Magin_Edward-thesis

139
evro vala=ye
today vacant=COP.PRS.3SG
‘People, that’s why the heart is burning, because the place of the partridge today is
vacant.’
Sindî put the subject ceger, ‘liver,’ after the verb sutî ye, ‘has burned,’ in line 14
of Bîrewerîa Barzanî Yê Nemir, ‘Memories of Immortal Barzanî.’ Normal constituent
order for this phrase would have been ceger li me sutî ye. Note that in this line, the
prepositional phrase, li me, ‘in me,’ is also in an uncommon location, before the subject it
modifies. In this instance, ceger was likely so positioned to rhyme with qeder in line 13,
also shown.
(197) lê_belê dest-ê Xudan-î ew=e neqiqaş-ê (BS1:13, 14)
yes hand-EZ.M Lord-OBL.M 3D=COP.PRS.3SG painter-EZ.M
qeder
fate
‘Yes it’s in God’s hand; he’s the painter of fate.’
wî wesa ferman-ek da-yî sut-î-Ø-ye li
3OM like.that order-INDF give.PST-3SG burn:PST-PRF-be:PST-3SG in
me ceger
1OP liver
‘He gave an order like that; the liver in us has burned.’
Sindî also inverted part of a complex verb, guh da, ‘listen,’ putting the subject,
min, ‘I,’ after the nonverbal part of the verb, guh (literally ‘ear’), but before the verbal
portion of the idiom, da, which literally means ‘give.’
(198) guh min da-Ø awaz u lavç-an deng-ê saz-a (BS5:4)
ear 1O give.PST-3SG music and song-OBL-PL sound-EZ.M guitar-EZ.F
min ne-hat-Ø
1O NEG-come.PST-3SG
‘I listened to melodies and songs―the sound of my guitar did not come.’
Nalbend also used VS word order in Duhî Spêdê Liser Banî, ‘Yesterday Morning
On The Rooftop,’ probably to rhyme hestî, part of the compound subject leş u hestî,
‘flesh and bone,’ with geztî, ‘had bitten,’ and destî, ‘hand,’ in lines 46 and 47, shown
below in (199). With normal constituent order, a speaker would have said leş u hestîyê
min ḧelîan. Notice here that in normal speech the personal pronoun min, ‘me,’ is attached