BD 089 545 AUTHOR TITLE INSTITUTION SPONS AGENCY PUB DATE NOTE AVAILABLE PROM EDRS PRICE DESCRIPTORS ABSTRACT DOCUMENT RESUME PL 004 674 McCarus, Ernest Ny A Kurdish Grasmart Descriptive Analysis of the Kurdish of Sulaisaniya, Iraq. Awerican Council of Learned Societies Program in oriental Languages, Publications Series B - Aids - Number 10. American Council of Learned societies, New York, N.¥.3 Spoken Language Services, Inc., Ithaca, N.¥. Ford Foundation, New York, W.¥. 58 4145p. Spoken Language Services, Inc., F. 0. Pox 783, Ithaca, N. ¥. 14850 ($4.00) MF-$0.75 HC Not Available from EDRS. PLUS POSTAGE *Descriptive Linguistics; *¢ri ar; *Kurdish; ‘Language Instruction; Modern Languages; Morphclogy (Languages); Morphophonemics; Phonology; Syntax; *Textbooks; Vocabulary Developrent This study is a description of the Kurdish of the city of Sulaimaniya, Iraq. Kurdish dialects cover an atea oatracing parts of eastern Turkey, Soviet Armenia, northern Syria, western Iran, and Khorasan in Iran. The language is described in terms of (1) phonology, (2) morphology, (3) sorphophonesics, (4) word foraation, and (5) syntax. included. (RL) An appendix, a bibliography, and a glossary areFluoot m4 AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES Program in Oriental Languages Publications Series B—Aids—Number 10 A KURDISH GRAMMAR DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE KURDISH OF SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ by Ernest N. McCarus Spoken Language Services, Inc. American Council of Learned Societies New York 1958‘The publication of this work was made possible by a subvention from The Ford Foundation Library of Congress catalog card number 58-13564 Copyright, 1958, by LMOGRAPHED IN IME UNITED STATES. OF AMERICA BY THe WASHINGTON PLANOGRAPH COMPANY oremhi/iv/v/viTABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1 Introguetion 1 0 The Kurdieh language The data 2 Previous works on Kurdish 3 Correlation of orthographic systems, 4 Style of Kurdish described 2 Phonology B 0 Introductory 1 Linear phonemes +11 Vowels: 12 Consonants 1121 The consonant phonemes 1122 Consonants of limited distribution 113 The syllable 131 Syllable etructure +14 Distribution of phonemes 141 Vowels “142 Consonants 2143 Summary \2 Non-linear phonenes 21 Lexical stress 122 Sentence stress 23 Intonation 231 Pitch phonemes 232 Pitch morphemes 1233 Summary 3 Morphophonemics 231 Vowels 311 Yocalic proces: 312 The vowel /i/ 313 Elision 2314 Summary 32 Consonante 321 Assimilation 322 Excrescence 323 Loss of consonant vit3 Morphology: form classes and their inflection 45 0 Introductory 1 The noun 11 Noun inflection A1I Definition 112 Number 112 Noun subela: 121 Leeative 122 Vocative 13 Noun with pronominal suffixes :14 Noun diagram .2 The adjective 21 Adjective inflection 211 Definition 212 Number 213 Compariaon 22 Adjective plus pronominal suffix 23 Adjective diagram 3 The pronoun 31 Pronoun inflection 311 Person (312 Number 32 Pronoun subclai 321 Vocative 33 Pronouns with pronominal suffixes 34 Pronoun diagram -4 The verb 41 Verb inflection 41 Person and number lz Aspect 413 Transltivity 414 Tense “415 Mood 416 Voice 42 Non-inflectional processes 1421 Pronominal goal +422 Negation -43 Summary of verbal features 5 Particles 51 Interjections -52 Conjunctions 53 Interrogativ: 54. Numeals $41 Compound numerals +542 Numerals plus pronominal suffixes viti4 (continued) +55 Prepositions «551 Simple prepositions 552 Compound prepositions “56 Adverbs. 57 Demonstratives 58 Relativ: Word formation a 0 Introductory 1 Reduplication .2 Compounding .21 Descriptive compounds .211 Noun compounds 212 Adjective compounds .22 Emphatic compounds 23 Coordinate compounds 3 Suffixation 31 Nominal suffix. 