# Zaza language

Zaza (endonym: Zazakî, Dimlî, Dimilkî, Kirmanckî, Kirdkî, or Zonê ma, lit. 'Our language') is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey by the Zazas, who are mostly considered as Kurds, and in many cases identify as such. The language is a part of the Zaza–Gorani language group of the northwestern group of the Iranian branch. The glossonym Zaza originated as a pejorative. According to Ethnologue, Zaza is spoken by around 1.48 million people, and the language is considered threatened due to a declining number of speakers, with many shifting to Turkish. Nevins, however, puts the number of Zaza speakers between two and three million.

## Classification

The Zaza language is considered a branch of the Kurdic subgroup within the Northwestern Iranian languages. The varieties of Kurdic do not directly descend from any known Middle Iranian languages, such as Middle Persian or Parthian, or from Old Iranian languages, such as Avestan or Old Persian. Zaza is considered a macrolanguage, consisting of Southern and Northern Zaza. Glottolog database classifies Zazaki under the Adharic branch of Northwestern Iranian languages.
Linguistically, the classification of Zazaki as either a Kurdish dialect or a distinct language is a topic of debate among scholars. Some, such as Ludwig Paul, do not consider Zazaki and Gorani to be Kurdish dialects. According to him, they can only be classified as Kurdish dialects in a political and ethnic context, and it would be more accurate to refer to them as Kurdish languages. The differences between them arise from the Kurdish adoption of Persian linguistic features due to historical contact. Other scholars contend that the classification of Zazaki as a separate language from Kurdish is based on insufficient data, and a detailed comparison between Zazaki and Kurmanji in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon reveals a significant degree of shared features, suggesting that Zazaki and Kurmanji are dialects of the same language.
Furthermore, arguments regarding the classification of both Zazaki and Gorani highlight that the distinction between a dialect and a language is a social construct influenced by factors such as shared identity, history, beliefs, and living conditions, rather than being based solely on linguistic evidence. Therefore, Kurdish can be seen as a socio-cultural umbrella that encompasses both recognized Kurdish dialects (such as Kurmanji, Sorani, and Southern Kurdish) as well as the Zaza and Gorani languages. The term "Kurdic" is used to refer to this broad grouping.
German linguist Jost Gippert has demonstrated that the Zaza language is very closely related to the Parthian language in terms of phonetics, morphology, syntax and lexicon and that it has many words in common with the Parthian language. According to him, the Zaza language may be a residual dialect of the Parthian language that has survived to the present day.

## Endangerment

Many Zaza speakers resided in conflict-affected regions of eastern Turkey and have been significantly impacted by both the current and historical political situations. Only a few elderly monolingual Zaza speakers remain, while the younger generation predominantly speaks other languages. Turkish laws enacted from the mid-1920s until 1991 banned Kurdish language, including Zazaki, from being spoken in public, written down, or published. The Turkish state’s efforts to enforce the use of Turkish have led many Zaza speakers to leave Turkey and migrate to other countries, primarily Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and the United States, and Australia.
Efforts to preserve and revitalize Zazaki are ongoing. Many Kurdish writers in Turkey are fighting to save Zazaki with children’s books and others with newspapers, but the language faces an uncertain future.
The decline of Zazaki speakers could also lead the Zazas to lose their identity and shift to a Turkish identity. According to a study led by Dr. Nadire Güntaş Aldatmaz, an academic at Ankara University, 402 people aged between 15 and 75 from Mamekîye in Dersim province, were interviewed. Respondents younger than 18 mostly stated their ethnicity as ‘Turk,’ their mother language as ‘Turkish,’ and their religion as ‘Islam,’ despite having some proficiency in Zazaki.

