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Yilmaz, Birgul (2016) Learning "my" language : moments of languages and identities among Kurds in the UK. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/23798 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this PhD Thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This PhD Thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this PhD Thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the PhD Thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full PhD Thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD PhD Thesis, pagination. LEARNING “MY” LANGUAGE: MOMENTS OF LANGUAGES AND IDENTITIES AMONG KURDS IN THE UK Birgul Yilmaz Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics 2015 Department of Linguistics SOAS, University of London 1 Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 6 KURMANJI SOUND SYSTEM .............................................................................................................. 8 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 11 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 11 1.2 RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY ........................................................................................................ 13 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THESIS SYNOPSIS ............................................................................. 17 1.4 KURDS AND KURDISTAN ............................................................................................................... 19 1.5 LANGUAGE ................................................................................................................................... 23 1.5.1 Iraq ....................................................................................................................................... 31 1.5.2 Iran ....................................................................................................................................... 32 1.5.3 Syria ..................................................................................................................................... 32 1.5.4 Turkey .................................................................................................................................. 33 1.6 ALPHABET .................................................................................................................................... 37 1.7 TURKISH LANGUAGE REFORM AND THE SITUATION OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE ....................... 38 1.8 EDUCATION .................................................................................................................................. 43 1.9 RELIGION ...................................................................................................................................... 44 1.10 THE POLITICS OF KURDISH LANGUAGE AND THE EMERGENCE OF LANGUAGE CLASSES ............ 49 1.11 THE KURDISH DIASPORA IN EUROPE .......................................................................................... 57 1.12 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 63 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................... 64 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 64 2.2 ASSUMPTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 65 2.3 OVERVIEW OF CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................. 70 2.3.1 STARTING WITH TERMS ............................................................................................................. 71 2.3.1.1 Language ........................................................................................................................... 71 2.3.1.2 Identity .............................................................................................................................. 73 2.3.1.3 Shades of Sameness, Difference and the Otherness .......................................................... 75 2.3.1.4 Hierarchy of Identities ...................................................................................................... 77 2.3.1.5 Mimicry and Ambivalence ................................................................................................ 79 2.4 THEORETICAL PARADIGMS ........................................................................................................... 80 2.4.1 On Essentialism and Anti-essentialism ................................................................................ 80 2.4.2 Identity as a Project of the Self ............................................................................................ 84 2.3.3 Identity as social product ..................................................................................................... 85 2.3.4 Variationist sociolinguistics ................................................................................................. 87 2.3.4 The postmodern self and the discursive turn ........................................................................ 88 2.5 DIASPORA ..................................................................................................................................... 90 2.6 NATION AND NATIONALISM ......................................................................................................... 92 2.6.1 The Discursive Construction of National Identities ............................................................. 97 2.7 ETHNICITY .................................................................................................................................. 101 2.8 RELIGION .................................................................................................................................... 103 2.9 REGION, DIALECT AND VARIATION ............................................................................................ 107 2.10 IDEOLOGIES .............................................................................................................................. 112 Iconization: ................................................................................................................................. 113 Fractal recursivity: ...................................................................................................................... 114 Erasure: ....................................................................................................................................... 114 2.11 ATTITUDES ............................................................................................................................... 115 2.12 MATCHED GUISE TESTS (MGT) ............................................................................................... 119 2.13 GENDER .................................................................................................................................... 122 2.14 SOCIAL CLASS .......................................................................................................................... 124 2.15 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 126 3 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................. 128 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 128 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND INSTRUMENTS ................................................................................ 129 3.2 RESEARCH METHODS & TECHNIQUES USED IN THIS STUDY ........................................................ 130 3.2.1 Linguistic Ethnography ...................................................................................................... 131 3.2.2 Participant Observations