences, differences and deviations in tense structures, conjugation systems and verbal particles and in glossaries and gender, the very clear gender declension in Zaza, including verb conjugations in contrast to the almost complete absence of gender in Gurani, in prefixs and suffixs, the absence of determinative suffixes in Zaza in contrast to Gorani's explicit use of them, Gorani's characteristic prepositions that Zazaca does not possess.[76] Linguistic features that are assumed to unite Zaza and Gorani are also found in languages and dialects such as Semnani, Tati, Balochi, Talysh and Gilaki. Zaza, shows obvious parallels to Caspian languages (Iranian languages of the Caspian region) that Gurani lacks. Therefore, it has been noted multiple times that there is quite insufficient evidence to substantiate the Zaza-Gorani subgroup, as is often assumed, existing similarities do not imply that Zaza and Gorani ever formed a historical unit and no unifying characteristics have been found from Zaza and the Gorani group to demonstrate that they constitute a group on their own in contrast to other Northwestern language groups.[77][78][79]

Sources

  1. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  2. "Gurani". Ethnologue. 2016. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019.
  3. Ethnologue.com - Zaza-Gorani
  4. Glottolog - Family Zaza
  5. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Zaza". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  6. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Gurani". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  7. "Zaza". Ethnologue. 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  8. "Gurani". Ethnologue. 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  9. "639 Identifier Documentation: Zaza [zza]". SIL International. 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  10. "639 Identifier Documentation: Gurani [hac]". SIL International. 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  11. Asatrian, Garnik (1995), "DIMLĪ", Encyclopædia Iranica, VI (5): 405–411, retrieved 7 June 2020
  12. MacKenzie (2002).
  13. Paul, Ludwig (2009). "Zazaki". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 545–546. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.
  14. Joyce Blau (1989), « Gûranî et zâzâ » in R. Schmitt (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden, Reichert, p. 336.
  15. Paul, Ludwig (1998). "The Pozition of Zazaki the West Iranian Languages" (PDF). Zazaki.de. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  16. Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 19–21. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4.
  17. "Zaza-Gorani". Ethnologue. 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  18. "Zaza". Ethnologue. 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  19. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Zaza". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  20. Arslan, İlyas (2018). "Zaza Dilinde Lehçe Farklılıkları" [The Dialectological Differences Of Zaza Language]. Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 4 (4): 54–55 – via Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü.
  21. "Bajalan". Iranica Online. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  22. "Gurani". Iranica Online. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  23. I. M. Nick (2019). Forensic linguistics asylum-seekers, refugees and immigrants. Vernon Press. p. 60. ISBN 9781622731305.
  24. Hulst, Harry van der; Goedemans, Rob; Zanten, Ellen van (2010). A Survey of Word Accentual Patterns in the Languages of the World. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110196313.
  25. Hindo, Walid A. (2016-09-08). From Baghdad on the Tigris to Baghdad on the Subway. Archway Publishing. ISBN 9781480834033.
  26. Gunter, Michael M. (2018-02-20). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538110508.
  27. "Zaza-Gorani". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  28. Hadank, Karl (1930). Mundarten der Zâzâ: Hauptsächlich aus Siwerek und Kor (in German). Berlin: Verlag der Preussischen Akademie. pp. 18–23, 24–26.
  29. Asatrian, Garnik (1995), "DIMLĪ", Encyclopædia Iranica, VI (5): 405–411, retrieved 7 June 2020
  30. Gippert, Jost (2008). "Zur dialektalen Stellung des Zazaki". Die Sprache. 47 (1): 103.
  31. Stilo, Donald L. (1981). "The Tati Language Group in The Sociolinguistic Context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia". Iranian Studies. 14 (3/4): 174. doi:10.1080/00210868108701585.
  32. Paul, Ludwig (2009). "Zazaki". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. p. 545. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.
  33. Paul, Ludwig (1998). "The Pozition of Zazaki the West Iranian Languages" (PDF). Zazaki.de. Retrieved January 28, 2025. ...Zazaki may still have been spoken at this period around the ancient region of Daylam south of the Caspian Sea. In the west Zazaki was driven more to the north and northwest by Kurdish, but still remained in contact with the northern chain of NW dialects (Āz.-Tāl.-Semn.- Casp.) for some time.
