The current paper aims to investigate diferent morphosyntactic realization of the constituents (case vs. adposition) and their linear ordering (preverbal vs. postverbal) in a Kurmanji clause through an event structure analysis. Based on the data from Muş Kurmanji (MK), it discusses that there is a relation between the morphological form of the constituents and their status as encoded in the verb’s meaning in MK; that is, structural participants are realized with case morphology while constant participants are introduced with adpositions. It further argues that the reason why MK makes a distinction in the linear ordering of structural participants is indeed a word-order property (VG) retained from proto-Kurdish and further constrained by the morphosyntactic properties of Kurmanji
Archives
Ergative Remnants in Sorani Kurdish?
Bynon (1980: 160) states: “Given the loss of ergative agreement marking in the verb, the clitic must, it would seem, now definitely be analyzed as a marker of agreement with the agent-subject despite its anomalous position in the sentence”, and concludes that “in spite of its various no longer functional traces of ergativity, Suleimaniye must be considered to have ceased to be ergative.” However, ergativity is still claimed for Sorani Kurdish.2 Recently Haig rejected Bynon analysis and stated (2008: 302) “The O is only occasionally overtly cross-referenced […]. However, when it is crossreferenced, then exclusively on the verb, and using the same set of suffixes that cross-reference an S.”* In this article I argue in favour of Bynon (1979, 1980) and show that there is no agreement of the object and the verb. The personal endings used in the past tense of transitive verbs take over the various functions of enclitic pronouns. On the other hand, enclitic pronouns used in the past tense of transitive verbs are, in fact, subject agreement markers, personal endings, so to speak. After a short introduction to ergativity and relevant terminology (Section 1), I will give a brief survey of the historical development of the ergative construction in Iranian (Sections 2 and 3). A comparison of Middle Persian and Sorani Kurdish (Section 4) is made to understand the differences between the past tense constructions of these two languages which look so similar at first glance. In Section 5, I propose an explanation of the development in Sorani Kurdish and then discuss the function of personal markers, which are in my view not as complicated as Haig (2008: 295) puts it (Section 6).
Circumpositions as an areal response
This paper proposes that the potential conflict arising from the areal distribution of a right-branching (VO) pattern encountering the area of a left-branching (OV) pattern is often resolved by the creation of an intersection zone which accommodates to both patterns by a simultaneous fluctuation between, or a merger of, the two patterns. The discussion is restricted here both in domain (adpositions) and area (the Middle East). Languages of this area group into three adpositional zones: postpositional, prepositional, and an intersection zone of mixed typology. The latter exhibits A) a split pattern, with both prepositions and postpositions; B) a merger of the two types into one hybridized pattern framing the head (circumpositions); or C) an assortment of patterns (prepositions, postpositions, circumpositions, and doublets or alternating forms). I also demonstrate that in the areas sandwiched between, and partially overlapping with, the postpositional zone (Turkic, Armenian, Caucasian, Indic) and the prepositional zone (Semitic), we find Iranian languages that are postpositional in the north, prepositional in the south, and of mixed adpositional typology in the central areas. In the east, we also find mixed typology in Nuristani languages.
Alignment change in Iranian languages: A Construction Grammar approach
The Iranian languages, due to their exceptional time-depth of attestation, constitute one of the very few instances where a shift from accusative alignment to split-ergativity is actually documented. Yet remarkably, within historical syntax, the Iranian case has received only very superficial coverage. This book provides the first in-depth treatment of alignment change in Iranian, from Old Persian (5 C. BC) to the present. The first part of the book examines the claim that ergativity in Middle Iranian emerged from an Old Iranian agented passive construction. This view is rejected in favour of a theory which links the emergence of ergativity to External Possession. Thus the primary mechanisms involved is not reanalysis, but the extension of a pre-existing construction. The notion of Non-Canonical Subjecthood plays a pivotal role, which in the present account is linked to the semantics of what is termed Indirect Participation. In the second part of the book, a comparative look at contemporary West Iranian is undertaken. It can be shown that throughout the subsequent developments in the morphosyntax, distinct components such as agreement, nominal case marking, or the grammar of cliticisation, in fact developed remarkably independently of one another. It was this de-coupling of sub-systems of the morphosyntax that led to the notorious multiplicity of alignment types in Iranian, a fact that also characterises past-tense alignments in the sister branch of Indo-European, Indo-Aryan. Along with data from more than 20 Iranian languages, presented in a manner that renders them accessible to the non-specialist, there is extensive discussion of more general topics such as the adequacy of functional accounts of changes in case systems, discourse pressure and the role of animacy, the notion of drift, and the question of alignment in early Indo-European.
