Erbil, also known as Hawler, is the capital city of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. It has been inhabited since at least the 23rd century BC and has always been an important center for various civilizations. Today, Erbil is a modern city and a center for Kurdish culture and politics.
Opening summary
The main language spoken in Erbil is Kurdish. Specifically, most people in Erbil speak the Sorani dialect of Kurdish, which is one of the two main dialects of Kurdish along with Kurmanji. Kurdish belongs to the northwestern Iranian group of the Indo-European language family and is related to Persian and Pashto. While Kurdish is the predominant language, many people in Erbil also speak Arabic due to Iraq’s status as an Arab country and the large number of Arabic speakers in Iraq. Some minority languages like Syriac, Armenian, and Turkmen are also spoken by small populations in Erbil.
History of Erbil
Erbil has a long and rich history dating back thousands of years. It was an integral part of the Assyrian Empire in the ancient world and was later conquered by the Medes, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Ottomans throughout history before becoming part of Iraq in the 20th century. This complex history of successive rulers has influenced the languages spoken in Erbil over the centuries.
In ancient times, Erbil was home to speakers of Akkadian, Amorite, Hurrian, and other ancient languages. Under the Assyrians, Aramaic became the main language of the city. After the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD, Arabic became widespread in Erbil, as it did throughout Iraq. However, the native population retained its Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language, which evolved into the modern Assyrian Neo-Aramaic still spoken by Assyrians in the region today.
The Kurdish language in Erbil
It was only in the medieval and early modern era that speakers of the Kurdish language came to dominate Erbil. Kurdish tribes migrated into and established control over Erbil and the surrounding region starting in the 16th century. The Kurds speak an Iranic language related to Persian and Pashto.
Today, most Kurds speak one of two major dialect groups: Kurmanji in northern Kurdish regions and Sorani in southern Kurdish regions including Erbil. Sorani became the predominant language of Erbil over the past several centuries.
Other minority languages
In addition to Kurdish and Arabic, other minority languages continue to be spoken in Erbil. These include:
- Syriac – an Aramaic language still spoken by Assyrian Christians in the region.
- Armenian – spoken by the small Armenian minority.
- Turkmen – a Turkic language spoken by Iraqi Turkmens.
However, these languages have only very small numbers of speakers today.
Linguistic details of Sorani Kurdish
As noted above, the majority language in Erbil is the Sorani dialect of Kurdish. Linguistically, Sorani has the following characteristics:
- It is an Indo-European language in the northwestern Iranian language sub-family.
- It is closely related to the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish as well as Persian, Pashto, and Zazaki.
- It uses the Perso-Arabic script for writing.
- It has around 7-10 million speakers concentrated in Iraq and Iran.
- Speakers are largely bilingual in Sorani Kurdish and Arabic or Persian.
Some distinguishing grammatical features of Sorani Kurdish include:
- Grammatical gender is not distinguished.
- Definite articles are suffixed to nouns.
- Verbs inflect for aspect rather than tense.
- Case endings have been lost on nouns but retained for pronouns.
- Word order is generally subject-object-verb.
Dialects and varieties in Erbil
There are some minor local dialect differences between the Sorani Kurdish spoken in Erbil compared to other cities. However, these are minimal and Sorani is mutually intelligible across its speakers. There are two main sub-dialects of Sorani in Iraq:
- Erbil/Hawler dialect – spoken in Erbil city and the surrounding governorate.
- Sulemani dialect – spoken in Sulemani and Diyala provinces to the east.
The differences between these two dialects are slight. The main differences are in some vocabulary terms and slight phonological variations.
Influence of other languages
Given Erbil’s long history of multilingualism, Sorani Kurdish as spoken in the city reflects influence from several other languages that have been used historically:
- Arabic – Borrowed vocabulary, adapted Arabic plural system.
- Farsi – Source for much literary and technical vocabulary.
- Turkish – Some loanwords from the Ottoman Turkish era.
- Syriac – Early source of loanwords in Kurdish.
So while Sorani maintains its largely Iranian core vocabulary and grammar, extensive lexical borrowings reflect the diverse linguistic influences on Erbil over time.
Language policy and politics in Erbil
The politics surrounding language in Erbil reflect its status as the center of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Some key aspects include:
- Kurdish is recognized as an official language of the Kurdistan Region, along with Arabic.
- Primary and secondary education is conducted largely in Kurdish in Erbil, unlike Arabic-medium education in Baghdad.
- Kurdish media, publishing, and cultural institutions thrive in Erbil.
- Arabic maintains usage in some official capacities due to links with the Iraqi central government.
- Linguistic rights of minority groups like Turkmen and Assyrians are a politically sensitive issue.
So in essence, Erbil’s privileged position within the Kurdish-administered northern region of Iraq means that Kurdish has prestige and official status, unlike in some mixed cities of Iraq. But Arabic still maintains an important secondary role in Erbil and Iraq’s complex ethnic politics ensure continuing debates over language issues.
Conclusion
In summary, the primary language of Erbil today is Sorani Kurdish, the most widespread dialect of Kurdish in Iraq. It belongs to the northwestern Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Other minority languages like Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, and Turkmen are also spoken by small populations within the city. The historical multilingualism of the city is reflected in the vocabulary and structure of Erbil Sorani Kurdish. And as the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Erbil is a center for Kurdish language and culture, where Kurdish enjoys official status and usage even while Arabic maintains an important secondary role.