Dil Statüsü ve Iraq Kürdistanında Parti Politikaları: Behdinî ve Hewrami Örnekleri

Language Statues and Party Politics in Kurdistan-Iraq. The Case of Badini and Hawrami Varieties

Özet

Abstract

This paper compares the status two language varieties from Kurdistan Iraq: Badini and Hawrami. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) views both varieties as Kurdish. Yet, although both varieties have strived for mother tongue-education and some sort of official recognition, only Badini has been successfully in achieving language rights. To investigate possible reasons for this imbalance in the statues of the two varieties the paper deploys critical language policy and the historical construction approach. The paper compares the two varieties with respect to several factors such as linguistics, historical development, literary tradition, perception and attitude, ethnolinguistic mobilization, demography and socio economic situation, and finally politics and the community’s political power. The most important factor favouring Badini seems to be its speakers significant political and linguistic ties with one of the most powerful political parties , Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).