Shabaki language

Last updated
Shabaki
شەبەکی
Native to Iraq
Region Mosul
Ethnicity Shabaks
Native speakers
250,000 (2018) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 sdb
Glottolog shab1251

Shabaki is an Indo-Iranian language and belongs to the subgroup Zaza-Gorani [2] [3] [4] [5] of the Northwestern Iranian languages. The Shabaki language is spoken by the Shabak people [6] [7] in the Mosul region of northern Iraq. It has similarities with the Northwestern Iranian language Gorani (or Hawrami), which is often referred as a "Kurdish dialect", although the Kurdish languages form an independent group within the Northwestern Iranian languages. Shabaki is a distinct language. [8] [9] [10] It also has elements of Arabic, Turkish and Persian language. [5] [11] The number of speakers of Shabaki was estimated in 1989 to be between 10,000 and 20,000. [12] Currently, the number of native speakers of Shabaki is estimated at 250,000. [13] As Shabaki is one of the Zaza–Gorani languages, it is most similar to languages like Gorani (Hewrami), Bajelani, Sarli and Zazaki. Because Zaza–Gorani belongs to the Northwestern Iranian branch.

Contents

Shabaki is a language in its own right and not a spoken dialect of any other language, with its own vocabulary and pronunciations, despite the fact that words from many other languages have entered into it as a result of the geographical nearness to other ethnic tribes. [14]

Status

The Shabak people fear the demise of the Shabaki language especially after the occupation of the ISIS terrorist groups to their home in Nineveh Plain, which led to the displacement of the majority of their population and the other groups residing in that area. [15]

Comparison

Pronouns

ShabakiZazakiSouthern KurdishSoraniKurmanjiHewramiPersianEnglish
emin-emez, minmi/minminez, minemin, minmənI, me, mine, my
etuti, totu/tûtotu, teeto, toto, tuthou, thee, thine
ew, înaa, oew/eweewew, wî, wêewûs/he, his, hers, him, her
hima-alama-giştmaîmeêmeem, memamawe, our
işmaşimaîweêwehûn, weşimaşumayou, your
işanînu, înanewan/ewaneewanewan, wanadeanhathey, them, their

Vocabulary

ShabakiZazakiSouthern KurdishSorani KurdishKurmanji KurdishHewramiPersianEnglish
çamçimçem/çewçawçavcemçəşm/çişmeye
ziwanziwanziwanzimanzimanziwanzəbantongue, language

Literature

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Iranian languages</span> Branch of the Indo-European language family

The Indo-Iranian languages constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family. They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.5 billion speakers, predominantly in South Asia, West Asia and parts of Central Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurdish language</span> Northwestern Iranian dialect continuum

The Kurdish languages are a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish languages constitutes a dialect continuum, many of which are not mutually intelligible, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. The main three dialects or languages of Kurdish are Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish, and Southern Kurdish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sorani</span> Dialect of the Kurdish language, spoken in Iran and Iraq

Sorani Kurdish, also known as Central Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two official languages of Iraq, along with Arabic, and is in administrative documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nineveh Governorate</span> Governorate of Iraq

Nineveh or Ninawa Governorate is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an area of 37,323 km2 (14,410 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people as of 2003. Its largest city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh. Before 1976, it was called Mosul Province and included the present-day Dohuk Governorate. The second largest city is Tal Afar, which has an almost exclusively Turkmen population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zaza language</span> Northwestern Iranian language spoken in Turkey

Zaza or Zazaki is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey by the Zazas, who are commonly 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 and many Zazas call their language Dimlî.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorani language</span> Group of Northwestern Iranian dialects

Gorani also known by its main dialect; Hawrami is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by ethnic Kurds in northeastern Iraq and western Iran and which with Zaza constitute the Zaza–Gorani languages. Gorani is considered a Kurdish dialect by many researchers. The speakers of Gorani call their language Kurdish. Gorani is a literary language for many Kurds.

Zaza–Gorani is a Kurdic linguistic subgroup of Northwestern Iranian languages. They are usually classified as a non-Kurdish branch of the Northwestern Iranian languages but most of their speakers consider themselves ethnic Kurds.

Laki is a vernacular that consists of two dialects; Pish-e Kuh Laki and Posht-e Kuh Laki. Laki is considered a Kurdish dialect, by most linguists and is spoken chiefly in the area between Khorramabad and Kermanshah by about 680,000 native speakers.

