Kurmanji Kurdish has both accusative and ergative alignment. It has accusative alignment in present tenses while ergative alignment is triggered in the past tense transitive sentences. Due to the characteristics of Kurmanji Kurdish verbs and due to the semi-accusative effect, different usages emerge in the ergative structure in Kurmanji. Synchronically, if the structure of the ergative is analyzed, many different uses can be found, due to some language internal and external factors (e.g. language contact), different patterns of ergativity emerges (e.g. double oblique pattern). Different forms are used not only for interlinguistic reasons, but also because of the multilingual backgrounds of Kurmanji speakers. This paper aims to analyze the ergative structure in a synchronic way. First, we will focus on the ergative structure analyzing it in detail. Then, we will examine the use of the ergative constructions in three dialects of Kurmanji Kurdish in terms of age and gender of the speakers. The purpose of this classification of Kurmanji variations and speakers is to see how speakers socially placed in different categories use the ergative structure. Again, by looking at these structures, we can understand the limits of the ergative structure in Kurmanji. The article was found that the ergative structure has gone beyond its canonical limits and different combinations and forms are used by different speakers.
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Variation in the ergative pattern of Kurmanji
Kurdish-Kurmanji (or Northern Kurdish) belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. This study is dedicated to a deeper understanding of a specific grammatical feature typical of Kurmanji: the ergative structure. Based on the example of this core structure, and with empirical evidence from the Kurmanji dialect of Muş in Turkey, I will discuss the issues of variation and change in Kurmanji, more precisely the ongoing shift from ergative to nominative-accusative structures. The causes for such a fundamental shift, however, are not easy to define. The close historical vicinity to Turkish and Armenian might be a trigger for the shift; another trigger is language-internal (diachronic) change. In sum, the investigated variation sheds light on a fascinating grammatical change in a language that is also sociopolitically in a situation of constant change, movement, and upheaval.