Science and Mathematics in the Kurdish Language

الملخص

There are four stages in the process of language standardization: (1) selection of norm, (2) codification of form, (3) elaboration of function and (4) acceptance by the community.

Elaboration of function means that the language must be developed in terms of coined words (neologism) when writing and translating books in different fields of science. The Kurdish language has, in the past century, developed exponentially; there have been many coined terms, in particular scientific terms in addition, translation of scientific books into Kurdish.

Scientific terminology in Kurdish began in the 1920s when education in Kurdish was taught in the schools in southern Kurdistan. In the beginning some text books were translated from Arabic into Kurdish. This trend of language development continued until the outbreak of the revolution in Iraq on the 14th July 1958; later another phase of language development began as the Kurdish language was given more rights for use. Also many more scientific terms were coined by linguists and writers. After the 11th March 1970, when the Iraqi Government declared an Autonomous Region for Iraqi Kurdistan it resulted in Kurdish becoming an official language in Kurdistan; this event had a great impact on language use, and as a consequence the language expanded its function in the field of science to a great extent. During this period all scientific textbooks had been translated into Kurdish and later used within the schools of the autonomous region.