Magin_Edward-thesis

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quickly floating away downstream. 145 As Shushi did not argue for its removal, I left it in
because of the number of syllables it provided compared to alternatives. Needing one
more syllable for the line, Shushi recommended using an emphatic word tim, a word I
was not familiar with. Chyet (2003) lists tim as meaning ‘always’ and ‘often, frequently.’
However, a friend of mine affirmed Shushi’s explanation saying, “It is a rather poetic
word just used for emphasis―no more, no less.” I also had the option of using the words
gelek zî, ‘very fast,’ in place of belez, ‘quickly,’ as gelek zî offers an additional syllable.
Having this option is ideal in case the idiom that I used needs to be changed.
For the third line of the second quatrain, I had an option of using either habît,
‘exist,’ or jît, ‘live.’ Shushi felt that both words convey the same meaning in this
sentence. Having changed to a 10-syllable count for the third line in each quatrain―the
non-rhyming line―I chose to use jît over habît. Also, regarding syllable count, I was able
to use belê, ‘but,’ as opposed to lê, which also means ‘but.’ If I wanted to change the verb
to habît, whatever the reason, I would be able to use lê to retain the syllable count.
In Northern Kurdish, there is one characteristic of the language that can be either
helpful or challenging for the metapoet. Verbs naturally come at the end of a sentence,
the general constituent order being SOV (see § 4.4.1.2). When the person, number and
tense remain consistent, the verb endings naturally rhyme. Prepositional phrases that
might naturally occur after a verb can often be moved to another location in the sentence,
as discussed in § 5.4.1.3.7. However, if a change occurs with the person, number or tense,
the ending on the verb changes and some other means for rhyming the line must be
found. Such is the situation in the final line of the second quatrain. Not only does the
number change for this line but also the tense of the verb. After much discussion about
this line, we decided to retain, from my original translation, the prepositional phrase li
min, ‘in me,’ at the end for the rhyme. Lacking words to correctly describe the beating of
a heart, Shushi offered lê da, which literally means ‘strike, hit, beat.’ It is a word people
145 I would need to ask more native speakers to make sure usage of this idiom is appropriate for the given
context.