Safeguarding Iraq's heritage: About 500 dialects in danger
Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Iraq's Strategic Center for Human Rights urged the government to launch immediate measures to safeguard the country's linguistic diversity, as nearly 500 dialects face erosion due to globalization.
In a report, the center described these dialects as a core component of Iraq's cultural identity and oral heritage, shaped by centuries of ethnic, religious, and regional plurality.
'Preserving dialects protects collective memory and reinforces national belonging,' the report stated, calling linguistic diversity a national asset that demands institutional protection.
Linguists estimate Iraq's dialectal spectrum spans Arabic, Kurdish, Turkmen, Assyrian, Mandaic, and Yazidi variations, many of which are passed down orally and remain undocumented.
The center also stressed that dialect loss is not merely a linguistic issue, but a threat to cultural continuity, especially in marginalized or rural communities.
The warning aligns with a global trend highlighted by UNESCO, which estimates that over 40% of the world's 7,000 languages are endangered. Iraq's rich linguistic landscape, shaped by successive civilizations, places it among the countries most exposed to this global phenomenon.
'When a dialect disappears, a worldview disappears with it,' said Ali Haddad, director of the Iraqi Folklore Archive. 'These are not just words—they are repositories of history, customs, and identity.'
The center called on the Ministry of Education and cultural institutions to integrate dialect documentation into national curricula and academic programs, urging funding for research centers to study endangered dialects and support media and artistic content that showcases spoken vernaculars.
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