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The Kurdistan newspaper established in 1898, prior to latinization, was written in the Kurmanji dialect using Arabic script.

Kurdish is most commonly written using either of two alphabets: the Latin-based Bedirxan or Hawar alphabet, introduced by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 and popularized through the Hawar magazine, and the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet.[1][2] The Kurdistan Region has agreed upon a standard for Central Kurdish, implemented in Unicode for computation purposes.[3] The Hawar alphabet is primarily used in Syria and Turkey, while the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet is commonly used in Iraq and Iran. The Hawar alphabet is also used to some extent in Iraqi Kurdistan.[4][5] Two additional alphabets, based on the Armenian and Cyrillic scripts, were once used by Kurds in the Soviet Union, most notably in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and Kurdistansky Uyezd. Southern Kurdish lacks a standard orthography, as of 2024.[6]

Hawar alphabet

[edit]

Usually it is the northern languages spoken by Kurds, Zazaki and Kurmanji, that are written in the extended Latin alphabet consisting of the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin Alphabet with 5 letters with diacritics, for a total of 31 letters (each having an uppercase and a lowercase form):

Hawar alphabet
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A B C Ç D E Ê F G H I Î J K L M N O P Q R S Ş T U Û V W X Y Z
Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a b c ç d e ê f g h i î j k l m n o p q r s ş t u û v w x y z
IPA Values
/aː/ /b/ /dʒ/ /tʃ/ /d/ /ɛ/ /eː/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /ɪ/ /iː/ /ʒ/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /o/ /p/ /q/ /ɾ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /t/ /ʉ/ /u/ /v/ /w/ /x/ /j/ /z/
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In this alphabet the short vowels are E, I and U while the long vowels are A, Ê, Î, O and Û (see the IPA equivalents in the Help:IPA/Kurdish table).

When presenting the alphabet in his magazine Hawar, Celadet Alî Bedirxan proposed using diacritics on ⟨ḧ ẍ⟩ to distinguish the Arabic غ and ح sounds (see [1] page 12, 13). These are not considered letters, but are used to disambiguate loanwords that would otherwise be conflated.

Turkey does not recognize this alphabet. Using the letters Q, W, and X, which did not exist in the Turkish alphabet until 2013, led to a trial in 2000 and 2003 (see [2], p. 8, and [3]). Since September 2003, many Kurds applied to the courts seeking to change their names to Kurdish ones written with these letters, but failed.[7]

The Turkish government finally legalized the letters Q, W, and X as part of the Turkish alphabet in 2013.[8]

History

[edit]

The Kurdish Latin alphabet was elaborated mainly by Celadet Bedirxan who initially had sought the cooperation of Tewfîq Wehbî, who in 1931 lived in Iraq. But after not having received any responses by Wehbî for several months, he and his brother Kamuran Alî Bedirxan decided to launch the "Hawar" alphabet in 1932.[9] Celadet Bedirxan aimed to create an alphabet that wrote each sound with its own letter. As the Kurds in Turkey already learned the Turkish Latin alphabet, he created an alphabet which would specifically be accessible for the Kurds in Turkey.[10] Some scholars have suggested making minor additions to Bedirxan's alphabet to make it more user-friendly.[11]

Kurdo-Arabic alphabet

[edit]
Kurdish alphabets
ئ ا ب پ ت ج چ ح خ د ر ڕ ز ژ س ش ع غ ف ڤ ق ک گ ل ڵ م ن ھ ە و وو ۆ ی ێ
Extended Kurdo-Arabic alphabet
Venn diagram showing Kurdish, Persian and Arabic letters

Many Kurdish varieties, mainly Sorani, are written using a modified Perso-Arabic script with 33 letters introduced by Sa'id Kaban Sedqi. Unlike the Persian alphabet, which is an abjad, Central Kurdish is almost a true alphabet in which vowels are given the same treatment as consonants. Written Central Kurdish also relies on vowel and consonant context to differentiate between the phonemes u/w and î/y instead of using separate letters. It does show the two pharyngeal consonants, as well as a voiced velar fricative, used in Kurdish.

A new sort order for the alphabet was proposed some time ago by the Kurdish Academy as the new standard,[12] all of which are letters accepted included in the Central Kurdish Unicode Keyboard:[13]

ع ش س ژ ز ڕ ر د خ ح چ ج ت پ ب ا ئـ
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
[ʕ] [ʃ] [s] [ʒ] [z] [r] [ɾ] [d] [x] [ħ] [t͡ʃ] [d͡ʒ] [t] [p] [b] [aː] [ʔ]
ێ ی ۆ وو و ە ھ ن م ڵ ل گ ک ق ڤ ف غ
34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
[eː] [j], [iː] [oː] [uː] [w], [ʊ] [ɛ] [h] [n] [m] [ɫ] [l] [g] [k] [q] [v] [f] [ɣ]

The alphabet is represented by 34 letters including وو which is given its own position. Kurds in Iraq and Iran use this alphabet. Although the Kurdistan Region's standardization uses ک (Unicode 06A9) instead of ك (Unicode 0643) for letter kaf (22 in above table) as listed in the Unicode table on the official home page,[13] the latter glyph is still in use by various individuals and organizations.

