Gorani language
Gorani (Kurdish: گۆرانی, romanized: Goranî, lit. 'song')[5] also known by its main dialect; Hawrami (ھەورامی, romanized: Hewramî) is a Kurdish dialect spoken by Kurds in northeastern Iraq and western Iran[6] and which with Zaza constitute the Zaza–Gorani languages.[3] Gorani is considered a Kurdish dialect by many researchers.[6][7][8][9] The speakers of Gorani call their language Kurdish.[10] Gorani is a literary language for many Kurds.[11]
This article is about the language spoken by Kurds. For the Slavic dialect, see Gorani dialect.Gorani
300,000 (2007)[1]
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Gorani is spoken in Iraq and Iran and has four dialects: Bajelani, Hawrami, and Sarli, some sources also include the Shabaki as a dialect of Gorani as well.[3] Of these, Hawrami was the traditional literary language and koiné of Kurds in the historical Ardalan region at the Zagros Mountains,[12][13] but has since been supplanted by Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish.[14]
Gorani had an estimated 180,000 speakers in Iran in 2007 and 120,000 speakers in Iraq as well in 2007 for a total of 300,000 speakers. Ethnologue reports that the language is threatened in both countries and that speakers residing in Iraq includes all adults and some children, however it does not mention if speakers are shifting to Sorani or not. Many speakers of Gorani in Iran also speak Sorani, Persian, as well as Southern Kurdish. Most speakers in Iraq also speak Sorani, while some also speak Mesopotamian Arabic.[15]
Etymology[edit]
The name Goran appears to be of Indo-Iranian origin. The name may be derived from the old Avestan word, gairi, which means mountain.[16]
![Partial tree of Indo-European languages.[30]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/IndoEuropeanTree.svg/120px-IndoEuropeanTree.svg.png)