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Kurdish (Kurdi, Курди) belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is believed that the first Indo-European-speaking people began to move into what is present-day Kurdistan about 4,000 years ago. In the next two thousand years, the original language of the Kurds was completely displaced by an Indo-European variety that eventually became Kurdish as it is spoken today. Kurdish is a macrolanguage that consists of a continuum of closely related languages spoken over a large territory that encompasses Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan with a large diaspora spread all over Europe and the United States.
The population of native speakers is believed to be 22 million according to the data of 2022. It is recognized as an official language in Iraq along with Arabic.Kurdish has four major dialects, one of which Sorani Kurdish (Central Kurdish) was once available at IU.
Kurdish is taught periodically through the IU Language Workshop 2023 and the Department of Central Eurasian Studies.
