The most widely spoken Kurdish variety, used across southeast Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iraq and Iran.
Hawrami
An older and distinctive Kurdish variety spoken in pockets along the Iran-Iraq border, rich in classical poetic tradition.
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Hawrami?
Hawrami is a dialect of the Kurdish language.
Where is Hawrami spoken?
Hawrami is primarily spoken in Iran, Iraq.
Which region is Hawrami associated with?
Hawrami is part of the Middle East region on DialectAtlas.
Is Hawrami endangered?
Hawrami is considered endangered. Children are no longer learning it as a mother tongue at home, and its everyday use is shrinking.
What are the other dialects of Kurdish?
Kurdish also includes Kurmanji, Bahdini, Sorani, Zaza. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Kurdish dialects
See on the atlas →Behdini · Badini · Behdînî · Bahdînî
A southern Kurmanji subdialect spoken in Duhok province of Iraqi Kurdistan and adjacent areas of southeastern Turkey. Mutually intelligible with northern Kurmanji but with distinct phonology and vocabulary, and traditionally written in Arabic script alongside Sorani rather than the Latin script used for Kurmanji further north.
Spoken across Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran. The main written language in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Spoken in eastern Turkey. Closely related to Kurdish varieties, with its own grammar and vocabulary.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →231 km away
Spoken across Iraqi Kurdistan and western Iran. The main written language in Iraqi Kurdistan.
277 km away
A southwestern Iranian language of the Lur people in Iran's western Zagros region. Closely related to Persian but linguistically distinct, with several million speakers across Lorestan, Khuzestan, and Ilam.
291 km away
Spoken across Iraq and parts of eastern Syria and southwestern Iran. Carries strong Aramaic and Turkic influence and splits internally between gilit (southern) and qeltu (northern) varieties.
304 km away
The Azerbaijani of north-western Iran, centred on Tabriz. The most-spoken Azerbaijani variety; uses a Perso-Arabic script and shows long contact with Persian.
346 km away
A southern Kurmanji subdialect spoken in Duhok province of Iraqi Kurdistan and adjacent areas of southeastern Turkey. Mutually intelligible with northern Kurmanji but with distinct phonology and vocabulary, and traditionally written in Arabic script alongside Sorani rather than the Latin script used for Kurmanji further north.
361 km away
A northwestern Iranian language spoken across Iran's Caspian province of Gilan around Rasht. Distinct from Persian in case marking and a richer verb system retaining older Iranian features.
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Sources & corpora
Data on Hawrami from open scholarly databases. Each link opens the source in a new tab.