Vowels

[edit]

Central Kurdish has eight vowels, all of them except /ɪ/ are represented by letters:[14]

# Letter IPA Example
1 ا aː (ɑː) با /baː/ "wind"
2 ە ɛ (ə, æ) مەزن /mɛzɪn/ "great"
3 و u, ʊ کورد /kʊɾd/ "Kurd"
4 ۆ oː, o تۆ /toː/ "you"
5 وو uː گەردوون /gɛrduːn/ "cosmos"
6 ی iː شین /ʃiːn/ "blue"
7 ێ eː دێ /deː/ "village"

Similar to some letters in English, both و (u) and ی (î) can become consonants. In the words وان[a] (Wan) and یاری[b] (play), و and ی are consonants. Central Kurdish stipulates that syllables must be formed with at least one vowel, whilst a maximum of two vowels is permitted.

Historical alphabets

[edit]

Purported old Kurdish script

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Purported Kurdish script, from the book Shawq al-Mustaham, attributed to Ibn Wahshiyya

In the Arabic book Shawq al-Mustaham, attributed to the 9th-century author Ibn Wahshiyya, the author refers to the existence of a Kurdish alphabet and to scientific and artistic works written in Kurdish. The works attributed to Ibn Wahshiyya are the subject of debate and not considered totally reliable, and this particular book is regarded as "a later pseudepigraph which used the names made famous by Ibn Wahshiyya". There is no other source that confirms this reference to written Kurdish at this early date.[15]

Cyrillic alphabet

[edit]

A third system, used for the few Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the former Soviet Union—especially in Armenia—used a unique variant of the Cyrillic alphabet, consisting of 40 letters.[16] It was designed in 1946 by Heciyê Cindî.[17]

А а Б б В в Г г Гʼ гʼ Д д Е е Ә ә Әʼ әʼ Ж ж
З з И и Й й К к Кʼ кʼ Л л М м Н н О о Ӧ ӧ
П п Пʼ пʼ Р р Рʼ рʼ С с Т т Тʼ тʼ У у Ф ф Х х
Һ һ Һʼ һʼ Ч ч Чʼ чʼ Ш ш Щ щ Ь ь Э э Ԛ ԛ Ԝ ԝ
The Armenian-Kurdish Alphabet.[18]

Armenian alphabet

[edit]

From 1921 to 1929, a modified version of the west Armenian alphabet was used for Kurmanji, in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.[19][20]

It was then replaced with a Yañalif-like Latin alphabet during the campaigns for Latinisation in the Soviet Union.

Soviet Latin alphabet

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Kurdish Soviet Latin Alphabet.

In 1928, Kurdish languages in all of the Soviet Union, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, were switched to a Latin alphabet containing some Cyrillic characters.

1929 it was reformed and was replaced by the following alphabet:[21]

A a B b C c Ꞓ ꞓ Ç ç D d E e Ə ə
Ə́ ə́ F f G g Ƣ ƣ H h Ħ ħ I i J j
K k Ⱪ ⱪ L l M m N n O o Ɵ ɵ P p
Ҏ ҏ Q q R r S s Ş ş T t Ţ ţ U u
V v W w X x Y y Z z Ƶ ƶ Ь ь

The Soviet Latin alphabet is no longer used.

Yezidi script

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See also: Yezidi (Unicode block)
Yezidi
The name of 'Khatuna Fekhra', a Yazidi female saint, in Yazidi script
Period
13th century — present
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesNorthern Kurdish
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Yezi (192), ​Yezidi
Unicode
Unicode alias
Yezidi
U+10E80..U+10EBF
<?>
This section contains uncommon Unicode characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.

The Yezidi script is written from right to left and was used to write in Kurdish, specifically in the Kurmanji dialect (also called Northern Kurdish). The script has a long history, according to some data, it can be dated back to 13th-14th centuries, however, some scholars trace the creation of this script to 17th-18th centuries. The author of the script is unknown, but it was used for two manuscripts, Meṣḥefa Reş and Kitêba Cilwe, first published by Anastase-Marie al-Karmali in 1911.

It is believed that historically, there existed two sacred Yezidi manuscripts known as Meshefa Reş and Kitêba Cilwe, but the originals were lost. Later copies of these manuscripts were found, written in a special Yezidi alphabet, however, their contents was distorted. As a result, while the Yazidi clergy do recognize the Yezidi alphabet, they do not consider the content of these two manuscripts to be sources of the Yezidi religion.[22][23]

In 2013, the Spiritual Council of Yazidis in Georgia decided to revive the Yezidi script and use it for writing prayers, religious books, on the organization letterhead and in the Yazidi heraldry.[24][25] Today, it is used by the Yazidi clergymen in the Yazidi temple of Sultan Ezid at Tbilisi, where the names of the Yazidi saints are written on walls in this alphabet. Furthermore, Dua'yêd Êzdiyan, a book containing a collection of Yazidi prayers, was written and published in the Yezidi alphabet.[24]

