(Jaffi Accent) A Sub-variety of Central Kurdish: A Dialectological Study

Abstract

This study investigates a language sub-variety within Central Kurdish (CK henceforth). The sub-variety, spoken by a tribe known as Jaff, is spoken in the northeast of Iraq and west of Iran. The language variety is identical to CK in terms of grammar and vocabulary; it has its own phonetic features. In the literature of Kurdish dialectology, the Jaffi variety has not been studied. Mackenzie (1961, 1962) refers to the variety by collecting raw data from two speakers of the variety without describing its phonetic features or identifying the area where it is spoken. The current study concludes that Jaffi is an accent within CK, having its own phonetic features. It is also found that the variety is initiated by language contact with Southern Kurdish in the south, with Ardalani Kurdish in the north. There is variation among the Jaffi speakers in different areas where the language variety is spoken.