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title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject:
Persian Descriptive Grammars Mahootian, Shahrzad.; Gebhardt, Lewis. Taylor & Francis Routledge 0415023114 9780415023115 9780203192887 English Persian language--Textbooks for foreign speakers--English. 1997 PK6233.M336 1997eb 491.5582421 Persian language--Textbooks for foreign speakers--English.
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Page i PERSIAN Persian is a comprehensive account of the major grammatical aspects of contemporary standard Persian, the national language of Iran. Persian is divided into five main sections: syntax; morphology; phonology; interjections and the basic lexicon of the language. Each feature of the language is presented, explained and made clear with examples from conversational Persian, which is analyzed morpheme by morpheme and translated into English. This work will be of interest to linguists, students and scholars, especially those interested in language typology, comparative linguistics and language universals. Shahrzad Mahootian is assistant professor of linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
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Page ii DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMARS Series Editor: Bernard Comrie University of Southern California ADVISORY BOARD W.S.Allen, Cambridge University J.T.Bendor Samuel, Summer Institute of Linguistics D.C.Derbyshire, Summer Institute of Linguistics R.M.W.Dixon, Australian National University M.E.Krauss, University of Alaska B.Krishnamurti, Osmania University Y.Lastra, National Autonomous University of Mexico S.A.Wurm, Australian National University ABKHAZ B.G.Hewitt KOBON J.Davies MANGARAYI F.Merlan TAMIL R.E.Asher WEST GREENLANDIC M.Fortescue JAPANESE J.Hinds RUMANIAN G.Mallison MODERN GREEK B.D.Joseph and I.Philippaki-Warburton AMELE J.Roberts BASQUE M.Saltarelli GULF ARABIC Clive Holes KANNADA S.N.Sridhar FINNISH H.Sulkala and M.Karjalainen CATALAN José Ignacio Hualde PUNJABI Tej K.Bhatia MAORI Winifred Bauer KOREAN Ho-min Sohn NDYUKA George L.Huttar and Mary L.Huttar RAPANUI Veronica Du Feu NIGERIAN PIDGIN Nicholas G.Faraclas WARI’ Daniel L.Everettand Barbara Kern EVENKI Igor Nedjalkov MALTESE Albert Borg and Marie Azzopardi-Alexander KASHMIRI Kashi Wali and Omkar N.Koul KOROMFE John R.Rennison
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Page iii EDITORIAL STATEMENT Until quite recently, work on theoretical linguistics and work on language description proceeded almost entirely in isolation from one another. Work on theoretical linguistics, especially in syntax, concentrated primarily on English, and its results were felt to be inapplicable to those interested in describing other languages. Work on describing individual languages was almost deliberately isolationist, with the development of a different framework and terminology for each language or language group, and no feeding of the achievements of language description into linguistic theory. Within the last few years, however, a major rapprochement has taken place between theoretical and descriptive linguistics. In particular, the rise of language typology and the study of language universals have produced a large number of theoreticians who require accurate, well-formulated descriptive data from a wide range of languages, and have shown descriptive linguists that they can both derive benefit from and contribute to the development of linguistic theory. Even within generative syntax, long the bastion of linguistic anglo-centrism, there is an increased interest in the relation between syntactic theory and a wide range of language types. For a really fruitful interaction between theoretical and descriptive linguistics, it is essential that descriptions of different languages should be comparable. The Questionnaire of the present series (originally published as Lingua, vol. 42 (1977), no. 1) provides a framework for the description of a language that is (a) sufficiently comprehensive to cover the major structures of any language that are likely to be of theoretical interest; (b) sufficiently explicit to make cross-language comparisons a feasible undertaking (in particular, through the detailed numbering key); and (c) sufficiently flexible to encompass the range of variety that is found in human language. The volumes that were published in the predecessor to the present series, the Lingua Descriptive Studies (now available from Routledge), succeeded in bridging the gap between theory and description: authors include both theoreticians who are also interested in description and field-workers with an interest in theory.
