Batool Alinezhad; Rahman Veisi Hasar
Volume 9, Issue 16 , November 2017, , Pages 87-108
Abstract
Extended Abstract
1-Introduction
The process of hypocoristic truncation refers to a process which includes the reduction of a proper name to a shortened form. In this process, the initial parts are mainly retained, and the final ones are truncated. These truncated names are mainly applied in intimate ...
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Extended Abstract
1-Introduction
The process of hypocoristic truncation refers to a process which includes the reduction of a proper name to a shortened form. In this process, the initial parts are mainly retained, and the final ones are truncated. These truncated names are mainly applied in intimate situations as a nickname or a term of endearment. From the optimality perspective, the hypocoristic formation is mainly based on the priority of markedness constraints over faithfulness constraints. In fact, the phonological identity of input forms and output ones (the constraint of faithfulness) is suppressed in favor of unmarked syllabic structures (markedness constraints). Although this phonological process has been under scrutiny in many languages, no research has been conducted in Kurdish language yet. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating some data in Kurdish language with reliance on the optimality theory in order to explain the phonological constraints responsible for making Kurdish hypocoristic names.
2- Methodology
The methodology of the present paper is based on the optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993). The fundamental concepts of this theory include markedness, faithfulness, constraint, and ranking. According to this theory, the linguistic structure is influenced by two fundamental competing forces: the markedness force acts in line with producing different types of unmarked structures; while, the faithfulness force functions in line with preserving lexical contrast (Kager, 1999; McCarty, 2008). In other words, faithfulness necessitates the congruency of output forms with the input ones, while markedness imposes a pressure to produce unmarked structures (Kager, 1999). Constraints have a particular ranking in each language which varies drastically from one language to another (McCarty, 2008). Violating each constraint is influenced by its particular ranking in the language (Kager, 1999). The higher the rank of a constraint is, the more its influence on phonetic environments is (Dekker, Vandekeeuwl, & Vande Wejer, 2000). Violating constraints with lower ranks along with observing and keeping constraints with high ranks result in optimal structures.
In the optimality phonology, the process of making hypocoristic names is also explained as the domination of markedness constraints over faithfulness ones (Hong, 2006). Markedness constraints exert a pressure to produce the optimal syllables in the hypocoristic names; nevertheless, Faithfulness constraints tend to make a congruency between the underlying input and the output of the hypocoristic form (Nelson, 1998). Due to the domination of markedness constraints, hypocoristic names prefer to delete a few consonants and vowels in favor of an optimal syllabic structure. Concerning this perspective, we try to clarify the dynamics of constraints related to hypocoristic forms in Kurdish language.
3- Discussion and Analysis
When hypocoristic process is applied to proper names, it deletes some clusters and syllables, and then it adds different endings to them according to the gender. As far as feminine names are considered, the first consonant, the second vowel, and the third consonant remain unchanged in the truncation process, but the rest elements are deleted. Finally, the vowel /e: /is added to the hypocoristic name which has now an optimal syllable structure of CV.CV. Regarding masculine names, the first consonant, the second vowel, and the third consonant are preserved in the truncation process, and the rest consonants and vowels are deleted. Finally, the suffix /-a/ is attached to the truncated forms:
1. amina•am [a] ra:bea•ra:b [a]
2. fathoła: făt[a] m(I)ka:il mIk[a]
The hypocoristic formation in Kurdish is highly dependent on the constraints related to the syllable structure. That is, these truncated names are characterized by optimal syllables. In the mentioned examples, the faithfulness constraints (PARSE, Fill) are violated because of the deletion of final consonants and vowels, and also due to attaching vowels /-a/, /-e/ to the end of names. However, these phonetic modifications are employed for the sake of forming an unmarked syllabic structure. As a way of illustration, the markedness constraints of onset, no-coda, no complex coda, and no complex nucleus are satisfied at the cost of violating the faithfulness constraints. Therefore, the ranking of constraints are as follows:
3. Onset, No-coda, *Complex coda, *Complex onset >> Parse, Fill
Additionally, the anchor constraint is always applied to the left side of the names. Regarding this constraint, the left side of the hypocoristic name should always be matched with the left side of the underlying name. Violating this constraint results in ungrammaticality. In addition, the last constraint, having priority over all the other constraints, is as follows:
4. The middle vowel must not be at the nucleus of the first syllable of the hypocoristic names: *mid vowel
The hierarchy of constraints related to the phonological structure of hypocoristic names can be illustrated as follows:
5. Onset, *coda,*mid-vowel, nuc,*complex coda, complex onset >> left-anchoring>>right-anchoring, parse, fill
4. Conclusion
By analyzing and investigating different cases of hypocoristic names in Kurdish from an optimality perspective, the following results were obtained: the hypocoristic names in this language include a highly optimal syllable structure. This optimal structure is made possible by the priority of markedness constraints over the faithfulness ones. The following ranking illustrates the hierarchy of constraints related to the hypocoristic names:
6. Onset, *coda,*mid-vowel, nuc,*complex coda, complex onset >> left-anchoring>>right-anchoring, pars, fill
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moharram rezayati kishekhalel; mohammad asgharzadeh
Volume 8, Issue 14 , November 2016, , Pages 51-76
Abstract
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Nowadays Kurdish language is often divided to 3 main groups:
1-the southern group consists of several incongrous accents that are spoken in the sout of Iranian Kurdistan.
