Kurdish alphabet
Encyclopedia
The Kurdish language
is written either using a variant of the Latin alphabet
, according to a system introduced by Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan
in 1932 (the so-called Bedirxan alphabet, or Hawar after the Hawar magazine
), or using a variant of the Persian alphabet, the so-called Sorani alphabet, named for the city of Soran, Iraq.
The Hawar is used in Turkey
, Syria
and Armenia
, the Sorani in Iraq
and Iran
.
Two further systems are based on the Armenian alphabet
and the Cyrillic script, historically used in Soviet Armenia.
A recent suggestion is the so-called Yekgirtú script, which proposes to unify the Hawar and Sorani systems.
In this alphabet, the short vowels are ⟨e i u⟩ and the long vowels are ⟨a ê î o û⟩.
(See the IPA equivalents in the table below.)
When presenting this alphabet in his magazine Hawar, Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan proposed using ⟨ḧ ẍ '⟩ for غ ,ح, and ع, sounds which he judged to be "non-Kurdish" (see http://www.nefel.com/epirtuk/pdf/celadet_ali_bedir_xan_elfabeugramer_02.pdf?NR:122 page 12,13). These three glyphs do not have the status of letter and serve to represent these sounds when they are indispensable to comprehension.
The Turkish
state does not recognise this alphabet. Use of the letters ⟨q w x⟩, which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet
, has led to persecution in 2000 and 2003 (see http://www.ihf-hr.org/viewbinary/viewdocument.php?download=1&doc_id=6391, p. 8, and http://www.rsf.org/rsf/uk/html/mo/cplp/cp/000300.html). Since September 2003, many Kurds have applied to the courts seeking to change their names to Kurdish ones written with the letters ⟨q w x⟩ but eventually failed.
Kurdish dialect is mainly written using a modified Persian alphabet
with 33 letters. Unlike the standard Arabic alphabet
, which is an abjad
, Soraní is a true alphabet
in which vowels are mandatory, making the script easy to read. Yet it is not a complete representation of Kurdish sounds, as it lacks short /i/, and is also unable to differentiate between /w/ and short /u/ or between /y/ and /î/. However it does show the two pharyngeal consonant
s, as well as a voiced velar fricative
used in Kurdish.
Kurds in Iraq
and Iran
mainly use this alphabet, though the Kurdish Latin alphabet is also in use.
, uses a Cyrillic alphabet, consisting of 32 letters:
А, Б, В, Г, Г', Д, Е, Ә, Ә', Ж, З, И, Й, К, К', Л, М, Н, О, Ö, П, П', Р, Р', С, Т, Т', У, Ф, Х, Һ, Һ', Ч, Ч', Ш, Щ, Ь, Э, Ԛ
, Ԝ
was used for Kurdish languages in the Soviet Armenia.
Then it was replaced with a Janalif-like Latin alphabet during Latinisation campaign
.
, was switched to a Latin alphabet containing some Cyrillic characters: . In 1929 it was reformed and was replaced by
The Kurdish Academy of Language [KAL] realises that there are too many shortcomings with current Kurdish writing systems. These include workability, cross dialectal usage, and a lack of International IT-based Standards and representation for Kurdish. To avoid the communication obstacles presented by the existence of various Kurdish writing systems, KAL has introduced a standard Kurdish Unified Alphabet (Yekgirtú) based on International ISO-8859-1 Standards. This modern Kurdish (IS) alphabet contained some minor changes in the existing Latin based alphabet and adopting new signs. The new signs were introduced to improve the flexibility of the writing system in Kurdish. This effort was undertaken as part of KAL's broad endeavour to revive and promote the use of the Kurdish language for the benefit of young Kurds. The system devised and presented here by KAL is simple and adequate for the purpose of communicating via the Internet and any electronic media.
