Old Kurdish Alphabet

The old Kurdish alphabet documented by the welknown muslim author In Wahshia in his book Shawq al-Mustaham in 856 (855?) AC. can provide a final solution for a unified Kurdish alphabet.
Ibn Wahshiyya informs us that the Kurds used this alphabet since ancient times and old scientists such as Yanbushad and Masi Surati wrote their science and knowledge in this script. He further states that Kurds are in possession of book of Safar of Adam.
Ibn Wahshiya writes that he has seen in Baghdad thirty Kurdish books written in this alphabet. He further states that he has two scientific Kurdish books in Sham (Levantine) written in this alphabet, that he has transltated into Arabic for the benefit of mankind; one of the books is on the culture of the vine and the palm tree, the other on water and the means of finding it out in unknown ground.

The list of the letters provide by Ibn Wahshiya consists of 37 letters; including all 28 Arabic letters, plus two other Kurdish (and non existant in Arabic) letters. He was however unable to provide equivalents for 7 other letters, and labelled them as extraordinary and strange letters non-existant in any other language.
A quick analys of the list shows that the 7 undeciphered letters may include some of following sounds: j (zh), ê?, e, g?, v?, o/û?
Like in many other oriental scripts, there may have been no distinction between u and î versus w and y, as is the case in Arabic. Similarly, short i may have been left wittout any signs as in modern Sorani script (as well as many east European languages). Since o and û are interchangable and originally formed a single vowel in proto-Kurdish, as is evidenced from Hurro-Urartian remains, and that in northern (Kurmanji) and central (Sorani) Kurdish they are highly interchangable, (whenever there are two homonymous words one is undoubtedly a foreign loan), and the fact that in Southern Kurdish (Kalhuri) exists only û, and o is absent, we may rightly assume that there was a single sign for both modern o and û.
Similarly, it appears that in proto-Kurdish existed only one of î and ê vowels, as these are highly interchangable in varous Kurdish dialects.
The 26th letter, represented by Arabic zad, may indeed represent Kurdish thrilled l, as it is the closest existant equivalent of that letter in Arabic. Similarly, the 28th letter, ghayn, may actually represent g and not gh, since gh does not exist in many Kurdish dialects, moreover, in Arabic foreign g is represented by gh. Anyways, in modern Kurdish gh has almost completely disappeared.
There is a possibily that one of the undeciphered letteres represented v, however, in central and southern Kurdish v is absent and there exists only w.
The undeciphered letters may also represent some letters which nowadays have been limited to a few small dialects such as k', p', r', etc. Finally there is the probablity that they represent sounds who have now completely disappeared from all existing Kurdish dialetcts.

Egyptian scholar Daria Auni states that this alphabet was written from left to light. I belive this is an advantage, since it's in accordance to the numerical digits.
So, now after this analys of the actual values of the signs, an important question which rises here is: Does our current knowledge of this old Kurdish script allow us to resuse in for [modern] Kurdish?
According to our analys of the actual values of the signs,  it appears that we have two necessary steps:
1) Looking forward to find more extants of this alphabet in old documents. Indeed there may be undeciphered manuscripts in this script labelled and preserved as unknown language in unknown places such as museums, which now can be identified and easily translated based on our knowledge of existence of this valuable alphabet.Indeed, any short text, even a few short sentences provides us a considerable amount of knowledge for usage of this script.
2) Reconstruction and reorganizing of the script on the basis of old and modern Kurdish, as was done above, gives us the possibility of reviving and resusing this script. To begin with, a computer based typing system for keyboard (fonts), is of utmost importance.

Further reading:
[1]
[2]

Decreolization Of Kurdish, A Return To The Great Past

As has earlier been discussed in previous posts, Kurdish language has a strong Hurro-Urartian substratum in its vocabulary and  morphology. This is combined with a heterogeneous Iranic super-stratum especially in Kurdish vocabulary, and to some degrees its morphology.
Regarding Iranic words in Kurdish vocabulary, there has been since decades an attempt by Kurdish scholars, writers, poets and linguists to purify Kurdish from the often unnecessary foreign loanwords. Although the attempt for clearing the language from Arabic and Turkish words has been to a great degree successful there still remains a significant number of useless Persian loanwords for which there exist native Kurdish equivalents.

Usually the most important episode in decreolization of a language turns around its grammar. In fact Hurro-Urartian and Kurdish morphology and syntax are to a great extent similar. A number of morphological lexemes which appear to be Iranic (or at least Indo-European) influences can be identified in Kurdish which are presented below:
The verb bu-n (to be) with its personal enclitics -m- î, -e, -în, in, -in.
Some pronouns and possessive enclitics.
introduction of some redundant pre-positions which is often combined with the native post-positions.
Some verbal proclitics. 

But actually most of above mentioned morphological lexemes go under lexical borrowings (vocabullary), rather than morphological features and does not affect Kurdish and Hurro urartian grammatical continuity. in worst case one could argue that it's OK with keeping enclitics but verbal roots such as bu-n can be  preferably changed and replaced with original.
To some up, in order to decreolize Kurdish The greater effort should be focused on saving the language from Iranic loans.
Finally, decreolazition of Kurdish could be regarded as an important step in standardization of Kurdish.
  