## History

Writing in Zaza is a recent phenomenon. The first literary work in Zaza is Mewlîdu'n-Nebîyyî'l-Qureyşîyyî by Ehmedê Xasi in 1899, followed by the work Mawlûd by Osman Efendîyo Babij in 1903. As the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey during a large part of the Republican period, no text was published in Zaza until 1963. That year saw the publication of two short texts by the Kurdish newspaper Roja Newe, but the newspaper was banned and no further publication in Zaza took place until 1976, when periodicals published a few Zaza texts. Modern Zaza literature appeared for the first time in the journal Tîrêj in 1979 but the journal had to close as a result of the 1980 coup d'état. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most Zaza literature was published in Germany, France and especially Sweden until the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted in Turkey in 1991. This meant that newspapers and journals began publishing in Zaza again. The next book to be published in Zaza (after Mawlûd in 1903) was in 1977, and two more books were published in 1981 and 1986. From 1987 to 1990, five books were published in Zaza. The publication of books in Zaza increased after the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted and a total of 43 books were published from 1991 to 2000. As of 2018, at least 332 books have been published in Zaza.
Due to the above-mentioned obstacles, the standardization of Zaza could not have taken place and authors chose to write in their local or regional Zaza variety. In 1996, however, a group of Zaza-speaking authors gathered in Stockholm and established a common alphabet and orthographic rules which they published. Some authors nonetheless do not abide by these rules as they do not apply the orthographic rules in their oeuvres.
In 2009, Zaza was classified as a vulnerable language by UNESCO.
The institution of Higher Education of Turkey approved the opening of the Zaza Language and Literature Department in Munzur University in 2011 and began accepting students in 2012 for the department. In the following year, Bingöl University established the same department. TRT Kurdî also broadcast in the language. Some TV channels which broadcast in Zaza were closed after the 2016 coup d'état attempt.

## Dialects

There are three main Zazaki dialects:
* Northern Zazaki is spoken mainly in Aşkale, Hozat, Hınıs, Kelkit, Nazimiye, Ovacık, Pülümür, Tekman, Tercan, Varto, and Yayladere.
* Central Zazaki is spoken mainly in Çemişgezek, Genç, Karakoçan, Karlıova, Mazgirt, Mutki, Pertek, and Solhan.
* Southern Zazaki [diq] is spoken mainly in Alacakaya, Arıcak, Çermik, Çüngüş, Dicle, Ergani, Eğil, Hani, Kovancılar, Kulp, Lice, and Palu.
Zazaki shows many similarities with other Northwestern Iranian languages:
* Similar personal pronouns and use of these
* Enclitic use of the letter "u"
* Very similar ergative structure
* Masculine and feminine ezafe system
* Both languages have nominative and oblique cases that differs by masculine -î and feminine -ê
* Both languages have forgotten possessive enclitics, while it exists in such other languages as Persian, Sorani, Gorani, Hewrami or Shabaki
* Both languages distinguish between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops
* Similar vowel phonemes
Ludwig Paul divides Zaza into three main dialects. In addition, there are transitions and edge accents that have a special position and cannot be fully included in any dialect group.

## Grammar

As with a number of other Iranian languages like Talysh, Tati, central Iranian languages and dialects like Semnani, Kahangi, Vafsi, Balochi and Kurmanji, Zaza features split ergativity in its morphology, demonstrating ergative marking in past and perfective contexts, and nominative-accusative alignment otherwise. Syntactically it is nominative-accusative.

### Grammatical gender

Among all Western Iranian languages Zaza, Semnani, Sangsari, Tati, central Iranian dialects like Cālī, Fārzāndī, Delījanī, Jowšaqanī, Abyāne'i and Kurmanji distinguish between masculine and feminine grammatical gender. Each noun belongs to one of those two genders. In order to correctly decline any noun and any modifier or other type of word affecting that noun, one must identify whether the noun is feminine or masculine. Most nouns have inherent gender. However, some nominal roots have variable gender, i.e. they may function as either masculine or feminine nouns.

## Phonology
### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Close | i | ɨ | ʊ |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | | ɑ | |
The vowel /e/ may also be realized as [ɛ] when occurring before a consonant. /ɨ/ may become lowered to [ɪ] when occurring before a velarized nasal /n/ [ŋ], or occurring between a palatal approximant /j/ and a palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/. Vowels /ɑ/, /ɨ/, or /ə/ become nasalized when occurring before /n/, as [ɑ̃], [ɨ̃], and [ə̃], respectively.

