Kurdish languages

Kurdish
Kurdî, Kurdí, Кöрди, كوردی[1]
Native to	Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Ethnicity	Kurds
Native speakers	C. 20–30 million  (2000–2010 est.)[2]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Northwestern Kurdish
Dialects	Kurmanji Sorani Pehlewani
Writing system	Sorani alphabet (Arabic script; used mostly in Iraq and Iran) Hawar alphabet (Latin script; used mostly in Turkey and Syria) Historical: Armenian alphabet (former Soviet Armenia) Cyrillic alphabet (former Soviet Union)
Official status
Official language in	Iraq
Recognised minority language in	Armenia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ku
ISO 639-2	kur
ISO 639-3	kur – inclusive code Individual codes: ckb – Sorani (Central Kurdish dialects) kmr – Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish dialects) sdh – Pehlewani (Southern Kurdish dialects) lki – Laki
Glottolog	kurd1259[3]
Linguasphere	58-AAA-a (North Kurdish incl. Kurmanji & Kurmanjiki) + 58-AAA-b (Central Kurdish incl. Dimli/Zaza & Gurani) + 58-AAA-c (South Kurdish incl. Kurdi)
Map of Kurdish-speaking areas of middle-East

Kurdish (کوردی, Kurdî) is a continuum of Northwestern Iranian languages spoken by the Kurds in Western Asia. They form three dialect groups known as Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish, Sorani or Central Kurdish and Pehlewani or Southern Kurdish. The separate groups of dialects Gorani and Zazaki, also spoken by Kurds, are linguistically not considered to be a part of the Kurdish language. Recent (as of 2009) estimates admit anywhere between 20 and 30 million native speakers of Kurdish in total.^[4]

The literary output in Kurdish was mostly confined to poetry until the early 20th century, when more general literature began to be developed. Today, there are two principal written Kurdish dialects, namely Kurmanji in the northern parts of the geographical region of Kurdistan, and Sorani further east and south. The Sorani form of Central Kurdish is, along with Arabic, one of the two official languages of Iraq and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".^[5][6] Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) is a recognized minority language in Armenia, and is also spoken in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

A separate group of languages, Zaza–Gorani, is spoken by several million Kurds.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Classification and origin

The Kurdish languages belong to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. They are generally classified as Northwestern Iranian languages, or by some scholars as intermediate between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian.^[11] Martin van Bruinessen notes that "Kurdish has a strong south-western Iranian element", whereas "Zaza and Gurani [...] do belong to the north-west Iranian group".^[12] Ludwig Paul concludes that Kurdish seems to be a Northwestern Iranian language in origin,^[13] but acknowledges that it shares many traits with Southwestern Iranian languages like Persian, apparently due to longstanding and intense historical contacts. Windfuhr identified Kurdish dialects as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum.^[14]

The present state of knowledge about Kurdish allows, at least roughly, drawing the approximate borders of the areas where the main ethnic core of the speakers of the contemporary Kurdish dialects was formed. The most argued hypothesis on the localisation of the ethnic territory of the Kurds remains D.N. Mackenzie's theory, proposed in the early 1960s (Mackenzie 1961). Developing the ideas of P. Tedesco (1921: 255) and regarding the common phonetic isoglosses shared by Kurdish, Persian, and Baluchi, Mackenzie concluded that the speakers of these three languages may once have been in closer contact. He has tried to reconstruct the alleged Persian-Kurdish-Baluchi linguistic unity presumably in the central parts of Iran. According to Mackenzie's theory, the Persians (or Proto-Persians) occupied the province of Fars in the southwest (proceeding from the assumption that the Achaemenids spoke Persian), the Baluchis (Proto-Baluchis) inhabited the central areas of Western Iran, and the Kurds (Proto-Kurds), in the wording of G. Windfuhr (1975: 459), lived either in northwestern Luristan or in the province of Isfahan.^[15]

Subdivisions

The Kurdish languages are divided into three dialect groups, known as Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish, Sorani or Central Kurdish and Pehlewani or Southern Kurdish. Dialects from different dialect groups are not mutually intelligible without acquired bilingualism.^[17]

• Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) is the largest dialect group, spoken by an estimated 15 to 20 million Kurds in Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran.
• Central Kurdish (Sorani) is spoken by an estimated 6 to 7 million Kurds in an area centered on the neighboring provinces of the Iraqi Sulaymaniyah Governorate and the Iranian Kurdistan Province. Sorani is a written standard of Central Kurdish developed in the 1920s (named for the historical Soran Emirate) and later adopted as the standard orthography of Kurdish as an official language of Iraq.^[18]
• Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani) is spoken by about 3 million Kurds in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces of Iran and in the Khanaqin district of eastern Iraq.

