Languages In the World (17 page)

Kurdish-speaking peoples have been living under the sphere of influence of three linguistic, cultural, and political superpowers for centuries. First, Kurdish and Persian (Farsi) have intermingled since antiquity. The influence of Persian on Kurdish literature is particularly noteworthy. Second, the relationship between Kurdish and Arabic is particularly close, given the prominent role of Arabic in Islam and the prominent role of Islam in Kurdish culture. The fact that the Sorani variety is written in the Perso-Arabic script makes this relationship especially clear. Finally, Kurdish entered a close relationship of language contact with Turkish when Kurdistan was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in the early sixteenth century. The close historical links between Kurdish and its more powerful neighbor languages is also evidenced in the number and type of lexical borrowings from these languages.

The presence of loanwords from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish is not perceived as unproblematic, and here again we are able to observe the ever-present dynamic of language and politics come into play. In the early part of the twentieth century, as much as half of Kurdish lexical stock comprised loanwords, mostly from Arabic. As Kurds struggled with their subordinate place in the emerging post-War Mideast, concerns about language, especially about word origins, took on great political importance. In the 1920s, a movement known as
Kurdí Petí
(Pure Kurdish) gained popularity with Kurds across the Kurdish regions who were interested in restoring some historical Kurdish terms that had been replaced by loanwords, mostly from Arabic.

Efforts to “purify” the Kurdish lexicon were largely successful. Today 10–15% of the Kurdish lexicon comprises loanwords. Compared with modern English – whose lexicon is less than 30% Germanic in origin – this figure is very low and represents a great reduction in non-Kurdish lexical stock since the 1920s. Of the loanwords that remain, the vast majority – about 10% – come from Arabic. Words from Persian, Turkish, and European languages each comprise about 1% of the current Kurdish lexicon.

Purification efforts have continued into the present, although the shape that they take depends on the geopolitics of the region. In Iraq, Kurds are interested in de-Arabicizing the lexicon and often replace Arabic-origin words with Persian-origin words. The Arabic words
iqtidar
‘power,'
serwet
‘wealth,' and
dinya
‘world' have been replaced with Persian words
twana
,
saman
, and
geti.
Kurds in Turkey have also turned to Persian for loanwords to replace Turkish borrowings. The use of
Persian terms is seen as justifiable on the grounds that Kurdish and Persian are both Indo-European languages. Meanwhile, the Kurds in Iran are interested in de-Persianing the lexicon and often replace Persian-origin words with Arabic-origin words. Because Arabic and Kurdish are unrelated, no appeals to common genetic heritage are possible.

Kurdish culture is tied to Arabic through the dynamic of religion, and many speakers are bilingual, both in liturgical settings and beyond. The Arabic vocabulary will likely continue to influence Kurdish in the future.

Individually or in teams, sketch maps of the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire at the time of their collapse. Use a separate sheet of paper for each map. With a different-colored pencil, sketch an overlay of the current nations constructed within the former imperial boundaries. How have the changing borders affected language?

1. The
   une langue, une nation
   ideology associated with the French Revolution has had a tremendous effect on the linguistic situation of France. Make a bar graph depicting the number of speakers of Basque, Breton, Corsican, and Occitan in the place now called France in 1800, 1900, and 2000. If needed, use alternative dates based on the data you find.
   
2. The one nation, one language ideology has been effective in convincing people not only that nations should be monolingual, but that they actually already are. That is, many people are uninformed about the linguistic diversity in the communities and nations where they live, despite the empirical reality of multilingualism around them. Distribute a questionnaire to 20–30 people in which you ask them which languages are spoken in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Russia, Spain, South Africa, and United States. Add any other places that you think may elicit an interesting response. Tabulate your data and present your findings in a visually interesting way. What do your data suggest about people's understandings of language and nation?
   

Imagine that you have been hired as a special representative to the United Nations. Your expertise is language, and your charge is to advise on the question of Kurdish statehood. Write a well-informed position statement that argues for or against statehood, focusing on the language issues at play. Your statement should be as specific as possible and should take into consideration (a) the broader linguistic and cultural situation of the region and (b) the perspectives on language and nation raised in this chapter.