a-practical-kurdish-grammar

CONSONANTS 19
The varieties in dialect present another great obstacle not easily
surmounted. As familiarity is acquired with the language spoken in
all the dialects, reasons are found for changing orthography which
was supposed to be definitely settled.
CONSONANTS
30. Theoretically, all the letters in the Kurdish Alphabet are
consonants, and as such, may be divided into three classes, namely,
'hard', 'soft', and 'neutral' letters, as follows :
(i.) The nine hard letters are ^ ^ r f J* J»
^ ^ and J
(2.) The eight soft letters are O ^ j i O I
31. The Kurdish sometimes substitutes ^ for c, , in
words borrowed from the Arabic and Persian. Ex. i (gham)
'sorrow', is usually written ^ (kham) ; J^^ mashghöl
'occupied', is written J^.!.. (mashkhöl), etc. In the same
manner | and c- , j_j and ^_j , c- and J, , * and
j:- , ^y and ^j^ , J and ^^, ^j_5^and ^ sometimes
interchange.
32. The consonant ^ , used as a final, usually loses its
sound when preceded by ^ . Ex. XJIj (pishtend) 'girdle',
sounds like 'pishten'.
33- The consonant j , as a final, in the verbal stem, Passive
Voice, is assimilated by initial j in the passive suffixes ^j
and \j .
34- Initial ^ is sometimes pronounced like 'h'. Ex, ^ş-U