Shabaki (زِوان شَبَكي)

Shabaki is a language spoken by Shabak people in Mosul, Iraq. It is part of the northwestern group of the Iranian part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. The Shabaki language belongs to the Zaza-Gorani group and is supposed to share major similarities with Gorani dialects such as Hewremi, Bajelani and Sarli. It's written in Arabic Alphabet and has 28 Letters .

In 1989 an estimate of speakers of Shabaki was put between 10,000 and 20,000. According to Shabaki media man (Ghanem Musawi), those statistics are not correct because the former regime of AlBaath forced the Shabak People to choose between Arabization and Kurdization .

Shabaki alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

The long version of ا = /ɑ/
و = u/ as a long vowel and /w/ as a consonant
ي = /i/ as a long vowel abd /j/ as a consonant
Short vowel marks are same as in Arabic: fatha (َ ), Damma (ُ-) and Kasra (ِ ). Fatha = /æ/, Damma = /o/ and Kasra = /e/.
ة is used only in final position, it is /-t/ after a long vowel, silent after a short vowel.