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Page iv Editorial statement The aim of the Descriptive Grammars is thus to provide descriptions of a wide range of languages according to the format set out in the Questionnaire. Each language will be covered in a single volume. The first priority of the series is grammars of languages for which detailed descriptions are not at present available. However, the series will also encompass descriptions of better-known languages with the series framework providing more detailed descriptions of such languages than are currently available (as with the monographs on West Greenlandic and Kannada). Bernard Comrie
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Page v PERSIAN Shahrzad Mahootian with the assistance of Lewis Gebhardt
London and New York
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Page vi First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1997 Shahrzad Mahootian All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-19288-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-32874-4 (OEB Format) ISBN 0-415-02311-4 (hbk)
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Page vii For Parvin and Nasser Mahootian
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Page ix CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS
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INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1. SYNTAX 1.1 GENERAL PROPERTIES 1.1.1 Sentence types 1.1.1.1 Direct and indirect speech 1.1.1.2 Interrogative sentences 1.1.1.3 Imperative sentences 1.1.1.4 Other distinct sentence types 1.1.1.5 Indirect speech acts 1.1.2 Subordination 1.1.2.1 General markers of subordination 1.1.2.2 Noun clauses 1.1.2.3 Adjective clauses (relative clauses) 1.1.2.4 Adverbial clauses 1.1.2.5 Sequence of tenses 1.2 STRUCTURAL QUESTIONS 1.2.1 Internal structure of the sentence 1.2.1.1 Copular sentences 1.2.1.2 Verbal sentences 1.2.1.3 Adverbials
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Page x 1.2.2 Adjective phrases 1.2.2.1 Operational definition for adjective phrases 1.2.2.2 Adjectivals with arguments 1.2.2.3 Adverbial modification of adjectives 1.2.2.4 Order of adjectives, arguments and adverbials 1.2.3 Adverbial phrases 1.2.3.1 Operational definition for adverbial phrases 1.2.3.2 Adverbial modification of adverbials 1.2.3.3 Relative order of modifying and modified adverbials 1.2.3.4 Restrictions on modifying adverbials 1.2.4 Prepositional phrases 1.2.4.1 Operational definition for prepositional phrases 1.2.4.2 Prepositional phrases and their arguments 1.2.4.3 Modifiers of prepositions 1.2.4.4–5 Prepositions governing more than one case 1.2.5 Noun phrases 1.2.5.1 Operational definition of noun phrases 1.2.5.2 Modifiers in a noun phrase 1.2.5.3 Cooccurrence of the same type of modifier 1.2.5.4 Nonadmissable combinations of types of modifiers 1.2.5.5 Order of the head and various modifiers 1.3 COORDINATION 1.3.1.1 Sentence coordination 1.3.1.2 Number of coordinators and elements coordinated 1.3.1.3 Coordinating the major categories of the sentence 1.3.1.4 Coordination and accompaniment 1.3.1.5 Structural parallelism and coordination 1.3.2.1–2 Omission of sentence under identity in coordination 1.3.3.3 Omission of elements in major constituents 1.4 NEGATION 1.4.1 Sentence negation 1.4.2 Constituent negation 1.4.3 Double/multiple negation 1.4.4 Negation and coordination 1.4.5 Negation and subordination
