Subjugated lexicons
Kurdish lexicography and the epistemic violence of the state
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5886342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kamal Soleimani (0000-0003-0370-5930, El Colegio de Mexico , Santa Teresa , Mexico, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 2026 |
| Issue | 297 |
| Pages | 81-114 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/ijsl-2025-0006 |
| OpenAlex | W4415565848 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
This study examines the oppressive conditions under which Kurdish lexicographical efforts have emerged - particularly in Iran, and to a lesser extent in Turkey - and their significance as forms of resistance. It draws on examples from across Kurdistan, analyzing how Kurdish intellectuals and lexicographers confront state-imposed marginalization that reduces Kurdish to a dialect or local patois. Despite these constraints, the past three decades have seen the publication of numerous dictionaries in diverse formats, documenting Kurdish vocabulary and challenging the linguistic dominance of official state languages. By treating Kurdish lexicography as both a means of cultural preservation and a mode of resistance, this study shows its role in contesting erasure and reclaiming linguistic agency. Through scholarly rigor and cultural assertion, Kurdish dictionaries function as vital repositories of identity, affirming the place of Kurdish language and culture within the region's historical and political landscape
Ideology · Lexicographical order · Lexicography · Politics · Vocabulary · Islamic Studies and History · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Turkey's Politics and Society
Power/Knowledge
Orality and Literacy
Tawfiq Wahbi and the Reform of the Kurdish Language in Contact Zones
Islam and Competing Nationalisms in the Middle East, 1876-1926
The immemorial Iranian nation? SchoolColonialism, nationalism, and modern islamic thought
Kurdish broadcasting via state TV in Turkey – Cultural diversity or government’s propaganda machine
Kurdish Lexicography a Survey and Discussion
Introduction. Kurdish
A “Revolutionary” Kurdish Mullah from Turkey
The Kurdish image in statist historiography
Persian nationalism and the campaign for language purification
Persian Identity in Historical Perspective
Textualising the ethno‐religious sovereign, history, ethnicity and nationalism in the Perso‐Islamic textbooks
Can non-Persians speak? The sovereign’s narration of “Iranian identity
By Any Other Name
Peasants into Frenchmen
Situated Knowledges
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |