Magin_Edward-thesis

60
explicate glides here but to make the reader aware that such insertions and changes occur
in the language.
(2) nê me nal-în=e ji dîr-î meî-ya ‘şq-a (BS1: 6)
do 1DP lament.PRS-1PL=DIR 38 from distance-OBL.M wine-EZ.F love-EZ.F
me mey=î
1DP wine=COP.PRS.2SG
‘We do lament from the distance, the wine of our love. You are the wine.’
4.2.5 Contractions
Northern Kurdish has a number of contractions that are prepositional phrases. All
consist of a preposition and a third person pronoun, either wî, 3OM, or wê, 3OF. There are
no contractions with plural pronouns. Table 3 presents how these contractions break
down. To write without the use of these contractions would be ungrammatical.
Table 3.
Contractions.
contraction
jê
lê
pê
tê
breakdown
ji + wî or ji + wê
li + wî or li + wê
bi + wî or bi + wê
di + wî or di + wê
Some of these contractions are used in idiomatic verbs. Examples (3) and (4)
contain the verb ‘hear,’ which requires the noun guh, ‘ear,’ a prepositional phrase (PP),
and the copula verb, ‘be.’ In (3) the PP is the contraction lê. In (4) a contraction cannot be
used, as there is no contraction for li plus a 2SG pronoun. The same difference is evident
in examples in (5) and (6) containing jê and ji min, respectively
(3) min guh lê ne bî.
1O hear at.3OF not be.PRS.1SG
‘I don’t hear her.’
38 This directional enclitic appears in Northern Kurdish as the vowel e or a attached to the end of a verb.
More is said about this clitic in § 4.4.1.2.