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Page xi 1.5 ANAPHORA 1.5.1 Means of expressing anaphora 1.5.1.1–3 Pronouns and deletion of pronouns 1.5.1.4 Reflexive pronouns 1.5.1.5 Special anaphoric pronouns 1.5.1.6 Other means of expressing anaphora 1.5.2 Domain of anaphora 1.5.2.1 Within the clause 1.5.2.2 Anaphora between coordinate clauses 1.5.2.3 Anaphora between superordinate and subordinate clauses 1.5.2.4 Anaphora between different subordinate clauses 1.5.2.5 Anaphora between different sentences 1.5.3 Subordinating conjunctions and anaphoric processes 1.6 REFLEXIVES 1.6.1 Means of expressing reflexivity 1.6.1.1–4 Invariable and variable reflexive pronouns 1.6.2 Scope of reflexivity 1.6.3 Reflexive element as verbal affix 1.6.4 Position of the reflexive element 1.6.5 Relationship between antecedent and reflexive 1.6.5.1 Antecedent subject/reflexive direct object 1.6.5.2 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of direct object 1.6.5.3–4 Antecedent subject/reflexive indirect object (zero or case marking) 1.6.5.5 Antecedent subject/reflexive indirect object (adposition marking) 1.6.5.6 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of indirect object 1.6.5.7 Antecedent subject/reflexive copular complement 1.6.5.8 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of copular complement 1.6.5.9–10 Antecedent subject/reflexive subject complement and modifier of subject complement 1.6.5.11–12 Antecedent subject/reflexive object complement and modifier of object complement 1.6.5.13 Antecedent subject/reflexive object of adjective
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Page xii 1.6.5.14 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of object of adjective 1.6.5.15 Antecedent subject/reflexive agent in passive constructions 1.6.5.16 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of passive agent 1.6.5.17 Antecedent subject/reflexive in other prepositional phrase 1.6.5.18 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of other prepositional phrase 1.6.5.19–36 Modifier of subject as antecedent/reflexive direct object 1.6.5.37 Direct object antecedent/reflexive subject 1.6.5.38 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of subject 1.6.5.39–40 Direct object antecedent/reflexive case-marked indirect object or modifier of such indirect object 1.6.5.41 Direct object antecedent/reflexive indirect object (preposition marking) 1.6.5.42 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of indirect object (preposition marking) 1.6.5.43–46 Direct object antecedent/reflexive copular or subject complement or modifier of copular or subject complement 1.6.5.47–48 Direct object antecedent/reflexive object complement or modifier of object complement 1.6.5.49–50 Direct object antecedent/reflexive object of adjective or its modifier 1.6.5.51–52 Direct object antecedent/reflexive agent in passive or modifier of such agent 1.6.5.53 Direct object antecedent/reflexive element in other prepositional phrase 1.6.5.54 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of element in other prepositional phrase 1.6.5.55–72 Modifier of direct object antecedent 1.6.5.73–104 Case-/zero-marked indirect object antecedent 1.6.5.105–136 Indirect object antecedent 1.6.5.137–212 Other antecedents 1.6.6 Reflexive relations within nominalized clauses 1.6.7 Reflexive relations within noun phrases
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Page xiii 1.6.8 Reflexives without overt antecedents 1.7 RECIPROCALS 1.7.1 Means of expressing reciprocity 1.7.2 Scope of reciprocity 1.7.3 Verbal affix 1.7.4 Positional possibilities of reciprocals within the clause 1.7.5.1–18 Relation between subject antecedent and reciprocal 1.7.5.19–36 Relation between modifier of subject antecedent and reciprocals 1.7.5.37–54 Relation between direct object antecedent and reciprocal element 1.7.5.55–72 Relationship between modifier of direct object antecedent and reciprocal element 1.7.5.73–104 Relationship between case-marked indirect object antecedent and reciprocal element 1.7.5.105–120 Relationship between prepositional indirect object antecedent and reciprocal element 1.7.5.121–212 Relationship between antecedents in other categories and reciprocal elements 1.7.6 Reciprocal relations within nominalized clauses 1.7.7 Reciprocal relations within noun phrases 1.7.8 Reciprocal structures without antecedents 1.8 COMPARISON 1.8.1 Expressing comparison 1.8.1.1–4 Means of expressing comparison 1.8.2–4 Deletion of identical elements in comparative structures 1.8.5 Two types of comparative structures 1.8.6 Correlative comparison 1.9 EQUATIVE 1.9.1 Expressing equality 1.9.1.1–4 Means of expressing equality 1.9.2–4 Deletion of identical elements in equative structures 1.10 POSSESSION 1.10.1 Sentences expressing possession 1.10.2–4 Types of possession or possessor 1.10.5 Present and past possession