Suret, also known as Assyrian refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrians. The various NENA dialects descend from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the Assyrian Empire, which slowly displaced the East Semitic Akkadian language beginning around the 10th century BC. They have been further heavily influenced by Classical Syriac, the Middle Aramaic dialect of Edessa, after its adoption as an official liturgical language of the Syriac churches, but Suret is not a direct descendant of Classical Syriac.

Trans-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic, also known as Hulaulá, is a grouping of related dialects of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic originally spoken by Jews in Iranian Kurdistan and easternmost Iraqi Kurdistan. Most speakers now live in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurmanji</span> Northern Kurdish dialect

Kurmanji, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the most widely spoken form of Kurdish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zazas</span> Group of people in eastern Turkey

The Zazas are a people in eastern Turkey who traditionally speak the Zaza language, a western Iranian language written in the Latin script. Their heartland consists of Tunceli and Bingöl provinces and parts of Elazığ, Erzincan and Diyarbakır provinces. Zazas generally consider themselves Kurds, and are often described as Zaza Kurds by scholars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurdish literature</span> Written and orally transmitted literature in Kurdish languages

Kurdish literature is literature written in the Kurdish languages. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the Six main languages: Zaza, Gorani, Kurmanji, Sorani, Laki and Southern Kurdish. Balül was a 9th century poet and religious scholar of the Yarsani faith is the first well-known poet who wrote in Gorani Kurdish. Moreover Ali Hariri (1009–1079) from the Hakkari region is one of the first well-known poets who wrote in Kurmanji Kurdish.

Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Iranian languages</span> Branch of the Iranian languages

The Western Iranian languages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian and Median.

Shabaks are a group with a disputed ethnic origin. Some Shabaks identify themselves as a distinct ethnic group and others as ethnic Kurds. They live east of Mosul in Iraq. However their cultural traditions are different from Kurds and Arabs. Historically the Shabak can be identified as an ethnoreligious group. According to Shabak representatives, the Kurdish authorities intend to eliminate their culture and language, with concerns expressed over any new Kurdish language schools within Shabak villages. Their origin is disputed, and they are considered Kurds by some scholars. They speak Shabaki and live in a religious community (ta'ifa) in the Nineveh Plains. The ancestors of Shabaks were followers of the Safaviyya order, which was founded by the Kurdish mystic Safi-ad-din Ardabili in the early 14th century. The primary Shabak religious text is called the Buyruk or Kitab al-Manaqib, which is written in Turkmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tati language (Iran)</span> Northwestern Iranian language

The Tati language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by the Tat people of Iran which is closely related to other languages such as Talysh, Zaza, Mazandarani and Gilaki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Iraq</span> History of the Christian populace of Iraq

The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world.

Shabak may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feyli (tribe)</span> Kurdish tribe in Iraq and Iran

Feylis, also known as Feyli Kurds, is a Kurdish tribe mainly from Baghdad and the borderlands between Iraq and Iran. They speak Feyli which is classified as a sub-dialect of Southern Kurdish, but is commonly mistaken as being identical with the separate Feyli dialect of Northern Luri. Linguist Ismaïl Kamandâr Fattah argues that the Kurdish Feyli dialect and other Southern Kurdish sub-dialects are 'interrelated and largely mutually intelligible.'

References

  1. Shabaki at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 "Zaza-Gorani". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  3. 1 2 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.
  4. Hindo, Walid A. (2016-09-08). From Baghdad on the Tigris to Baghdad on the Subway. Archway Publishing. ISBN   9781480834033.
  5. 1 2 Gunter, Michael M. (2018-02-20). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781538110508.
  6. Abd al-Jabbar, Falih. Ayatollahs, sufis and ideologues: state, religion, and social movements in Iraq. University of Virginia 2008.
  7. Sykes, Mark. The Caliphs' last heritage: a short history of the Turkish Empire
  8. Löwer, Hans-Joachim (2015-02-16). Die Stunde der Kurden: Wie sie den Nahen Osten verändern (in German). Styriabooks. ISBN   9783990403549.
  9. Hann, Geoff; Dabrowska, Karen; Townsend-Greaves, Tina (2015-08-07). Iraq: The ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN   9781841624884.
  10. al-Lami, Mina (2014-07-21). "Iraq: The minorities of Nineveh". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  11. "Shabak - Minority Rights Group". Minority Rights Group. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  12. Ethnologue about Shabaki
  13. "Shabak - Minority Rights Group". Minority Rights Group. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  14. Glenewinkel, Klaas. "The Shabak - A Brief Overview". Niqash. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  15. "International Mother Language Day in Karbala, Iraq - Telegram7". Telegram7. 2015-03-03. Retrieved 2018-10-26.