The Zaza–Gorani languages, spoken by communities in the wider area who identify as ethnic Kurds, are not classified as Kurdish proper.^{[7][8][9][10]} They are classified as adjunct to Kurdish within the Northwestern Iranian languages, although authorities differ in the details. Windfurh 2009 groups Kurdish with Zaza Gorani within a "Northwestern I" group, while Glottolog based on Encyclopedia Iranica prefers an areal grouping of "Central dialects" (or "Kermanic") within Northwest Iranic, with Kurdish but not Zaza-Gorani grouped with "Kermanic". ^[19] Hewrami, a dialect of Gorani, was an important literary language since the fourteenth century but was replaced by Sorani in the twentieth.^[20]

Geoffrey Haig and Ergin Öpengin in their recent study suggest the following five groups for Kurdish languages but they avoid the subgrouping Zaza–Gorani

• 1. Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji): It is often divided into Badini (spoken principally in Duhok and Hakkari provinces) and Kurmanji (in the rest of Northern Kurdish speech zone) varieties; both include a number of other regional dialects
• 2. Central Kurdish (Sorani): Its main regional dialects are Mukri (Mahabad), Hewlêrî (Erbil), Silêmanî (Suleimaniya), Germiyanî (Kirkuk) and Sineyî (Sanandaj).
• 3. Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani): It includes the varieties such as Kelhuri, Feyli, Kirmashani, as well as some dialects of what is called Laki, in Ilam and Kermanshah provinces of Iraq and the town of Khaneqin in Iraq.
• 4. Gorani: It covers what is known as Hawrami or Hawramani, with the well-known dialects of e.g. Paveh and Halabja, and includes the old transdialectal literary koine, the language of religious rites among some Yaresan groups. In this sense, "Gorani" would include several varieties spoken in present-day Iraq, e.g. Bajelani.
• 5. Zazaki: Its three main dialects are Northern Zazaki (Tunceli-Erzincan provinces), Central Zazaki (Bingöl-Diyarbakir provinces) and South Zazaki (Diyarbakir province and Siverek town).^[21]

History

During his stay in Damascus, historian Ibn Wahshiyya came across two books on agriculture written in Kurdish, one on the culture of the vine and the palm tree, and the other on water and the means of finding it out in unknown ground. He translated both from Kurdish into Arabic in the early 9th century AD.^[22]

Among the earliest Kurdish religious texts is the Yazidi Black Book, the sacred book of Yazidi faith. It is considered to have been authored sometime in the 13th century AD by Hassan bin Adi (b. 1195 AD), the great-grandnephew of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (d. 1162), the founder of the faith. It contains the Yazidi account of the creation of the world, the origin of man, the story of Adam and Eve and the major prohibitions of the faith.^[23] From the 15th to 17th centuries, classical Kurdish poets and writers developed a literary language. The most notable classical Kurdish poets from this period were Ali Hariri, Ahmad Khani, Malaye Jaziri and Faqi Tayran.

The Italian priest Maurizio Garzoni published the first Kurdish grammar titled Grammatica e Vocabolario della Lingua Kurda in Rome in 1787 after eighteen years of missionary work among the Kurds of Amadiya.^[24] This work is very important in Kurdish history as it is the first acknowledgment of the widespread use of a distinctive Kurdish language. Garzoni was given the title Father of Kurdology by later scholars.^[25] The Kurdish language was banned in a large portion of Kurdistan for some time. After the 1980 Turkish coup d'état until 1991 the use of the Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey.^[26]

Current status

Today, Central Kurdish is an official language in Iraq. In Syria, on the other hand, publishing material in Kurdish is forbidden, but it's not enforced anymore due to the civil war there.^[27] Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media.^[28][29] The Kurdish alphabet is not recognized in Turkey, and the use of Kurdish names containing the letters X, W, and Q, which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet, is not allowed.^[30] In 2012 Kurdish-language lessons became an elective subject in public schools; previously, Kurdish education had only been possible in private institutions.^[31]

In Iran, though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it is not used in public schools.^[32][33] In 2005, 80 Iranian Kurds took part in an experiment and gained scholarships to study in Kurdish in Iraqi Kurdistan.^[34]