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Page xiv 1.11 EMPHASIS 1.11.1 Sentence emphasis 1.11.2 Constituent emphasis 1.11.2.1 Contrastive and noncontrastive constituent emphasis 1.11.2.2 Elements that may be emphasized 1.11.3 Focus of yes-no questions 1.12 TOPIC 1.12.1 Means of indicating topic of a sentence 1.12.1.1 Particles 1.12.1.2 Movement without dislocation 1.12.1.3 Dislocation 1.12.1.4 Verb agreement 1.12.1.5–6 Combinations of the above 1.12.2 Elements that may be topicalized 1.12.3 Optionality of topicalization 1.13 HEAVY SHIFT 1.13.2.1 Adjective phrases 1.13.2.2 Direct and indirect object noun phrases 1.13.2.3 Adverb phrases 1.14 OTHER MOVEMENT RULES 1.14.1 Scrambling 1.14.2 Postposing 1.14.3 Verb-preposing 1.15 MINOR SENTENCE TYPES 1.15.1 Exclamatory/interjectional 1.15.2 Vocatives 1.15.3 Elliptical 1.16 WORD CLASSES 1.16.1 Noun 1.16.2 Pronoun 1.16.3 Verb 1.16.4 Adjective 1.16.5 Preposition 1.16.6 Number and quantifier 1.16.7 Pronominal clitic
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Page xv CHAPTER 2. MORPHOLOGY 2.1 INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY 2.1.1 Noun inflection 2.1.1.1 Expressing syntactic/semantic functions of noun phrases 2.1.1.2 Expressions of syntactic functions 2.1.1.3 Syntactic functions in relation to nonfinite and nominalized verb forms 2.1.1.4 Means of expressing nonlocal semantic functions 2.1.1.5 Local semantic functions 2.1.1.6 Location in time 2.1.1.7 Double case-marking 2.1.1.8 Number-marking system 2.1.1.9 Gender and noun classes 2.1.1.10 Definiteness in noun phrases 2.1.1.11 Indefiniteness in noun phrases 2.1.1.12 Referential and nonreferential indefiniteness 2.1.1.13 Genericness 2.1.1.14 Degree of importance of actor 2.1.2 Pronouns 2.1.2.1 Personal pronouns 2.1.2.2 Reflexive pronouns 2.1.2.3 Reciprocal pronouns 2.1.2.4 Possessive pronouns 2.1.2.5 Demonstrative pronouns 2.1.2.6 Interrogative pronouns and other question words 2.1.2.7 Relative pronouns and other relative words 2.1.3 Verb morphology 2.1.3.1 Voice 2.1.3.2 Tense 2.1.3.3 Aspect 2.1.3.4 Mood 2.1.3.5 Finite and nonfinite forms 2.1.3.6 Agreement (numbers, persons, etc.) 2.1.3.7 Change or loss of features in a string of verbs 2.1.4 Adjectives 2.1.4.1 Predicative/attributive forms 2.1.4.2 Absolute/contingent distinction 2.1.4.3 Adjective agreement 2.1.4.4 Comparisons 2.1.4.5 Degrees of quality
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Page xvi 2.1.4.6 Predicate adjectives and verbal morphology 2.1.5 Prepositions 2.1.5.1 List of prepositions 2.1.5.2 Prepositions and agreement 2.1.5.3 Combinations of prepositions and pronouns 2.1.5.4 Combinations of prepositions and articles 2.1.6 Numerals/quantifiers 2.1.6.1 Forms of numerals 2.1.6.2 Cardinal numerals as attributes 2.1.6.3 Counting different kinds of objects 2.1.6.4 Ordinal numerals 2.1.6.5 Other derivatives of numerals 2.1.6.6 Quantifiers 2.1.7 Adverbs 2.1.7.1 Comparison 2.1.7.2 Degrees of quality 2.1.8 Clitics and particles 2.2 DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY 2.2.1 Derivation of nouns 2.2.1.1 Nouns from nouns 2.2.1.2 Nouns from verbs 2.2.1.3 Nouns from adjectives 2.2.1.4 Nouns from adverbs 2.2.2 Derivation of verbs 2.2.2.1 Verbs from nouns 2.2.2.2 Verbs from verbs 2.2.2.3–5 Verbs from adjectives, adverbs and other categories 2.2.3 Derivation of adjectives 2.2.3.1 Adjectives from nouns 2.2.3.2 Adjectives from verbs 2.2.3.3 Adjectives from adjectives 2.2.3.4 Adjectives from adverbs 2.2.4 Derivation of adverbs 2.2.4.1 Adverbs from nouns 2.2.4.2 Adverbs from verbs 2.2.4.3 Adverbs from adjectives 2.2.4.4 Adverbs from adverbs 2.2.5 Derivation of prepositions 2.2.5.1 Forming complex prepositions 2.2.6 Compound morphology
