Magin_Edward-thesis

153
subject, hevalan, is actually a vocative describing the plural undeclared subject, ‘you.’ It
is rightfully marked as an oblique. By putting the object noun phrase, ayeta xuş hîmetê,
‘verse of good effort,’ line final, he was able to rhyme hîmetê with the end of line 37,
ruîmetê, ‘cheek,’ also shown.
(230) wêne ya suz u dilêran xuîa=ye ser ruîmet-ê (BS1:37, 38)
picture EZ.F promise and bravery sweat=COP.3SG on cheek-OBL.F
‘The picture of promises and bravery is like sweat on the cheeks.’
wer(e) bi-xuîn-in ey heval-an ayet-a xuş hîmet-ê
come.IMP IRR-read-IMP.PL O friend-OBL.PL verse-EZ.F good effort-OBL.F
‘Come, read, O friends, with us the (poetic) verse of good effort.’
I considered whether the constituent order in line 38 (above) is normal for
sentences with imperatives―that is, placing them before objects. Looking at other
examples in the corpus, I did find one other instance where Sindî positioned an object
after an imperative. In (231), the object dengê bilwîlan, ‘sound of flutes,’ comes after the
verb, guh bidin, ‘listen.’
(231) guh bi-d-in deng-ê bilwîl-an ew çewa bu me (BS4:37)
ear IRR-give-IMP.PL sound-EZ.M flutes-OBL.PL 3D how for 1OP
di-bistir-in
IPFV-vibrate.PRS-3PL
‘Listen to the sound of the flutes, how they are singing for us.’
However, I did find more examples in the corpus to the contrary. In example
(232), the object ‘ud u sentur, ‘oud and hammer dulcimer,’ is before the imperative
bistirîne, ‘play,’ or literally, ‘sing.’ In example (233), the object xewinekê, ‘a dream,’ is
before the imperative bide, ‘give.’ The object ruha min, ‘my soul,’ is before the
imperative bibe, ‘take,’ in (234). And in (235), the object tazî ya Qazî, ‘funeral of Qazî,’
is positioned in its normal place, before the imperative, nekin, 90 ‘not do.’ Hence,
examples of transitive clauses with imperatives from normal conversation would help us
90 The words ji bîr before nekin is part of an idiom where a PP is part of an expression that utilizes a light
verb. Together they function as the English verb ‘remember.’