The impact of physical geography factors on the division of Kurdish language – taking the dialect of Surchi tribe as example

Abstract

The title of our research is about (The impact of physical geography factors on the division of Kurdish language – taking the dialect of Surchi tribe as  example).  In this study, we will try to highlight the physical geography factors which can divide a language into several dialects, there are similar factors that divided the Kurdish language into four main dialects, each of which is divided into several sub-dialects, we will also try to focus on a physical geography factor which is the Great Zab River in the territory of ​​the Surchi tribe, which has made the population belonging to the tribe on both sides of the river, although whose main language is Kurdish, their speech styles may differ in terms of language levels, and these distinctions are more noticed by linguists.      In this research, we have done several field visits and interviews with villagers of some villages belonging to the Surchi tribe on both sides of the Great Zab River. After researching and interviewing in these areas, we decided to take two villages as samples of our research, each of which is different in terms of physical geography and speech styles. Zerav village is located on the bank of a river on the right side of the Great Zab, while Kalakin village is located on the left bank of the Great Zab. This study is divided into three main parts: First part concerns Kurdish Language and its dialects, second part is about physical geography factors on division of the Kurdish language, third part presents Surchi tribe, it describes the geographical boundaries of Surchi tribe, then analyzes the speech style of Surchi tribe in general and identifies the phonemes of both villages (Kalakin Sarchia) and (Zerav) in particular, then compare them with each other in terms of phonology.