In March 2006, Turkey allowed private television channels to begin airing programming in Kurdish. However, the Turkish government said that they must avoid showing children's cartoons, or educational programs that teach Kurdish, and could broadcast only for 45 minutes a day or four hours a week.^[35] However, most of these restrictions on private Kurdish television channels were relaxed in September 2009.^[36]

In 2010, Kurdish municipalities in the southeast decided to begin printing water bills, marriage certificates and construction and road signs, as well as emergency, social and cultural notices in Kurdish alongside Turkish. Friday sermons by Imams began to be delivered in the language, and Esnaf provided Kurdish price tags.^[37]

The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) started its 24-hour Kurdish television station on 1 January 2009 with the motto "we live under the same sky".^[38] The Turkish Prime Minister sent a video message in Kurdish to the opening ceremony, which was attended by Minister of Culture and other state officials. The channel uses the X, W, and Q letters during broadcasting.

In Kyrgyzstan, 96.4% of the Kurdish population still speak Kurdish as their native language.^[39] In Kazakhstan, its 88.7% of the Kurds.^[40]

Three standards

Kurdish has three standardized versions, which have been labelled 'Northern', 'Central' and 'Southern'. The northern version, commonly called Kurmanji, is spoken in Turkey, Syria, and the northern part of the Kurdish-speaking areas of Iraq and Iran,^[41] and it accounts for a little over three-quarters of all Kurdish speakers. The central version, commonly called Sorani, is spoken in much of Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran.^[42] The southern version, commonly called Kermanshahi, is spoken in Kermanshah province of Iran.^[43]

In historical evolution terms, Kurmanji is less modified than Sorani and Kermanshahi in both phonetic and morphological structure. The Sorani group has been influenced by among other things its closer cultural proximity to the other languages spoken by Kurds in the region including the Gorani language in parts of Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan.^[42][44] The Kermanshahi group has been influenced by among other things its closer cultural proximity to Persian.^[43]

Philip G. Kreyenbroek, an expert writing in 1992, says:^[42]

Since 1932 most Kurds have used the Roman script to write Kurmanji.... Sorani is normally written in an adapted form of the Arabic script.... Reasons for describing Kurmanji and Sorani as 'dialects' of one language are their common origin and the fact that this usage reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity among the Kurds. From a linguistic or at least a grammatical point of view, however, Kurmanji and Sorani differ as much from each other as English and German, and it would seem appropriate to refer to them as languages. For example, Sorani has neither gender nor case-endings, whereas Kurmanji has both.... Differences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not as great as between German and English, but they are still considerable.

According to Encyclopaedia of Islam, although Kurdish is not a unified language, its many dialects are interrelated and at the same time distinguishable from other Western Iranian languages. The same source classifies different Kurdish dialects as two main groups, northern and central.^[44] The reality is that the average Kurmanji speaker does not find it easy to communicate with the inhabitants of Suleymania or Halabja.^[45]

Sorani differs on six grammatical points from Kurmanji. This appears to be a result of Gorani (Haurami) influence.

• The passive conjugation: the Sorani passive morpheme -r-/-ra- corresponds to -y-/-ya- in Gorani and Zazaki, whereas Kurmanji employs the auxiliary verb, come;
• a definite suffix -eke, also occurring in Zazaki;
• an intensifying postverb -ewe, corresponding to Kurmanji preverbal ve-;
• an 'open compound' construction with a suffix -e, for definite noun phrases with an epithet;
• the preservation of enclitic personal pronouns, which have disappeared in Kurmanji and in Zazaki;
• a simplified izāfa system.

Some linguistic scholars assert that the term "Kurdish" has been applied extrinsically in describing the language the Kurds speak, whereas Kurds have used the word "Kurdish" to simply describe their ethnic or national identity and refer to their language as Kurmanji, Sorani, Hewrami, Kermanshahi, Kalhery or whatever other dialect or language they speak. Some historians have noted that it is only recently that the Kurds who speak the Sorani dialect have begun referring to their language as Kurdî, in addition to their identity, which is translated to simply mean Kurdish.^[46]

