A Personal Narrative in Northern Talyshi with Grammatical Commentaries and Notes on the Areal Distribution of Grammatical Features

Year 2023, Volume: 13 Issue: 22, 137 - 183, 14.02.2023

Donald Stılo

Abstract

In this article Mammad Piriyev (b. 1948), a man from a small Talyshi-speaking mountain village in the Republic of Azerbaijan, narrates some events from his great-grandfather’s life probably some time in the late nineteenth century. Talyshi is a Northwest Iranian language spoken along the Caspian littoral and adjacent mountainous areas in Azerbaijan and Iran. Mr. Piriyev's narrative is transcribed, translated and provided with morpheme divisions. The article then presents ample commentary on grammatical points from the narration. In addition, some brief notes are also provided on the areal nature of some of these grammatical points (word order of possessor and adjective modification, numeral classifiers, adpositional typology, clitic movement, verbs of existence and possession, and the typology of the copula) that are also features found in neighboring languages such as Azerbaijani, other Iranian languages, Armenian, and Neo-Aramaic, among others.

Keywords

Talyshai, case system, areal distribution, Araxes-Iran, linguistic area, typology

Dil Bilgisel Açıklamalar ve Dil Bilgisi Özelliklerinin Bölgesel Dağılımına İlişkin Notlar ile Kuzey Talışçada Kişisel Bir Anlatım

Abstract

Bu makalede, Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti'nde Talışça konuşulan küçük bir dağ köyünden Mammad Piriyev (d. 1948), büyük büyükbabasının hayatından muhtemelen on dokuzuncu yüzyılın sonlarında gerçekleşen bazı olayları anlatmaktadır. Talışça, Hazar kıyı bölgesinde ve Azerbaycan ve İran'daki komşu dağlık alanlarda konuşulan Kuzeybatı İran dilidir. Piriyev'in anlatısı yazıya dökülmüş, tercüme edilmiş ve biçimbirim bölümleri verilmiştir. Daha sonra makalede anlatımdan alınan dil bilgisi konularına dair geniş kapsamlı yorumlar sunulmuştur. Buna ek olarak, bu gramer konularından bazılarının bölgesel yapısı hakkında kısa notlar da verilmektedir (sahiplik sözdizimi ve sıfat değişimi, sayısal sınıflandırıcılar, edat tipolojisi, biçimce mekanizması, var olma ve sahip olma fiilleri ve koşaç tipolojisi). Bunlar, aynı zamanda başka dillerin yanı sıra Azerice, diğer İran dilleri, Ermenice ve Neo-Aramice gibi komşu dillerde bulunan özelliklerdir.

Keywords

Talışça, ad durumu sistemi, bölgesel dağılım, Aras-İran, dilbilimsel alan, tipoloji

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