Magin_Edward-thesis

205
The chiasmus in Cegerxwîn’s Dînê Me Tête Zanîn, ‘Our Religion Is Becoming
Known,’ is based on antithesis, focusing on difference rather than similarity. In the
second half of line 5, shown in (347), there is prepositional phrase that contains a list of
areas of knowledge the elders possessed. The phrase comes after the verb. All of the
nouns in the prepositional phrase are Arabic words by intention. In line 6, also shown, a
list in a prepositional phrase comes at the beginning of the line, before the verb. I have
underlined each list for ease of reference. In this instance, the description characterizes
the situation of the common folk, who were left ignored by the elders. The elders are
being rebuked here, not just for ignoring the people, but for ignoring their own language.
The term base-contrast best describes the semantic relation expressed by these lines
(2002a:98). Hence, this specific chiasmus exhibits both syntactic and semantic levels of
parallelism.
(347) xwe pîr di-k-in di wez’ê hem sirif u (CX3:5)
REFL aged IPFV-do.PRS-3PL in morphology all grammar and
ni’hu u mintiq
syntax and logic
‘They make themselves old (season themselves) in morphology, syntax and logic
(in Arabic).’
bê zar u xet u xwendin, li nav xelk-ê (CX3:6)
without language and script and literacy into people-EZ.M
dewar-in
herd=COP.PRS.3PL
‘We, the herd of people are without language, script and ability to read.’
Example (348) visually represents this chiasmus.
(348) religious leaders
aspects of language (in Arabic)
aspects of language (in Northern Kurdish)
common people
5.4.1.5 Neologisms
Adams (1997:131) states that neologisms “are the creative acts of diction, the
minting of new words.” Sometimes a new word may be a combination of two words or a