Gorani Kurds, Zazaki Kurds, and Shabaki

Gorani is a language that appears to be distinct from Kurmanji and Sorani, but that shares vocabulary with both of the latter mentioned and some grammatical similarities with Sorani.^[47] Despite the differences, the Zazaki and Gorani language has been classified as part of the Kurdish language.^[48] This is probably due to the fact that Zazaki and Gorani speakers, who are spread out across the southern and southeastern parts of Kurdistan, identify themselves as Kurds and the Gorani language is not spoken by other ethnic groups.^[49] European scholars have maintained that Gorani is separate from Kurdish and that Kurdish is synonymous with the Kurmanji-language group, whereas ethnic Kurds maintain that Kurdish encompasses any of the unique languages or dialects spoken by Kurds and that are not spoken by neighboring ethnic groups.^[50]

The Gorani language (which includes Horami) is often classified as part of the Zaza–Gorani branch of Indo-Iranian languages.^[51] The Zazaki language, spoken in the northernmost parts of Kurdistan differs both grammatically and in vocabulary and is generally not understandable by Gorani speakers but it is considered related to Gorani. Almost all Zaza-speaking communities,^[52] as well as speakers of another closely related language spoken in parts of Iraqi Kurdistan called Shabaki, identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.^{[7][53][54][55][56][57]}

Phonology

According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, Kurdish has the following phonemes:

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Apical	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyn- geal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Plosive	p 3   b		t 3   d			k 2,3   ɡ 2	q		ʔ
Affricate				t͡ʃ 3   d͡ʒ
Fricative		f   v	s   z	ʃ   ʒ	ç	x   ɣ		ħ   ʕ	h
Lateral			l   ɫ 1
Flap			ɾ
Trill			r
Approximant		ʋ			j

• ^1 Just as in many English dialects, the velarized lateral does not appear in the onset of a syllable. Additionally, in some dialects, the velarized lateral /ɫ/ changes to a [ɾ] in women's speech.^[58]
• ^2 /k/ and /ɡ/ are strongly palatalized before the close and mid front vowels (/i/ and /e/) as well as the rounded high front allophone [ɥ] of the phoneme /w/, closing on /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/.^[59]
• ^3 In the Kurmanji dialect, a phonemic distinction is made between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops. Thus /p/ contrasts with /pʰ/, /t/ with /tʰ/, /k/ with /kʰ/, and the affricate /t͡ʃ/ with /t͡ʃʰ/. This may be an areal feature shared with languages such as Armenian.^[60]

Vowels

According to the Kurdish Academy of Language, vowel phonemes of Kurdish are as follows:^[61][62]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ʉ	u
Near-close		ɪ̈
Mid			o
Open-mid	ɛ
Near-open	æ
Open		a

As in most modern Iranian languages, Kurdish vowels contrast in quality; they often carry a secondary length distinction that does not affect syllabic weight.^[63] This distinction appears in the writing systems developed for Kurdish. The five "short" vowels are /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɪ̈/, /o/, and /u/, and the four long vowels are /aː/, /iː/, /ʉː/, and /uː/.^[61]

Historical phonology

OP	MP	Persian	Kurdish	Parthian	Avestan	Proto-Iranian
θ	h	h	s	s	s	*ś
d	d	d	z	z	z	*ź
j	z	z	ž	ž	j	*j, *Vč
c	z	z	ž	ž	c	*č
-š-	-š-	-š-	-h-/nil	-š-	-š-	*-š-
x-	x-	x-	k-	x-	x-	*x-
w-	w-	b-	b-	w-	w-	*w-
y-	j-	j-	j-	y-	y-	*y-
b, d, g	w, y, (')	w, y, (/nil)	w, y, (nil)	β, ð, ɣ	b, d, g	*b, *d, *g
p, t, k	b, d, g,	b, d, g	w, h, y, (/nil)	β, ð, ɣ	p, t, k	*p, *t, *k
Vm	-m	-m	-v (-w)	-m	-m	-*m
fr-	fr- (hr-)	for- etc.	fr-	fr-	fr-	*fr-
ç	s	s	s?	hr	θr ('s'?)	*θr
θw	h	h	h? or w/v?	f	θw	*θw
duv-	d-	d-	d-	b-	duu-	*dw-
s/z	s/z	s/z	sp?/zw?	sp/zw	sp/zw	*św/ *źw
(h)uv-	xw-	x(w)-	x(w)-	wx-	xv-, huu-	*hw-
rd	l, r	l	unclear (maybe: l, ł, r)	rð & rz	rd & rz	*rd & *rź
nd	nd/nn	nd	n	nd	nd	*nd
šn	šn	šn	žn	zn	sn	*śn
Všm, Vhm	-šm, -hm	-šm, -xm	-v (-w)	-šm, -hm	-šm, -hm	*šm?
ft	ft	ft	(w)t, (ft?)	ft	ft	*ft
xt	xt	xt	t	xt	xt	*xt
pasā	pas	pas	pāš	paš	pas-ča	*pas-ča
šiyav-	šaw-	šaw-	č-	šaw-	šiiu-	*čyau-
a-	a-	a-	ha-	a-	a-	*a-
d-	-d-	-d-	-l-	-d-	-d-	-*d-