2-the central group consists of Iraqi northeastern Kurdish, Kurdistan of Iran and the adjacent ...
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Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Nowadays Kurdish language is often divided to 3 main groups:
1-the southern group consists of several incongrous accents that are spoken in the sout of Iranian Kurdistan.
2-the central group consists of Iraqi northeastern Kurdish, Kurdistan of Iran and the adjacent areas around it and called Surani.
3-northern Kurdi wich is the language of more than ⅔ of Kurdish people and called Kormanji.
The common Kormanji dialect in Khorasan has some differences with the other Kormanji dialects, the variety of this dialect of course is not that widespread and significant in Khorasan and there aren’t many differences among the types of Kormanji in Khorasan.
In the last fifty years, several Kormanji grammar books have been written that we can refer to Kormanji grammar written by Juis Blue and Veisi Barak (1999)as the important one. Among Persian-Kormanji dictionaries, we can refer to Kormanji dictionary(with 27000 entries) that is compiled and edited by Mr. Pakseresht and his collegues )Omrzadeh,Sh. mahmudi, h. aran, s. kocher, k. shamsi, m. ajami, n. qolizadeh, m. dolatpur, s. padash, k. yusefi, a( )2012). In the last two decades, surveys related to this dialect and also written books in Khorasani Kormanji have been increasing.
In this researh, passive structure, signs of agreement patterns and ergative in Roudbari and Khorasani Kormanji have been compared. Writers in this article didn’t find a research that specifically considers the features of Kormanji dialect in Roudbar in their query. It is important to mention that Kormanji dialects in towns and villsges of Roudbar, don’t have much difference with each other, so the extracted results from this survey that are based on Kormanji dialect of the village “Gofol” can be generalized to the whole Roudbar.
2. Methodology
This research is based on data from experiments and libraries in a descriptive-analytic way. One of the writers of the article is a native Kormanji speaker and acquired the experimental data of the article from daily colloquiums of native Kormanji speakers of Roudbar in Guilan province and also by interviews with speakers from different areas of Khorasan. Furthermore, in definiens, historical background and conducted studies have been refered to written resources.
3. Results & Discusssion
3. 1. Passive structure
In standard Kormanji and Khorasani, there is a combinational-grammatical structure for stating the passive form. In Kormanji of Roudbar, combinational construct of passive verb in standard and Khorasani dialects has been changed. In some conditions of present and futuretenses, Roudbari speakers, influenced by Persian, use objective adjective construct for stating passive verbs.
In Kormanji of Roudbar, in addition to the structure above, there is another type of passive verb that unlike the first type, is not confusing in its meaning in the past tense and means passive in all of tenses. This construct has been seen in the survey of different Kormanji dialects. In Kormanji, unlike other Kurdish dialects, passive form has a combinational construct. Since in ergative of standard Kormanji and Khorasani verb obeys from object, locating the object of sentence in the subjective place(agent) have caused this obedience to be more fortified and to be used as a kind of grammatical independence toward the second way of the intransitive verb(hatən= to come) in the passive construct of sentence.
Transformation of combinational passive in the Kormanji dialect of Roudbar that caused to the transfer of passive verbs sign from the end of the intransitive verb (hat=came) to the end of the transitive verb (bu=became), can be known as an step in transforming ergative to subjective-objective system.
3. 2. Signs of agreement patterns
Different signs of objective form have been reduced in Roudbari Kormanji. Naturally, the existence of different forms of agreement patterns in prior dialects of Kormanji has had grammatical and phonological reasons. Reduction of these signs and combination of several objective signs in a construct in Roudbari Kormanji is representative of two points: 1- Moving Roudbari Kormanji toward the language simplification. 2- Transformation of ergative to subjective-objective system.
