Editing Culture of Iraq (section)

== Languages ==
{{Main|Languages of Iraq|Mesopotamian Arabic}}The main languages spoken in Iraq are [[Mesopotamian Arabic language|Mesopotamian Arabic]] and [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], followed by the [[Iraqi Turkmens#Language|Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman dialect]] of [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and the [[Neo-Aramaic]] languages (specifically [[Sureth]]).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61766609|title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics|date=2005–2009|publisher=Brill|others=C. H. M. Versteegh, Mushira Eid|isbn=90-04-14473-0|location=Leiden|oclc=61766609}}</ref> Arabic and Kurdish are written with versions of the [[Arabic script]]. Since 2005, the Turkmen/Turkoman have switched from the Arabic script to the [[Turkish alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shanks|first=Kelsey|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/930093704|title=Education and ethno-politics : defending identity in Iraq|date=2016|isbn=978-1-317-52043-6|location=Abingdon, Oxon|oclc=930093704}}</ref>

In addition, the [[Neo-Aramaic languages]] use the [[Syriac script]]. Other smaller minority languages include [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]], English, [[Shabaki language|Shabaki]] and [[Armenian language|Armenian]].

According to the [[Constitution of Iraq]] (Article 4):

: The Arabic language and the Kurdish language are the two official languages of Iraq. The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]], [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Syriac]], and [[Armenian language|Armenian]] shall be guaranteed in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions.<ref>{{Citation|title=The constitutional process, the constitution and constitutionalism in Iraq|date=2017-02-17|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315474618-6|work=The Iraqi Federation|pages=78–126|location=Abingdon, Oxon|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315474618-6|isbn=978-1-315-47461-8|access-date=2021-05-06}}</ref>

=== Ancient ===
'''Sumerian''' (𒅴𒂠 ''EME.G̃IR<sub>15</sub>'' "[[Exonym and endonym|native tongue]]") was the language of ancient [[Sumer]] and a [[language isolate]] that was spoken in [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Iraq]]). The Sumerian language is the earliest known written language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sumerian language {{!}} History, Characteristics, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sumerian-language|access-date=2021-05-06|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> The "proto-literate" period of Sumerian writing spans c. 3300 to 3000 BC. In this period, records are purely [[logographic]], with phonological content. The oldest document of the proto-literate period is the [[Kish tablet]]. [[Adam Falkenstein|Falkenstein]] (1936) lists 939 signs used in the proto-literate period ([[Uruk period|late Uruk]], 34th to 31st centuries).
During the 3rd millennium BC, an intimate cultural symbiosis developed between the [[Sumer]]ians and the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]-speaking [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadians]], which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian and the [[East Semitic]] language [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] on each other is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a substantial scale to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Deutscher|first=Guy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/352917905|title=Syntactic change in Akkadian : the evolution of sentential complementation|date=2000|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-19-154483-5|location=Oxford|oclc=352917905}}</ref> This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a ''[[Sprachbund]]''.