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2.2.6.1 Compound nouns 2.2.6.2 Compound verbs 2.2.6.3 Compound adjectives CHAPTER 3. PHONOLOGY 3.1 PHONOLOGICAL UNITS 3.1.1 Distinctive segments 3.1.2 Phonetic characteristics 3.1.2.1 Nonsyllabics 3.1.2.2 Syllables 3.1.2.3 Restriction of vowels to loanwords 3.1.2.4 Restriction of vowels to word classes 3.2 PHONOTACTICS 3.2.1 Distribution of nonsyllabic segments 3.2.1.1 Word-final consonants 3.2.1.2 Word-initial consonants 3.2.2.1 Consonant clusters 3.2.2.2 Description of consonant clusters 3.2.3. Admissible vowels 3.2.3.1 Word-final vowels 3.2.3.2 Word-initial vowels 3.2.3.3 Sequences of vowels 3.2.4 Structure of lexical morphemes 3.2.5 Syllable structure 3.2.5.1 Consonant clusters and syllables 3.2.6. Co-occurrence restrictions 3.2.6.1 Word/syllable initial elements 3.2.6.2 Word/syllable-final elements 3.2.6.3 Initial-final restrictions 3.2.6.4 Vowel harmony 3.2.6.5 Consonant harmony 3.2.6.6 Restrictions between adjacent or nonadjacent segments 3.2.6.7 Phonotactic patterns with different word classes 3.3 SUPRASEGMENTALS 3.3.1 Length distinction 3.3.1.1 Vowel length 3.3.1.2 Length in other syllables 3.3.1.3 Length in glides/semivowels
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3.3.1.4–7 Length in liquids, nasals, fricatives and plosives 3.3.2 Stress 3.3.2.1 Role of stress 3.3.2.2 Phonetic correlates of stress 3.3.2.3 Levels of stress 3.3.2.4 Position of stress 3.3.2.5–6 Predictability of stress 3.3.3 Tone 3.3.4 Intonation 3.3.4.1 Major intonation patterns 3.3.4.2 Intonation peak 3.3.4.3–4 Emphatic intonation and contrastive stress 3.3.4.5 Subtypes of intonation patterns 3.3.4.6 Interaction of intonations patterns with tone height 3.4 MORPHOPHONOLOGY (SEGMENTAL) 3.4.1 Morphophonology 3.4.1.1 Assimilatory processes 3.4.1.2 Dissimilation 3.4.1.3 Other alternations between segments 3.4.2 Metathesis 3.4.3 Coalescense and split 3.4.4 Deletion and insertion 3.4.4.1 Deletion processes 3.4.4.2 Insertion processes 3.4.5 Reduplication 3.4.6 Other processes 3.4.6.1 Geminate simplification 3.4.6.2 Deaspiration 3.5 SUPRASEGMENTAL MORPHOPHONOLOGY 3.5.1–2 Stress and morphological processes and compounding 3.5.3–4 Stress and phonological structure 3.5.2 Tonal structure and changes CHAPTER 4. IDEOPHONES 4.1 IDEOPHONES 4.2 INTERJECTIONS
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CHAPTER 5. LEXICON 5.1 STRUCTURAL SEMANTIC FIELD 5.1.1 Kinship Terms 5.1.1.1 The immediate family 5.1.1.2 The extended family 5.1.1.3 In-laws 5.1.1.4 Kinship by adoption/affiliation 5.1.2 Color terminology 5.1.3 Body parts 5.1.4 Cooking terminology 5.1.4.1 Ingredients and utensils 5.1.4.2 Methods of cooking 5.1.4.3 Typical foods 5.1.5 Agriculture 5.1.5.1 Crops grown in the area 5.1.5.2 Agricultural implements 5.1.5.3 Agricultural activities 5.1.5.4 Animals 5.1.5.5 Time 5.2 BASIC VOCABULARY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
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Page xx ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book would not have been possible without the full support and assistance of Lewis Gebhardt, who was essential in every aspect of this grammar, from research to the final writing and editing stages. This grammar has been labor, but of a language and culture I love. While I recognize that it is far from being a complete description of Persian, I hope this volume, which owes so much to previous scholars’ work on Persian, contributes to the tradition of this series of descriptive grammars. Writing such a work has been more educational for us than we had imagined it would be. It’s often said that in order to learn about one’s own language one should study another. In trying to describe some of the finer points of Persian grammar, we’ve come to the conclusion that in