The development of the Unified Kurdish Alphabet has proceeded along three lines. First one letter has been designated for each sound (with the exception of digraph characters such as velar [ll], trill [rr], "jh" and "sh"). Second, no diacritical marks have been allowed that are difficult to convey via the Internet without the use of specialised programs. Specifically, all characters in the unified alphabet have been chosen carefully from the ISO-8859-1 "Latin 1" system for West European languages in order to ensure that the Kurdish characters follow one single global standard only. Loanwords need to naturalise and comply with common global Kurdish spelling rules whilst local exceptional pronunciations are also justified. The Kurdish Unified Alphabet contains 34 characters including 4 digraph
cases (jh, ll, rr, sh) and 4 characters with diacritics
(é, í, ú, ù). It represents 9 vowels (a, e, é, i, í, o, u, ú, ù) and 25 consonants.
Recently it has been used more than the Arabic script on Kurdish TV.
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
is written either using a variant of the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, according to a system introduced by Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan
Jaladat Ali Badirkhan
Celadet Bedir Khan , also known as Mîr Celadet) , was a Kurdish diplomat, writer, linguist, journalist and political activist. He held a master's degree in law from Istanbul University, completed his studies in Munich, and spoke several foreign languages including Arabic, Kurdish, Russian, German,...
in 1932 (the so-called Bedirxan alphabet, or Hawar after the Hawar magazine
Hawar (magazine)
Hawar, was a Kurdish literature magazine, which was published in Damascus between 1932 and 1943. The magazine was first issued by Jaladat Ali Badirkhan on 15 May 1932. The magazine continued until its 57th issue was released on 15 August 1943...
), or using a variant of the Persian alphabet, the so-called Sorani alphabet, named for the city of Soran, Iraq.
The Hawar is used in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, the Sorani in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
Two further systems are based on the Armenian alphabet
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
and the Cyrillic script, historically used in Soviet Armenia.
A recent suggestion is the so-called Yekgirtú script, which proposes to unify the Hawar and Sorani systems.
Hawar alphabet
The Kurmanji dialect is written in an extended Latin alphabet, with 31 letters:- Aa Bb Cc Çç Dd Ee Êê Ff Gg Hh Ii Îî Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq, Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Ûû Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
In this alphabet, the short vowels are ⟨e i u⟩ and the long vowels are ⟨a ê î o û⟩.
(See the IPA equivalents in the table below.)
When presenting this alphabet in his magazine Hawar, Jeladet Ali Bedirkhan proposed using ⟨ḧ ẍ '⟩ for غ ,ح, and ع, sounds which he judged to be "non-Kurdish" (see http://www.nefel.com/epirtuk/pdf/celadet_ali_bedir_xan_elfabeugramer_02.pdf?NR:122 page 12,13). These three glyphs do not have the status of letter and serve to represent these sounds when they are indispensable to comprehension.
The Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
state does not recognise this alphabet. Use of the letters ⟨q w x⟩, which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet
Turkish alphabet
The Turkish alphabet is a Latin alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, seven of which have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language. This alphabet represents modern Turkish pronunciation with a high degree of accuracy...
, has led to persecution in 2000 and 2003 (see http://www.ihf-hr.org/viewbinary/viewdocument.php?download=1&doc_id=6391, p. 8, and http://www.rsf.org/rsf/uk/html/mo/cplp/cp/000300.html). Since September 2003, many Kurds have applied to the courts seeking to change their names to Kurdish ones written with the letters ⟨q w x⟩ but eventually failed.
Soraní alphabet
The SoraníSoranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
Kurdish dialect is mainly written using a modified Persian alphabet
Perso-Arabic script
The Persian or Perso-Arabic alphabet is a writing system based on the Arabic script. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic alphabet was adapted to the Persian language, adding four letters: , , , and . Many languages which use the Perso-Arabic script add other letters...
with 33 letters. Unlike the standard Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
, which is an abjad
Abjad
An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
, Soraní is a true alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
in which vowels are mandatory, making the script easy to read. Yet it is not a complete representation of Kurdish sounds, as it lacks short /i/, and is also unable to differentiate between /w/ and short /u/ or between /y/ and /î/. However it does show the two pharyngeal consonant
Pharyngeal consonant
A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :...
s, as well as a voiced velar fricative
Voiced velar fricative
The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in various spoken languages. It is not found in English today, but did exist in Old English...
used in Kurdish.
