An Investigation of Scrambling in Ilami Kurdish based on Minimalist Program

Abstract

Syntax refers to the knowledge of studying the rules of how words are combined and put together to create sentences in a language. The subject of the movement of sentence constituents and the factors affecting it has always been considered by grammarians. One of these constituent movements is the scrambling process. Scrambling is a marked process that moves the constituents of language sentences obligatory or optionally and can play a semantic and cognitive role. This process occurs in languages with free word order, such as Kurdish. The present study has been complied in the subject of an investigation of scrambling in Ilami Kurdish based on minimalist program. The data presented in this research are based on the construction of structures of Ilami Kurdish sentences, some of which are from the contents of previous researches, and some others using the daily speeches of informant which have been collected through the library- field way and studied in a descriptive- analytical method. The result of research states that the various classifications that have been made for scrambling, including short- distance/ long- distance scrambling, argumental/ non-argumental, leftward/ rightward, normal/ multiple, are exist in Ilami Kurdish. Examining the present data, shows that the Ilami Kurdish dialect is flexible in the face of structural changes, but this is not absolute flexibility. The order of scrambling in Ilami Kurdish is highly dependent on verbal functions such as emphasis and topicalisation; although the scrambling is syntactically optional in the grammar of this language; but in speech, sometimes factors such as verbal focus make it obligatory.