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Dental/ Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
| | | Labial | plain | phar. | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | n | | | (ŋ) | | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tˁ | t͡ʃ | | k | q | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b | d | d | d͡ʒ | | ɡ | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sˤ | ʃ | | x | | ħ | h |
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | z | ʒ | | ɣ | | ʕ | |
| Rhotic | tap/flap | | ɾ | ɾ | | | | | | |
| Rhotic | trill | | r | r | | | | | | |
| Lateral | central | | l | l | | | | | | |
| Lateral | velarized | | ɫ | ɫ | | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | | | | j | | | | |
/n/ becomes a velar [ŋ] when following a velar consonant.

### Alphabet

Zaza texts written during the Ottoman era were written in Arabic letters. The works of this era had religious content. The first Zaza text, written by Sultan Efendi, in 1798, was written in Arabic letters in the Nesih font, which was also used in Ottoman Turkish. Following this work, the first Zaza language Mawlid, written by the Ottoman-Zaza cleric, writer and poet Ahmed el-Hassi in 1891-1892, was also written in Arabic letters and published in 1899. Another Mawlid in Zaza language, written by another Ottoman-Zaza cleric Osman Esad Efendi between 1903-1906, was also written in Arabic letters. After the Republic, Zazaki works began to be written in Latin letters, abandoning the Arabic alphabet. However, today Zazaki does not have a common alphabet used by all Zazas. An alphabet called the Jacabson alphabet was developed with the contributions of the American linguist C. M Jacobson and is used by the Zaza Language Institute in Frankfurt, which works on the standardization of Zaza language. Another alphabet used for the language is the Bedirxan alphabet. The Zaza alphabet, prepared by Zülfü Selcan and started to be used at Munzur University as of 2012, is another writing system developed for Zazaki, consisting of 32 letters, 8 of which are vowels and 24 of which are consonants. The Zaza alphabet is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Zaza language, consisting of 32 letters, six of which (ç, ğ, î, û, ş, and ê) have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language.
Zaza alphabet :
| Upper case | A | B | C | Ç | D | E | Ê | F | G | Ğ | H | I | Î | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | Ş | T | U | Û | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Lower case | a | b | c | ç | d | e | ê | f | g | ğ | h | i | î | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | ş | t | u | û | v | w | x | y | z |
| IPA phonemes | a | b | d͡ʒ | t͡ʃ | d | ɛ | e | f | g | ɣ | h | ɪ | i | ʒ | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r, ɾ | s | ʃ | t | ʊ | u | v | w | x | j | z |

## Vocabulary

| Pronoun | Zaza | Talysh | Tati | Semnani | Sangsari | Ossetian | Persian | English |
| 1SG | ez | əz/āz | āz | ā | ā | æz (az) | man | I |
| 2SG | tı | tı | ti | ti | ti | dɨ (di) | to | you |
| 3SG.M | o/ey | əv/ay | u | un | no | wuiy | ū, ān | he |
| 3SG.F | a/ay | əv/ay | u | nā | una | na | ū, ān | she |
| 1PL | ma | ama | amā | hamā | mā | max | mā | we |
| 2PL | şıma | şımə | shūmā | shūmā | shūmā | shimax | shomā | you |
| 3PL | ê, i, ina, ino | əvon/ayēn | ē | e | ey | idon/widon | ēnan, ishān, inhā | they |

## Literature

Zaza literature consists of oral and written texts produced in the Zaza language. Before it began to be written, it was passed on through oral literature types. In this respect, Zaza literature is very rich in terms of oral works. The language has many oral literary products such as deyr (folk song), kilam (song), dêse (hymn), şanıke (fable), hêkati (story), qesê werênan (proverbs and idioms). Written works began to appear during the Ottoman Empire, and the early works had a religious/doctrinal nature. After the Republic, long-term language and cultural bans caused the revival of Zaza literature, which developed in two centers, Turkey and Europe, mainly in Europe. After the loosened bans, Zaza literature developed in Turkey.

