The Kurdish language is as fragmented as the nation itself. The gap in the Kurdish language is widened by the number of speech varieties, the different writing systems, the hegemonic linguistic and cultural influence of the countries of which Kurdistan is a part and their policies aimed at systematically suppressing the Kurdish language. {A source here} Kurdish has four dialects and two different writing systems. Kurdish has two main dialects, Sorani and Kurmanji, and two minor dialects, Zazaki/Dimli, Gurani/Hewrami. Most Kurds speak Kurmanji at around 60 percent. (Sheyholislami 60) It is spoken in Syria, Turkey and the northern part of the Kurdish-speaking regions of Iran and Iraq, a group in the Khorasan province of Iran and in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Sorani is spoken in the southern part of Kurdistan. The gap between the main dialects can sometimes be quite marked. As Kreyenbroek argues, one of the reasons why the two could be dialects "...is their common origin and the fact that this usage reflects the Kurds' sense of ethnic identity and unity." (on the Kurdish language Philip G. Kreyenbroek) He further argues that linguistically they could be classified as different languages. Grammatically, they are as different as German and English. For example, there are feminine and masculine gender nouns in Kurmanji, but Sorani has no gender. He further argues that "[d]ifferences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not as great as between German and German.