  34. Asatrian, Garnik; Gevorgian, K. H. (1988). W. Sundermann, W.; Duchesne-Guillemin, J.; Vahman, F. (eds.). "Zāzā Miscellany: Notes on some religious customs and institutions". Acta Iranica: Encyclopédie Permanente des Études Iraniennes. 12 (2): 501.
  35. Hakobian, Gohar (2017). "Lexical similarities of Zāzāki and Ṭālešī". In Arslan, Zeynep (ed.). Zazaki - yesterday, today and tomorrow: Survival and standardization of a threatened language. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-3-901600 46-3.
  36. Lecoq, P. (1989) Le classement des langues irano-aryennes occidentales, in: C.-H. de Fouchecour I Pb. Gignoux (Hg.), Etudes irano-aryennes offertes a Gilbert Lazard, Paris pp. 247-264.
  37. Minahan, James (2002-05-30). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z [4 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313076961.
  38. Hamelink, Wendelmoet (2016-04-21). The Sung Home. Narrative, Morality, and the Kurdish Nation. BRILL. ISBN 9789004314825.
  39. Korn, Agnes (2016). "A partial tree of Central Iranian: A new look at Iranian subphyla". Indogermanische Forschungen. 121 (1): 22. doi:10.1515/if-2016-0021.
  40. Korn, Agnes (2019). "Isoglosses and subdivisions of Iranian" (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (2): 2, 7, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29. doi:10.1075/jhl.17010.kor.
  41. Frye, Richard Nelson (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. C.H.Beck. p. 30. ISBN 9783406093975.
  42. Asatrian, Garnik (1995), "DIMLĪ", Encyclopædia Iranica, VI (5): 405–411, retrieved 7 June 2020, The people call themselves Dimlī or Dīmla, apparently derived from Deylam...The Deylamite origin of the Dimlīs is also indicated by the linguistic position of Dimlī.
  43. Arakelova 1999, pp. 397:"The emergence of the Zazas on the present inhabited territories is connected with the waves of migrations from Daylam, the highlands of Gilan, during the 10-12 centuries which is reflected in their ethnonym - Dim(i)Iī. The theory of the Caspian origin of the Zazas is substantiated both linguistically (the Zaza language is a North-West Iranian dialect close to Talishi, Azari, Gilyaki, etc.) and historically (there are authentic historical data about the migration of the Daylamits to Central Anatolia)."
  44. Lockwood, William Burley (1972). A Panorama of Indo-European Languages. London: Hutchinson. p. 244. The Zaza people are descended from immigrants from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and have in part retained the language of their ancestors, which they themselves call Dimli.
  45. MacKenzie, David Neil. "The Origins of Kurdish". Transactions of the Philological Society. Austin & Sons: 86. ...the Zaza people, who are known to have come originally from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian.
  46. Carlo G., Cereti (1995). The Zand ī Wahman Yasn. Serie Orientale Roma, Vol. LXXV. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. p. 198. the Zaza people, originally from Dēlam, live today, and lived probably as far back as the late Sasanian period in an area near the springs of the Tigris and that even today their language is known as Dimili.
  47. Schrijnen, Jos. (1921). Poland, Franz (ed.). "Einführung in das Studium der indogermanischen Sprachwissenschaft". Philologische Wochenschrift. 42 (16): 366. Ẓāẓā (Dimlī), die Sprache deilemitischer Stämme, die ursprünglich in den Tälern westlichen Elburzgebirges Saẞen. [Ẓāẓā (Dimlī), is the language of Daylamite tribes who originally lived in the valleys of the western Alborz Mountains.]
  48. Werner, Eberhard (2017). Rivers and Mountains: A Historical, Applied Anthropological and Linguistical Study of the Zaza People of Turkey Including an Introduction to Applied Cultural Anthropology. Nuremberg: Verlag Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. pp. 97–101. ISBN 978-3957760654.
  49. Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1977). The Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. London: Variorum Reprints. p. 74. ...Zaza, the only true Dailami dialect we have...
  50. Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4. Zazaki: Its earlier location in the mountainous region of Gilan known as Deylam has long been suggested, reinforced by the endonym Dim(i)li. The Deylamites (Gk. Dolomitai) are first mentioned in Classical sources in the late second century BC.