- ى ,ێ ,ە ,ﮪ ,ﻭﻭ ,ﻭ ,ﯙ ,ﻥ ,ﻡ ,ڵ ,ﻝ ,ﮒ ,ﮎ ,ﻕ ,ڤ ,ﻑ ,ﻍ ,ﻉ ,ﺵ ,ﺱ ,ﮊ ,ﺯ ,ڕ ,ﺭ ,ﺩ ,ﺥ ,ﺡ ,ﭺ ,ﺝ ,ﺕ ,ﭖ ,ﺏ ,ﺍ
Kurds in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
mainly use this alphabet, though the Kurdish Latin alphabet is also in use.
Cyrillic script
A third system, used for the few (Kurmanji-speaking) Kurds in the former Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, uses a Cyrillic alphabet, consisting of 32 letters:
А, Б, В, Г, Г', Д, Е, Ә, Ә', Ж, З, И, Й, К, К', Л, М, Н, О, Ö, П, П', Р, Р', С, Т, Т', У, Ф, Х, Һ, Һ', Ч, Ч', Ш, Щ, Ь, Э, Ԛ
Qa (Cyrillic)
Qa is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. Its form is based on the Latin letter Q . Depending on the font, the uppercase form can look like a reversed Latin letter P....
, Ԝ
We (Cyrillic)
We is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In all its forms it looks exactly like the Latin letter W .We is used in the Cyrillic orthography of the Kurdish language and in the Yaghnobi language.-Usage:The pronunciations shown in the table are the primary ones for each language; for details consult...
Armenian alphabet
From 1921 to 1929 the Armenian alphabetArmenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
was used for Kurdish languages in the Soviet Armenia.
Then it was replaced with a Janalif-like Latin alphabet during Latinisation campaign
Latinisation (USSR)
In the USSR, latinisation was the name of the campaign during the 1920s-1930s which aimed to replace traditional writing systems for numerous languages with the Latin alphabet and to create for languages had no writing. Almost all Turkic, Iranian, Uralic and several other languages were romanized,...
.
Uniform Turkic Alphabet adaptation for Kurdish
In 1928 Kurdish language in all USSR, including Armenian SSRArmenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
, was switched to a Latin alphabet containing some Cyrillic characters: . In 1929 it was reformed and was replaced by
| A a | B b | C c | Є є | Ç ç | D d | E e | Ә ә |
| Ә́ ә́ | F f | G g | Ƣ ƣ | H h | Ħ ħ | I i | J j |
| K k | L l | M m | N n | O o | Ö ö | P p | |
| Q q | R r | S s | Ş ş | T t | U u | ||
| Û û | V v | W w | X x | Y y | Z z | Ƶ ƶ | Ь ь |
Yekgirtú (IS)
The Yekgirtú (Yekgirtí, yekgirig) alphabet is a recent devised writing system by Kurdish Academy of Language. It has many advantages compared to the Kurmanji and Sorani alphabets. It is adapted for all Kurdish dialects and not exclusive to just one, and is therefore called Yekgirtú, which means "unified." It is also better adapted to the vowel-rich Kurdish language than is the Arabic script.The Kurdish Academy of Language [KAL] realises that there are too many shortcomings with current Kurdish writing systems. These include workability, cross dialectal usage, and a lack of International IT-based Standards and representation for Kurdish. To avoid the communication obstacles presented by the existence of various Kurdish writing systems, KAL has introduced a standard Kurdish Unified Alphabet (Yekgirtú) based on International ISO-8859-1 Standards. This modern Kurdish (IS) alphabet contained some minor changes in the existing Latin based alphabet and adopting new signs. The new signs were introduced to improve the flexibility of the writing system in Kurdish. This effort was undertaken as part of KAL's broad endeavour to revive and promote the use of the Kurdish language for the benefit of young Kurds. The system devised and presented here by KAL is simple and adequate for the purpose of communicating via the Internet and any electronic media.
