Zazaki and English/Contrastive Grammar

Overview

Zazaki and English differ in several systematic ways that show up clearly when comparing parsed output. Below are five contrastive features, each with examples drawn from our ten target sentences.

Differences

1. Case marking on nouns

Zazaki marks every noun with a case tag (<dir> or <obl>), reflecting its two-case system. English nouns carry no case marking at all. This shows up as a # on basically every noun in our pipeline output.

• (zza) Îsayî va → (eng) Jesus said

  (zza) Îsa<n><m><sg><obl> vat<v><past><p3><m><sg> → (eng) Jesus<np><ant><m><sg> say<vblex><past>

• (zza) cîneke ra → (eng) to the woman

  (zza) cîneke<n><f><sg><dir> ra<post> → (eng) to<pr> the<det><def><sp> woman<n><sg>

2. Gender marking on nouns and past-tense verbs

Zazaki marks grammatical gender (<m>/<f>) on nouns and also on past-tense verbs, which agree with their subject in gender. English marks neither. The verb agreement piece is the more interesting half: a Zazaki past verb carries person, number, and gender, while an English past verb carries none of these.

• (zza) Îmanê to ti xelisnaya → (eng) Your faith has saved you

  (zza) xelisna<v><past><p3><f><sg> → (eng) save<vblex><past>

• (zza) Şîmûnî va → (eng) Simon said

  (zza) Şîmûn<n><m><sg><obl> vat<v><past><p3><m><sg> → (eng) Simon<np><ant><m><sg> say<vblex><past>

3. Postpositions vs. prepositions

Zazaki uses postpositions (tagged <post>) that follow their noun phrase. English uses prepositions (tagged <pr>) that precede it. So this is a double mismatch: the tag changes and the word order flips.

• (zza) miyanê qelebalixî ra → (eng) from the middle of the crowd

  (zza) miyan<n><m><sg><ind> qelebalix<n><m><sg><obl> ra<post> → (eng) from<pr> the<det><def><sp> middle<n><sg> of<pr> the<det><def><sp> crowd<n><sg>

• (zza) cîneke ra → (eng) to the woman

  (zza) cîneke<n><f><sg><dir> ra<post> → (eng) to<pr> the<det><def><sp> woman<n><sg>

4. Definite article insertion

Zazaki has no definite article. English requires the before definite nouns. So our pipeline has to insert a the token where Zazaki has nothing.

• (zza) cîneke → (eng) the woman

  (zza) cîneke<n><f><sg><dir> → (eng) the<det><def><sp> woman<n><sg>

• (zza) Şagirdan → (eng) The disciples

  (zza) Şagird<n><m><pl><obl> → (eng) the<det><def><sp> disciple<n><pl>

5. Ezafe construction → English possessive

Zazaki uses an ezafe morpheme on a head noun followed by a possessor in the oblique case (Guneyê to, literally "sins-EZAFE you"). English expresses the same thing with a possessive determiner before the head noun (Your sins). Three things change at once: the word order flips, the pronoun becomes a possessive determiner, and the ezafe morpheme disappears.

• (zza) Guneyê to → (eng) Your sins

  (zza) Guney<n><m><sg><ind> tı<prn><pers><p2><sg><obl> → (eng) your<det><pos><sp> sin<n><pl>

• (zza) Îmanê to → (eng) Your faith

  (zza) Îman<n><m><sg><ind> tı<prn><pers><p2><sg><obl> → (eng) your<det><pos><sp> faith<n><sg>

zza-eng tests

• (zza) Îsayî va. → (eng) Jesus said.

  (zza) Îsa<n><m><sg><obl> vat<v><past><p3><m><sg><sent> → (eng) Jesus<np><ant><m><sg> say<vblex><past><sent>

• (zza) Şîmûnî cewab da. → (eng) Simon answered.

  (zza) Şîmûn<n><m><sg><obl> cewab<n><m><sg><dir> day<v><past><p3><m><sg><sent> → (eng) Simon<np><ant><m><sg> answer<vblex><past><sent>

• (zza) Îmanê to ti xelisnaya. → (eng) Your faith saved you.

  (zza) Îman<n><m><sg><ind> tı<prn><pers><p2><sg><obl> tı<prn><pers><p2><sg><dir> xelisna<v><past><p3><f><sg><sent> → (eng) prpers<det><pos><p2><sg> faith<n><sg> save<vblex><past> prpers<prn><obj><p2><mf><sp><sent>

• (zza) Îsayî cîneke ra va. → (eng) Jesus said to the woman.

  (zza) Îsa<n><m><sg><obl> cîneke<n><f><sg><dir> ra<post> vat<v><past><p3><m><sg><sent> → (eng) Jesus<np><ant><m><sg> say<vblex><past> to<pr> the<det><def><sp> woman<n><sg><sent>

• (zza) Îsa miyanê qelebalixî ra xelisîya. → (eng) Jesus escaped from the middle of the crowd.

  (zza) Îsa<n><m><sg><dir> miyan<n><m><sg><ind> qelebalix<n><m><sg><obl> ra<post> xelisîy<v><past><p3><m><sg><sent> → (eng) Jesus<np><ant><m><sg> escape<vblex><past> from<pr> the<det><def><sp> middle<n><sg> of<pr> the<det><def><sp> crowd<n><sg><sent>

• (zza) Şagirdan o qeyde kerd. → (eng) The disciples did the same.

  (zza) Şagird<n><m><pl><obl> o<det><dem><m><dir> qeyde<n><m><sg><dir> kerd<v><past><p3><m><sg><sent> → (eng) the<det><def><sp> disciple<n><pl> do<vblex><past> the same<det><ind><sp><sent>

• (zza) Guneyê to ameyî efûkerdiş. → (eng) Your sins were forgiven.

  (zza) Guney<n><m><pl><ind> tı<prn><pers><p2><sg><obl> amey<v><past><pl> efûkerdiş<n><m><sg><dir><sent> → (eng) prpers<det><pos><p2><sg> sin<n><pl> be<vbser><past> forgive<vblex><pp><sent>