  51. Minorsky, Vladimir (1932). La domination des Dailamites. Publications de la Société des Études Iraniennes et de L'art Persan. Paris: E. Leroux. p. 17.
  52. Andranik (2023), Hakobian, Gohar G. (ed.), Dersim: Journey and Topography, Iran and the Caucasus Monographs, Leiden-Boston: Brill, pp. 9–13, ISBN 978-90-04-67775-3
  53. Christensen, Arthur (1921). Les dialectes d'Awromān et de Pāwä: Textes recueillis par Age Meyer Benedictsen (in French). Vol. VI. KØBENHAVN: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri. p. 8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  54. Henning, Walter Bruno (1954). "THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF AZERBAIJAN". Transactions of the Philological Society. 53 (1): 174–175.
  55. Bozbuğa, Rasim (2014), "Bilinmeyen Halk: Zazalar" [Unknown peoples: Zazas], Akademik Hassasiyetler, 1 (1): 52
  56. Blau (1989), p. 337.
  57. Minorsky (1943), pp. 86–88.
  58. Hadank, Karl (1930). Die Mundarten der Gûrân, besonders das Kändûläî, Auramânî und Bâdschälânî. Berli: Verlag der Preussischen Akademie. p. 18.
  59. Arakelova (1999), p. 398-400.
  60. Kehl-Bodrogi; Otter-Beaujean; Barbara Kellner-Heikele (1997). Syncretistic religious communities in the Near East : collected papers of the international symposium "Alevism in Turkey and comparable syncretistic religious communities in the Near East in the past and present", Berlin, 14-17 April 1995. Leiden: Brill. p. 13. ISBN 9789004108615.
  61. Nodar Mosaki (14 March 2012). "The zazas: a kurdish sub-ethnic group or separate people?". Zazaki.net. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  62. J.N. Postgate (2007). Languages of Iraq, ancient and modern (PDF). Cambridge: British School of Archaeology in Iraq. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-903472-21-0. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  63. Hennerbichler, Ferdinand (2004). Die Kurden (Geschichte des kurdischen Volkes). Mosonmagyaróvár: Fhe-Ed. p. 46. ISBN 963-214-575-5. Considerable residential areas of ethnic groups such as Dimili/Zaza speakers in northwestern Anatolia are not considered Kurdish by linguistic research, but are included by most Kurdish authors in maps of Kurdistan because they identify as Kurdish. Many Zaza/Dimili, however, do not see it that way and emphasize their own "distinct identity".
  64. Aratemür, Yaşar (2025). Sprachatlas Der Zaza-Sprache: Lautgeographie Des Zazaki. Leiden: Brill. pp. 42, 75. ISBN 978-9004746206. The participants ranged in age from 65 to 106, with an average age of 77.In total, slightly over 500 people participated in the interviews, including 101 primary sources... Participants were asked whether they identified themselves directly with other groups, whether they considered themselves as different from Turks and Kurds, or whether they consider these groups as different or foreign. All of our participants gave clear answers to these questions. They consciously distinguish themselves from other ethnic groups. None of the participants identified themselves with the neighboring Kurdish people in such a way that they would regard themselves as a single people.
  65. Keskin, Mesut (2025). Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung. Berlin: Verlag. p. 158. ISBN 978-3-643-15771-3. The question whether Zaza and Kurmanji speakers form a single people was answered "no" by 69%, "yes" by 20%, "I do not know" by 2.7%..".
  66. Torgut, Furkan (2019). Etnik Kimlik İnşasında Mezhep Farklılığının Oynadığı Rol: Zazalar Örneği [The Role of Mezhep Difference in the Construction of Ethnic Identity: The Case of Zazas] (Master's thesis) (in Turkish). Van: Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi / Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. ...Alevi Zazas and Sunni Zazas, who are divided into different sects, have shown the same behaviors in terms of ethnic identity. Both groups have stated that they are ethnically different. Alevi and Sunni Zazas do not accept the claim that Zaza is a dialect of Kurdish; they do not consider themselves ethnically Turkish or Kurdish.
