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A Semantic Analysis of Cut and Break Verbs in Sorani Kurdish by Hiba

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A Semantic Analysis of Cut and Break Verbs in Sorani Kurdish by Hiba A semantic analysis of cut and break verbs in Sorani Kurdish By Hiba Gharib Submitted to the graduate degree program in the department of linguistics and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Dr. Clifton Pye (Chairperson) ________________________________ Dr. Rosen Sara Thomas ________________________________ Dr. Utako Minai ________________________________ Dr. Dwyer Arienne M ________________________________ Dr. Markham Paul The Dissertation Committee for Hiba Gharib certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: A semantic analysis of ‘cut’ and ‘break’ verbs in Sorani Kurdish ________________________________ Dr. Clifton Pye (Chairperson) Date approved: Nov/07/2012 II Abstract Guerssel et al. (1985) proposed Lexical Conceptual Structures (LCSs) which incorporate a universal set of semantic components to predict the syntactic behavior of cut and break verbs. They state that a CAUSE component occurs in the LCS of break verbs and enables these verbs to appear in the inchoative construction. They state that a PRODUCE component occurs in the LCS of cut verbs and enables these verbs to appear in the conative construction. This study explores the semantic components and the syntactic alternations of a group of cut and break verbs in Sorani Kurdish. My dissertation provides a new database for Sorani Kurdish derived from my intuition as a native speaker of Sorani, on line Sorani newspapers, and six other native Sorani speakers. Kurdish does not have a conative construction so the study focused on whether Sorani cut and break verbs can appear in the inchoative construction. I observed the syntactic behavior of Sorani cut and break verbs in concrete and metaphorical contexts, and found that some verbs have different syntactic behaviors when the object or the context changes. I compared the semantic extensions of cut and break verbs in Sorani and English in concrete and metaphorical contexts. The results show that there is significant overlap between Sorani and English in the concrete and metaphorical objects that are used and not used with each verb. I investigated the LCS components of cut and break verbs semantically by providing four different semantic tests, three for durativity and one for intentionality. These tests provide semantic evidence for the CAUSE and PRODUCE components in the LCS of the verbs. The results show that the semantic features of the verb change depending on the features of the objects and whether they are in metaphorical or concrete contexts. Some Sorani verbs demonstrate different semantic components from English verbs in their meaning as they are used in different contexts with different objects. I compared the syntactic and semantic features of Sorani verb to determine the degree to which their syntactic properties correlate with their semantic features. The results show a strong correlation between the syntactic and semantic features of some verbs in concrete and metaphorical contexts. Some verbs have different syntactic and semantic features in concrete and metaphorical contexts. My study shows that verbs in different languages do not have the same syntactic behavior even when they are semantically similar. Semantic equivalents differ in the types of objects that undergo the actions in both concrete and metaphorical contexts. Semantic tests of durativity and intentionality are not perfectly correlated with the syntactic behavior of all verbs. III Acknowledgments First and foremost, I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Clifton L. Pye, who has supported me throughout my Dissertation with his patience and knowledge while also allowing me the room to work in my own way. I attribute the level of my dissertation to his encouragement and effort. Without him this dissertation, too, would not have been completed or written. One simply could not wish for a better or friendlier supervisor. My thanks and appreciations also go to the members of my disserration committee, Dr. Rosen, Sara Thomas, Dr. Dwyer, Arienne M., Dr. Markham, Paul, and Dr. Utako Minai who have generously given their time and expertise to better my work. I thank them for their contribution and their good-natured support. I am grateful to the faculty and staff in the Linguistics department who have provided much support and encouragement during the writing process. Words cannot express my gratitude to my husband Fahmi Ahmed supported, encouraged, and helped me throughout the whole dissertation. I feel I am very lucky to have him beside me in all the stages of my writing. My thanks go to my parents, brothers and sisters who supported me and