a-practical-kurdish-grammar

PROLONGED PRONUNCIATION 25
casionally contracted into one vowel. Examples: dL>. (jek)
'a place', for dl^ (je-ek) ; ^fX> (dek) 'a village', for
dl(j5 (de-ek) ; ^^^ (rek) 'a road', for ^^^j (re-ek) ;
dL (pek) 'a foot', for dl.^ (pe-ek). But very often both
vowels are retained.
49. Substitution: In the pronunciation of the Kurdish
vowels we often hear 'u' substituted for 'û', 'o' for 'ö', and 'ö'
for 'û'. The pronoun y 'thou', is sometimes pronounced
(tij) and sometimes (to) ; and the verb y>- 'he, she, or it went',
is sometimes pronounced (chij) and sometimes (chö).
Medial or final 'e' is sometimes pronounced 'î', and vise
versa. E.xamples: o^ 'to bring', is usually pronounced
(henan), but we sometimes hear (hinan) ; ^J^':> 'he, she, or
it dies,' is usually pronounced (damre), but we sometimes hear
(damri).
50. Prolonged Pronunciation :
The vowels I j and ^ are naturally pronounced long in
some words, in other words the prolonged pronunciation is
due to rhyme in poetry, and in other words again the prolon¬
gation is made for the sake of emphasis. Examples
^\ (akhir) 'last', is pronounced (aakhir)
J I (ao) 'water', is pronounced (aaö).
^ (drûnî) 'sewing', is pronounced (drûûni).
^j^i(dakûzhim) 'I kill', is pronounced (dakûûzhim).
^^-^ (se) 'three', is pronounced (see).