  67. Rençber, Fevzi (2013). "Within The Scope of Religion-Identity Discussıons, An Evaluation for Ethnic Identities Of Alawi People Speaking Zazaki". The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies. 6 (6): 952–953. [As a result of the research, a large majority of the subjects, 70% (560), identified themselves as "Zaza" Alevis. In contrast, 20% (160) stated that they considered themselves "Turkish" Alevis, while 10% (80) stated that they considered themselves "Kurdish" Alevis." "In conclusion, we can say that the vast majority of Alevis who speak Zazaki consider themselves Zaza.]
  68. Tasci, Hülya (2010). "Funktion von Zazaki und der kurmancî Sprache im Kontext der alevitischen Identität". In Hunner-Kreisel, Christine; Andresen, Sabine (eds.). Kindheit und Jugend in muslimischen Lebenswelten: Aufwachsen und Bildung in deutscher und internationaler Perspektive. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. pp. 150, 152. ISBN 978-3-531-16751-0. Zazaki is not described as a Kurdish language by most Zazaki-speaking Alevis. However, it is considered a Kurdish language by Kurmanji-speaking Alevis." "Some Zazaki-speaking Alevis consciously distinguish themselves from Kurmanji-speaking Alevis and/or Turkish-speaking Alevis.
  69. Çetkin, Süreyya (2016). "Search of Zazaki Speaking Individuals For Identity". Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 2 (4): 51. The ones who claim Zaza people are a separate ethnic group highlight that though they were identified as Turkish or Kurdish until a certain point, they have a language, religion and culture of their own that distinguish them from other two nations and this is supported by the researches.
  70. Selcan, Zülfü (1994). Zaza Milli Meselesi Hakkında. Ankara: Zaza Kültürü Yayınları. pp. 29–30.
  71. Kaya, Ali (2010). Başlangıcından Günümüze Dersim Tarihi. Istanbul: Demos Yayınları. p. 78. ISBN 9789944387286.
  72. Sadjadi, Sayyed Mahdi (2023). "Gorani: A Distinct and Independent Language Not a Variety of the So-called Kurdish" (PDF). International Journal of Language and Linguistics. 10 (3): 23–24. The use of these terms and the existence of these attitudes among both the Kurds and Gorans towards each other demonstrate that Gorani is not Kurdish and the Gorans are not Kurdish since both of them make use of such terms frequently and have such attitudes towards each other substantiating their distinction and separateness both linguistically and ethnically.
  73. Selcan, Zülfü (2011). "Zaza Dilinin Tarihi Gelişimi" [Historical Development of Zaza Language] (PDF). I. Uluslararası Zaza Dili Sempozyumu. 127-129. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  74. Baydaş, Ayşe (2022). Zaza Kültüründe Değerlerin Değişimi ve Kuşaklar Arası Aktarımı Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma [A Qualitative Research on the Change and Intergenerational Transmission of Values in Zaza Culture] (MSc thesis). Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi. pp. 33, 38, 92. It was found that there was a strong emphasis on identifying themselves as Zaza among the participants and the older generation was found to be more sensitive on this issue." "When the participants' opinions on their Zaza origins were examined, it was found that four out of five participants in the older age group considered the Zazas as having a distinct culture." "It has been found that the Zazas consider themselves as a people in their own right and that the Zaza community, like other communities, sees itself as unique.
  75. Gholami, Saloumeh (2024). Gorani in Its Historical and Linguistic Context. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 17–22. ISBN 978-3111168685. In such contexts, they assert the distinctiveness of their ethnic and linguistic background, emphasizing the unique aspects of their Gorani heritage as separate from Kurdish identity.
  76. Hadank, Karl (1932). Mundarten der Zâzâ, Hauptsächlich aus Siwerek und Kor (in German). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 24-26.
  77. Haig, G., & Öpengin, E. (2024). Introduction to Special Issue Kurdish: A critical research overview. Kurdish Studies Archive, 107-110.
  78. Gholami, Saloumeh (2022). "Classification of the Zazaki language based on the perspectives of perceptual dialectology and comparative linguistics". Iranian Journal of Comparative Linguistic Research. 11 (11): 27–28.
  79. Anonby, Erik John (2021), "Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification", Languages of Iran, retrieved 25 May 2019

Bibliography