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Dimili (Native: Dimilî) is a language spoken by several tribes in eastern Anatolia (Turkey). According to Ethnologue, the Dimili language is a part of the northwestern group of the Iranian section of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.. Dimili shares close similarities with Hewrami, a language spoken by modern Kurds in northern Iraq and southwestern Iran, and some scholars classify Dimili and Hewrami as members of the same language branch. Many tribes that are native in the Dimili language identify as Dimili people, or Zaza people. However, there is also a significant population of Dimili speakers who identify as Kurds.

Dimili regional variants

Dimili is primarily spoken in three regions, which reflect variants in language speech and pronunciation.

• Northern Dimili is spoken in the Dersim, Erzincan, Erzurum, Sivas, Gumushane, Varto, Sariz provinces.
• Central Zazaki is spoken in the Elazığ, Çewlîk, Solhan, Girvas and Amed or Diyarbakır provinces.
• Southern Zazaki is spoken in the Şanlıurfa (Siverek), Amed or Diyarbakır, Adiyaman and Malatya provinces.

Language Classification and Development

As with many other languages in the region, the exact positioning of Dimili in terms of language families is controversial; it parallels a similar controversy about the relationship of the various ethnic groups and is politically fraught. Ethnologue favors the following hierarchy:

• Northwestern Iranian languages
  • • Kurmanji language
    • other sublanguages/dialects of Kurdish
  • Zaza-Gorani language group
    • Dimili/Zazaki
    • Gorani
    • Hewrami
  • Caspian Languages
    • Mazandarani
    • Gilaki

The Encyclopedia Britannica classifies Dimili using an alternate name, Zazaki, to be a dialect of Kurdish. However, this classification is rejected by linguistics who claim that such classification is not based on scientific facts. Linguists who support Dimili's classification as a Kurdish dialect assert that there is insufficient proof to argue against such classifications. Some of these linguistic scholars classify Dimili as part of a middle-Kurdish grouped with Hewrami and Gorani; other languages or dialects spoken by Kurds.]

The identity of Dimili-speakers is split amongst their own communities. While some claim simply a Dimili or Zazaki identity, a number of other Dimili-speakers, and especially those in the Diyarbakir Province in Turkey, claim a Kurdish identity. Some of these groups also advocate the use of the native term Dimilî instead of Zazaki. Scholars of the Kurdish language assert that Kurds are divided by two main branches of Indo-Iranian language, the Kurmancî branch spoken by the majority of Kurds and the Pehlewanî branch, which includes Hewrami and Zazaki.

These scholars claim that based on historical evidence and linguistic similarities between Zazaki and the Gorani dialect of Pehlewanî spoken by Kurds in parts of northern Iraq and southwestern Iran, it is likely the dialects/languages spoken have a common root. These scholars claim that the use of the word "Kurdish" to describe a language has been extrinsically applied and is not common among Kurds outside of foreign conversation or literatures. Kurds instead use the name of the language or dialect they are native to such as Dimili, and use Kurdish simply to describe their ethnic identity.

It is for the reasons noted above that some scholars assert that Kurdish can only properly be used to encompass all dialects/languages spoken by Kurds of the Kurmanci and Pehlewanî branches, which include Dimili. This is in contrast to the notion carried by linguists often foreign to the languages who associate Kurdish with solely the Kurmanci branch.

In November 2006, a committee of intellectuals and linguistic scholars of Zazaki and Hewrami held a conference in Southern Kurdistan to discuss the evident similarities between two languages.

Some linguistic and historical studies on Dimili (Zazaki)

• Durroei, Siamak R. "Hawrami/Dimili as Middle Kurdish" University of Edinburgh,
• Lynn Todd, Terry. (1985) "A Grammar of Dimili" University of Michigan,.
• Gippert, Jost. (1996) "Historical Development of Zazaki" University of Frankfurt University,.
• Mehrdad Izady. (1992) The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, Washington, Taylor and Francis International Publishers, p.151.

Leezenberg, Michiel. "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish" University of Edinburgh http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~siamakr/Kurdish/Papers/Leezenberg93/sec1.html

References

1. Ethnolgue on Dimili classification
2. http://www.zazaki.org
3. http://www.kurdology.org
4. http://www.zazaki.org/
5. Ethnologue on Northern Zazaki
6. Ethnolgue on Southern Zazaki
7. Ethnolgue on Zazaki/Dimili classification
8. Britannica on Zazaki classification
9. Zazas and Zazaki
10. http://www.zazaki.org/
11. http://www.kurdistandailynews.com/ingilizi/Nuce_Inglizi/whoAreKurds.htm
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/Kurdish_language#_note-22
13. Mehrdad Izady, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, Washington, Taylor and Francis International Publishers, 1992, p.151.
14. http://www.dibistanakurdi.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=152&mode=&order=0&thold=0

See also

• Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table

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• Northwestern Iranian languages
• Pehlewani
• Kurdish language
• Languages of Turkey
• Dimili