Zazaki, Northern

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A language of Turkey

ISO 639-3
kiu
Alternate Names
Alevica, Dersimki, Dimilki, Kirmanjki, Northern Zaza, Shar Ma, So-Bê, Zaza, Zonê Ma
Population

184,000 in Turkey (2014 J. Leclerc).

Location

Sivas Province, Zara, Imranli, Kangal, and Divrigi subprovinces; Tunceli Province, Tunceli merkez, Hozat, Nazmiye, Pülümür, and Ovacik subprovinces; Bingol Province, Kigi and Karkiova subprovinces; Erzurum Province, Erzincan and Cayirli subprovinces; Elazig Province, Elazig merkez and Karakoqan subprovinces; Mush Province, Varto subprovince; Malatya Province; at least 83 total villages.

Language Status

4 (Educational).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Zaza-Gorani
Dialects

Tunceli, Varto. Lexical similarity: 70% with Southern Zazaki [diq]. A member of macrolanguage Zaza [zza].

Typology

SOV; prepositions and postpositions; genitives, articles, adjectives relatives after noun heads; numerals before noun heads; question word replaces content word in content questions; 2 prefixes, 2 suffixes, word order distinguishes subject, object, indirect object; noun affixes indicate case; verb affixes indicate person, number, gender; ergativity; passives; causatives; comparatives; V, VC, VCC, CV, CVC, CVCC; nontonal.

Language Use

Abroad, they use Northern Zazaki for close relationships. Home, community. All ages. Also use Turkish [tur]. Used as L2 by Northern Kurdish [kmr].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: School-age children to 40 years old, are literate in Turkish [tur]. Poetry. Magazines. Newspapers. New media. Radio programs. Films. TV. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Zazaki, Northern
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Muslim.

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