A Cognitive Phonological study of Stress in Central Kurdish

Abstract

This study provides an analysis of stress in Central Kurdish from the perspective of Cognitive Phonology. Stress refers to the degree of emphasis given to a syllable or word in speech. To carry out the analysis, the study adopts the theory of Cognitive Phonology. The study hypothesizes that the meaning of an utterance is governed by the particular construal the speaker chooses to describe its content. The study has a twofold aim. The first aim is to show that stress, as a suprasegmental feature, is meaningful in Central Kurdish. The second aim is to show that the placement of stress is the result of the cognitive process of construal. The paper has found that Kurdish Stress is meaningful because its placement in different positions adds a particular tinge of meaning to the utterance. Likewise, the paper has found the construal dimension of salience is responsible for stress production. The researcher as a native speaker of Kurdish is being used as a source of data. Utterances of everyday communication have been used in the analysis to achieve the above aims and answer the questions.