Research interests / Forschungsschwerpunkte

My research focuses on the study of Iranian languages, particularly Zazakî (also known as Kirmanckî, Dimilî, or Kirdkî), from synchronic and empirical perspectives. While my primary focus is on morphosyntactic analysis, I am also deeply interested in sociolinguistic issues such as language documentation, revitalization, and planning.

In my work, I investigate the grammatical and sociolinguistic characteristics of Zazakî, examining its grammatical structure, internal variation, and the challenges of revitalization. Additionally, my research addresses broader theoretical questions surrounding language naming, classification, and the sociopolitical dynamics of minority languages.

For my PhD dissertation, I integrate methodologies from linguistic fieldwork and corpus linguistics to document and analyze the verb system of Zazakî. Beyond traditional linguistic research, I also explore the role of digital tools and platforms in promoting underrepresented languages, particularly in their application to education and language teaching.

Publications

Dogan, Mahîr & Paul, Ludwig. In Press. Zazakî. In Sheyholislami, Jaffer & Haig, Geoffrey & Khezri, Haidar & Akin, Salih & Öpengin, Ergin (eds.) The Oxford handbook of Kurdish linguistics. Oxford University

Dogan, Mahîr. 2024. Die Sprachen Dêrsims. In Gudehus, Christian & Husenbeth, Alexander (eds.). Dersim - Identität und Vernichtung. Psychosozial-Verlag.

Dogan, Mahîr. 2024. Problems in Zazakî nomenclature. In Shuan, Karim & Gholami, Saloumeh (eds.). Gorani in its Historical and Linguistic Context. De Gruyter.

Dogan, Mahîr (ed.). 2023. Bibliographia Kurdica. A bibliography of Kurdish linguistics. (https://bibliographiakurdica.org/)

Haig, Geoffrey & Stilo, Donald & Dogan, Mahîr C. & Schiborr, Nils N. (eds.). 2022. WOWA — Word Order in Western Asia: A spoken-language-based corpus for investigating areal effects in word order variation. (https://multicast.aspra.uni-bamberg.de/resources/wowa/) Bamberg: University of Bamberg.