Magin_Edward-thesis

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analysts have used to describe the sound of the letter e. The symbol // is also the sound
which I personally believe to be the most commonly spoken sound for words containing
the letter e, as spoken in the Badinan area of Northern Iraq.
Close
Near-close
Front Central Back
î
i u
Close-mid ê o
û
Open-mid
e
Open
a
Figure 2. Northern Kurdish vowel chart.
Figure 3. IPA vowel chart.
In Cegerxwîn’s poem Dînê Me Tête Zanîn, ‘Our Religion Is Becoming Known,’
every even line number ends with either in or în. Example (169) shows two of these lines
from the poem. The difference between vowels i and î is minimal. The letter î is a close,