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Part of
Give Constructions across Languages
Edited by Myriam Bouveret
[Constructional Approaches to Language 29] 2021
► pp. 223–243

Chapter 9
Grammar in usage and grammaticalization of dan ‘give’ constructions in Kurmanji Kurdish

| University of Rouen, Dylis
| University of Rouen | Lattice ENS-CNRS-Paris3

Belonging to the family of Indo-European languages, Kurdish is part of the Iranian group of this family, which gathers several modern languages such as Balochi, Ossetic, Persian, Tadjik, etc. The two main dialects that are closely related to each other are the Kurmanji dialect and the Sorani dialect. The Kurmanji dialect, spoken by 65% of the Kurds, appears more archaic than the other dialects in its phonetic and morphological structure. We focus on two dominant grammatical categories used with dan ‘give’ in Kurmanji Kurdish, light verb constructions (LVC) and causative constructions, illustrating issues of language change. Causative and light verb constructions are dominant in the Kurdish language, as illustrated through our various corpora. We illustrate the grammaticalization of dan in Kurmandji Kurdish corresponding to a typological fact found in other languages (Bouveret 2012; Gougenheim 1929; Von Waldenfels 2012; Newman 1997, 1998). We show that the causative use of dan as an auxiliary construction is a major grammatical fact in the Kurmanji Kurdish and categorize three kinds of causative constructions.

As discussed in the grammaticalization literature, the wide usage of a very common verb, and its extensive productivity can lead to a bleaching process from full verb towards auxiliary. The grammaticalization process for dan is also shown in Kurmanji Kurdish through the use of light verb constructions and the high productivity of the verb in compounds.

Keywords: dan, causative construction, Kurmanji Kurdish, grammaticalization, language change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Object of the paper
    • 1.2Traditional grammars
    • 1.3Salient linguistic characteristics of Kurmanji Kurdish
    • 1.4The corpora
  • 2.Analysis
    • 2.1Results
    • 2.2Polysemy and productivity of dan in synchrony
      • 2.2.1Definition and examples of dan in dictionaries
      • 2.2.2 Newspapers
  • 3.Verbal constructions
    • 3.1 Light verb constructions (LVC)
    • 3.2Light verbs and reflexive forms
    • 3.3Various causative constructions with dan
      • 3.3.1The causative construction [dan + kirin V-Inf]
      • 3.3.2Simple causation [dan V-Inf]
      • 3.3.3Double causation with [dan + causative morpheme] and in the transitive/intransitive alternation [ dan + V-and]
      • 3.3.4A complex construction: Light verb and causative constructions: [dan + kirin V-Inf]
  • Conclusion
  • List of abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 March 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.29.09aki
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