[lg policy] Do the Yazidi speak primarily Kurdish?

[Harold Schiffman]

Question for the group:

I recently read a news report that indicated that some (or perhaps most) of
the Yazidi minority currently being persecuted in northern Iraq were
speakers of Kurdish.  Today I googled this topic and got a Wikipedia
article that says the following:]

"The *Yazidi* (also Kurdish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_language>:
*Yezidi, Êzidî, Êzdîtî*, Armenian
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language>: Եզդի *Yezdi*, Russian
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language>: Езиды *Ezidy*) are a
mostly Kurdish-speaking
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_languages> ethnoreligious
group <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnoreligious_group>. Yezidi Kurds[13]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi#cite_note-13>[14]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi#cite_note-14> have a Kurdish culture
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_culture>. According to some sources
their religion is linked to ancient Zoroastrianism
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism> and Sufism
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism> while other sources view their
religion as a combination of Shia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam>
and Sufi Islam with indigenous regional folk traditions.[15]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi#cite_note-AsatrianArakelova2014-15>[16]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi#cite_note-PalmerBurgess2012-16> They
live primarily in the Nineveh Province
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineveh_Province> of northern Iraq
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq>, a region once part of ancient Assyria
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria>. Additional communities in Armenia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia>, Georgia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29> and Syria
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria> have been in decline since the 1990s
as a result of significant migration to Europe
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe>, especially to Germany
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany>."

Does any member of this group have any better information on this?  Most
of the articles that mention the Yazidis do not mention their language.

HS

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20140815/b417dbdd/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list