Зазакий язык: история, современное состояние и перспективы

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. According to Ethnologue, Zaza is spoken by around three to four million people. Ethnologue also states that Zaza is threatened as the language is decreasing due to losing speakers, and that many are shifting to Turkish, as well as mentioning that there are a few monolingual speakers mostly the elderly. This is causing a decline as the language is increasingly not being passed down to younger generations, with most choosing to speak Turkish. Some also speak Kurmanji. Other international linguistic authorities, the Ethnologue and the Glottolog, also classify the Zaza language as a macrolanguage composed of two distinct languages: Southern Zaza and Northern Zaza.

Writing in Zaza is a recent phenomenon. The first literary work in Zaza is Mewlîdu'n Nebîyyî'l Qureyşîyyî by Ehmedê Xasi in 1899, followed by the work Mawlûd by Osman Efendîyo Babij in 1903. As the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey during a large part of the Republican period, no text was published in Zaza until 1963. That year saw the publication of two short texts by the Kurdish newspaper Roja Newe, but the newspaper was banned and no further publication in Zaza took place until 1976, when periodicals published a few Zaza texts. Modern Zaza literature appeared for the first time in the journal Tîrêj in 1979 but the journal had to close as a result of the 1980 coup d'état. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most Zaza literature was published in Germany, France and especially Sweden until the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted in Turkey in 1991. This meant that newspapers and journals began publishing in Zaza again. The next book to be published in Zaza (after Mawlûd in 1903) was in 1977, and two more books were published in 1981 and 1986. From 1987 to 1990, five books were published in Zaza. The publication of books in Zaza increased after the ban on the Kurdish language was lifted and a total of 43 books were published from 1991 to 2000. As of 2018, at least 332 books have been published in Zaza. Due to the above mentioned obstacles, the standardization of Zaza could not have taken place and authors chose to write in their local or regional Zaza variety. In 1996, however, a group of Zaza speaking authors gathered in Stockholm and established a common alphabet and orthographic rules which they published. Some authors nonetheless do not abide by these rules as they do not apply the orthographic rules in their oeuvres. In 2009, Zaza was classified as a vulnerable language by UNESCO. The institution of Higher Education of Turkey approved the opening of the Zaza Language and Literature Department in Munzur University in 2011 and began accepting students in 2012 for the department. In the following year, Bingöl University established the same department. TRT Kurdî also broadcast in the language. Some TV channels which broadcast in Zaza were closed after the 2016 coup d'état attempt.

PronounZazaTalysh TatiSemnaniSangsariOssetianPersianEnglish1st sing. ez əz/āz āz ā ā æz (az) manI2ndtı tı ti ti ti dɨ (di) toyou3rdo/ey əv/ay u un no wuiy ū, ānhe3rda/ay nā una na she1st plur. ma ama amā hamā mā max māwe2nd şıma şımə shūmā shūmā shūmā shimax shomāyou3rd.ê, i, ina, ino əvon/ayēn ē e ey idon/widon ēnan, ishān, inhāthey
As with a number of other Iranian languages like Talysh, Tati, central Iranian languages and dialects like Semnani, Kahangi, Vafsi, Balochi and Kurmanji, Zaza features split ergativity in its morphology, demonstrating ergative marking in past and perfective contexts, and nominative accusative alignment otherwise. Syntactically it is nominative accusative.

Among all Western Iranian languages Zaza, Semnani, Sangsari, Tati, central Iranian dialects like Cālī, Fārzāndī, Delījanī, Jowšaqanī, Abyāne'i and Kurmanji distinguish between masculine and feminine grammatical gender. Each noun belongs to one of those two genders. In order to correctly decline any noun and any modifier or other type of word affecting that noun, one must identify whether the noun is feminine or masculine. Most nouns have inherent gender. However, some nominal roots have variable gender, i. e. they may function as either masculine or feminine nouns.

LabialDental/AlveolarPalato alveolarPalatalVelarUvularPharyngealGlottalplainphar. Nasal Plosive/AffricatevoicelessvoicedFricativevoicelessvoicedRhotictap/flaptrillLateralcentralvelarizedApproximant
becomes a velar when following a velar consonant.

The first known written works of Zaza literature were written during the Ottoman period. Written works in the Zaza language produced during the Ottoman period were written in Arabic letters and had a religious nature. The first written work in Zazaki during this period was written in the late 1700s. This first written text of the Zaza language was written by İsa Beg bin Ali, nicknamed Sultan Efendi, an Islamic history writer, in 1212 Hijri (1798). The work was written in Arabic letters and in the Naskh script, which is also used in Ottoman Turkish. The work consists of two parts III. It includes the Eastern Anatolia region during the reign of Selim III, the life of Ali (caliph), Alevi doctrine and history, the translation of some parts of Nahj al balagha into Zaza language, apocalyptic subjects and poetic texts. About a hundred years after this work, another work in the Zaza language, Mevlit (Mewlid i Nebi), was written by the Ottoman Zaza cleric, writer and poet Ahmed el Hassi (1867 1951) in 1891 1892. The first Mevlit work in the Zaza language was written in Arabic letters and published in 1899. Apart from Zaza writers, non Zaza/Ottoman writers/researchers such as Peter Ivanovich Lerch (1827 1884), Robert Gordon Latham (1812 1888) Dr. Humphry Sandwith (1822 1881), Wilhelm Strecker (1830 1890), Otto Blau (1828 1879), Friedrich Müller (1864) and Oskar Mann (1867 1917) included Zaza content (story, fairy tales dictionary) in their works in the pre Republican period. Mevlids and sirahs of Abdulkadir Arslan (1992 1995), Kamil Pueği (1999), Muhammed Muradan (1999 2000) and Cuma Özusan (2009) are other literary works with religious content. Today, works in different literary genres such as poetry, stories and novels in Zaza language are published by different publishing houses in Turkey and European countries.