they were always there to listen to me when I needed them. I also thank my kids Muhammad, Saya, and Sarah for being good kids and behaving well to help me to concentrate on my writing. I would like to show my deep gratitude to my mom, dad, sisters and brothers who supported me and pray for me to succeed in my work. In my daily work I have been blessed with a friendly and cheerful group of fellow students who helped and encouraged me a lot. I must also acknowledge the many friends, colleagues, students, teachers, archivists, and other librarians who assisted, advised, and supported my research and writing efforts over the years. IV Table of Contents Abstract III Acknowledgements IV List of abbreviations X List of tables and figures XI Chapter One Literature review 1 1.1 Introduction and research questions 1 1.2 The Guerssel et al. model (1985) 5 1.3 Previous studies on the LCS and LS 8 A. Syntactic approach 8 B. Morphological approach 26 C. Sematic approach 30 1.4 Variations among languages in the verbs cut and break 46 Difficulties I faced in the categorizing the verbs cross- 1.5 56 linguistically. Chapter Two Sorani basic grammar and morphology 58 2.1 Introduction 58 2.2 Kurdish language/Sorani dialect 58 2.3 Agreement in Sorani Kurdish 59 2.4 Clitics or affixes 69 2.5 Verbs type in Sorani 75 2.6 The prefix hal- and da- in Sorani 79 2.7 Sorani verbs alternations 81 2.8 Summary of the chapter 83 Chapter Three Semantic extension of cut and break verbs in Sorani 84 3.1 Introduction 84 3.2 methodology and methods 84 3.3 Sorani verbs 85 3.4 The verb shka ‘break’ in Sorani 85 3.4.1 The syntax of the verb shka ‘break’ 85 3.4.2 The semantics of the verb shka ‘break’ in Sorani 87 3.5 The verb bre ‘cut’ in Sorani 94 3.5.1 The syntax of the verb bre ‘cut’ in Sorani 94 3.5.1.1 The transitive verb bre ‘cut’ 95 3.5.1.2 The intransitive verb bre ‘cut’, the inchoative alternation 95 3.6 The semantics of the verb bre ‘cut’ in Sorani Kurdish 97 3.7 The verb bchre ‘cut by force’ in Sorani 104 3.7.1 The syntax of the verb bchre 105 3.7.1.1 The causative alternation 105 3.7.1.2 The inchoative alternation 106 3.7.1.3 The middle alternation 106 V 3.7.1.4 The passive 107 3.8 The semantics of the verb bchre 108 3.9 The verb jneen ‘mincing’ 113 3.10 The syntax of the verb Jneen ‘mincing’ 114 3.10.1 The causative alternation 114 3.10.2 The inchoative alternation 115 3.10.3 The middle alternation 115 3.10.4 The passive 116 3.11 The semantics of the verb Jneen ‘mincing’ 116 3.12 The verb hareen ‘grinding’ 117 3.12.1 The syntax of the verb hareen ‘grinding’ 118 3.12.2 The causative alternation 118 3.12.3 The inchoative alternation 118 3.12.4 The middle alternation 119 3.12.5 The passive 119 3.13 The semantics of the verb hareen ‘grinding’ 120 3.14 The verb rnee 'pick' 121 3.14.1 The syntax of the verb 'rnee' 122 3.14.2 The causative alternation 122 3.14.3 The inchoative alternation 122 3.14.4 The middle alternation 123 3.14.5 The passive 123 3.15 The semantics of the verb rnee 124 Summary of the syntactic/semantic feaures of the cut, break and 3.16 125 pick verbs in Sorani Semantic extension of some Complex and compound verbs in Chapter Four 128 Sorani 4.1 Introduction 128 4.2 Complex verbs in Sorani 129 4.3 The verb dabre ‘cut off' 129 4.3.1 The verb yntax of dabre 130 4.3.1.1 The causative alternation 130 4.3.1.2 The inchoative alternation 131 4.3.1.3 The middle alternation 131 4.3.1.4 The passive 132 4.4 The semantics of the verb dabre ‘cut off’ 132 4.5 The verb halbra ‘lift-raise’ 136 4.5.1 The syntax of the verb Halbre 137 4.5.1.1 The causative alternation 137 4.5.1.2 The inchoative alternation 137 4.5.1.3 The middle alternation 138 4.5.1.4 The passive 138 4.6 The semantics of the verb halbre ‘lift’ 139 VI 4.7 The verb dashka ‘break by force’ 140 4.7.1 The syntax of the verb dashka 141 4.7.1.1 The causative alternation 141 4.7.1.2 The inchoative alternation 142 4.7.1.3 The middle alternation 142 4.7.1.4 The passive 142 4.8 The semantics of the verb dashka ‘break downward’ 143 4.9 The complex verb dabchre ‘cut down’ (by force) 144 4.9.1 The syntax of the verb dabchre 145 4.9.1.1 The causative alternation 145 4.9.1.2 The inchoative alternation 145 4.9.1.3 The middle alternation 145 4.9.1.4 The passive 146 4.10 The semantics of the verb dabchre 147 4.11 The verb halbchre ‘open with force’ 148 4.11.1 The syntax of the verb halbchre 149 4.11.1.1 The causative alternation 149 4.11.1.2 The inchoative alternation 149 4.11.1.3 The middle alternation 150 4.11.1.4 The passive 151 4.12 The semantics of the verb halbchre ‘open by force’ 151 4.13 The verb kirdinawa ‘open’ 153 4.13.1 The syntax of the verb kirdinawa ‘open’ 154 4.13.1.1 The causative alternation 154 4.13.1.2 The inchoative alternation 155 4.13.1.3 The middle alternation 155 4.13.1.4 The passive 155 4.14 The semantics
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