Soranî
Sorani: سۆرانی / Soranî
Spoken in	Iran  Iraq
Region	Middle East
Native speakers	5 million  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Kurdish Soranî
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ckb
Linguasphere	58-AAA-cae

Soranî (سۆرانی; also called Central Kurdish) 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[link]

To refer to southern Kurmanji dialects as Soranî is a recent naming by linguists after the name of the former principality of Soran. Mackenzie^[who?] writes that the present Kurdish standard called Soranî is in fact an idealized version of the Silêmanî dialect, which uses the phonemic system of the Píjhdar and Mukrî dialects.^{[citation needed]} Objections have been made to the name Soranî on the grounds that the name of one dialect, Soranî, spoken in the region Soran should not be extended to cover a group of dialect (E. M. Rasul, Núserí Kurd, No. 4, Nov. 1971).

History[link]

Ottoman Times[link]

In Silemani (Sulaymaniyah), the Ottoman Empire had created a secondary school (Rushdíye), the graduates from which could go to Istanbul to continue to study there. This allowed Soranî, which was spoken in Silémaní, to progressively replace Hewrami (Gorani) as the literary vehicle.

Modern[link]

Since the fall of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, there have been more opportunities to publish works in the Kurdish language in Iraq than in any other country in recent times.^[1] as a result Sorani Kurdish has become the dominant written form of Kurdish.^[2]

Alphabet[link]

Sorani Kurdish is written with a modified Perso-Arabic script; This is in contrast to the other Kurdish dialect, Kurmanji which is spoken mainly in Turkey and is usually written in the Latin alphabet.

However, since the recent decade, official TV in Iraqi Kurdistan uses mostly the Latin script for Sorani.

Demographics[link]

The exact number of Sorani speakers is difficult to determine, but it is generally thought that Sorani is spoken by about 6 million people in Iraq and Iran.^[3] It is the most widespread speech of Kurds in Iran and Iraq. In particular, it is spoken by:

Around 3 Million of the Kurds in Iran. Located south of the Urmia Lake that stretches roughly to the outside of Kermanshah.

Around 3 million of the Kurds in Iraq, including the Soran clan. Most of the Kurds who use it are found in the vicinity of Hewlêr (Arbil) , Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) , Kerkuk and Diyala governorate.

Colloquial subdivisions[link]

Following includes the traditional internal variants of Soranî. However, nowadays, due to widespread media and communications, most of them are regarded as dialects of standard Soranî:

• Mukriyani; The language spoken south of Lake Urmia with Mahabad as its center, including the cities of Piranshahr, Bokan, Sardasht, Oshnavieh and the Kurdish speaking parts of Naghadeh and Miandoab. This region is traditionally known as Mukriyan.
• Ardalani, spoken in the cities of Sanandaj, Marivan, Kamyaran, Divandarreh, Ghorveh and Dehgolan in Kordestan province and the Kurdish speaking parts of Tekab and Shahindej in West Azerbaijan province. This region is known as Ardalan.
• Garmiani, in and around Kirkuk
• Arbili, spoken in and around the city of Hawler (Arbil) in Iraqi Kurdistan.Its main distinction is changing the consonant /l/ into /r/ in many words.
• Babani, spoken in and around the city of Sulaymaniya in Iraq and the cities of Saghez and Baneh in Iran.
• Jafi, spoken in the towns of Javanroud, Ravansar and some villages around Sarpole Zahab and Paveh.

As an official language[link]

A recent proposal was made for Soranî to be the official language of the Kurdistan Regional Government.This idea has been favoured by some Soranî-speaking Kurds but it has disappointed Kurmanjis.^[4]

Grammatical features[link]

There are no pronouns to distinguish between masculine and feminine and no verb inflection to signal gender.^[5]

After publishing The Persian Today Corpus (The Most Frequent Words of Today's Persian), as a main program, the writer, Iranian Kurdish-language scholar, Hamid Hassani, is supposed to prepare a Soranî Kurdish Language Corpus, consisting of one-million words.

Dictionaries and translations[link]

There are a substantial number of Soranî dictionaries available, amongst which there are many that seek to be bi-lingual.

English and Sorani

• English-Kurdish Dictionary by Dr. Selma Abdullah and Dr. Khurhseed Alam
• Raman English-Kurdish Dictionary by Destey Ferheng

As a main program, Iranian Kurdish-speaker scholar, Hamid Hassani, is supposed to compile a Soranî Kurdish Language Corpus, consisting of one-million words.

The standard word-order in Sorani is SOV (subject-object-verb).^[6]

Sorani and Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) comparison[link]

See also[link]

• Kurdish language
• Kurdish alphabet
• Sorani grammar
• Northern Kurdish
• Southern Kurdish
• Soran Emirate

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hassanpour, Dr. A. (1992). Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan 1918–1985. USA: Mellen Research University Press. 
• Nebez, Jemal (1976). Toward a Unified Kurdish Language. NUKSE. 
• Izady, Mehrdad (1992). The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis. 

External links[link]

Soranî edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Central Kurdish at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• the New Testament in Soranî
• the Kurdish Academy of Language (unofficial)
• Working with Sorani Speaking Patients NHS (UK) Guide

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2008)

Şivan Perwer
Şivan Perwer giving concert in Sweden, 2005
Background information
Birth name	İsmail Aygün
Born	(1955-09-23) September 23, 1955 (age 56) Turkey
Years active	1974–present
Website	Şivan Perwer

Şivan Perwer (pron: Shivân Parwar) (born on September 23, 1955 in Sarıdam (Sorî), Siverek, Turkey as İsmail Aygün) is a Kurdish poet, writer, musical teacher, singer, and performer on the tembûr (lute). Şivan lives in exile after fleeing Turkey in 1976 because of his music.^[1]

Biography[link]

Perwer performing at a concert

For many years, his songs were banned in Iraq, Syria,and Turkey because they are sung in Kurdish and often cite the oppression against the Kurdish people in the Middle East.^[2]

Şivan's homemade recordings were smuggled over the border, while thousands of people came to see him perform live. Fearing for his life and the welfare of his family and after calls from Turkish authorities demanding his arrest, he fled Turkey and settled in Germany in 1976. There, Şivan recorded his first official album of traditional Kurdish songs.

In 1991, Şivan appeared at the "Simple Truth" Live aid concert, performing alongside Peter Gabriel, Sting, Paul Simon, Tom Jones, Gipsy Kings as well as other international artists. The proceeds from the concert went to the aid of Kurdish refugees in the Iraqi Kurdistan fleeing the Gulf War and was considered as one of the most important humanitarian efforts for the region.

In 2004, Şivan took an initiative for the improvement of culture in society by establishing the Sivan Perwer International Cultural Foundation in Frankfurt, Germany.

On Tuesday March 21, 2006, Şivan was featured on PRI's The World in their Global Hits segment.^[3]

He has composed music and sung many songs using the poetry of the late Kurdish poet, Cigerxwîn. Cigerxwîn was well known for his poetry about the Kurdish struggle and also about Kurdish culture and history. Kurdish songs (or dengbej) are considered by some to be one of the key elements in preserving the Kurdish culture and history.^[1]

Awards[link]

• 2004 Grand Prix du Disque by l'Académie Charles Cros ^[4]

References[link]

Partly based on an article from: http://respect.inway.cz/2000/kapely00/perwer-e.html

External links[link]

• Official website of Şivan Perwer
• Pel Records - Kurdish Music Producer Kurdish music company which releases albums of Şivan Perwer
• Some songs by Shivan Perwer
• http://je-givara.narod.ru/
• Şivan Perwer on Facebook