Iraq

Modern Standard Arabic

also: MSA, Fuṣḥā, Literary Arabic, Standard Arabic

The codified supra-regional standard used across the Arab world in education, media, literature, and formal speech. Derived from Classical Arabic, it has no native speakers and no single regional home — it is acquired as a formal register layered above the spoken vernaculars. Cairo, as the historical center of Arabic publishing, broadcasting, and scholarship, serves as its conventional locus.

Iraqi Arabic

also: Mesopotamian Arabic

Spoken across Iraq and parts of eastern Syria and southwestern Iran. Carries strong Aramaic and Turkic influence and splits internally between gilit (southern) and qeltu (northern) varieties.

Kurmanji

The most widely spoken Kurdish variety, used across southeast Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iraq and Iran.

Bahdini

also: Behdini, Badini, Behdînî, Bahdînî

A southern Kurmanji subdialect spoken in Duhok province of Iraqi Kurdistan and adjacent areas of southeastern Turkey. Mutually intelligible with northern Kurmanji but with distinct phonology and vocabulary, and traditionally written in Arabic script alongside Sorani rather than the Latin script used for Kurmanji further north.

Sorani

Spoken across Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran. The main written language in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Hawrami

An older and distinctive Kurdish variety spoken in pockets along the Iran-Iraq border, rich in classical poetic tradition.