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Zazaki (Zazakî, Zazaish) or Dimli is a language closely related to the Farsi and Kurdish languages, spoken by the Zaza in eastern Anatolia ( Turkey), an ethnic minority related to the Iranians and Kurds.

The language differs from most Farsi dialects in that it contains archaic strains of Hurrian; it has this in common with the Languages Hawrami and Bayjalani , and these languages are put together in the Zaza-Gorani language group.

Hawrami and Bayjalani are spoken in region of northern Iraqi, which is commonly included in the term Iraqi Kurdistan, but also Goran-Zazaistan by those who want emphasize their distinctness from the Kurds.

Hurrian itself is extinct; however it is thought to have had a close relationship to modern Chechen and was a member of the Alarodian language family.

1 Controversy over classification

As with many other languages in the region, the exact positioning of Zazaki in terms of language families is controversial; it parallels a similar controversy about the relationship of the various ethnic groups and is politically fraught. Ethnologue favors the following hierarchy: [1]

• Northwestern Iranian languages
  • Kurdish language
    • Kurjmani language
    • other sublanguages/dialects of Kurdish
  • Zaza-Gorani language group
    • Dimli/Zazaki

However, those who view the Zaza people primarily as Kurds tend to favor:

• Northwestern Iranian languages
  • Kurdish language
    • Kurjmani language
    • other sublanguages/dialects of Kurdish
    • Dimli/Zazaki

2 See Also

• Hurrians
• Zazaki is one of the three sublanguages used in the Kurdish Wikipedia; for an example of such use, see their article Alan Dilpak (zazakî). See also

3 External links

• Ethnologue on Zazaki (language)
• Academic Research Center of Zazaki - (in several languages but as of 2004 not much English-language content)