Yezidi[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+10E8x 𐺀 𐺁 𐺂 𐺃 𐺄 𐺅 𐺆 𐺇 𐺈 𐺉 𐺊 𐺋 𐺌 𐺍 𐺎 𐺏
U+10E9x 𐺐 𐺑 𐺒 𐺓 𐺔 𐺕 𐺖 𐺗 𐺘 𐺙 𐺚 𐺛 𐺜 𐺝 𐺞 𐺟
U+10EAx 𐺠 𐺡 𐺢 𐺣 𐺤 𐺥 𐺦 𐺧 𐺨 𐺩 𐺫 𐺬 𐺭
U+10EBx 𐺰 𐺱
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Comparison of Kurdish alphabets

[edit]
See also: IPA for Kurdish
Latin Cyrillic Arabic Yezidi IPA
Hawar Soviet (isolated) (final) (medial) (initial)
A, a A, a А, а ا‎ ـا‎ — 𐺀 [aː]
B, b B, b Б, б ب‎ ـب‎ ـبـ‎ بـ‎ 𐺁 [b]
C, c Ç, ç Щ, щ ج‎ ـج‎ ـجـ‎ جـ‎ 𐺆 [d͡ʒ]
Ç, ç C, c Ч, ч چ‎ ـچ‎ ـچـ‎ چـ‎ 𐺇 [t͡ʃ]
Ç, ç[26] Ꞓ, ꞓ Чʼ, чʼ — 𐺈 [t͡ʃʰ][26]
D, d D, d Д, д د‎ ـد‎ د‎ 𐺋 [d]
E, e Ə, ə Ә, ә ە‎ ـە‎ ە‎ 𐺦 [ɛ]
Ê, ê E, e (Э, э);[c] (E, e) ێ‎ ـێ‎ ـێـ‎ ێـ‎ 𐺩 [eː]
F, f F, f Ф, ф ف‎ ـف‎ ـفـ‎ فـ‎ 𐺙 [f]
G, g G, g Г, г گ‎ ـگ‎ ـگـ‎ گـ‎ 𐺟 [ɡ]
H, h H, h Һ, һ ھ‎ — ـھـ‎ ھ‎ 𐺧 [h]
H, h[28] Ħ, ħ Һʼ, һʼ ح‎ ـح‎ ـحـ‎ حـ‎ 𐺉 [ħ]
I, i Ь, ь Ь, ь — — [ɘ], [ɘ̝],[29] [ɪ]
Î, î I, i И, и ی‎ ـی‎ ـیـ‎ یـ‎ 𐺨 [iː]
J, j Ƶ, ƶ Ж, ж ژ‎ ـژ‎ ژ‎ 𐺐 [ʒ]
K, k K, k К, к ک‎ ـک‎ ـکـ‎ کـ‎ 𐺝 [k]
K, k[30] Ⱪ, ⱪ Кʼ, кʼ — — [c]
L, l L, l Л, л ل‎ ـل‎ ـلـ‎ لـ‎ 𐺠 [l]
L, l; (ll)[31] L, l Лʼ, лʼ ڵ‎ ـڵ‎ ـڵـ‎ ڵـ‎ 𐺰 [ɫ]
M, m M, m М, м م‎ ـم‎ ـمـ‎ مـ‎ 𐺡 [m]
N, n N, n Н, н ن‎ ـن‎ ـنـ‎ نـ‎ 𐺢 [n]
O, o O, o О, о ۆ‎ ـۆ‎ ۆ‎ 𐺥 [o], [o̟ː], [o̽ː],[32] [oː]
— Ɵ, ɵ[d] — — — [o̽ː]
P, p P, p П, п پ‎ ـپ‎ ـپـ‎ پـ‎ 𐺂 [p], [pʰ][33]
P, p[33] Ҏ, ҏ Пʼ, пʼ — 𐺃 [pˤ]
Q, q Q, q Ԛ, ԛ ق‎ ـق‎ ـقـ‎ قـ‎ 𐺜 [q]
R, r R, r Р, р ر‎ ـر‎ — 𐺍 [ɾ]
R, r; (rr)[34] R, r Рʼ, рʼ ڕ‎ ـڕ‎ ڕ‎ 𐺎 [r]
S, s S, s С, с س‎ ـس‎ ـسـ‎ سـ‎ 𐺑 [s]
Ş, ş Ş, ş Ш, ш ش‎ ـش‎ ـشـ‎ شـ‎ 𐺒 [ʃ]
T, t T, t Т, т ت‎ ـت‎ ـتـ‎ تـ‎ 𐺕 [t]
T, t[35] Ţ, ţ Тʼ, тʼ — — [tʰ]
U, u U, u Ӧ, ӧ و‎ ـو‎ و‎ 𐺣 [u]
Û, û Y, y У, у وو‎ ـوو‎ — 𐺣𐺣 [uː], [ʉː],[36] [yː]
V, v V, v В, в ڤ‎ ـڤ‎ ـڤـ‎ ڤـ‎ 𐺚 𐺛 [v]
W, w W, w Ԝ, ԝ و‎ ـو‎ و‎ 𐺤 [w]
X, x X, x Х, х خ‎ ـخ‎ ـخـ‎ خـ‎ 𐺊 [x]
X, x Ƣ, ƣ Гʼ, гʼ غ‎ ـغ‎ ـغـ‎ غـ‎ 𐺘 [ɣ]
— Ə́, ə́ Әʼ, әʼ ع‎ ـع‎ ـعـ‎ عـ‎ 𐺗 [ʕ]
Y, y J, j Й, й ی‎ ـی‎ ـیـ‎ یـ‎ 𐺨 [j]
Z, z Z, z З, з ز‎ ـز‎ ز‎ 𐺏 [z]

