[WIA Languages Day 64/221] Central Kurdish – A Song of Freedom Echoing from the Mesopotamian Mountains

WIA Language Project

[Day 64/221]

کوردیی ناوەندی

Central Kurdish | Sorani

“A Song of Freedom Echoing from the Mesopotamian Mountains”

A quiet revolution, a digital record of 221 languages • We are not saving languages. We are recording eternity.

In the cradle of Mesopotamian civilization, among the rugged peaks of the Zagros Mountains, some 8 million people sing of freedom and identity in this language. Central Kurdish, commonly known as Sorani, is one of the core languages of the Kurds, the largest nation in the world without a state of its own. Although it is written in the Arabic script, it is neither Persian nor Arabic, but an independent language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. Today we meet the soul of Central Kurdish (کوردیی ناوەندی).

History – The Unbending Language of a Mountain People

The history of Kurdish begins together with the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia. Kurdish, which belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family, is presumed to be a linguistic descendant of the Median Empire (678-549 BCE). The Kurds, who have lived around the Zagros Mountains, have for thousands of years maintained their own language and culture as natives of the region.

Central Kurdish (Sorani) began to develop as a literary language in the early 19th century, during the Ottoman era. In 1898, Kurdish intellectuals published the first Kurdish-language newspaper, “Kurdistan” (کوردستان), in Cairo, Egypt, opening the first chapter of modern Kurdish literature. In the 20th century, Sorani established itself as the language of education and administration in the Kurdish areas of Iraq.

Yet the history of the Kurdish people has been a succession of repression and resistance. Saddam Hussein’s Anfal Campaign of 1988 was a massacre of Kurds on a massive scale; thousands of villages were destroyed and the use of Kurdish was banned. Even so, the Kurds preserved their language in the mountains, in exile, and underground. After the Gulf War of 1991, an autonomous region was established in northern Iraq, and Sorani regained its official status.

Today – The Living Freedom of 8 Million Speakers

As of 2025, Central Kurdish (Sorani) is spoken by about 8 million people. It is the official language of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the second official language of the Iraqi federation. In major cities such as Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, Sorani functions as a principal language of education, media and administration.

In Iran, about 3 million people, centered on Kurdistan Province, speak Sorani, but it has not been granted official status. In diaspora communities as well, hundreds of thousands of people in Europe, North America, Australia and elsewhere use Sorani, sustaining their language community through satellite television and online media.

Universities in the Kurdistan Region teach in Sorani and offer degree programs in Kurdish literature, history and philosophy. The Kurdish Wikipedia is actively maintained, and the Kurdish film and music industries are growing steadily.

Gems of the Language – Mountain Wisdom in Poetry and Proverbs

The crown of Kurdish literature is poetry. The epic “Mem û Zîn” by the 17th-century poet Ahmad Khani (ئەحمەدی خانی) is the Kurdish Romeo and Juliet and a literary cornerstone of Kurdish national identity. The modern master Sherko Bekas (شێرکۆ بێکەس), known as “the poet of the Kurds,” raised Sorani poetry to world-class standing.

Kurdish proverbs hold the wisdom of a mountain people. “کورد ھاوڕێیان نییە جگە لە چیاکان” [Kurd haureyan niye jige le chiakan] — “The Kurds have no friends but the mountains.” This proverb condenses into one sentence the history of isolation and self-reliance the Kurdish people have experienced among great powers. “ئاو لە سەرچاوەوە گڵاوە” [Au le sercha-weue glawe] — “Water is muddied at its source.” It carries the wisdom that one must identify the root of a problem.

Sorani’s writing system is also distinctive. It is based on the Arabic script, but additional letters were created to represent sounds unique to Kurdish. Sorani is also the only Kurdish dialect in which grammatical gender has disappeared, a very rare feature among Indo-European languages. Its use of an ergative case system is another interesting grammatical trait that sets it apart from European languages.

WIA’s Promise – Turning the Mountain’s Echo into Eternal Digital Form

WIA preserves Kurdish epics, Sorani poetry, traditional music and oral history digitally, for eternity. Voices that might have faded like an echo in the Zagros Mountains are recorded in a high-resolution digital archive.

Just as the mountains have been the Kurds’ constant friend, WIA’s digital archive will become a new mountain that guards Sorani forever.

221 languages, a journey of 221 days. Today the voice of Sorani crosses the Zagros Mountains and resonates in your heart. The song of freedom that a stateless nation has kept alive in the mountains will ring on forever through the digital archive.

This journey, begun quietly, will move the hearts of millions and echo across generations.

Every voice is eternal.

WIA Language Institute

221 Languages – Recording Languages for Eternity

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