Iran and the Caucasus 14 (2010) 79-82

Lak and Kurdish *

Faramarz Shahsavari
Yerevan State University Abstract This paper aims at verifying the traditional set of phonetic changes, defined by D. N. Mackenzie as the main distinctive feature of the Kurdish dialects, with regard to Lak having yet no clear affiliation in the Iranian dialectology. It is usually considered to be a dialect of Kurdish, sometimes a transitional dialect between Kurdish and Luri, and even a separate idiom. Keywords Iranian Dialectology, Kurdish, Lak

The Lak dialect continuum is concentrated in south-western Iran and south-eastern Iraq, at the frontier between the Southern Kurdish and Luri ethno-linguistic areas. Some smaller pockets of Lak speakers are also reported to live in other parts of Iran, particularly in the province of Eastern Azerbaijan1 and Southern Caspian regions (Mrer 1990: 35; Minorsky 1989). It was only at the end of the 20th century that more or less sufficient materials in Lak from Mazandaran and Luristan were first introduced by F. Mrer (1990) and G. Lazard (1992). Since that time, no other research has appeared on this important issue; while especially during the last years a still unsettled dispute over the ethnic affiliation of the Laks and the origin of their language has been initiated by E. J. Anonby (2004/2005). Unfortunately, the existing classifications regarding the place of Lak among Iranian languages are generally based on rather intuitive findings, in some cases even native speakers perceptions, than on an unbiased analysis of the relevant data (see, e.g., Anonby, ibid.: 11).
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Vardan Voskanian for his help and valuable comments on this paper. 1 In Azerbaijan, the former Lak-speaking population now almost entirely is turkophone.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.1163/157338410X12743419189423
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At the present stage of our knowledge of Lak, it is merely evident that this variety should be placed among the North-Western Iranian dialects, although its dialectal affiliation even within this framework appears to be in many ways controversial and still open for debate. Nevertheless, most linguists considered Lak either as a separate language closely related to Kurdish (Izadpanh 1978) or simply a dialect of Kurdish (Windfuhr, 1989, Lazard 1992, Kamandr Fattah 2000). There is also the view of the mixed nature of Lak, forming a transitional link between Kurdish and Luri dialects (Asatrian 2009: 12). What follows is an attempt of a closer look at the traditional set of sound changes, defined by D. N. Mackenzie (1961) as the main distinctive feature of the Kurdish dialects, with regard to Lak. Such a verification of Mackenzies phonetic rules for Kurdish had never been done before in defining the dialectal affiliation of Laki, although they proved to be viable in various disputed areas of Iranian dialectology. It should be noted that almost each of these phonetic developments has its parallel in at least one other (outside Kurdish) Iranian dialect, but only in Kurdish all the three appear together as a system (Mackenzie, ibid.: 7072). 1) The development of OIran. intervocalic *m- and *-xm-/*-mgroups to -v/w- in Kurdish versus the preservation of m- in Lak: nm name vs. North Kurd. (NKd.) nv, South Kurd. (SKd.) nw; cf. NPers. nm < OIran. *nman-; hmn summer vs. NKd. hvn, SKd. hwn; cf. NPers. hmn < OIran. *hmna-; nm half vs. NKd. nv, SKd. nw; cf. NPers. nm < OIran. *naima-; dm tail vs. NKd. dv, SKd. dw; cf. NPers. dum < OIran. *duma-; nm (< *myn with metathesis) between vs. NKd. nv, SKd. nw; cf. NPers. miyn; kamar stone vs. NKd. kavir, SKd. kawer, Avromani kamar; cf. NPers. kamar; zom son-in-law vs. NKd. zv, SKd. zw; cf. NPers. dmd < OIran. *zmtar-; tm seed vs. NKd. tv, SKd. tw; cf. NPers. tuxm < OIr. *tauxma-; m furrow vs. NKd. v, SKd. w; cf. NPers. uxm; am eye vs. NKd. av, SKd. w; cf. NPers. am < OIr. aman-; etc. 2) The innovative change of the OIran. initial *x- to k-/k- in Northern and Central Kurdish (CKd.) and its preservation in Lak. In this single case the Southern Kurdish dialects stand aside from the other two Kurdish groups and share this development with Lak. Cf.:

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xar donkey, SKd. xar vs. NKd. kar, CKd. kar; cf. NPers. xar < OIran. *xara-; xan- (pres. stem) to laugh, SKd. xan- vs. NKd. kan-, CKd. (p)kan- < OIran. *xand-; xe- (pres. stem) to buy, SKd. xar- vs. NKd. ki-, CKd. ki- < OIran. *xr-; etc. An exception from this phonetic rule is attested only in Lak kyan spring; cf. NKd. kn, CKd. kn vs. NPers. xn, a phenomenon, which can probably be explained by direct borrowing from Central Kurdish dialects. 3) The preservation of the OIran. initial *- in Kurd. n to go (<OIran. *yaw-) vs. - in other Western Iranian dialects (cf. NPers. av-). In this respect, Lak demonstrates a completely controversial picture: while a major part of its dialects follows the so-called Kurdish model with -, some in Pish-e Kuh region show the form with - (Anonby 2004/2005: 20). Taking into account the fact that in surrounding Lur dialects only ra- to go(cf. NPers. rav-) is attested, perhaps the Lak form with - has to be considered as original, and the - must be regarded as a result of the strong Kurdish influence.2 4) Recently, to Mackenzies set of typical Kurdish phonetic traits a new one has been added, namely the change of the OIran. intervocalic *-- to h-/-- in Kurdish (Asatrian 2009: 15; cf. also Asatrian/Livshits 1994: XIV, 2). And, likely, again this change does not include the Lak dialects. Cf.: Kurd. duh yesterday vs. Lak d; cf. NPers. d < OIran. *daua; Kurd. guh ear vs. Lak g; cf. NPers. g < OIran. *gaua-. As is clear, Lak, in fact, does not reveal any original phonetic development with Kurdish dialect continuumof course, beyond the common features typical for North-Western Iranian in general.

As Prof. G. Asatrian believes, - in Kurd. n can be rather the result of a secondary emphatisation of - in early Kurdish *n and not a direct survival of OIran. initial * in yaw- (Asatrian 2009: 15, fn. 19).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Anonby, E. J. (2004/2005), Kurdish or Luri? Lakis Disputed Identity in the Luristan Province of Iran, Kurdische Studien 4-5: 7-22. Asatrian, G. S. (2009), Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, vol. 13.1: 1-59. ; Livshits, V. A. (1994), Origine du systme consonantique de la langue kurde , Acta Kurdica, vol. 1 : 81-109. Izadpanh H. (1978), Farhang-e lak, Tehran. Kamandr Fattah, I. (2000), Les dialectes kurdes mridionaux: tude linguistique et dialectologique (Acta Iranica 37), Louvain. Lazard, G. (1992), Le dialecte laki dAleshtar (kurde mridionale), Studia Iranica, XXI : 215245. MacKenzie, D. N. (1961), The Origins of Kurdish, Transactions of the Philological Society: 68-86. Minorsky, V. (1986), Lak, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. V: 616-617. Mrer, F. (1990), Barras-ye sxtemn-e dastr-ye gye-e lak-xovandye Kelrdat, Tehran. Windfuhr, G. L. (1989), New Iranian Languages. Overview, R. Schmitt (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden: 246-250.