How are Kurdish dialects grouped?

The Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian languages branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, is categorized into three primary dialect groups:12

• Northern Kurdish (Kurmānjī): This group is spoken across a wide geographic area, extending from Mosul, Iraq, into the Caucasus. In Turkey, it is typically written using Latin characters.1
• Central Kurdish (Sōrāni): Serving as the major literary form of the language, this group is spoken in a region stretching roughly from Orūmīyeh, Iran, to the lower reaches of traditional Kurdistan in Iraq. It is commonly written in a modified Perso-Arabic script, though Latin script is also utilized.1
• Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani): This group consists of a variety of dialects that remain less studied compared to the other two groups.1