The Nanosyntax of Element Movement in Circumpositions of Kurdish (Sorani Dialect)

Morady, Ebrahim; Ahangar, Abbas Ali; Karimi Doustan, Gholamhosain

doi:10.22059/jolr.2016.61526

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Ph.D. Candidate in Linguistics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan

² Assistant Professor of Linguistics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan

³ Professor of Linguistics, University of Tehran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2016.61526

Abstract

This paper, based on nanosyntax, studies the semantico-syntactic contribution of Kurdish circumposition [elements (l{ ...(d) a, l{ ...{w{, w{...(d) a, w{ ...{w{) and their movement inside the containing PP. Contrary to minimalist, nanosyntax is non-lexicalsit and the terminal nodes contain elements smaller than morphemes i.e. morphosyntactic features. In this theory derivation begins with merging features and the lexicon is presyntax and syntax generates all items from morpheme to clause. Nanosyntax also follows the rigid universal functional sequence order of Specifier – Head - Complement that is based on the principle one morphosyntactic property - one feature-one head. For instance, morphemes are, in a binary way, derived from merging morphosyntactic features, and then they are mapped on lexical entries stored in lexicon. If they match with lexical entries that contain , they will spell out. Studying the data in Kurdish shows that -(d)a in l{ ...(d)a represents Place and in w{ ...(d)a Genitive. -{w{ in l{ ...{w{ shows Ablative including the feature/ head Bound and in w{ ...{w{ spells out Comitative. Stuying the Kurdish data also shows that the complement of the circumposition based nanosyntax movent principles moves lefteward and locates between the elemnts of the circumposition in a way that assymetrically c-commonds its bound part. As a result, according to Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) all terminal nodes dominated by DP precede all terminal nodes dominated by the bound element of the circumposition.

Keywords

References

دبیرمقدم، محمد (1392). ردهشناسی زبانهای ایرانی، تهران، سمت.

Ayano,S. 2001. The layered internal structure and the external syntax of PP. Durham theses. Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4950/

Caha, P. 2009. The Nanosyntax of Case. Ph.D. thesis. University of Tromsø.

Cinque, G. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Oxford University Press, New York.

Cinque, G. 2005. Deriving Greenberg’s Universal 20 and its exceptions. Linguistic Inquiry. 363. 315–332.

Cinque, G. 2009. The fundamental left-right asymmetry of natural languages. In Universals of Language Today, edited by Sergio Scalise, Elisabetta Magni, and Antonietta Bisetto, vol. 76 of Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory,pp. 165–184.Springer Netherlands.

Cinque, G. andRizzi, L. 2008. The cartography of syntactic structures.In STiL (Studies in Linguistics). CISCL workingpapers on language and cognition. edited by Vincenzo Moscati. (vol.2, pp.43–59). University ofSiena, Siena.

Edmonds, C. J. 1955. Prepositions and personal Affixes in southern Kurdish. Bulletin of the School of Oriented and African Studies. University of London. Vol. 17. No. 3 (1955). Pp. 490-502.

Kayne, R. S. 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Koopman,H. 2000. Prepositions, postpositions, circumpositions, and particles. In The Syntax of Specifiers and Heads, edited by Hilda Koopman, pp.204–260.Routledge, London.

Mackenzie, D. N. 1961. Kurdish Dialect Studies. London: Oxford University Press.

McCarus, E. N. 1958. A KURDISH GRAMMAR (DECRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE KURDISH OF SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ). American Council of Learned Societies New York.

Pantcheva, M. 2011. Decomposing Path: The Nanosyntax of Directional Expressions. Ph.D dissertation. University of Tromsø.

Rizzi, L. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of Grammar: Handbook in Generative Syntax, edited by Liliane Haegeman,pp. 281–337.Kluwer,Dordrecht.

Samvelian, P. 2006. What Sorani Kurdish Absolute Prepositions Tell us About Cliticization. In Frederic Hoyt, Nikki Seifert, Alexandra Teodorescu and Jesssica White (eds), Texas Linguistics Society IX: The Morphosyntax of Understudied Languages, 263-283.

Samvelian, P. 2007. A Lexical Account of Sorani Kurdish Prepositions. in Stefan Müller (ed.). Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, pp. 235-249, CSLI Publications, Stanford.

Starke, M. 2011. Towards elegant parameters: Language variation reduces to the size of lexically stored trees. Transcript from a talk at Barcelona workshop on Linguistic Variation in the Minimalist Framework. Available at http://ling.auf.net/lingBuzz/001183.

Svenonius, P. 2010. Spatial P in English. In G. Cinque and L. Rizzi (eds) Mapping Spatial PPs: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. 6. NY: OUP. 127-160. .

Tawfeeq S. S. 2014. Workshop on Aspect and Argument Structure of Adverbs and Prepositions (WAASAP 2), University of Tromsø, HSL-Fakultet, Norway. (Oral presentation 'Place Relators: English and Kurdish').

Tawfeeq S. S. 2016. Events and Space: Motion VPs and Spatial PPs. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Terzi, A. 2010. Locative prepositions and place. In G. Cinque and L. Rizzi (eds) Mapping Spatial PPs: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. 6. NY: OUP. 196–224.

Language Research

The Nanosyntax of Element Movement in Circumpositions of Kurdish (Sorani Dialect)

References

References

Volume 7, Issue 2
January 2017
Pages 77-96

The Nanosyntax of Element Movement in Circumpositions of Kurdish (Sorani Dialect)

References

References

Volume 7, Issue 2January 2017Pages 77-96

Volume 7, Issue 2
January 2017
Pages 77-96