See also

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Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Kurdish alphabets

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from Grokipedia

Kurdish alphabets refer to the multiple writing systems used for the Kurdish language, a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by approximately 30-40 million people across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and diaspora communities, reflecting its dialectal diversity and historical geopolitical divisions. The primary scripts are the Latin-based Hawar alphabet, devised by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 for the dominant Kurmanji dialect spoken by 15-20 million in Turkey and Syria, and the modified Arabic-based Sorani alphabet, standardized in the 1920s by Sa'id Sidqi Kaban and Taufiq Wahby for Central Kurdish (Sorani) used by 6-7 million mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran. Historically, Kurdish texts from the 7th century onward employed variants of the Arabic or Persian scripts, with literary Kurmanji emerging in the late 16th century under Arabic script influence from madrasas and principalities, though widespread vernacular writing was limited until modern reforms. Additional variants include Cyrillic for Kurmanji in the former Soviet Union from 1946 and briefly Armenian in Soviet Armenia (1921-1928), underscoring the impact of state-imposed orthographies on Kurdish literacy. The absence of a unified alphabet stems from political fragmentation—such as Turkey's historical suppression of Kurdish until 2002 and differing regional standards—impeding standardization efforts like the Kurdish Unified Alphabet proposed by the Kurdish Academy of Language, which seeks compatibility across dialects using extended Latin characters. This orthographic diversity, while preserving dialectal nuances, complicates digital accessibility, education, and cultural cohesion among Kurds.

Modern Primary Alphabets

Hawar Alphabet

The Hawar alphabet is a Latin-based designed specifically for the dialect of Kurdish, introduced by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932. Bedirxan, a Kurdish linguist and activist exiled from , developed it to address the inadequacies of prior scripts in representing Kurmanji phonology, drawing on Latin letters while incorporating modifications for unique Kurdish sounds such as velar fricatives and uvular stops. The system was first implemented in the bilingual Kurdish-French magazine Hawar ("The Calling"), published irregularly from May 1932 to 1944 in , , where Bedirxan resided after fleeing Turkish suppression of Kurdish cultural expression. This publication not only disseminated the alphabet but also promoted standardized grammar and vocabulary, establishing foundations for modern literature. The alphabet comprises 31 letters: 23 consonants and 8 vowels, extending the basic Latin set with diacritics and additional characters to achieve near-phonemic representation. Key additions include ç (for /tʃ/), ê (/eː/), î (/iː/), û (/uː/), and standalone q (/q/), w (/w/), x (/x/), which distinguish Kurdish from neighboring Turkish orthography that omits or repurposes them. Uppercase and lowercase forms follow Latin conventions, with uppercase used for proper nouns and sentence starts; the script is written left-to-right without joining. Bedirxan's design prioritized simplicity and accessibility, avoiding complex diacritics that hindered earlier Latin attempts, such as those in Soviet Kurdish scripts of the . In practice, the Hawar alphabet serves as the primary script for in regions like , , and Kurdish diaspora communities, facilitating literature, education, and despite historical bans in until the early . Its adoption in Hawar and subsequent works enabled the production of poetry, folklore collections, and linguistic studies, countering Arabic-script dominance in Persian-influenced Kurdish varieties. Today, it supports Wikipedia editions and publishing in , though variations persist in letter usage for dialects like Zazaki. Standardization efforts, including minor orthographic tweaks by post-1991, have reinforced its role without altering core principles.

Kurdo-Arabic Alphabet

The Kurdo-Arabic alphabet, also referred to as the Sorani alphabet, is a variant of the adapted specifically for writing Sorani, the central dialect of the Kurdish language. It incorporates 33 letters derived primarily from Persian modifications to the , enabling representation of Kurdish phonemes not present in standard . This script is written from right to left, with letters assuming contextual forms depending on their position within a word—initial, medial, final, or isolated—mirroring the nature of and Persian writing systems. Development of the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet occurred in the 1920s, led by Kurdish intellectuals Sa'īd Sidqi Kaban and Taufiq Wahby, who sought to standardize orthography for Sorani amid earlier inconsistent uses of Arabic-based scripts for Kurdish texts. Their reforms built on Perso-Arabic foundations by adding diacritics and modified letters to denote distinct Kurdish sounds, such as the uvular /q/, the emphatic /ɾː/ (represented by ڕ), the long /eː/ (ێ), and the back rounded /o/ (ۆ). These adaptations addressed the limitations of the Arabic abjad, which traditionally omits short vowels, by employing more explicit vowel indicators like ە for /e/ and fuller use of matres lectionis for long vowels, facilitating clearer phonetic rendering compared to unmodified Arabic. Primarily used in the of —where it serves as the official script for Sorani publications, education, and media—and in Iran's , the alphabet supports a substantial body of modern and journalism. Its adoption reflects regional linguistic policies favoring continuity with Perso-Arabic traditions in Shi'a-influenced areas, contrasting with Latin-based systems elsewhere. Despite unification efforts, political divisions have perpetuated its distinct usage, with over 6 million Sorani speakers relying on it for daily communication and cultural preservation as of recent estimates.

