VersionsKurdish dialect studies I [English, London, 1961]
Kurdish dialect studies II [English, London, 1962]
Kurdish dialect studies –II-
D. N. Mackenzie
Oxford University Press
The Kurdish texts presented in this volume portray a dozen dialects of the three northern provinces of Iraq. With the exception of the dialect of Suleimaniye, which is the basis of a flourishing written language, few of them have previously appeared in print, either in an indigenous script or in transcription. A wide variety of subjects is represented, from folk-tales to autobiographical pieces. The result is a vivid picture of Kurdish life past and present. The texts are given in a simple but accurate phonemic transcription and accompanied by a fully annotated English translation. A grammatical description of the dialects treated is given in the companion volume, Kurdish Dialect Studies - I.
The author is Lecturer in Iranian Languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Contents
Abbreviations / ix
Introduction / Xi
I. Suleimaniye / 1
Ismā`īl ū Qambartā. Shah Ismail and Qamberta / 4
Sultan Mahmū w Rašswār. Sultan Mahmud and the Black Rider / 32
Ahmad ū Fāzuhur. Ahmed and Fazuhur / 42
`Ačim bō lay Xwā.' `I am going to see God' / 62
Čan qisayak. Conversation / 68
II. Wārmāwa / 81
Žīnī lādēī. Village life / 82
Bēžin ū Manīĵa. Bêzhin and Manije / 92
Rēy Xānaqī. The Khanaqin road / 106
Girānī. Famine / 108
Miškān. The mice / 110
Mahmū w Sīmanswār. Mahmud and Simenswar / 112
III. Bingird and Piždar / 134
Pyāwī bē-aql. A stupid man / 136
Kīsalēk wa du mirāwī. A tortoise and two ducks / 138
Bayānī badbaxtī. A 'hard-up' tale / 140
Ganim. Wheat / 140
Arsalān la mamlakatī Farangīān. Arselan in the country of the Franks / 142
Hāwīn. Summer / 170
Tūtin. Tobacco / 170
Qāzānĵ. Profit. / 172
Misāl. A moral tale / 174
Bō xātirī Faqē Mihammad. For the sake of Faqé Muhammed / 174
Sultān Salīm. Sultan Selim / 176
Čil ū yak qatī. Forty-one deaths / 180
IV. Arbil, Xōšnāw, and Rewandiz / 187
Yisif ū Zilaxā. Joseph and Zuleikha / 188
Šērzād Xān ū Šīmul'uzār. Shérzad Khan and Shimuluzar. / 200
Hikāyatakī 'Usmānī binī 'Afān. A story of Usman b. Alan / 212
V. Sūrćī / 227
Hārē min. My circumstances / 228
Ćērōk: 'Ahmed' ū sē kōsa. A story: 'Ahmed' and the three swindlers / 228
VI. Akre / 241
Ahmadē Pīrikē. Ahmed, the son of the old woman / 242
'Čākī namāya.' 'There is no goodness left' / 248
La'bā řīvīe vixen's trick / 252
Hārôn Řašīd ô diz. Harun Rashid and the thieves / 254
Gulēt ganimī yēt zēř. Golden ears of corn / 262
Xāīn ô Xudē. The deceiver and God / 272
Makrēt žinā. The wiles of women / 276
Hākimē anglēz. The British judge / 280
Šēx Sa’dī ô yē bē-xam. Sheikh Saadi and the carefree man / 284
Kuřē Sultān Salīmī. The son of Sultan Selim / 288
Kičā Hākimī. The Prince's daughter / 308
VII Amadiye and Barwārī-Žôr / 319
Diraw. A lie. (Two versions) / 320
Bālīl ô Hārônařašīd. Bahlul and Harun al-Rashid. (Two versions) / 322
Am čôyna čyay. We went to the mountains / 330
Āmēdīē. Amadiye / 330
Bāpīrē ma. Our ancestor / 334
Ahmad Čalabī ô Bahram Fēris. Ahmed Chelebi and Bahram Féris / 336
Gullī and Zakho / 347
Mīrzā Mihammad ô Kāfir. Mirza Muhammed and the monster / 348
Āxiftin. Talk / 356
Notes / 368
To my wife
INTRODUCTION
The prime purpose in collecting these texts was to obtain material which could serve as a base for, or at least illustrate, a grammatical description of the individual dialects of Kurdish spoken in northern Iraq.1 The first problem, naturally, was to find informants who spoke the various dialects in something approaching purity, and then to record examples of their normal speech. Thus, to ensure that they should speak as naturally and fluently as possible, all the speakers were encouraged to talk on whatever subject they themselves preferred. The result is a somewhat mixed bag of folk-tales, anecdotes, and descriptive and autobiographical pieces. Although rather disconcerting at first sight, this mixture will, I hope, be found to justify itself as giving a broader view of Kurdish speech habits than would a collection entirely of, say, folk-tales.
Where circumstances permitted, the text, or at least the first part of it, was recorded directly on magnetized tape and later played back repeatedly to the speaker and noted down in his presence, with his assistance at any unclear passage.
As the number of tapes available was limited, however, some texts were taken down directly from dictation, and suffer accordingly from all the lack of spontaneity, and even accuracy, that this method entails. In one case (see Amadiye, p. 319) two versions of the same texts are given-the first from dictation, while the tape-recorder was out of order, and the second from a direct recording made later. Only in a few cases, when there was no alternative, was a tape-recording made, to be played back later and noted down without the assistance of the speaker. This applies particularly to the Xōšnāw and Barwāri-žôr texts, and in publishing them a number of unclear passages have been omitted, or marked as doubtful.
A word of apology must be said to those readers interested only in the folk-tales herein. A number of them will be found to be incomplete. Those speakers who chose to tell such tales were often …
1 This description has appeared in the London Oriental Series under the title Kurdish Dialect Studies - I, O.U.P., 1961.
2 The passages which were so recorded are indicated at the beginning of each section below. Most of the recordings have been preserved and copies are obtainable from the author.
D. N. Mackenzie
London oriental series - volume 10
Kurdish dialect studies –II-
Oxford university press
Oxford university press
School of Oriental and African studies
University of London
London oriental series - volume 10
Kurdish dialect studies-II
D. N. Mackenzie
Lecturer in Iranian Languages
School of Oriental and African studies
London
Oxford university press
New York - Toronto
1962
Oxford university press, Amen house, London E.C.4
Glasgow - New York - Toronto - Melbourne –
Wellington - Bombay - Calcutta - Madras - Karachi –
Lahore – Dacca - Cape Town - Salisbury - Nairobi –
Ibadan – Accra - Kuala Lumpur - Hong Kong
© D. N. MacKenzie 1962
Printed in Great Britain
At the university press, Oxford
By Vivian Ridler
Printer to the university
