Magin_Edward-thesis

174
consultant, no one would utter this sentence without the preposition. Again, Nalbend’s
motivation was likely to reduce the syllable count for the line.
(282) çi derman=e (bu) leşê ba-wî 108 (AN1:43)
what medicine=COP.PRS.3SG (for) body wind-OBL.M
‘What medicine is there for the winded body?’
5.4.1.2.8 Ellipsis of irrealis aspect prefix, bi-
In one instance, shown in (283), the irrealis aspect prefix, bi-, was missing from
the command, fikirê, ‘think.’ This was confirmed with a second consultant, who said
“that this is the only case in Kurdish where [this] verb is used at the beginning [of a
sentence].” He also agreed that “it seems awkward not to have the bi- [prefix].” It seems
likely that Nalbend left off the prefix in order to meet his syllable count for the line.
(283) Dayîk-a me çû-Ø. Bab-ê me çû-Ø; (AN3:33)
mother-EZ.F 1OP go.PST-3SG father-EZ.M 1OP go.PST-3SG
(bi-)fikir-ê 109 ku bapîr kîve çû-Ø?
(IRR-)think-IMP.SG that grandfather where go.PST-3SG
‘Our mother left. Our father left. Think about it―Where did our grandfather go?’
5.4.1.3 Free variation
This section on free variation covers situations where a poet has freedom to
include or exclude a word or put certain words or phrases in less common places. In these
examples, inclusion or exclusion generally does not change the meaning of the sentence.
I say generally because pragmatic nuances in the language would need further study to
make wide assertions on the examples covered here. But, because we are dealing with
written texts, that is, communication that lacks performance and intonation, it makes
sense to cover these areas.
108 In this instance of a masculine oblique marker being added to a noun, I believe the w is a glide insertion
for the sake of pronunciation. In the resources available to me, this word for ‘wind’ is always spelled ba.
Other poets in the corpus write ba with an oblique marker as baî.
109 The -ê sufix is unusual, as the singular imperative suffix is -e. This may simply be a typographical error
in the original text, as my consultant could not explain the appearance of this suffix.