Historical Scripts and Variants

Purported Ancient and Early Kurdish Scripts

Claims of ancient Kurdish scripts, such as derivations from Pahlavi, , or "Old Zagros" systems, have been advanced by some Kurdish intellectuals and nationalists, often linking them to pre-Islamic like or Parthian. These assertions typically cite speculative influences from regional ancient writing systems in the , including or linear scripts used by non-Indo-European peoples like Elamites or , but provide no direct epigraphic evidence of Kurdish-specific usage. Scholarly analysis dismisses such claims due to the absence of attested Kurdish linguistic material before the and the lack of phonological or lexical continuity verifiable through . One frequently referenced purported ancient alphabet traces to the 10th-century Arab writer , who described a "Nabataean" or Chaldean script allegedly used by ancient Mesopotamian peoples, which some modern proponents reinterpret as proto-Kurdish. However, Ibn Wahshiyya's work on ancient alphabets is widely regarded by historians as pseudohistorical, blending mythology with unverified decipherments rather than empirical data, and no inscriptions matching these descriptions have been linked to Kurdish speakers. Similarly, assertions of an Avestan-derived "Dindepêwere" script from the Sasanian era (circa 325 CE) under lack manuscript or artifact support and conflate Zoroastrian liturgical writing with Kurdish ethnolinguistic identity, which postdates such systems by centuries. In contrast, the earliest verifiable Kurdish texts emerge in the late , such as a Kurdish-Arabic dated 1596–1605, composed in adapted . Prior to this, Kurdish likely existed primarily in oral form, with no indigenous script developed; any early written records would derive from contact languages like Syriac or Armenian among Christian communities, as in a brief 15th-century Armenian-script fragment, but these represent translations rather than native Kurdish . Linguistic consensus holds that Kurdish, as a Northwestern Iranian language, has no attested written predecessors from antiquity, with its script history beginning through adaptation of Semitic and Perso-Arabic systems in the Islamic period. These purported ancient scripts thus serve more as cultural revival narratives than historically substantiated systems, reflecting 20th-century identity-building efforts amid political fragmentation.

Yezidi Script

The Yezidi script, also known as the Yazidi script, is a right-to-left historically employed to transcribe the dialect of Kurdish, particularly within Yezidi religious and liturgical contexts. Its character set consists of 32 letters, adapted to represent phonemes, including adaptations for sounds not native to Arabic-derived scripts. The script's forms derive from styles reminiscent of older Semitic or Iranian systems, though direct lineage remains unestablished. Origins of the Yezidi script trace to an uncertain period, with scholarly estimates ranging from the to the 13th–14th centuries, potentially linked to pre-Islamic Iranian influences such as Zoroastrian traditions in the region. It emerged amid the Yezidi community's oral religious traditions, serving to commit sacred hymns, prayers, and cosmogonic narratives to writing, including texts like the Kitêba Cilwe () and Mishefa Reş (Black Book). These manuscripts, preserved by Yezidi known as sheikhs and pîrs, underscore the script's role in safeguarding esoteric knowledge against external assimilation or destruction. The script's first documented publication occurred in 1911, when an edition of the aforementioned sacred books appeared in Yezidi script, marking its transition from manuscript exclusivity to broader, albeit limited, dissemination. In the 20th century, modernization efforts by Yezidi scholars Kêrîm Amoêv and Dimitri Pirbari refined the alphabet for contemporary orthography, incorporating diacritics and standardizing letter forms to enhance readability and compatibility with printing. This adaptation addressed gaps in vowel representation and consonant clusters typical of Indo-Iranian . Contemporary usage remains niche, confined largely to Yezidi religious ceremonies, temple inscriptions, and scholarly reproductions within diaspora communities in , Georgia, and . The script's inclusion in version 13.0 (released October 2020) via the dedicated Yezidi block (U+10E80–U+10EB1) has facilitated digital preservation and fonts, though adoption lags due to the dominance of Latin and Arabic scripts among speakers. Revival initiatives by Yezidi spiritual councils emphasize its cultural significance, yet practical challenges—such as limited educational integration and political marginalization of Yezidi identity—constrain wider revitalization. Despite assertions of ancient Kurdish roots by some proponents, the script's primary attestation ties it to Yezidi-specific textual traditions rather than secular .

