Investigating the Factors of Sustainability of Arabic Words in Kurmanji Kurdish: A Case Study of the Kurds of Urmia and North West Azerbaijan

As a social phenomenon, language change is a normal and inevitable process whose speed hinges upon a myriad of intra-lingual and extra-lingual factors. Despite the resistance and resolve of the Kurdish people against the cultural and linguistic changes, Kurmanji Kurdish, like Persian language, were vulnerable to Arabic language, and, with a slight delay, they began to borrow from Arabic language on three levels: lexical, phonological, and grammatical. Today, in Kermanji Kurdish, there are many Arabic words parts of which have been transferred either indirectly via Persian language or simultaneously with their introduction to Persian and Kurdish languages. While these words are no longer used in the Persian language, they are still employed by the Kermanjis. In the present study, the widely used Arabic words in the Kermanji dialect (spoken in Urmia and the northern cities of West Azerbaijan Province) are enumerated. Moreover, the factors contributing to the persistence of these words in the Kermanji dialect, as compared to their disappearance from Persian and other Kurdish dialects, are discussed. It is argued that among the factors which perpetuate the Arabic words in Kermanji dialect are: the similarity of Arabic and Kurdish ​​in terms of letter costs, Kurds' strong adherence to cultural, linguistic as well as religious elements, and an all-out effort by Kermanjis to orally transmit Kurdish literary and fictional works.