order to learn about Language, one should try to objectively, dispassionately describe one’s own language. I am very grateful to Bernard Comrie, the editor of this series, for giving me the opportunity to participate in this project. I am indebted to Professor Comrie for his attention and care to the details of our description of Persian and his recommendations for improvement. Several other people deserve special mention for helping us complete this grammar. Special thanks are in order for Louisa Semlyen and Miranda Filbee at Routledge who were always available and responsive to our questions. In addition, our task would have been infinitely more difficult without the techinical assistance of the staff of Academic Computing at Northeastern Illinois University. Darren McMahon was particularly generous with his time and expertise. Also, I extend my gratitude to family, friends and colleagues who have supported our efforts. Many thanks to my daughter for her support, and to our friends the Redfield-Pipperts, who fed us on several weekends when we might otherwise have forgone comestibles. And, thanks to Lewis’s parents, who never failed to inquire on the progress of “the book”. Finally, more thanks and appreciation than I can express go to my parents, who were patient and accommodating beyond the call of duty with our questions and remained excited and involved until the end. Shahrzad Mahootian Chicago, 1996
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Page xxi ABBREVIATIONS ATTR attributive suffix (-i, -in) CL number classifier suffix (-ta) COMPR comparative suffix (-tær) DEF definite suffix (-e) DEM demonstrative suffix (-i) DUR durative prefix (mi-) DO direct object EZ ezafe particle (-e, -ye) IMP imperative prefix (be-/bo-) IND indefinite suffix (-i) INTER interrogative particle (aya) IO indirect object NEG negative prefix (næ-, ne-) NOM nominalizer (-i) O object OM object marker ( -ra suffix, with -o and -ro variants) PL plural suffix (-ha, -a, -an, -yan) PP prepositional phrase PRPT present participle (-an) PSPT past participle suffix (-e) S subject SBJN subjunctive prefix (be-/bo-) SUPR superlative suffix (-tærin) V verb
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Page xxii Agreement inflections 1S first person singular verbal inflection (-æm) 1P first person plural verbal inflection (-im) 2S second person singular verbal inflection (-i) 2P second person plural verbal inflection (-id) 3S third person singular verbal inflection ( -e, Ø (past tense only)) 3P third person plural verbal inflection (-æn) Pronominal clitics 1S.PC first person singular pronominal clitic (-æm) 1P.PC first person plural pronominal clitic (-(e)mun) 2S.PC second person singular pronominal clitic (-et) 2P.PC second person plural pronominal clitic (-(e)tun) 3S.PC third person singular pronominal clitic (-eš) 3P.PC third person plural pronominal clitic (-(e)šun) Note that in the above examples we use a single period ‘.’ to join the parts of English glosses comprising more than two pieces. Another example: mina raje be kar-eš negæran-e Mina about to work-3S.PC worried-is ‘Mina is worried about her job.’ The single dash ‘-’ joins morphemes into words when they translate more or less one-to-one from Persian to English. in gol-a-ro bæra-ye to gereft-æm this flower-PL-OM for you got-1S ‘I got these flowers for you.’ The double dash ‘--’ joins parts of compound verbs, as in the case of the compound verb æziyæt--kærdæn ‘to bother’:
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Page xxiii xorxor kærdæn-æm to-ro æziyæt--mi-kon-e? snore do.INF-1S.PC you-OM bother--DUR-do-3S ‘Does my snoring bother you?’ One note on phonetic symbols. As a result of an idiosyncrasy of fonts in the word-processing program we used, the ash, æ, in italic looks like the o-e ligature. Therefore, æ should not be construed as indicating a mid front rounded vowel. Since Persian has no front rounded vowels there should be no confusion.