Indo-European linguistic comparison

Because Kurdish is an Indo-European language, there are many words that are cognates in Kurdish and other Indo-European languages such as Avestan, Persian, Sanskrit, German, English, Norwegian, Latin and Greek. (Source: Altiranisches Wörterbuch (1904) for the first two and last six.)

Kurdish	Avestan	Persian	Sanskrit	Greek	English	German	Swedish	Latin	Lithuanian	Russian	PIE
ez "I"	azəm	adam [Old Persian]	aham	egō	I ( < OE ić)	ich	jag	ego	aš	ja (related to OCS azŭ)	*h₁eĝh₂om
lep "hand"				palāme "palm"	(OE lōf "fillet, band") to lob	(OHG lappo "palm (of the hand)")	(hand)love "palm (of the hand)"	labor (hand)work	lṓpa "paw, claw"	lápa "paw"	*tlāp-
jin "woman"	ɣənā- "woman"	zan	janay-	gynē	queen	(OHG quena)	kvinna	genus "birth, origin"	(OPruss. genna)	žená "wife"	*gʷenh₂-
leystin (bileyzim) "to play(I play)"		ley ley kardan(to jump with one foot)	réjati	ālma "jump"	(OE lācan "to play")	leich	leka		láigyti		*(e)leig'- "to jump, to spring, to play"
mezin, gewre "great"	maz-, mazant	masan (middle Persian), gošn "numerous"	mah(ī)-/mahānt-	megas	much ( < OE mićil, myćil)	(OHG mihhil)	mycket "much"	magnus		moshch "power"	*meĝh₂- "big, great"
mêzer "headband/turban"	Miθra "binding", "god name"	*Miça "god name"(Old Persian)	mitrah	mitra "headband, turban",		mitre "belt, turban"				metat' "to sew, to tack"	*mei- "to tie"
pez "sheep"	pasu- "sheep, goat"	boz "goat"	paśu "animal"	poemne "herd"	fee ( < OE feoh "cattle")	Vieh "cattle"	fä "cattle"	pecus "cattle"	pekus "ox"	pasti "to herd"	*pek̂-u- "sheep"
çiya چيا),[64] kash[65] کاش) "mountain"		kūh, chakād "peak/summit"	kakúd-, kakúbh- "peak/summit"	koryfē "top"		kupfa[66][67] Gipfel "peak/summit"		cacūmen		kucha "pile"	*kak-, *kakud- "top"
jîyar "alive" jiyan "to live"	gaêm [gaya]	zend[e] "alive", zî[stan] "to live", zaideh "child"	jīvati	zoi "life", zō "live"	quick	quick "bright"	kvick "quick"	vīvus "alive", vīvō "live", vīta "life"	gývas	žyzn' "life", žyvój "living, alive"	*gʷih₃(u̯)-
[di] [a]zan[im] "I know" zan[în] "to know"	zan-	[mi]dān[am] "I know", dān[estan] "to know"	jān[āti]	[gi]gnō[skō]	know	kennen	kunna "to be able to", "to know"	nō[scō], [co]gn[itus]	žin[au]"I know" žin[oti] "to know"	znat' "to know"	*ĝneh₃-

Grammar

Vocabulary

The bulk of the vocabulary in Kurdish is of Iranian origin, especially of northwestern Iranian. A considerable number of loanwords come from Semitic, mainly Arabic, which entered through Islam and historical relations with Arab tribes. Yet, a smaller group of loanwords which are of Armenian, Caucasian, and Turkic origins are used in Kurdish, besides some European words. There are also Kurdish words with no clear etymology.

Writing system

The Kurdish language is written using four different writing systems. In Iraq and Iran it is written using an Arabic script, composed by Sa'id Kaban Sedqi. More recently, it is sometimes written with a Latin alphabet in Iraq. In Turkey, Syria, and Armenia, it is now written using a Latin script. Kurdish was also written in the Arabic script in Turkey and Syria until 1932. There is a proposal for a unified international recognized Kurdish alphabet based on ISO-8859-1^[68] called Yekgirtú. Kurdish in the former USSR is written with a Cyrillic alphabet. Kurdish has even been written in the Armenian alphabet in Soviet Armenia and in the Ottoman Empire (a translation of the Gospels in 1857^[69] and of all New Testament in 1872).