Hittite in Kurdish

After enlisting numerous remnants of Hurro-Urartian in Kurdish vocabulary and morpheme system,  now it is time to recognize loans which have entered Kurdish via Hurro-Urartian. The largest group of loans which have entered Kurdish via Hurro-Urartian belongs to Hittite, being in contact with Hurro-Urartian for millennia. It is worth reminding that the Hurro-Urartian form alongside the Iranic ''Syctho-Cimmerian'' the other pillar of Kurdish language.We had already listed Slavic lexemes entered Kurdish via Scytho-Cimmerian.
To clarify the situation following formula is helpful:

Kurdish is formed of
1) Hurro-Urartian (+ Hittite loans)
2)Scytho-Cimmerian (+ Slavic loans)
Of course at later periods, especially during post-Islamic period, Kurdish has also adopted loans from some other languages: (Persian, Arabic, Turkish, French, English)

Now, list of Hittite words in Kurdish:

pillar
Hittite: kulaka
Kurdish: kolaka (typical o<u in central and northern Kurdish)

kin
Hittite: hasmi
Kurdish: xizm

clay
Hittite: purut
Kurdish: pûrûd

star
Hittite: haster
Kurdish: astera, hastêrk (sounds more relevant to Hittite than to Iranic equivalents)

father
Hittite: tati
Kurdish: tati

Hittite: karpi (fury, anger)
Kurdish: kilpa (fiery)

Hittite/Luwian: kisha (to comb)
Kurdish: qizh (hair of head)

Hittite: tarkumia (to annonce)
Kurdish: dirkan-(divulge, disclose)

Hittite/Luwian: Hinkan (to die)
Kurdish: Xinkan (to die, smother)

The list is to be completed.

On The Kassites And Kurds

The Macro-Comparative Journal. 2011. 

The Kassite Language In a Comparative Perspective with Hurrian and Urartean

A very interesting article about the Kassites and their language.
In this article, the writer has tried to explain the origin of the Kassites (Kuri-Galzu, Karduniash), explore the etymology of their name and its relation with that of the the Kalds (Urartians,) and the obvious relationship of the Kassite with Hurro-Urartian languages.
The author concludes that the Kassites may have been the forfathers of Hurro-Urartians.

A Proposal For Latin-Based Kurdish Alphabet (Sample Text)

The following text is from the first paragraph of Kurdistan constitution, found in this link in Kurdo-Arabic script.

Firstly, in current Latin Kurdish alphabet:
Ême, gelî Kurdistan - Êraq, le hestkirdinmanewe bew dijwarîyey newekanman le siyasetekanî hikumete yek le dway yekekan le encam danî serkut kirdin û sitem û çewsanewey le radebeder çeştûyane, û bêbeşkirdinman lew mafaney xwa le azadî û yeksanî dadperwerî be ademîzadî bexşîwin, û çendîn tawanî dije mirov û helmetî cinosayd û paktawî nejadîyan le dijman encamda, ke mêjû be degmen wêney way be xowe bînîwe, ke xoyan le xapûr kirdinî pitir le çuwar hezar u pênsed gund nuwanduwe û gorankarî le beşekî firawan le Kurdistan - Êraq le rêgey be zore milê koch pê kirdinî danîştuwan, yan naçar kirdinyan bo gorînî şunasî neteweyan û be kar hênani çekî kîmyawî u çeke qedexe kirawekanî tirî nêw neteweyî le dijî danîştuwani sivîlî şarî helebcey şehîd û Balîsan û Germiyan û Badînan û çendîn nawçey firawanî tir, û be hezaran lawî Kurdî Feylî le nêw kêlgekanî taqî kirdinewey kîmyawî û gorî be komel berew merg rapêçkirdin, ewaney maneweş xêzanekanyan naçar kiran, bo derewey Êraq koç biken û wilatnamey êraqiyan lê sendinewe û dwa be dway eweş çendîn helmetî be komel qir kirdinyan encamda ke pitir le heşt hezar barzanî girtewe û pirosekanî le naw birdinî be dwa dahêna, ke be enfal naw nirawin û qurbanî pitir le sed û heşta û dû hezar mirovî lê kewtewe.

Secondly, reformed alphabet based on proposal 1 & 2:

Ême, gel Kurdistan - Êraq, le hestkrdnmanewe bew djwariyey newekanman, le syasetekan hkumete yek le dway yekekan le encam dan serkut krdn û stem û çewsanewey le radebeder çeştûyane, û bêbeşkrdnman lew mafaney xwa le azadi û yeksani û dadperweri be ademizadi bexşiwn, û çendin tawan dje mirov û helmet cinosayd û paktaw nejadiyan le djman encamda, ke mêjû be degmen wêney way be xowe biniwe, ke xoyan le xapûr krdn ptr le çuwar hezar û pênsed gund nuwanduwe u gorankari le beşêk frawan le Kurdistan - Êraq le rêgey be zore mlê koç pê krdn daniştuwan, yan naçar krdnyan bo gorin şunas neteweyan û be kar hênan çek kimyawi û çeke qedexe krawekan tr nêwneteweyi le dj daniştuwan sivîl şar helebcey şehid û Balisan û Germyan û Badinan û çendin nawçey frawan tr, û be hezaran law Kurd Feyli le nêw kêlgekan taqi krdnewey kimyawi û gor be komel berew merg rapêçkrdn, ewaney maneweş xêzanekanyan naçar kran, bo derewey Êraq koç bken û wlatnamey êraqiyan lê sendnewe û dwa be dway eweş çendin helmet be komel qr krdnyan encamda ke ptr le heşt hezar barzani grtewe û prosekan le naw brdni be dwa dahêna, ke be enfal naw nrawn û qurbani ptr le sed û heşta û dû hezar mrovi lê kewtewe.

Thirdly, reformed alphabet based on proposal 1 & 2 & 3 & 4:

Yme, gel Kurdistan - Yraq, le hestkrdnmaneue beu djuariei neuekanman le siasetekan hkumete iek le duay iekekan le encam dan serkut krdn u stem u çeusaneuei le radebeder cewtuiane, u bybewkrdnman leu mafanei xua le azadi u ieksani u dadperueri be ademizadi bexwiun, u cendin tauan dje mrov û helmet cinosayd u paktau nejadiian le djman encamda, ke myju be degmen uynei uai be xoue biniue, ke xoian le xapur krdn ptr le cuar hezar u pynsed gund nuandue, u gorankari le bewyk frauan le Kurdistan - Yraq le rygei be zore mly koc py krdn daniwtuan ian nacar krdnian bo gorin wunas neteueian u be kar hynan cek kimiaui u ceke qedexe krauekan tr nyuneteueii le dj daniwtuan svil war helebcei wehid u Balisan u Germian u Badinan u cendin nawcei frauan tr, u be hezaran lau Kurd Feili le nyu kylgekan taqi krdneuei kimiaui u gor be komel bereu merg rapyckrdn, euaney maneuew xyzanekanian nacar kran, bo dereuei Yraq koc bken u ulatnamei Yraqiian ly sendneue u dua be duai euew cendin helmet be komel qr krdnyan encamda ke ptr le hewt hezar barzani grteue u prosekan le nau brdni be dua dahyna, ke be enfal nau nraun u qurbani ptr le sed u hewta u du hezar mrovi ly keuteue.

A Proposal For Latin-Based Kurdish Alphabet (4)

If our previous suggestions accepted, then remains only two controversial letters in the alphabet: ç and ş, both directly adopted from Turkish. The negative thing with them is that they include circumflexes, something most people who propose a reformed Latin alphabet for Kurdish tend to avoid. Some have suggested diphthongs such as ch and sh, as in Yekgirtu and Izady's suggestions.

In the current latin alphabet we have c for voiced palato-alveolar affricate, (= English j) and ç for voiceless palato-alveolar affricate (= English ch). While in Yekgirtu, one of the most well-known alternatives for the current Latin-based Kurdish alphabet, instead we see j and c, respectively. As can be seen c is treated differently in the two alphabets. but since yekgirtu has j for the voiced consonant, it has adopted jh a diphthong for voiced palato-alveolar sibilant (= /si/ as in English vision).

I've got a proposal which solves both of the shortcommings i.e. neither uses a circumflexe nor a diphthong. though due to the Turkish influence it may at the first sight sound stupid but it really works. The proposal is to use c for both voiced and viceless palato-alveolar affricates. Well this is not the first case we use one letter for two consonants in Kurdish alphabet!

We already have accepted x for both ( خ and غ), h for ( ه and ح) nothing for (ء and ع) l for (ل and ڵ) r for (ر and ڕ); also p, t, k and g each represent several different consonants, many of them pure Kurdish.

but we we cannot use the same method for voiceless and voice palato-alveolar affricates? It's worth of note that the voiceless consonant is much more frequent in Kurdish vocabulary and more interestingly while most Kurdish words containing the voiceless consonant are native Kurdish words, most Kurdish words containing the voiced consonant are foreign loans (with the exeption of a handful of words where the old iranic initial platal approximant /y/ has developed to voiced palato-alveolar affricatve, and that is most likely under Persian influence.)

The second letter with a circumflexe is ş, which basically is an s with a circumflex. One must confess that this is a little bit more difficult to solve, since both the voiceless alveolar sibilant and voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant are legitimate native Kurdish consonants. Although use of the second in modern Kurdish has dramatically decreased due to many historic phonetical developments, where it has eroded (f.ex: chaw<chashma, gwê< goasha, nas<shnas, êwe<shma etc, but this does not affect our case much since there are still a lot of Kurdish words with this consonant.

Returning to the previous post, we see that there will be one letter in our proposed alphabet that will be useless (used only for a few loanwords). it is the letter /w/ which accidentally resembles much the cyrillic letter for voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant: / Ш /, used already even in the Cyrillic-based alphabet for Kurdish. I agree that at the begining it would sound difficult for many, but it is not far-fetched idea since a lot of Latin-based alphabets use different letters for different consonants.