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Page 1 INTRODUCTION Persian is the most-spoken of the modern Iranian languages, which, according to traditional classification, with the Indo-Aryan languages constitute the Indo-Iranian group within the Satem branch of the Indo-European family. Such words as bæradær ‘brother’, pedær ‘father’, madær ‘mother’, the pronouns mæn ‘I/me’ and to ‘you’, agreement suffixes -im (1P) and -ænd(3P) attest to Persian’s genetic relationship with English, Latin and other Indo-European languages. Although Persian is the national language of Iran, it is the first language of only about half of the 62 million inhabitants of that country (Moseley and Asher 1994:45; Kindersley 1994 280ff). Related Iranian languages, with Kurdish and Pashto having the most speakers, are spoken not only in Iran but also in Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, along the old Silk Route to China as well as in the Caucasus and southern Russia. Iran also hosts many speakers of non-Iranian languages, with Azerbaijani being the most important in terms of number of speakers. The modern Iranian languages may be classified into four groups (Payne 1990). The South-West group includes Persian, Dari, Tajiki, Luri, Bakhtiari, Kumzari, as well as several non-Persian dialects of Fars province and Tati. NorthWest Iranian includes Kurdish, Talishi, Balochi, Galaki, Mazandarani, Zaza, Gurani, Bashkardi, Parachi, Ormuri, Semnani, Zanjan, Qazvin, Saveh, Vafsi, Ashtiyani, as well as several dialects of central Iran. South-East Iranian languages include Pashto, Yazgulami, Shughni, Roshani, Bartangi, Oroshori, Sarikoli, Ishkashmi, Sanglechi, Zebaki, Wakhi, Munji and Yidgha. North-East Iranian comprises Ossete and Yaghnobi. Modern Persian traces to Old Persian, the language of the famous Achaemenid kings Darius and Xerxes of the 6th to 5th
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Page 2 centuries B.C. Old Persian was written in a cuneiform script. Avestan, the language of the Zoroastrian texts, also dates from roughly the same period (7th to 5th centuries B.C.) but has no modern descendants. As the language of sacred texts, Avestan likely represents an older form of Iranian language than Old Persian. Middle Persian, also called Pahlavi and written in an Aramaic alphabet, spans the period of the Sassanid dynasty from the 3rd to 7th centuries A.D. Official records are more scant from the 7th to the 10th centuries, when Arabic became both a state and literary language of Persia. What can be identified as modern Persian begins to appear from the 9th century, with a rich Persian literary tradition, written in Arabic script, developing from the 10th to 15th centuries. While Old Iranian still retained considerable inflection inherited from Indo-European, through Middle Persian and Modern Persian, the language, as many Indo-European languages, lost much inflection on nouns, verbs and adjectives. Early Modern Persian inherited from Arabic not only the writing system but much vocabulary. Much as English retains a heavy lexical debt to French, Persian still hosts thousands of commonly used words of Arabic origin. Persian is written right-to-left in the Arabic alphabet (see the chart below), with a few modifications. There are 32 letters in the Persian alphabet, 28 of these common to Arabic and four Persian letters representing the phonemes /p/, /c/, /g/ and /ž/, which don’t exist in Arabic. Eight of the 32 Persian letters appear primarily in Arabic loanwords: which represent distinct sounds in Arabic but are redundant in Persian. Three letters of the alphabet do double duty in representing both consonants and vowels: (/h/, /v/, /y/), doubling, as /e/ (word-finally), /u/ and /I/ respectively. Typically, short vowels are not written, though they may be indicated with diacritics. As in Arabic, the Persian letters vary in form, having as many as four forms depending on whether the letter stands alone or is connected word-initially, word-medially or word-finally. The Persian orthographic system also includes a number of diacritics, most of which are not used in either formal or informal contemporary writing. They appear in older texts and occasionally in modern writing to disambiguate certain spellings. The diacritic one is most likely to come across is the hamze which, although not a Persian letter, is sometimes listed in alphabet charts. ***
