The most widely spoken Kurdish variety, used across southeast Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iraq and Iran.
Zaza
Spoken in eastern Turkey. Closely related to Kurdish varieties, with its own grammar and vocabulary.
Shareable facts
Frequently asked questions
What language is Zaza?
Zaza is a dialect of the Kurdish language.
Where is Zaza spoken?
Zaza is primarily spoken in Türkiye.
Which region is Zaza associated with?
Zaza is part of the Middle East region on DialectAtlas.
What are the other dialects of Kurdish?
Kurdish also includes Kurmanji, Bahdini, Sorani, Hawrami. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Kurdish dialects
See on the atlas →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.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →108 km away
Dom communities in Türkiye (also known locally as Dom or Abdal), concentrated in southeastern Anatolia, with significant contact influence from Turkish and Kurdish.
220 km away
The most widely spoken Kurdish variety, used across southeast Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iraq and Iran.
368 km away
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.
468 km away
A Kartvelian language of western Georgia around Zugdidi. Closely related to Georgian but linguistically distinct; primarily an oral language with limited written use.
486 km away
Spoken across Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran. The main written language in Iraqi Kurdistan.
495 km away
A Northwest Caucasian language of Abkhazia. Famous for one of the smallest vowel inventories of any natural language (just two phonemic vowels) and a correspondingly large consonant system.
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Sources & corpora
Data on Zaza from open scholarly databases. Each link opens the source in a new tab.