The development of the Unified Kurdish Alphabet has proceeded along three lines. First one letter has been designated for each sound (with the exception of digraph characters such as velar [ll], trill [rr], "jh" and "sh"). Second, no diacritical marks have been allowed that are difficult to convey via the Internet without the use of specialised programs. Specifically, all characters in the unified alphabet have been chosen carefully from the ISO-8859-1 "Latin 1" system for West European languages in order to ensure that the Kurdish characters follow one single global standard only. Loanwords need to naturalise and comply with common global Kurdish spelling rules whilst local exceptional pronunciations are also justified. The Kurdish Unified Alphabet contains 34 characters including 4 digraph
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
cases (jh, ll, rr, sh) and 4 characters with diacritics
Diacritics
diacritics is a quarterly academic journal established in 1971 at Cornell University and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Articles serve to review recent literature in the field of literary criticism, and have covered topics in gender studies, political theory, psychoanalysis, queer...
(é, í, ú, ù). It represents 9 vowels (a, e, é, i, í, o, u, ú, ù) and 25 consonants.
- A, B, C, Ch, D, E, É, F, G, H, I, Í, J, Jh, K, L, ll, M, N, O, P, Q, R, rr, S, Sh, T, U, Ou, V, W, X, Y, Z
Recently it has been used more than the Arabic script on Kurdish TV.
Comparison of Kurmancî, Yekgirtú and Sorani alphabets
| Latin Kurmancî | Yekgirtú | Cyrillic Kurmancî | Sorani | IPA | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (stand-alone) | (initial) | (medial) | (final) | ||||
| A,a | A,a | A,a | — | aː | |||
| B,b | B,b | Б,б | b | ||||
| C,c | J,j | Щ,щ | d͡ʒ | ||||
| Ç,ç | C,c | Ч,ч | t͡ʃ | ||||
| D,d | D,d | Д,д | — | d | |||
| E,e | E,e | Ә,ә | — | ɛː | |||
| Ê,ê | É,é | E,e (Э э) | e | ||||
| F,f | F,f | Ф,ф | f | ||||
| G,g | G,g | Г,г | ɡ | ||||
| H,h | H,h | h,h | h | ||||
| Ḧ,ḧ | H',h' | h’,h’ | ħ | ||||
| — | ' | — | ʕ | ||||
| I,i | I,i | Ь,ь | — | ɯ | |||
| Î,î | Í,í | И,и | iː | ||||
| J,j | Jh,jh | Ж,ж | — | ʒ | |||
| K,k | K,k | K,k | k | ||||
| L,l | L,l | Л,л | l | ||||
| — | ll | Л’,л’ | , | , | , | , | ɫ |
| M,m | M,m | M,m | m | ||||
| N,n | N,n | Н,н | n | ||||
| O,o | O,o | O,o | – | o | |||
| P,p | P,p | П,п | p | ||||
| Q,q | Q,q | Ԛ,ԛ | q | ||||
| R,r | R,r | P,p | — | r | |||
| — | rr | Р’,р’ | , , | — | , , | r | |
| S,s | S,s | C,c | s | ||||
| Ş,ş | Sh,sh | Ш,ш | ʃ | ||||
| T,t | T,t | T,т | t | ||||
| U,u | U,u | Ö,ö | — | œ | |||
| Û,û | Ou,ou | У,у | — | uː | |||
| — | Ù,ù | — | — | ʉː | |||
| V,v | V,v | B,в | v | ||||
| W,w | W,w | Ԝ,ԝ | — | w | |||
| X,x | X,x | X,x | x | ||||
| Ẍ,ẍ | X',x' | Ѓ,ѓ | ʁ | ||||
| Y,y | Y,y | Й,й | — | j | |||
| Z,z | Z,z | З,з | — | z | |||