Specificity in Kermanshahi Kurdish

Specificity usually refers to one of the properties of noun phrases. In this study، drawing upon the definition of specificity by Enç (1999) and Karimi (1999 and 2003)، the Kurdish morpheme “ægæ” is investigated as the morphological marker of specificity in noun phrases in different syntactic positions. Using a wide range of evidence and data such as the obligatory presence of “ægæ” at the end of definite and some of the indefinite noun phrases، it is argued that unlike what Edmonds (1995)، MacKenzie (1961)، Yarmoradi (1384) and Bahador (1390) point out، in Kermanshahi Kurdish this morpheme indicates specificity and not definiteness. Finally، based on Lyons’ classification of languages (1999)، Kermanshahi Kurdish is placed among the languages، which only mark indefiniteness. Regarding the fundamental principle in Generative Grammar that the linguistic knowledge in the mind of speakers of a language is similar، the data were collected from the authors’ speech using the argumentative methodology. The theoretical framework was based on the viewpoints of Enç (1991) and Karimi (1999) on specificity.