A Lingua Franca for Kurdish Populations?

• In Event: Cultural Foundations of State Building

Abstract

We offer a variant of the three-language policy for areas populated by Kurds in several countries.
Unlike the other three-languages formulas in India, Nigeria, or Kazakhstan, that addressed the development of national identity, Kurdistan faces the challenge of strengthening of ethnic identity, meaning that the cross-learning of different Kurdish dialects is a financial problem, rather the ethnic one constrained by the cost of learning rather than the fear of linguistic disenfranchisement. Based on our estimation of linguistic distances between various Kurdish languages and the number of their speakers, our proposal focuses on three languages to be learnt by Kurdish populations: official language in the country of residence (Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish) for the purpose of efficiency and necessity; a Kurdish language for preservation of Kurdish identity (Kurmanj, Sorani or other) and English (for inter-community exchange between different Kurdish groups).

Author

• Shlomo Weber, New Economic School