Magin_Edward-thesis

65
where the verb agrees with the subject). For more details on ergativity, see the discussion
on verbs and the verb phrase in § 4.4.3.
One other determination that can be made regarding constituent order concerns
directional complements. In his reference grammar on Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji),
Thackston (2006) states the following concerning constituent (word) order:
Full normal word order is: (1) temporal expression, (2) subject, (3) direct
object, (4) miscellaneous prepositional phrases, (5) verb, (6) directional
complement. Many other orders are possible, but when any element is
moved from its normal position it is highlighted or emphasized in some
way.
Nicholas Bailey 42 states that the “post-verbal position is reserved for directional
complements of certain verbs involving motion towards a goal.” He further states that ‘it
is usually an indirect object of verbs that involve some kind of motion towards the
indirect object that occurs in that position.” Regarding this position, which he calls GOAL,
Bailey also states that “this position is thus reserved for only a restricted set of indirect
objects (i.e., ones usually involving motion).” This restriction, which may have some
exceptions, may be defined according to the definition of GOAL in Kroeger (2005:54):
“the destination or end-point of a motion.”
The examples in (13) and (14) both contain the intransitive verb that means ‘go.’
GOAL is a semantic argument of the verb. Notice that in (13) the GOAL, Şingar, a city in
Northern Iraq near the Syrian border, is preceded by the letter e, which is attached to the
verb, çum. According to MacKenzie, this letter, which is sometimes written as the letter
a, is a preposition and should be realized as an enclitic (MacKenzie 1961:198).
Throughout this paper I refer to this preposition as DIR, short for directional enclitic. In
(14) an enclitic is not realized because the inflected form of ‘go,’ çu, ends in a vowel.
MacKenzie (1961:198) also has similar examples in his text where the enclitic does not
appear.
42 Personal communication (2012).