Soviet Kurdish Alphabets

In Soviet Armenia, Kurdish-language materials, primarily in the Kurmanji dialect, initially employed a modified version of the Armenian alphabet from 1921 to 1929 to facilitate literacy among the Kurdish population resettled there after the Russian Civil War. This adaptation reflected early Soviet efforts to standardize writing systems for minority languages while leveraging local scripts for practicality. The shift to a Latin-based occurred in as part of the broader USSR Latinisation campaign, which aimed to replace non-Latin scripts to promote phonetic accuracy and ideological alignment with international proletarian movements. On February 25, , a Latinized Kurdish was approved, refined by linguists I. Marogulov and Arab Shamilov, incorporating 31 letters including diacritics for Kurdish phonemes such as the uvular fricatives and ejective consonants absent in standard Latin. This script was used for publications, education, and the newspaper Riya Teze ("New Path") in , enabling Kurdish literacy rates to rise modestly among the approximately 40,000 by the mid-1930s. By 1945, following the USSR's policy reversal toward Cyrillisation to consolidate cultural integration under Russian influence, the Latin script was replaced with a Cyrillic-based alphabet devised by Heciyê Cindî in 1946. This 40-letter Cyrillic variant, unified for Kurds across the Soviet republics including Armenia and Azerbaijan, added unique graphemes like Ꞑ/ꞑ for the velar nasal and Ҙ/ҙ for the voiced postalveolar fricative to represent Kurmanji sounds. It supported ongoing Kurdish broadcasting, literature, and schooling until the Soviet dissolution in 1991, though publications dwindled post-World War II due to Stalinist repressions targeting perceived nationalist elements. In the short-lived (Red Kurdistan) of Azerbaijan SSR from 1923 to 1929, similar Latinisation efforts aligned with Armenian practices, but the region's dissolution limited sustained use, with Cyrillic later applied to residual Kurdish communities. These scripts underscored the Soviet Union's instrumental approach to minority languages, prioritizing control over preservation, resulting in fragmented orthographic legacies post-independence.

Other Regional Scripts

The Armenian script was adapted for writing Kurdish, particularly , in regions with significant Armenian populations. This adaptation occurred notably in the , where formed a minority community. From 1921 to 1928, Kurdish texts, including the first book published in Kurdish within the in 1921, employed a modified Armenian alphabet to accommodate Kurdish phonetics, reflecting the linguistic environment where most Soviet resided in Armenia. This script incorporated the 38 letters of the , with potential additions or modifications for Kurdish-specific sounds such as uvular fricatives and ejective consonants absent in Armenian. Its use was limited to a short period before transitioning to other Soviet-standardized scripts like Latin and Cyrillic, driven by broader campaigns and script unification efforts in the USSR. The choice stemmed from practical considerations, as Armenian was the dominant script in the region, facilitating education and publication for Kurdish speakers integrated into Armenian-language schools. Beyond the Soviet context, historical records indicate sporadic employment of the Armenian script for Kurdish in the from the mid-19th century, likely among bilingual Kurdish-Armenian communities in eastern . However, no widespread standardization emerged, and its application remained marginal compared to Arabic or Latin derivatives. Today, this script persists only in archival materials and niche scholarly reproductions, with no active regional usage due to script shifts post-Soviet dissolution and assimilation pressures on minority languages.

Development and Standardization

Origins and Key Reformers

The adaptation of the for Kurdish writing emerged following the 7th-century Arab conquests and the gradual Islamization of Kurdish populations, with modifications incorporating Persian-derived letters such as پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh), and گ (g) to denote phonemes absent in . These changes addressed Kurdish's distinct consonant inventory and partial , though the script's nature—lacking dedicated short vowel marks—led to ambiguities in representation that persisted until modern reforms. Early Kurdish texts, including religious and poetic works from the Ottoman era, utilized this Kurdo-Arabic variant, but widespread literacy remained limited due to socio-political constraints. 20th-century standardization efforts were driven by nationalist intellectuals and state policies amid the post-World War I partition of Kurdish regions, resulting in divergent alphabets tailored to regional dialects and political contexts. Celadet Alî Bedirxan (1893–1951), a Kurdish linguist and exile in , pioneered the Latin-based Hawar alphabet in 1932 specifically for the dialect, featuring 31 letters to enable precise without the diacritic overload of adaptations. Bedirxan, building on limited 18th-century European romanizations of Kurdish , promoted this system via the Hawar journal to foster cultural preservation and education among and Turkish Kurds, emphasizing its compatibility with the Turkish Latin transition. Parallel reforms occurred in the , where linguists at the Leningrad Institute of devised a unified Latin alphabet in 1929 for based on dialect surveys, facilitating textbooks and newspapers before its 1944 replacement with a Cyrillic variant to conform to policies. In , the Sorani dialect's Kurdo-Arabic script was codified between 1918 and 1933 through debates favoring Perso-Arabic modifications over Latin proposals, enhancing vowel indication via contextual matres lectionis and supporting emerging print media. These initiatives by Bedirxan and Soviet scholars, unhindered by the assimilationist bans in and , marked the shift from ad hoc adaptations to deliberate orthographic engineering, though geopolitical divisions precluded pan-Kurdish unity.