In standard Kormanji, there are signs of gender in nous, proclamative and additional conditions and some pronouns. These signs also have had constancy in Kormanji of Khorasan. Among the new generation of Kormanji speakers the concept of gender is being collapsed. Of course, this change is more common in virtual male and female nouns. Some times even real male and female nouns are pronounced with irrelevant generic suffixes. To sum up, in addition to real male and female, the way of pronouncing the last added part does not differ so much, but forms of pronounciation which represent generic distinction, have been maintained. Subjective and objective pronouns in Kormanji of Khorasan and Roudbar are like each other except third-person singular that in non-subjective condition in Khorasani Khormanji, the male and female forms are distinguished from each other. Of course, standard Kormanji and Khorasan due to the existence of ergative, non-subjective pronouns can locate in the place of subject and subjective pronous can locate in the place of object. By paying attention to the transformation of Roudbari Kormanji dialect to subjective-objective system, subjective pronouns only locate in subjective place and non-subjective pronouns locate in objective place. Although this dialect has missed its ergrtive identity, during this process, unlike Persian, it does not have its distinction between subjective and non-subjective pronouns. Signs of gender have been totally disappeared in Kormanji of Rudbar.
3. 3. Ergative
In Kormanji like many other languages, ergative condition is gradually disappearing and transforming to subjective-objective system. In cities of khorasan the amount and speed of this change is not equal in all of the areas, the more we move towards western and northern points of Khorasan province, the more will be the dominance of subjective-objective system. Totally, it could be said that the rate of the changes in Kormanji dialect of Khorasan is too high. By paying attention to this point that the ergative condition has remained among Kormanj people of Amard plateau and Aamarlou tribe in the suburbs of Neishabour(who are parts of Kormanj immigrants in Rudbar) intentionally or unintentionally, deletion of gender signs and transformation of ergative system to subjective-objective system in Kormanj speakers must have occurred during the second period in the time of Nader Shahe Afshar(1728.ad)
4. Conclusions & Suggestions
Kormanji like all of the other languages and dialects, has been undergoing changes in its historical and geographical way. These changes are different according to the rate of communication with speakers of other languages, national and local media and educational system. Some parts of these changes have happened naturally. In kormanji dialect of Khorasan, signs of gender and agreement patterns have last the significance. Also, ergative system is gradually being collapsed.
In Roudbari Kormanji, the combinational passive construct has been changed, signs of gender distinction have been decreased as much as possible. Also, grammatical system of this dialect has been changed from ergative to subjective-objective system. Totally, it could be said that Kormanji of Roudbar, in the way of language simplification, has acquired some of its grammatical and symbolic constructs from Persian, but if adopted and acquired constructs in some verbs, words and grammar rules have been in a contradiction with psychological and eloquent principles of language, have attempted to maintain archaic distinctions or creating new constructs in a dynamic way.
Amir Karimipour; Mahmoud Elyasi
Volume 4, Issue 7 , September 2013
Abstract
Bilinguals make up a high proportion of the world population. However, these speakers are facing miscellaneous language learning difficulties throughout the world. The situation would be exacerbated when the communicative role of language is considered. In other words, bilinguals usually feel discouraged ...
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Bilinguals make up a high proportion of the world population. However, these speakers are facing miscellaneous language learning difficulties throughout the world. The situation would be exacerbated when the communicative role of language is considered. In other words, bilinguals usually feel discouraged once they are involved in a conversation in their second language with others. In this study, some communicative aspects of Kurdish-Persian-speaking students will be analyzed through assessing their narrative production by means of narrating a wordless picture book known as The Frog Story. Results show that these students face various difficulties in narrating the events in the story in Persian. It would also be worth mentioning that many of these problems remain unsolved for some years. These shortcomings might be attributed to the bilingual education system employed in the Iranian educational system, known as the "Submersion Method".
Javad Ghanbari Beglar; Mahmoud Elyasi; Ali Izanloo
Volume 5, Issue 8 , April 2013, , Pages 1-19
Abstract
Kurmanji is probably the most well known variety of Kurdish Language. Apart from such countries as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and some areas in western Iran, it is spoken in Khorasan-e Shomali and Khorasan-e Razavi Provinces in north-east Iran. The residents of Biglar –a village near Quchan in north-west ...
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Kurmanji is probably the most well known variety of Kurdish Language. Apart from such countries as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and some areas in western Iran, it is spoken in Khorasan-e Shomali and Khorasan-e Razavi Provinces in north-east Iran. The residents of Biglar –a village near Quchan in north-west Khorasan-e Razavi Province- as well as many other people living in the neighboring villages speak this Kurdish dialect. Since there are some prominent differences between the Kurmanji dialect of Biglar and other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the neighboring villages, this paper is to describe these differences and discuss the factors involved in such a variation among the dialects. In this article, having introduced the differences, the major external and internal factors involved have also been discussed. Results show that the Kurmanji Dialect of Biglar represents some phonological, morphological, and syntactic differences with other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the area, and that two other major languages spoken in the region, i.e. local Turkish and Persian are among the most known factors involved in such an event. It was also shown that the dialect was mostly affected by Turkish, and to a lesser degree, by Persian. Among the internal factors involved, lacking distinction between the Present and Past forms of transitive verbs is worth mentioning, a phenomenon which can still be tracked in other Kurmanji dialects spoken in the neighboring villages.
