Document Type : Research

Author

• Yadegar Karimi

Kordestan University

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the phonological process by which the Kurdish additional phoneme –i changes into –a in the context of Kurdish² language additional structure. In doing so, we have collected several data from various empirical fields such as the definiteness scope of the definite marker, the definiteness effects of demonstrative pronouns and the interplay of discourse-linked quantifiers with additional phoneme, to argue that the context conditioning the phonological process under discussion cannot be defined according to linear adjustment of morphemes in phonological form, but may only be defined in syntactically motivated structural terms. Specifically, it have been demonstrated that the additional phoneme undergoes the phonological change in the context of a c-commander morpheme marked with the feature [+definite]. On a theoretical level, this study provides evidence that this kind of structural relations in syntax plays an important role in defining the contexts to which phonological processes apply in PF.

Keywords

• Additional Structure
• Definiteness
• C-commander
• phonological Form
• Quantifier
• Discourse-linked