Unification Efforts and Political Obstacles

Efforts to unify Kurdish alphabets have persisted since the early , with codification initiatives between 1918 and 1933 attempting to establish a standard script, though modified orthography ultimately dominated in due to regional preferences and administrative inertia. In 1932, Celadet Alî Bedirxan introduced the Latin-based Hawar alphabet for to promote literacy under Turkish prohibitions, but its adoption remained confined to northern Kurdish communities and failed to encompass Sorani variants. More recently, the Kurdish Academy of Language proposed the Kurdish Unified Alphabet (KUAL), a 34-character Latin system aligned with ISO-8859-1 standards, incorporating 9 vowels and 25 consonants without complex diacritics to enable cross-dialect digital tools like keyboards and spell-checkers. Complementary initiatives include Abdullah Kıran's 2014 glossary of 2,700 social science terms and an expanding academic dictionary exceeding 5,000 entries, aimed at harmonizing terminology across dialects. These unification drives encounter profound political barriers stemming from the Kurds' stateless dispersion across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, where host governments have systematically curtailed linguistic autonomy to enforce assimilation. Turkey imposed a total ban on Kurdish expression in 1924, extending to scripts and terminology, with partial rescission only in 1991; lingering restrictions on characters like Q, W, and X in official documents perpetuate a Turkish-influenced Latin variant incompatible with other Kurdish orthographies. In Iraq, Ba'athist Arabization campaigns from the 1970s displaced Kurds and marginalized their scripts, while the post-2003 Kurdistan Regional Government, despite self-rule, has neglected alphabet convergence over three decades, prioritizing Sorani's Arabic-based system amid entrenched institutional habits. Iranian and Syrian regimes similarly impose Persian or Arabic dominance, suppressing Kurdish scripts to undermine ethnic cohesion. Internal Kurdish politics compound these external pressures, as factional rivalries instrumentalize orthographic choices to consolidate power bases. Disputes among parties in —such as the KDP's adherence to Sorani Arabic script versus Latin proponents aligned with Turkish or Syrian exiles—entangle in zero-sum negotiations, stalling consensus on a shared . Dialectal divergences, with 's northern favoring Latin adaptations and Sorani's central features suiting Arabic modifications, resist mechanical fusion without prioritizing one variant, which risks alienating subgroups and fueling accusations of . Absent a centralized or robust corpus for empirical validation, these dynamics sustain fragmentation, undermining prospects for a unified despite its potential to bolster transregional communication and identity.

Linguistic and Technical Features

Phonetic Adaptations and Vowel Representation

Kurdish phonetic adaptations in writing systems primarily address the language's consonant inventory, including uvulars (/q/, /ʁ/), pharyngeals (/ħ/, /ʕ/), and fricatives (/x/, /ɣ/, /ʒ/), alongside a vowel system of 7-8 phonemes distinguished by quality and length. In the Kurdo-Arabic script for Central Kurdish, consonants are augmented with letters like پ (/p/), چ (/t͡ʃ/), ژ (/ʒ/), گ (/ɡ/), ڤ (/v/), and ڕ (trilled /r/), filling gaps in the Perso-Arabic base. Vowel representation shifts from the Arabic abjad's reliance on matres lectionis and optional diacritics to explicit lettering, yielding a more alphabetic structure with one-to-one mappings for seven phonemes: ی (/i/), ێ (/e/), ە (/a/ or schwa), و (/ʊ/), وو (/uː/), ۆ (/o/), ا (/ɑː/), often prefixed by ئ for glottal stops (/ʔ/). This explicitness mitigates ambiguities in vowel-glide distinctions (e.g., /j/ vs. /i/) but retains some polyphony in letters like ی and و. In the Latin Hawar script for Northern Kurdish, 31 letters ensure phonemic transparency, with consonants including q (/q/), x (/χ/), and doubled rr (trilled /r/), while vowels use eight graphemes: short e (/ɛ/), i (/ɪ/), u (/ʊ/), o (/oː/), a (/ɑ/); long ê (/eː/), î (/iː/), û (/uː/), marked by circumflex for length, which conveys semantic differences. These adaptations reflect dialectal variations, with Central Kurdish emphasizing 10 potential vowel distinctions (including length) in Perso-Arabic and Northern focusing on 8 in Latin, both prioritizing explicit vowel notation over the source scripts' deficiencies to support accurate pronunciation and meaning preservation.

Comparative Analysis of Scripts

The Kurdish language employs three principal writing systems: a Latin-based alphabet for Kurmanji, a modified Perso-Arabic script for Sorani, and a Cyrillic alphabet historically used in Soviet territories. The Latin Hawar alphabet, standardized in 1932 by Celadet Alî Bedirxan, consists of 31 letters and is written left-to-right, providing full alphabetic representation with dedicated letters for Kurdish-specific phonemes such as /tʃ/ (ç), /ʃ/ (ş), and vowel qualities via diacritics (ê, î, û). This script explicitly marks all vowels, enhancing phonetic transparency and readability for dialects with eight vowel distinctions. In comparison, the Sorani alphabet, developed in the 1920s by figures including Sa'id Kaban Sedqi, adapts the Perso- script with 33 letters, written right-to-left in form. It incorporates modifications like پ (p), گ (g), ڤ (v), and ڕ (rolled r) to accommodate sounds absent in standard , but relies on optional diacritics (harakat) for short vowels, often omitted in practice, which can introduce ambiguity resolved only by dialectal knowledge or context. Long vowels are typically indicated by matres lectionis, such as و for /uː/, aligning it more closely with Persian orthographic conventions but complicating full phonetic encoding compared to the Latin system. The Cyrillic alphabet, devised in 1946 by Heciyê Cindî for speakers in the USSR, featured around 40 letters, also left-to-right, with tailored glyphs like Ҙ for /ʒ/ and hooks or descenders for affricates and fricatives to match precisely. Similar to Latin, it offered explicit vowel letters, promoting higher phonetic fidelity than the , though its use has declined post-1991 in favor of Latin amid regional shifts.
Phoneme (IPA)LatinSorani ArabicCyrillic Example
/tʃ/ (ch as in church)çچч
/x/ (as in Scottish loch)xخх
/q/ (uvular stop)qقқ
/ʒ/ (as in pleasure)j or zhژж or Ҙ
Long ê (as in bed but longer)êئێе or specific
This table illustrates adaptations for select consonants and vowels; full mappings vary slightly by dialect, but Latin and Cyrillic generally provide one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correspondences, whereas Sorani's cursive connectivity and vowel under-specification demand greater reader expertise. Overall, alphabetic scripts like Latin and Cyrillic facilitate broader accessibility and digital encoding, while the Sorani script preserves cultural ties to Islamic literary heritage at the expense of orthographic efficiency for non-Arabic literates.

