The Babel Message by Keith Kahn-Harris

Author:Keith Kahn-Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icon Books
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sorani is not the most widely spoken version of Kurdish. That honour goes to Kurmanji (also known as Northern Kurdish) which is the predominant language of 15–20 million Turkish Kurds and is also widely spoken across other Kurdish areas (including in Iraq and Syria). The difference with Sorani is accentuated by Kurmanji’s Latin alphabet:

HIŞYARÎ, bixwîne û biparêze: Lîstik bikêrî zarokên bin 3 salî nayên. Parçeyên piçûk dikarin werin daqurçandin an hêlmijandin.13

While nurturing a separate language is often a part of nationalist struggles, the two don’t always converge seamlessly. After centuries of marginalisation, Welsh is now officially supported by the devolved Welsh government, with the language taught in schools and universities. About 30% of the Welsh population speak the language but not all Welsh-speakers want independence and Welsh nationalists do not all have fluent Welsh. The same is true for the Basque country in Spain, where Basque-speakers are a significant minority and supporting Basque independence is not necessarily synonymous with being a Basque-speaker. Regional devolution can ‘split’ nationalist movements between those who are content with degrees of autonomy and those who wish to be entirely independent. Either way, a minority language is likely to flourish.

However much autonomy a region may receive and however much its language may be officially supported, the use of such languages in product packaging isn’t guaranteed. On visits to Spain, where Catalan/Valencian, Basque and Galician-speaking regions have considerable autonomy from the Spanish state, I have often been struck by how the use of these languages on product labels tends to be confined to Spanish products, if at all. This is a particular pity for Basque, which is famously a language ‘isolate’, unrelated to any other language and an invigorating conglomeration of ‘z’s and ‘k’s:

KONTUZ, irakurri eta gorde: Jostailu desegokia 3 urtetik beherako haurrentzat. Zatitxoak irentsi edo inhalatu ahal dituzte.14

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