### Ottoman period

The first known written works of Zaza literature were written during the Ottoman period. Written works in the Zaza language produced during the Ottoman period were written in Arabic letters and had a religious nature. The first written work in Zazaki during this period was written in the late 1700s. This first written text of the Zaza language was written by İsa Beg bin Ali, nicknamed Sultan Efendi, an Islamic history writer, in 1212 Hijri (1798). The work was written in Arabic letters and in the Naskh script, which is also used in Ottoman Turkish. The work consists of two parts III. It includes the Eastern Anatolia region during the reign of Selim III, the life of Ali (caliph), Alevi doctrine and history, the translation of some parts of Nahj al-balagha into Zaza language, apocalyptic subjects and poetic texts. About a hundred years after this work, another work in the Zaza language, Mevlit (Mewlid-i Nebi), was written by the Ottoman-Zaza cleric, writer and poet Ahmed el-Hassi (1867-1951) in 1891-1892. The first Mevlit work in the Zaza language was written in Arabic letters and published in 1899. The mawlid, written using the Arabic prosody (aruz), resembles the mawlid of Süleyman Çelebi and the introduction includes the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the details of Allah, tawhid, munacaat, ascension, birth, birth and creation, etc. It includes religious topics and consists of 14 chapters and 366 couplets. Another written work written during this period is another Mevlit written by Siverek mufti Osman Esad Efendi (1852-1929). The work called Biyişa Pexemberi (Birth of the Prophet) consists of chapters on the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Islamic religion and was written in Zaza language in Arabic letters in 1901 (1903 according to some sources). The work was published in 1933, after the author's death. Apart from Zaza writers, non-Zaza/Ottoman writers/researchers such as Peter Ivanovich Lerch (1827-1884), Robert Gordon Latham (1812-1888) Dr. Humphry Sandwith (1822-1881), Wilhelm Strecker (1830-1890), Otto Blau (1828-1879), Friedrich Müller (1864) and Oskar Mann (1867-1917) included Zaza content (story, fairy tales dictionary) in their works in the pre-Republican period.

### Post-Republic Zaza literature

Post-Republican Zaza literature developed through two branches, Turkey-centered and Europe-centered. During this period, the development of Zaza literature stagnated in Turkey due to long-term language and cultural bans. Zaza migration to European countries in the 1980s and the relatively free environment enabled the revival of Zaza literature in Europe. One of the works in the Zaza language written in post-Republican Turkey are two verse works written in the field of belief and fiqh in the 1940s. Following this work, another Mevlit containing religious subjects and stories was written by Mehamed Eli Hun in 1971. Zaza Divan, a 300-page manuscript consisting of Zazaki poems and odes, started to be written by Mehmet Demirbaş in 1975 and completed in 2005, is another literary work in the divan genre written in this period. Mevlids and sirahs of Abdulkadir Arslan (1992-1995), Kamil Pueği (1999), Muhammed Muradan (1999-2000) and Cuma Özusan (2009) are other literary works with religious content. Written Zaza literature is rich in mawlid and religious works, and the first written works of the language are given in these genres. The development of Zaza literature through magazine publishing took place through magazines published by Zazas who immigrated to Europe after 1980 and published exclusively in the Zaza language, magazines that were predominantly in the Zaza language but published multilingually, and magazines that were not in the Zaza language but included works in the Zaza language. Kormışkan, Tija Sodıri, Vate are magazines published entirely in Zaza language. Apart from these, Ayre (1985-1987), Piya (1988-1992) and Raa Zazaistani (1991), which were published as language, culture, literature and history magazines by Ebubekir Pamukçu, the leading name of Zaza nationalism, are important magazines in this period that were predominantly Zaza and published multilingually. Ware, ZazaPress, Pir, Raştiye, Vengê Zazaistani, Zazaki, Zerq, Desmala Sure, Waxt, Çıme are other magazines that are Zazaki-based and multilingual. In addition to these magazines published in European countries, Vatı (1997-1998), which is the first magazine published entirely in Zaza language and published in Turkey, and Miraz (2006) and Veng u Vaj (2008) are other important magazines published in Zaza language in Turkey. Magazines that are mainly published in other languages but also include works in Zaza language are magazines published in Kurdish and Turkish languages. Roja Newé (1963), Riya Azadi (1976), Tirêj (1979) and War (1997) are in the Kurdish language; Ermin (1991), Ateş Hırsızı (1992), Ütopya, Işkın, Munzur (2000), Bezuvar (2009) are magazines in Turkish language that include texts in Zaza language. Today, works in different literary genres such as poetry, stories and novels in Zaza language are published by different publishing houses in Turkey and European countries.

## Gallery

* Partial tree of Indo-European languages.
* Gippert, Jost (1999), Iranische Sprachen / Iranian Languages
* Position of Zaza language in Iranian Languages