The most widely spoken Kurdish variety, used across southeast Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iraq and Iran.
Kurmanji is a dialect of Kurdish.
Kurmanji is primarily spoken in Türkiye, Syria, Iraq, Iran.
Kurmanji is part of the Middle East region on DialectAtlas.
Kurmanji is spoken by approximately 15,000,000 people.
Kurmanji is not currently classified as endangered. It has a stable speaker community with active intergenerational transmission.
Kurdish also includes Bahdini, Sorani, Hawrami, Zaza. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
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.
Spoken across Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran. The main written language in Iraqi Kurdistan.
An older and distinctive Kurdish variety spoken in pockets along the Iran-Iraq border, rich in classical poetic tradition.
Spoken in eastern Turkey. Closely related to Kurdish varieties, with its own grammar and vocabulary.