Zaza language

Zaza (endonym: Zazakî, Dimlî, Dimilkî, Kirmanckî, Kirdkî, Zonê ma, lit. 'Our language'), also known by its endonym Zazaki, is an Iranian language belonging to the Northwestern Iranian branch and spoken in various regions of Turkey by the Zaza people. The language has three main dialects; northern, southern, and central and these dialects are spoken in Bingöl, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Malatya, Muş, Bitlis and Tunceli provinces in Eastern Anatolia; Adıyaman, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa provinces in Southeastern Anatolia; Kars and Ardahan in Northeastern Anatolia; Sivas, Kayseri, Aksaray in Central Anatolia and Tokat and Gümüşhane in Black Sea regions of Turkey. International linguistic authorities such as SIL Global, Glottolog and Ethnologue divide the language into northern and southern dialects with numerous sub-dialects. In terms of grammar, genetics (diachronic) and core vocabulary, the Zaza language is closely related to Tati, Talysh, Sangsari, Semnani, Mazandarani and Gilaki. The language shares also significant grammatic similarities with Parthian and Bactrian, two ancient and extinct Iranian languages spoken in antiquity. The glossonym Zaza originated as a pejorative. According to Ethnologue, Zaza is spoken by around 1.48 million people, and the language is considered threatened due to a declining number of speakers, with many shifting to Turkish. Nevins, however, puts the number of Zaza speakers between two and three million.