See also

• Kurdish culture
• Kurdish Institute of Paris
• Kurdish Institute of Istanbul
• List of countries by Kurdish-speaking population
• University of Kurdistan (Iran)
• University of Kurdistan - Hawler

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurdish language.

Kurdish edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soranî Kurdish edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laki test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Southern Kurdish test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Kurmanji test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Wikivoyage has phrasebook for Kurdish.

• Wîkîferheng (Kurdish Wiktionary)
• Dictio: English–Kurdish Dictionary
• The Kurdish Institute of Paris: Language and Literature
• Kurdish Language and Linguistics, at Encyclopedia Iranica (article written by Ludwig Paul)
• History of Kurdish Written Literature, at Encyclopedia Iranica (article written by Philip G. Kryeenbroek)
• Kurdish Language Initiative of Seywan Institute
• Kurdish Institute of Istanbul
• KAL: The Kurdish Academy of Language
• Kurdish Language Academy in Iran
• Kurdish Kurdish links and language information, dictionary etc.
• Kurdish languages at DMOZ
• Grammar of a Less Familiar Language (MIT OpenCourseWare)
• Southern kurdish phonetic
• Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish
• Reference Grammar with Selected Readings both for Sorani and Kurmanji written by W. M. Thackston

Kurdish languages Alphabets Grammar Literature Languages Kurmancî Lekî Soranî Southern Kurdish Zaza–Gorani

Indo-Iranian languages   Indo-Aryan (Indic)   Old / Middle Old Sanskrit Vedic Classical Buddhist Mitanni superstrate Middle Abahatta Apabhraṃśa Dramatic Prakrits Magadhi Maharashtri Shauraseni Elu Gāndhārī Paisaci Pāli Prakrit   Modern Central Hindi Awadhi Bagheli Bambaiya Hindi Brij Bhasha Bhojpuri Sarnami Hindustani Bundeli Chhattisgarhi Fiji Hindi Haryanvi Kannauji Sansiboli Urdu Dakhni Rekhta (early form) Others Dhanwar Rai Eastern Bengali–Assamese Assamese Bengali Bishnupriya Manipuri Chakma Chittagonian Hajong Kayort Kharia Thar Nahari Rajbanshi Rohingya Sylheti Bihari Angika Magahi Maithili Majhi Sadri Oriya Halbi Oriya Others Mal Paharia Northern Garhwali Kumaoni Nepali Palpa Potwari North western Punjabi Saraiki Majhi Others Aer Derawali Dogri Hindko Kangri Kutchi Sindhi Southern Marathi–Konkani Konkani Marathi Insular Mahal Sinhala Western Bhil Bhili Gamit Rajasthani Bagri Goaria Gojri Jaipuri Malvi Marwari Mewari Dhatki (sociolect) Others Domari Gujarati Kalto Khandeshi Parkari Koli Romani Saurashtra   Iranian/Iranic   Old / Middle Old Western Old Persian Median Eastern Avestan Old Scythian Middle Western Middle Persian Parthian Eastern Bactrian Khwarezmian Ossetic Jassic Sakan (Sacian) Scythian Sogdian   Modern North Old Azari Balochi Central Iran Zoroastrian Dari Fars Gilaki Gorani Kurdish Kurmanji Soranî Kermanshahi Laki Mazandarani Semnani Taleshi Deilami Tati Zazaki Eastern Pamir Ishkashimi Munji Roshani Shughni Sarikoli Wakhi Yazgulami Yidgha Others Ossetic Pashto Yaghnobi Ormuri Parachi Western South Persian Dari Tajik Luri Feyli Bakhtiari Laki Kumzari Caucasian Tat Larestani Bashkardi   Other Indo-Iranian languages Dardic Dameli Domaaki Gawar-Bati Kalami Kalash Kashmiri Khowar Kohistani Nangalami Palula Pashayi Shina Shumashti Torwali Ushoji Nuristani Kamkata-viri Kamviri Kata-vari Mumviri Others Askunu Kalasha-ala Kamkata-viri Tregami language Vasi-vari Italics indicate extinct languages.

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