zza

Zaza, also known by its endonym Zazaki, is an Iranian language belonging to the Northwestern Iranian branch and spoken in various regions of Turkey by the Zaza people. The language comprises three primary varieties; northern, southern, and central and these varieties are spoken in Bingöl, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Malatya, Muş, Bitlis and Tunceli provinces in Eastern Anatolia; Adıyaman, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa provinces in Southeastern Anatolia; Kars and Ardahan in Northeastern Anatolia; Sivas, Kayseri, Aksaray in Central Anatolia and Tokat and Gümüşhane in Black Sea regions of Turkey. Leading linguistic authorities, including SIL Global, Glottolog and Ethnologue, categorize the language into distinct northern and southern varieties, which are further delineated by extensive sub-dialectal variation.