Contemporary Usage and Challenges

Regional Adoption and Restrictions

In Turkey, the Hawar Latin alphabet, developed in 1932 by Celadet Alî Bedirxan, is the primary script for writing Kurmanji Kurdish, reflecting its adoption among diaspora communities and post-1991 linguistic thaw following decades of outright bans on Kurdish expression. However, official recognition remains limited; letters Q, W, and X—essential to Kurdish orthography—were prohibited until a 2013 parliamentary motion to legalize them, stemming from their absence in the Turkish alphabet adopted in 1928. As of 2024, elective Kurdish language courses in public schools are often unavailable due to insufficient demand thresholds or administrative hurdles, effectively restricting formal education in the language despite the 1991 lifting of the general ban. In the of , the Kurdo-Arabic script, adapted from the Perso-Arabic system in the by reformers like Sa'id Sidqi and Taufiq Wahby, serves as the official for Sorani Kurdish, mandated for government documents, education, and media since the region's expanded post-1991. This script's dominance aligns with Sorani's prevalence in central and southern Kurdish areas, enabling widespread literacy in official contexts, though Kurmanji speakers in northern districts occasionally employ Latin variants informally. Restrictions are minimal within the semi-autonomous zone, contrasting with pre-2003 Ba'athist-era suppressions, but cross-border influences from Turkey's pose challenges to standardization. Iranian Kurds primarily use a modified Perso-Arabic script for both Sorani and Kurmanji dialects, integrated into Persian-language education systems where Kurdish is tolerated regionally but excluded from national curricula, limiting script standardization efforts. State policies, including a 2017 intelligence agency ban on a Kurdish instructional book, underscore ongoing controls on publication and orthographic innovation, prioritizing assimilation over distinct Kurdish literacy. While no formal alphabet prohibition exists, cultural and legal barriers—such as requirements for Persian primacy in media—constrain adoption, with Kurdish press often facing censorship under vague security pretexts. In , particularly the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) established in 2012, the Latin-based Hawar alphabet is standard for Kurdish in schools, administration, and publications, building on pre-civil war usage and Soviet-influenced Latin traditions. Historical Ba'athist bans on Kurdish writing, enforced until 2011, have eased in controlled areas, allowing script promotion via institutions like the Kurdish Language Academy, though Turkish incursions and non-recognition impose restrictions outside Rojava. Dialectal alignment with Turkey's Latin system facilitates some unity, but political fragmentation hinders broader enforcement.

Digital Fragmentation and Practical Barriers

The proliferation of distinct scripts for Kurdish dialects—primarily Latin-based for Kurmanji and Arabic-based for Sorani—has resulted in significant digital fragmentation, as content in one script is often incompatible with tools optimized for the other, complicating search, indexing, and cross-platform usability. This duality stems from historical and regional divergences, with Kurmanji texts requiring extended Latin Unicode characters (e.g., for sounds like /ʕ/ or /ɣ/) and Sorani relying on modified Arabic script with contextual forms that demand complex rendering engines, leading to inconsistent display across devices and software. Practical barriers exacerbate this issue, including limited Unicode support for Kurdish-specific glyphs, such as variant forms of letters like hêw (heh) in Behdini Kurdish, which often render incorrectly in standard fonts without custom adjustments. Input methods remain fragmented, with keyboard layouts varying by dialect and region—e.g., Windows' KBDKURD.DLL for Central Kurdish mixes and Latin mappings, while on-screen keyboards frequently fail to switch reliably, hindering typing on mobile or virtual interfaces. The absence of standardized orthographies further compounds problems in , as algorithms trained on one variant underperform on others, resulting in poor (OCR) accuracy for digitized archives and low-resource constraints for . These challenges manifest in reduced online presence, with Kurdish digital content comprising less than 0.1% of web pages despite over 30 million speakers, forcing users to default to surrogate languages like Turkish, , or English for information access. Economic disincentives deter contributions to open-source platforms, as developers face high costs for dialect-specific tools without widespread adoption, perpetuating a cycle of underinvestment. Efforts to mitigate fragmentation, such as community-driven font projects or unified input editors, remain nascent and regionally siloed, underscoring the need for coordinated to enable scalable digital infrastructure.

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