32 Adjective suffixes 133 Verbal suftixé 34 Particle suffixes Syntax 2 0 The utterance sl Phrasi +11 Nominal phrases 111 Minimal nominal phrai +112 Expanded nominal phrases 12 Verbal phrases «121 Minimal types of verbal phrases 1122 Expanded types of verbal phrases +123 Verbal phrases with nouns and adjectives +124 Verbal phrase diagram 12 The clause «21 Subject 122 Object 23 Clause word order 231 Basic clausal types 232 Limited clausal type 24 Order of modifiers 25 Introductory expressions 3 Combinations of clause 31 Clause connectors 311 Independent connectors 312 Subordinate connectors 313 Connectors and the mood of the verb ix(continued) (32 The clause as a syntactic unit 1321 Sequences of clauses 1322 The clause as a modifier of nominal phrases 4 Displaced suffixes 41 Digplaced subject suffixes -42 Displaced prepositional suffix. Appendix 107 Bibliography ng Glossary 27ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘The author wishes to express his deep gratitude to those Kurds who acted as his informants and whose cooperation was indispensable to the preparation of this study. Their contribution is fully acknowledged in the Introduction, paragraph 1.1., where thay are mentioned by name. The author also wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following persons for their interest in thie work and for their many helpful suggestions: Carleton T. Hedge, of the Foreign Service Institute, Department of State, Wash- ington; John Kepke, of the Program in Oriental Languages, American Council of Learned Societies; and Professors George G. Cameron, Lawrence B. Kiddle, Albert H. Marckwardt, Herbert H. Paper, and Herbert Penzl, of the University of Michigan, ‘Professor Cameron stimulated the author’s initial interest in the area of Kurdish studies, and Professor Penzl has offered valuable help and continued support. ‘The present publication is under the auspices of the Program in Oriental Languages of the American Council of Learned Societies and was prepared under the editorial direction of Earle Brockman. xCHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 49 The Kurdish Language ‘This study ts a description of the Kurdish of the city of Sulaimantya, Iraq. Kurdish is a member of the Indo-Lranian branch of the Indo - European family of languages. Kurdish dialects cover an area embrac- ing parts of eastorn Turkey, Soviet Armenia, northern Syria, noxthern Iraq, and western fran, as well as Khorasan in Iran. (See Figure 1.) It is difficult to obtain reliable figures on the total Kurdish population in the Near East, estimates ranging from 1.51 to 9 million.2 Further study remains to be done on the classification of Kurdieh dialecta, ‘The most aystematic study 1s Karl Hadank’s Untersuchungen zum Westkurdiechen: B6t und Ezdd!?, in which a limited number of phonological, morphological, and lexical {soglosses are used to eet up two major areas, Weat Kurdish and East Kurdish, with the boundary co- inciding roughly with a line drawn from Lake Urmia to the junction of the Greater Zab with the Tigris. According to this classification, the Sulai- maniya and Mukri dialects are East Kurdish, and the Zaza, Hakarl, and Bahdinan dialects aro West Kurdish. The Kurdish of Sulaimaniya fe mu- tually intelligible with Mukri Kurdish, ae well as with dialecte as far north a8 Ruwandiz in Iraq and Sujbulak in Iran and as far south as Sinna and Kermanghah in Iran. Of all the Kurdish dialects in Iraq, that of Sulaimaniya seems to enjoy the greatest cultural prestige, as is acknowledged by speakers of other dialects. It is the Sulatmantya dialect that the central government in Baghdad has chosen to be used in Kurdish textbooks for elementary ‘schools throughout Iraqi Kurdistan, and for all Kurdish language broad- casts from Radio Baghdad. It is in this dialect too that the United States Information Service in Baghdad published (as of 1951) its weekly Kurdish language news bulletin. Lil The Data ‘The corpus of data for thie description wae gathered on the occasion of a University of Michigan expedition to Iraq and Iran in the spring and summer of 1951. In Baghdad I obtained, through the offices of Prof George Cameron, the director of the expedition, the services of Mr. Abdul Gadir Qazaz, then an official in the Department of Post and Telegraph. Tincyelopacdia Britannica (Chicago, 1942) 13.520. Lucien Rarbout, Lea Kurdes et le droit (Paria, 1947) 18. 3karl Hadank, Untersuchungen 2um Westkurdischen: Bét! und Ezadr, Arbeiten aus dem Institut far Lautforachung an der Universitat Berli= 6.1 -6 (1938)