Kurdish Sorani language analysis (LADO): Iraq and Iran
Sorani speakers come from two states: Iraq's Kurdistan Region, around Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Halabja and Kirkuk, and Iran's Kurdish areas, from Sanandaj to Mahabad and northern Kermanshah. For immigration authorities and representatives, that border is often the heart of the matter. SILA Linguists® carries out Sorani language analysis that looks past the shared written standard to the local and national features of a person's everyday speech.
Why Sorani LADO is commissioned
Central Kurdish is the main written form used by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the dominant Kurdish of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. In Iran it is spoken in Kurdistan province, including Sanandaj, in southern West Azerbaijan, including Mahabad and the Mukriyan area, and in parts of Kermanshah province. People from all these places seek protection in the UK and elsewhere, and when documents are missing or contested, a decision-maker or tribunal may want an expert view on where the person's speech was formed.
Typical questions are whether a speaker who says they are from Iraq shows Iraqi or Iranian Sorani, whether a claimed city fits, or whether the person speaks Sorani at all rather than another Kurdish variety. Each calls for a slightly different analytical focus, so a clear brief at the start pays off in a more pointed report.
Sorani varieties and the features analysts track
Sorani is not uniform. Sulaymaniyah (Babani) speech underlies the written standard; Erbil has its own Hewlêrî speech; Mukriyani is spoken in Iran around Mahabad; and Ardalani, a southern form of Central Kurdish, is heard around Sanandaj. The analyst examines how a person's vowels and consonants, intonation, vocabulary and idioms align with these areas, and whether the speech sounds local or levelled towards the standard heard in broadcasting and schooling.
Grammar helps separate Sorani from its neighbours. Sorani has lost the grammatical gender and case system that Kurmanji keeps and uses pronoun endings attached to words, so a speaker's grammar quickly shows whether their Kurdish is central or northern. Southern Kurdish of Kermanshah and Ilam, and Hawrami spoken around Halabja and Paveh, are further reference points when a claim concerns the edges of the Sorani-speaking area.
Steps in a Sorani language analysis
Brief and recording
Share the claimed city or district, any time spent in Iran or Iraq, and the recording. If no recording exists yet, we advise on how to make one that captures natural, spontaneous Sorani.
Specialist selected
We choose an analyst whose knowledge covers the claimed area and its main alternative across the border, so Iraqi and Iranian Sorani features are judged by someone at home in both.
Detailed linguistic study
Grammar, pronoun endings, local vocabulary, Farsi or Arabic loanwords, intonation and pronunciation are examined and set against Babani, Hewlêrî, Mukriyani and Ardalani reference points.
Report issued
The expert report lays out the evidence, the methods used, competing explanations and the strength of the conclusion, in language a caseworker or immigration judge can follow.
Review or testimony
We can review an earlier Sorani LADO report, respond to questions raised by either party and provide an expert witness to explain the findings at the tribunal.
Iraqi or Iranian Sorani: loanwords and second languages
One of the most useful contrasts in Sorani analysis is where borrowed words come from. Iranian Sorani tends to draw on Farsi, the language of education and administration in Iran, while Iraqi Sorani draws on Arabic, and the two also differ in some everyday vocabulary. Ardalani speakers from Sanandaj, for example, show Farsi loanwords and pronunciation differences that can become significant in a detailed personal account.
The analyst also considers code-switching, which among speakers from Iran is usually into Farsi, and the terms people use for local administration, which differ between the two states. Script is irrelevant to the recording itself, but documents may need checking: papers from the Kurdistan Region are usually in Kurdish (Sorani), written right to left in the Arabic-based Kurdish alphabet, and some are bilingual Kurdish and Arabic, while Iranian documents are in Farsi.
How SILA Linguists® analyses a Sorani recording
The recording, often an interview, is transcribed with attention to dialect features and then examined by a native Sorani speaker with linguistic training. Our analysts draw on forensic phonetics, dialectology and sociolinguistics and use acoustic measurement software where it helps. They compare the claimed origin with plausible alternatives, such as Iranian Kurdistan for a claimed Iraqi origin, or Erbil for a claimed Sulaymaniyah one.
The person's background is weighed carefully: someone from Iran who lived for years in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq may have adapted their speech, and the report says so. Methods, data, alternative explanations and uncertainty are documented in the written expert report. We provide second-opinion reviews of other analyses and expert witnesses for tribunal appeals, and our analysts follow recognised professional codes of practice.
Nationality assessment and Sorani LADO: Iraq, Iran or both?
Because Sorani straddles the Iraq and Iran border, nationality assessment is a natural companion to LADO here. It examines national markers: administrative vocabulary, the institutional knowledge a lifelong resident would have and familiarity with the language of official life, which is Farsi in Iran, while in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq official life runs largely in Kurdish. LADO adds the regional layer, tracing the Kurdish itself to a city or district. The combination is particularly helpful for Kurds who have moved between the two countries at different stages of their lives.
Sorani interpreting, certified translation and transcription
SILA Linguists® also books Sorani interpreters for asylum interviews, solicitor appointments, community settings and hearings, in person, by video on the SILA Linguists® app or the client's own platform, and by telephone at any hour. A female or male interpreter can be requested. Certified Sorani translation of Kurdistan Region civil, academic and court documents and Sorani transcription with time stamps and translation complete the support around a case.
Our vetted, trained and qualified Sorani analysts and linguists can support immigration authorities, solicitors, barristers, courts and tribunals, police and refugee organisations across the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. One project team, vetted linguists, NDAs and UK GDPR keep every case consistent and confidential from first call to final hearing.
How LADO and nationality assessment fit together
- Nationality assessment works at national level: the macro view.
- LADO traces a speaker to a region, town or community: the micro view.
- Used together, they give the clearest and most reliable picture.
Questions about this language analysis
My client is from Iraq. Will the analysis look at Iranian Sorani too?
Yes, wherever it is a plausible alternative. The analyst compares the speech with both sides of the border, paying particular attention to Farsi or Arabic loanwords, everyday vocabulary and administrative terms, and explains in the report which features support each origin and how strongly.
Can the analysis distinguish Erbil from Sulaymaniyah speech?
Local varieties such as Hewlêrî and Babani have their own features, and the analyst examines them. Because Sulaymaniyah speech underlies the written standard and many people level their speech towards it, the report explains frankly how far the evidence can support a city-level conclusion.
Does the person need to speak for a set length of time?
We do not apply a fixed length. The analyst advises on the recording for each case, looking for enough spontaneous Sorani on everyday topics, in reasonable sound quality, to examine pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary properly.
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Uzbek LADO
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Yemeni Arabic LADO
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By location
LADO in Norway
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LADO in Scotland
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