By Majid Khalil
The historical stages of Hawrami language:
Hawrami remains one of the ancienest remnants of Near Eastern languages. According to all archaeological and linguistic resoures, as well as all contemporary theories related to linguistics. Hawrami is a rich natural language, a language in terms of meaning, sound, grammar, words, idioms and history of use, the most original language of human inhabitants of the Near East. This language is related to Kurdistan. Because Hawrami is the language of the ancient inhabitants of the Zagros Mountains. Before the stages of Indo-European migration to the region in the third millennium BC, the Hawrami people owned the region. With the first migration of Indo-Europeans, along with the indigenous inhabitants of the Zagros, the first stage of the process of formation of the Kurdish language began, the states of Kashi, Lolobi and Gothium were formed. As a result of the mixture of Indo-Europeans and the inhabitants of the Zagros, who are Hawrami, the Kurdish language, especially the Central Kurdish dialect of the Goths and Lolubis, and the Northern Kurdish dialect of the Mitanni and Khuri. In the second Indo-European invasion, the Medes, Kardokhis and Persians were formed. Hence, the Persian and Kurdish nations in Iran are separated. But what remains are the Hawrami. They managed to stay out of the Indo-Europeans. So now Hawrami is different from Northern Kurdish, which is a Badini dialect, Central Kurdish, which is a Sorani dialect, and Southern Kurdish, which is a Lori or Failin Kurdish dialect. Rather, Hawrami is the language of the Zagros that remained in the mountains and outside the influence of Indo-European migration.
Best important resoures of Hawrami language
One of the best sources of the Hawrami language, published by the Royal Danish Scientific Society in 1966, is a book entitled:
THE DIALECT OF AWROMAN (INTRODUCTION TO AWROMAN)
by the prominent author
- N. MACKENZIE
In the introduction to his book, he explained the history of the Hawmi language and its comparison and linguistic importance in a scientific manner. he wrote:”
Near the turn of this century three Europeans in succession visited the mountainous district of Awroman (Hawraman), in the west of the Persian province of Kurdistan (Ardalan), and made notes on the dialects spoken there”. The first to publish his not very considerable notes was J. DE MORGAN, in 1904. By that time both ÅGE MEYER BENEDICTSEN and OSKAR MANN had returned with the fruits of their labours, but neither immediately published his material.
Although both these scholars actually visited Awroman, the greater part of their linguistic notes was made beforehand in the town of Sanandaj (Sina). It is possible that Mann became aware of a certain discrepancy between his notes and the dialect of Awroman proper, due to the shortcomings of his informant. At least, whatever the reason, he did not mention the dialect specifically in the plan for the appropriate part of his great Kurdisch-Persische Forschungen. Nevertheless his notes were published, after his death, by HADANк. It will, therefore, be necessary to return to the question of their accuracy. The most important collection of notes and texts was undoubtedly that made by BENEDICTSEN. Unfortunately it was not until 1921, when in his own words ‘les textes ne m’étaient plus bien familiers, et que bien des passages m’étaient devenues incompréhensibles’, that his material was published, ‘grâce aux lumières et au zèle inlassable de M. ARTHUR CHRISTENSEN’. In the light of new material it is now possible to give a clearer picture of the morphological processes of the language. These are of a surprising complexity for a modern West Iranian dialect. They are far more intricate, for example, than those of any Kurdish dialect, though Hawrami forms an island in a Kurdish sea. Indeed, in many ways Hawrami has the aspect of a somewhat archaic Middle Iranian dialect. Not the least of its claims for attention is the light it throws on the history of neigh- bouring Kurdish dialects.
Nowadays, Hawraman and its language are a strong historical base of the Kurdish language. Because in terms of history, writing, grammar, folklore and literary schools, has become a shield to protect the Kurdish nation’s language, Hawraman is registered as one of the unique regions of humanity in the UNESCO register.