In the previous post, we gave an overview of the Kurdish language, its dialects, and the prevalent differences between the two main dialects. Before we delve deeper into more specific linguistic features, it is important to give an overview of nouns and their definitions in Northern Kurdish.
Noun in Northern Kurdish
The Nominative case
Noun in Northern Kurdish in its absolute state and without any suffixes represents the generic and definite senses of the noun. Therefore, we do not use any article in Northern Kurdish to represent the definite state of the noun. However, to make the noun indefinite, we use indefinite markers or suffixes -ek for singular and -in for plural indefinite nouns. Both markers may be preceded by -y and become -yek and -yin in case the noun ends in a vowel. Table 1 shows the indefinite markers in Northern Kurdish. In addition, ?? demonstrates the definite and indefinite states along with the indefinite markers for the noun pirtûk `book’.
In all examples we provide here, we use a hyphen – before a marker to denote that the marker is affixed to a noun. Conversely, we use a dot . before a marker to indicate that the entire token conforms to the case represented by the marker. All symbols used in the examples are listed in the following table which are based on the Leipzig Glossing Rules (Haspelmath 2014).
In Northern Kurdish, the nouns in the singular form are either feminine or masculine.
The gender of each noun must be learned and memorized because of its importance in cases different than the nominative case. However, some nouns may be used as masculine or feminine, depending on the context. From our previous example, the noun pirtûk `book’ is feminine, while the noun heval `friend/comrade’ could be used for both genders. There is no gender differentiation of the plural nouns in Northern Kurdish.
Furthermore, nouns can be inflected in four cases: nominative, vocativeو oblique, and construct. The noun’s gender and ending determine how it is inflected and what suffixes will be added. Noun’s inflection will become clearer in the next subsections as we will introduce the vocative, oblique, and construct cases.
The vocative case
Nouns in the vocative case in Northern Kurdish get suffixes attached to them based on the number and gender. The table below demonstrates the vocative case markers in Northern Kurdish.
And the following examples show the evocative case:
The oblique case
Nouns, proper nouns, personal pronouns, and demonstrative adjectives in Northern Kurdish in the oblique case (OBL) undergo a form change. They are either completely altered or oblique markers are added to the end of the noun. Those markers, shown in following table, are unstressed markers that reveal the gender and number of nouns in the oblique case. The nouns and proper nouns in Northern Kurdish appear in the oblique case in the following situations:
- The noun is a direct object in the present and future tenses.
- The noun is a subject of transitive verbs in the past tense.
- The noun is a second member of the construct case. The construct case is explained in Izafe case subsection.
- The noun is a complement of prepositions.
- The noun comes after demonstrative adjectives in the oblique case.
Furthermore, it is of significance to highlight the case where we have a sequence of nouns or proper nouns connected through the conjunction û `and’ in the oblique case; only the last noun gets the oblique case marker, while other nouns will remain in the absolute case. The following oblique case example provides a complete list of instances for the nouns in the oblique case.
Demonstrative adjectives in Northern Kurdish appear in both nominative and oblique cases. In the nominative case, the nouns after them appear in the absolute state. On the other hand, in the oblique case, the demonstrative adjectives and the nouns they modify are altered. The table below summarizes the nominative and oblique case for the demonstrative adjectives.
The personal pronouns in Kurdish can appear in nominative and oblique cases. Additionally, the possessive pronouns in Northern Kurdish are identical to the personal pronouns in the oblique case. The following table summarizes the personal pronouns in nominative and oblique cases.
In addition to the oblique case marker for singular and definite masculine nouns or proper nouns in Northern Kurdish, the oblique case can be expressed using the ablaut system (Haig 2007). This phenomenon entails vowel alternation to represent morphological distinction or grammatical case change. However, within the context of Northern Kurdish, the ablaut is only limited to words that contain either the vowel a or e. Therefore, the noun in oblique case hespî `horse’ in the first sentence within our previous example could be written as hêsp. We give two more examples of this special case as follows.
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