a-practical-kurdish-grammar

A PRACTICAL KURDISH GRAMMAR
lect." And in speaking of the near relationship of the Somai,
Bradost, Schikak, and Mukri dialects, he concludes in these
words: "Ihre zusammenfassung unter einen gemeinschaft-
lichen Dialekt scheint mir nicht unmöglich." He further
claims that the entire series of Kurdish dialects could be col¬
lected into two large groups, one for the North, and one for
the South. In this statement, however, he undoubtedly over¬
looked the difficulty connected with the Zaza group of dialects
in the extreme North. But even of these Zaza Kurds, Lerch,
the greatest authority on that group of dialects, says: "In
general the Zaza Kurds also understand the Kermanji."
As a conclusion, we seem to be justified in making the
assertion, that for linguistic purposes, we may collect all the
Kurdish dialects into three large groups, covering the three
large districts of North, Central, and South Kurdistan. In
North Kurdistan we have the Zaza group, in Central Kurdi¬
stan we have the Kermanji group, and in South Kurdistan
we have the Lur and Kelhur group.
As to which of these three groups represents the purest
and best Kurdish, we would join with Garzoni, Lerch, Rhea,
Chodsko, Beresin, Hornli, and Parter in referring to Central
Kurdistan, and more particularly to the group of dialects spok¬
en by the noble Bebeh tribes in the districts of Suleimania.
Among this group of tribes we find the best Kurdish literature
in the form of history, legends, poetry, and prose.
In speaking of the Mukri tribe, which inhabits Persian
territory south of Lake Urmia, Mr. E. B. Soane, in his book,
"To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Disguise" says : "They
speak the Kurdish language in all its purity of accent and
grammatical form. Their dialect is the most ancient of all,
and while its antiquity is probably not greater than that of
its neighbors, its excellent preservation of ancient forms gives
it a claim to be considered the standard by which to compare
other dialects."
Much time has been spent on the preparation of this Gram¬
mar; but it has not been subjected to so thorough a revision
as I should have liked. My design has been to discover the
best Kurdish in the dialects of Central Kurdistan, particularly
in the Somai-Soujbulak-Suleimania Groups, and to put it into