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5.4.1.1.5 Object-Verb-Subject
In § 5.4.1.1.1 and § 5.4.1.1.2, I discussed instances of post-verbal subjects. Below
is the only one instance I found in the corpus with an OVS constituent order. In line 9 of
Bîrewerîa Barzanî Yê Nemir, ‘Memories of Immortal Barzanî,’ Sindî put the subject at
the end of the line, after the transitive complex verb ji berkir, ‘memorized.’ It seems that
his motivation was to rhyme the noun jin, ‘woman,’ in his compound subject, me ciḧêl u
pîr u jin, ‘we―young and old and women,’ with the noun cin at the end of the line 10,
also shown in (229). It is possible that Sindî left out a conjunction between me and ciḧel;
however, it seems more likely that ciḧel u pîr u jin are descriptive of me, as the
translation below reads.
(229) ayet-a Kursî 89 ji_berkir-Ø me ciḧêl u pîr (BS1:9, 10)
verse-EZ.F Kursî memorize.PST-3SG 1OP young and old
u jin
and woman
‘We―young, old, and women―memorized the Kursî verse.’
me du’a bu-Ø şev u ruj-an ji mezar u Înis u
1OP prayer COP.PST-3SG night and day-OBL.PL from grave and Înis and
cin
evil.spirit
‘We prayed (wished) night and day to grave and (prophet) Înis and evil spirit.’
5.4.1.1.6 Verb–Object imperative clauses without a declared subject
In § 5.4.1.1.1 I discussed instances where the verb preceded the subject. Below are
some instances of transitive imperative clauses where the verb precedes the object.
Concerning line 38 of Sindî’s Bîrewerîa Barzanî Yê Nemir, ‘Memories of
Immortal Barzanî,’ shown in (230), the imperative bixwînin, ‘read,’ would normally
come at the end of the phrase, after the object. However, Sindî positioned it after the
initial imperative, wer, which is short for were, ‘come.’ What may appear to be the
89 Ayeta Kursî is ayet, ‘verse,’ 255 of Surat al-Baqarah, ‘the Chapter of the Cow,’ in the Qur’an. People
read it at night before they sleep, believing it will make the devil flee from them.