VersionsKurdish dialect studies I [English, London, 1961]
Kurdish dialect studies II [English, London, 1962]
Kurdish dialect studies -I-
D. N. Mackenzie
Oxford University Press
The dozen or so dialects of Kurdish studied in this work are primarily those of the three northern provinces of Iraq, viz. Suleimaniye, Arbil and Mosul. The most important is that of Suleimaniye, which is the basis of an officially recognized and flourishing written language. Most of the material is entirely new and is presented in the form of a comprehensive descriptive grammatical sketch, including references to known related dialects.
The author is Lecturer in Iranian Languages at the School of oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has travelled extensively in the Kurdish-speaking areas of the Middle East.
Contents
Preface / vii
Abbreviations / xi
Select bibliography / xiii
Maps / xv
Introduction / xvii
Part I. Phonology / I
Part II. Group I dialects / 50
Part III. Group II dialects / 150
Part IV. Dialect grouping / 220
Appendix. List of verbs / 226
Conspectus / 241
To my Kurdish friends
PREFACE
THE study of Kurdish has a longer history than that of most modern Iranian languages. Yet, although it early became clear that the dialects of Kurdish differed considerably from one another, no attempt has previously been made to classify them. These studies are accordingly intended to point both the feasibility and the necessity of some classification. To this end, a descriptive sketch is given of the grammar of a series of dialects from central Kurdistan, some of them treated for the first time here, and an attempt is then made to group the dialects systematically.
My introduction to Kurdish, in 1951, I owe to Mr. C. J. Edmonds and it is a pleasure to record my gratitude to him for his help and encouragement at all times. The award of a most generous Studentship, 1953-5, by the Committee for Studentships in Foreign Languages and Cultures of H.M. Treasury made it possible for me to visit Iraq and to record new linguistic material. In Iraq my work was lightened by the liberal help and interest of so many Kurds, of all stations in life, that to mention all here would be impossible. I must, however, express my special thanks to Messrs. Fuad Reshid Bekr and Hasan Husein of Suleimaniye and Hashim Haji Hasan of Akre for their continued interest and cooperation.
Beside published works, and my own notes, I have occasionally made reference to the manuscript material collected by Oskar Mann. I am particularly grateful to the Directors of the Akademie der Wissenschaften and der literatur, Mainz, and the Institut fur orientforschung of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin for so generously placing this material at my disposal.
The basis of this work was approved by the University of London for the degree of Ph.D. in 1957. Professor W. B. Henning acted as supervisor of my research, and I am profoundly grateful to him for his munificent advice, criticism, and help both then and since.
It remains only for me to acknowledge my great debt to the School of oriental and African Studies for accepting this work for the London oriental Series and for meeting the cost of publication.
The texts which complement these studies are to be published shortly in the same Series under the title Kurdish Dialect Studies II.
1959
D. N. M.
Introduction
Brevis esse laboro…
The survey of Kurdish dialects which follows is based primarily on material gathered during a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan in 1954-5. only in the case of the Suleimani dialect has it been possible to supplement this material where necessary with examples from printed sources.
It was originally intended to spend an equal period of time in the Kurdish-speaking areas of Turkey and Iraq in the event, permission not being forthcoming from the Turkish authorities, some ten months were spent in northern Iraq, between Halebje and Zakho (Map B). From the towns of Suleimaniye and Akre as bases visits were made to the centres of as many dialect areas as could profitably be covered in the time available.
Where possible the linguistic notes made were supported by connected texts, either taken down directly from dictation or recorded on magnetized tape and then transcribed. Inevitably these texts are of unequal value, according both to the nature of their authors and to the possibility of checking them. However, of the texts transcribed without the assistance of the authors those from Barwārī-žôr are the only ones presented about which any serious doubt remains.
Throughout the history of Kurdish dialect studies it has been notoriously difficult to find trustworthy informants, even in situ. Thus chodzko's informant in Paris was an aristocrat better acquainted with Turkish and Persian than with his mother tongue; Prym and Socin were obliged to obtain most of their Kurdish texts from an Aramaic-speaking Christian and an itinerant Jewish story-teller; Makas's Mardini Kurd, who had travelled for years in Eastern Europe, was telling stories he had heard twenty years before; even in recent years the authors of the Kurdoev - Cukerman texts were refugees who had arrived in the Caucasus by stages from various parts of Turkey.
The same difficulty was encountered in Iraq in certain cases. Thus the author of the main Bingirdī text (Bin. 314-79), a man of about twenty-five years of age, had lived for about one year in …
D. N. Mackenzie
London oriental series volume 9
Kurdish dialect studies I
Oxford University Press
SchooL of Oriental and African studies University of London
London oriental series volume 9
Kurdish dialect studies - I
D. N. Mackenzie
Lecturer in Iranian Languages
School of oriental and African Studies
London Oxford university press
New York Toronto
1961
Oxford university press, Amen house, London E.C.4
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© D. N. MacKenzie 1961
Printed in Great Britain
At the university press, Oxford
By Vivian ridler
Printer to the university
