Date Available
7-25-2018
Year of Publication
2018
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Linguistics
Advisor
Dr. Fabiola Henri
Co-Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Gregory Stump
Abstract
This study examines the distribution and the status of the izāfa particle in Sorani Kurdish (Central Kurdish). It uses a corpus-based analysis to investigate the forms and the pattern of distribution of the izāfa particle in Sorani, a dominant dialect of Kurdish among the Western Iranian languages. The study details an investigation of the appearance of izāfa in various NPs using a variety of data mostly from the corpus but supplemented by the grammaticality judgments of native speakers. I show that next to parallel properties seen in other Western Iranian languages, Sorani Kurdish izāfa shows a form alternation. I examine the morphological status of the izāfa and other nominal morphological features in Kurdish as well as the sensitivity of izāfa form variation to specificity in Kurdish NPs. I argue that the differences and distributional incoherence of the izāfa within Sorani and across Western Iranian languages calls for a morphomic approach, which can be formally described using a constructional approach to grammar. The study focuses on the following questions:
- What type of head does the izāfa mark?
- What is the function of this marker?
- What are the constraints on its distribution?
- What are the syntactic and morphological rules governing its distribution?
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2018.351
Recommended Citation
Salehi, Ali, "CONSTRAINTS ON IZĀFA IN SORANI KURDISH" (2018). Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics. 31.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/31