A Comparative Approach to Class Changing Derivational Affixes in English and Kurdish

Main Article Content

Saza F. Abdulla
Mohsin H. S. Qadir

Abstract

This paper is an analytical comparative morphological study of class changing of some of derivational affixes in Standard English and Central Kurdish from the standpoints of Generative Morphology. For the analysis, this work relies heavily on the identification of various class changing affixes between the two languages under study. The main goal is to identify the points of similarity and difference of class changing affixes that change the grammatical categories and the lexical meaning of the existing lexemes. The findings show that English and Kurdish are similar in the formation of nominal and adjectival affixes where certain lexemes can change the lexical categories and the meaning of the newly derived words. In English, in the formation of verbal affixes, a ‘noun’ and an ‘adjective’ can be converted into a ‘verb’ by adding certain prefixes and suffixes. While in Kurdish, no new lexemes can be formed from the root of the verb since the internal structure of the verbs in Kurdish works differently compared to English. In Kurdish, the suffix -a is attached to some cardinal numerals to derive a new noun, whereas in English, no newly derived nouns can be formed by numerals. English and Kurdish are different in the formation of new adverbial affixes. In English, certain adjectives and nouns can derive certain types of adverbs while in Kurdish these lexical categories are unable to derive adverbs by attaching certain derivational affixes.

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How to Cite
Abdulla, S. F. and Qadir, M. H. S. (2021) “A Comparative Approach to Class Changing Derivational Affixes in English and Kurdish”, Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(1), pp. 110-121. doi: 10.14500/kujhss.v4n1y2021.pp110-121.
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Articles
Author Biographies

Saza F. Abdulla, Department of English language, College of Languages, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Saza is a Lecturer of English Language & Linguistics at the University of Sulaimani since 2001. She gained her Ph.D. from the University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom in 2017. She obtained a BA degree in English Language in 1997 and an MA in English Language & Linguistics in 2001 at the Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq. In her Ph.D. research, she expands the stylistic notion of 'mind style' by building an inclusive and comprehensive model called An Eclectic Model of Mind Style (EMMS) for investigating fictional characters' minds in the stylistic analysis of prose fiction. She focuses mainly on the grammatical, lexical categories, pragmatic, as well as discoursal aspects of the two autistic characters' minds in two English novels. Her constructed model can be applied universally to other non-typical mind styles in other literary or non-literary texts since it is a standard model and detailed which can be applied to any fictional character or non-fictional person having certain impairments due to its basis in stylistic and pragmatic theories. Its three main categories, namely: ideational, interactional and textual styles, act as clearly-cut boundaries assisting in identifying various stylistic markers pointing to the characters’ mind styles.

Mohsin H. S. Qadir, Department of English language, College of Languages, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Muhsen is an Assistant Lecturer of English Language & Linguistics at the University of Sulaimani since 2015. He gained his MA from the University of Sulaimani in 2015. He also obtained a BA degree in English Language and Literature in 2009 at the University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq. 

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