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Southern Zaza

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Southern Zaza
Dımli, Dımıli, Dımılki
PronunciationZaza pronunciation: [dɪmɪlki]
Native toTurkey
RegionParts of southeastern and eastern Anatolia
EthnicityZazas
Native speakers
1.16 million[1] (2016)
DialectsSivereki
Kori
Motki
Dumbuli
Hazzu[3]
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-2diq
ISO 639-3Dimli
Glottologdiml1238  Dimli
ELPDimli
Southern Zaza, shaded in dark blue.
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Southern Zaza, is one of the three primary dialects of the Zaza language, spoken by the Zaza people.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The dialect is also referred to as Dımli, Dımıli or Dımılki, which are believed to be historically and linguistically derived from the words Daylam and Daylamite.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Classification

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Glottolog classifies Southern Zaza within the Adharic sub​​group of the Northwestern Iranian languages ​​branch of the Iranian languages. Southern Zaza consists of five sub-dialects, Dumbuli, Hazzu, Kori, Motki and Sivereki.[19]

History

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Southern Zaza, its Siverek, Kori and nearby dialects, was analyzed linguistically by linguists Oskar Mann [de] and Karl Hadank in the early 20th century.[20] The first religious poems (Mawluds) written in the Zaza language during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were composed in this dialect, utilizing the Arabic letters.[21]

Speakers

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Southern Zaza is spoken predominantly in Siverek, Çermik, Çüngüş, Gerger, Mutki, Aksaray, Ergani, Maden and Kulp.[12] Speakers of the Southern Zaza adhere to the doctrines of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, similar to the Turks and Arabs in the areas where they live, but unlike the Kurds.[12][22] The number of Southern Zaza speakers was estimated to be around 1.1 million people in 2016.[23]

Grammar

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Southern Zaza has a more conservative (archaic) structure than other dialects of the Zaza language. The dialect differs from Northern Zaza in phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical aspects. The least difference is found in syntax, while the most significant differences are found in phonology. The phonological changes between š and s, g and c and k and č are noteworthy.[12][24] Morphologically, the feminine suffix is realized as an unstressed /-ı/ in Southern Zaza, whereas it is realized as /-e/ in Northern Zaza.[25] A distinctive linguistic feature of Southern Zaza, setting it apart from all other Iranian languages, is its employment of a double ezafe system.[26][27]

The following table provides a comparative overview of the phonological changes between Southern and Northern Zaza:

English Southern Zaza Northern Zaza
milk šıt sıt
hungry/thirsty veyšan/teyšan vesan/tesan
house ke, keye, kiye če, čeye
soul gan can
chicken kergı kerge

References

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  1. ^ "Zazaki, Southern". Ethnologue. 2016. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019.
  2. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Dimli". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Dimli". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ^ "Zazaki, Southern". Ethnologue. 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  5. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Dimli". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  6. ^ "639 Identifier Documentation: zza Zaza [zza]". SIL International. 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  7. ^ Paul, Ludwig (2009). "Zazaki". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 546, 554. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.
  8. ^ Selcan, Zülfü (1998). Grammatik der Zaza-Sprache Nord-Dialekt (Dersim-Dialekt) [Grammar of the Zaza language, Northern dialect (Dersim dialect)] (in German). Berlin: Wissenschaft & Technik Verlag. p. 135. ISBN 3-928943-96-0. ...wurden zwei hauptdialekte der Zaza-Sprache festgestellt: ein Nord Dialekt und en Süddialekt.
  9. ^ Arslan, İlyas (2016). Verbfunktionalität und Ergativität in der Zaza-Sprache (PhD thesis). Köln: Universität Düsseldorf. p. 11.
  10. ^ Arslan, İlyas (2018). "Zaza Dilinde Lehçe Farklılıkları" [The Dialectological Differences Of Zaza Language]. Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 4 (4): 6–7 – via Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü.
  11. ^ Werner, Brigitte (2012). "Morphological Sketch of Southern Zazaki (spoken in the area of Çermik, Çüngüş, Siverek and Gerger)" (PDF). Zazaki.de. SIL International. p. 4. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  12. ^ a b c d Keskin, Mesut (2015). "Zaza Dili (Zaza Language)". Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 1 (1): 94-95, 101-102.
  13. ^ Aratemür, Yaşar (2025). Sprachatlas Der Zaza-Sprache: Lautgeographie Des Zazaki. Leiden: Brill. p. 323. ISBN 978-90-04-74621-3.
  14. ^ Eren, Hıdır (2019). "Zazaların Kendilerini Adlandırmaları Üzerine Kısa Bir Deneme". In Çağlayan, Hüseyin; Özcan, Mesut (eds.). Tarihsel ve Sosyolojik Gelişimi İle Zazaca, Tarih-Edebiyat-Coğrafya-Folklor. Ankara: Kalan Yayınları. pp. 87–93. ISBN 978-605-4915-08-8. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  15. ^ Asatrian, Garnik (1995), "DIMLĪ", Encyclopædia Iranica, VI (5): 405–411, retrieved 7 June 2020
  16. ^ Arakelova (1999), pp. 397.
  17. ^ Werner (2017), p. 70.
  18. ^ Lockwood, William Burley (1972). A Panorama of Indo-European Languages. London: Hutchinson. p. 244. The Zaza people are descended from immigrants from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and have in part retained the language of their ancestors, which they themselves call Dimli.
  19. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Dimli". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  20. ^ Hadank, Karl (1930). Mundarten der Zâzâ: Hauptsächlich aus Siwerek und Kor (in German). Berlin: Verlag der Preussischen Akademie. pp. 18–23, 24–26.
  21. ^ Selcan, Zülfü (1998). Grammatik der Zaza-Sprache Nord-Dialekt (Dersim-Dialekt) [Grammar of the Zaza language, Northern dialect (Dersim dialect)] (in German). Berlin: Wissenschaft & Technik Verlag. pp. 104–105. ISBN 3-928943-96-0.
  22. ^ Werner (2017), p. 67.
  23. ^ "Zazaki, Southern". Ethnologue. 2016. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019.
  24. ^ Arslan, İlyas (2018). "Zaza Dilinde Lehçe Farklılıkları" [The Dialectological Differences Of Zaza Language]. Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 4 (4): 54–55 – via Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü.
  25. ^ Hayıg, Roşan; Werner, Brigitte (2012). Zazaca-Türkçe Sözlük ; Türkçe-Zazaca Sözcük Listesi (Çermik – Çüngüş – Siverek – Gerger Bölgeleri) [Zaza-Turkish Dictionary; Turkish-Zaza Word List (Çermik - Çüngüş - Siverek - Gerger Regions)] (in Turkish). Istanbul: Tij Yayınları. p. 421.
  26. ^ Paul, Ludwig (2009). "Zazaki". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. p. 563. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.
  27. ^ Larson, Richard K. and Hiroko Yamakido. 2006. Zazaki “double ezafe” as double case-marking. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Albuquerque, NM.

Bibliography

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  • Werner, Eberhard (2017). Rivers and Mountains: A Historical, Applied Anthropological and Linguistical Study of the Zaza People of Turkey Including an Introduction to Applied Cultural Anthropology. Nuremberg: Verlag Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. ISBN 978-3957760654.
  • Arakelova, Victoria (1999), "The Zaza People as a New Ethno-Political Factor in the Region", Iran & the Caucasus, 3/4: 397–408, doi:10.1163/157338499X00335, ISSN 1573-384X, JSTOR 4030804
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