Constructing ditransitivity in literary Kurmanji
This study takes a corpus-driven approach based on a collection of contemporary novels and short stories in order to explore various options for realising ditransitive constructions in Kurmanji, discussing some phenomena that pose a challenge to clear categorisation. Semantically, “ditransitive constructions” can be defined as constructions expressing “three-participant events”, involving verbs with three participants, as often referrred to in typological literature: an agent, a theme and a recipient (or recipient-like) participant. Cross-linguistically typical instances are verbs of giving (e.g. dan in Kurmanji), showing (nîşan dan) and saying (gotin), as well as their contraries (pirsîn ‘ask’), and other semantically related verbs. In an interplay between flagging, indexing and word order, Kurmanji reveals a rich formal repertoire that presents a number of challenges to systematisation. It makes use of several morpho-syntactic devices, applied alternatively and generally in combination with oblique case: a postpredicative position, adpositional constructions, a verbal suffix indicating the presence of an indirect object, and light verb ezafe constructions that link an indirect object to the lexical nominal. The study aims at uncovering factors which determine the choice of a construction. The use of formally identifiable ditransitive constructions, on the other hand, clearly transcends the original concept of a “physical transfer”, extending into non-animate, abstract and metaphorical contexts. Depending on the construction at hand, cognitive contents, images, landscapes, sounds, and other non-human core arguments may end up in an agentive role, while humans are frequently expressed as verb complements, particularly undergoers of a self-caused movement. Recipients, on the other hand, can be inanimate entities and even abstract ideas.
A multilingual corpus approach to postpredicativity in spoken Turkish, Kurmanji Kurdish and German
This paper investigates phenomena of postpredicativity in a Turkish- Kurmanji Kurdish-German trilingual corpus of spoken language. Starting from the assumption that postpredicativity when viewed in this trilingual perspective is an epiphenomenal effect of argument type in Kurmanji, finite verb movement in German and discourse activation status (next to illocutionarily motivated verb fronting) in Turkish, it sets out to explore overlaps and double motivations. Based on a collection of 1,211 findings, differentiations within the categories as well as overlaps at several levels are identified. Central results are discourse-level motivations in Kurmanji, their dependence on syntactic size, and overlaps between illocutional verb fronting and discourse activation status in Turkish.
Case in Iranian
Kurmanji complementation
Kurmanji clause-linking devices are generally a) finite, and b) subject to variation in respect of the choice of morphological device that marks the link. There are several options for marking complement clauses in the language: zero-marking (paratactic apposition of clauses), mood, simple and complex complementisers, and reinforcement of subject agreement through deictics and anaphora. The paper discusses the distribution of clause-linking devices, based on their occurrence in a corpus of tape-recorded and transcribed conversational narratives. The findings are related to the predictions on semantic-typological universale of complementation. A brief discussion of the areal position of Kurmanji follows, in conclusion of which I propose that the principal isogloss shared by the languages under discussion is their reliance on finite verbs even in the most tightly-integrated complex constructions.
Gorani (Gawraju)
Post-Predicate Constituents in Kurdish
This chapter investigates the areal distribution of post-predicate constituents across Kurdish, primarily based on the MDKD. Although direct objects are rarely postposed, certain other constituents regularly follow the predicate, yielding an OVX word order. Semantics appears to be the best predictor for post-predicate placement: those constituents which express the endpoints of a state of affairs are overwhelmingly post-predicate, across all dialects (GOALs and RECIPIENTs), while the placement of ADDRESSEEs varies, basically according to a south-east vs. the rest split in Northern Kurdish. Other locational phrases, with no implication of movement, are overwhelmingly pre-predicate. The chapter maps the areal tendencies, assesses the relevance of different theoretical approaches in accounting for OVX in Kurdish, and considers its possible historical sources.