This chapter surveys the forms of case marking across the dialects of Kurdish, as represented in the MDKD. Structural and non-structural (semantic) cases are expressed through a range of different exponents: adpositions (pre-, post- and circumpositions), morphological case, and word-order properties. Structural cases are invariably non-adpositional across all dialects, with the major isogloss separating those dialects that make use of the Oblique case, which include all of Northern Kurdish and a few dialects of Central Kurdish, from those that have lost it. The marking of semantic cases is subject to considerable areal variation, following an approximate north/south cline with prepositional marking increasingly dominant in the south. The findings are illustrated with data from the MDKD, supplemented with reference to other major sources.
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Phonological Variation in Kurdish
Kurdish is often portrayed as a linguistic unity, but an examination of phonological structures in the language reveals substantial internal variation. In this study, we examine the geographic distribution of vowels and consonants in the phonological inventories of 125 Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Central Kurdish (Sorani) varieties in the Database of Kurdish Dialects, and their patterning in individual words from all of these data sets. The data reveal a stable set of core vowels and consonants, along with peripheral phonemes of both types that demonstrate a high level of variation in geographic distribution and frequency. Segments with significant distributional restrictions include front rounded vowels, uvular consonants, a contrastive aspirated stop series, emphatic alveolar obstruents, and pharyngeals ʕ and ħ. An analysis of these patterns gives modest confirmation of the well-known Northern vs. Central Kurdish dialect division, but shows that the phonological distinction between the two is best characterized in terms of tendencies rather than exact, regular correspondences. Beyond many other individual isoglosses in the data that cross-cut one another, there is a weak pattern of transition between the two major dialect areas; limited diffusion of phonological innovations to varieties at the geographic periphery of the language; and more direct influence of language contact on the phonological structures in certain regions. Alongside these various configurations of areal distribution, and in contrast to them, there is a strong, overarching pattern of non-directional phonological variability among varieties, which points to the local nature of phonological changes across the language area.
Lexical Variation and Semantic Change in Kurdish
The chapter examines variation in Kurdish among lexical forms for specific concepts in different regions. The findings can be summarized as follows: there are different degrees to which lexical variation may function as an indicator of linguistic division or transition; while about half of the items in our data are shared between all or most Iranian languages, there are also items that are unique to Kurdish varieties; and extra-linguistic factors that contribute most to lexical variation include geography, political division, population movement, cultural borrowing, and modernization. Finally, semasiological and onomasiological innovations are underlined. The chapter concludes with an account of the implications for further research.
Pronominal Clitics Across Kurdish
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.