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Page 3 A word about speaking register and what this grammar describes. While colloquial style is the rule among friends and family, a more formal speaking style is quite commonly used in public situations such as public speaking, lectures, broadcast news and most written contexts. The register we attempt to transcribe in this grammar might be called “careful colloquial” speech of educated Iranians in the capital city, Tehran. We generally adopt a phonemic transcription that reflects some sounds that are typically deleted in natural speech. The major advantage of this for linguists lies in the transparent morphology. For example, although rah ‘walk, path’ is usually pronounced [ra], we transcribe it as the formal, phonemic form /rah/. On the other hand, our transcription does take phonological rules into account by reflecting common insertion rules, such as glide insertion between some vowel. Thus we transcribe the verb ‘she comes’ phonetically as [miyad] rather than phonemically as /miad/. The choice to transcribe phonemically with regard to deleted sounds and phonetically with inserted sounds is not as arbitrary as is might seem. The insertion rules are for the most part obligatory, not a function of how careful or colloquial the register. The deletion rules, in contrast, while particularly common in colloquial speech, remain optional. There remains the problem of how to transcribe the a/u alternation. Words such as nan ‘bread’ are pronounced [nun] in most spoken contexts. However, Iranians tend to use a standard form if directly asked for a lexical item, asked to read from a word list, etc. If you asked a Tehranian the Persian word for ‘bread’, he or she would probably respond [nan]. Therefore, in example sentences and phrases we transcribe the word as ‘nun’ while in Chapter 5 on the lexicon we transcribe the word as ‘nan’. ***
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Page 5 SYNTAX 1.1 GENERAL PROPERTIES Persian is a pro-drop language with canonical SOV word order. Verbs are marked for tense and aspect and agree with the subject in person and number. (1) pærvin bæcce næ-dar-e Parvin child NEG-have-3S ‘Parvin doesn’t have any children.’ (2) (mæn) name nevešt-æm (I) letter wrote-1S ‘I wrote a letter.’ Although verb-final, Persian is otherwise head-initial: NGen, NA, PrepN, NRel. Heads are final, according to traditional classification, in such constructions as DemN. The following are examples of word order in these basic constructions. Note that modifying elements are connected with the ezafe particle (EZ), the details of which are discussed in Section 1.2.5.2.10. Noun-Genitive (3) bæradær-e mæn brother-EZ me ‘my brother’
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< previous page Page 6 Noun-Adjective (4)
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mašin-e now car-EZ new ‘(a) new car’
Preposition-Noun (5) tu hæyat in courtyard ‘in (the) courtyard’ Noun-Relative Clause (6) zæn-i ke dust--dar-æm woman-DEM that friend--have-1S ‘the woman that I love’ Demonstrative-Noun (7) in danešgah this university ‘this university’ When a prepositional phrase is present it typically occurs between the subject and the direct object. (8) æli be minu ab dad Ali to Minu water gave ‘Ali gave water to Minu.’ Therefore, a more complete description of constituent order is: (9) (S) (PP) (O) V An important variation on (S) (PP) (O) V word order occurs when the direct object is definite. A definite direct object, which is marked with the object marker (OM) -ra/-ro/-o, occurs before the prepositional phrase. See Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion of definite direct objects and -ra.
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Page 7 (10)
æli ab-o be minu dad Ali water-OM to Minu gave ‘Ali gave the water to Minu.’ A number of processes can affect these basic surface orders. For a discussion of scrambling see Section 1.14.1; verb preposing, Section 1.14.3; postposing, Section 1.14.2; dislocation, Section 1.12.1.3; movement without dislocation, 1.12.1.2; clefting, Section 1.11.2.1.4.–5; heavy shift, Section 1.13. Also see Section 1.1.1.2.2 regarding movement for focus, Section 1.1 for clefting, pseudoclefting and emphasis, Section 1.12 for topicalization movement. (11) be mina mæn gol-ra dad-æm to Mina I flower-OM gave-1S ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ (12) gol-ra mæn be Mina dad-æm flower-OM I to Mina gave-1S ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ Sentence (13) contains, in addition to scrambling, one postposed phrase. (13) gol-ra mæn dad-æm be Mina flower-OM I gave-1S to Mina ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ Verb-preposing is limited to main clauses. In example (14) the verb has moved to the left of the subject. Example (15) shows verb-preposing and scrambling. (14) dad-æm mæn be Mina gol-ra gave-1S I to Mina flower-OM ‘I did give the flower to Mina.’ (15) gol-ra dad-æm mæn be Mina flower-OM gave-1S I to Mina ‘The flower, I gave to Mina.’ 1.1.1 Sentence types There are three basic sentence types in Persian: declarative,
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Page 8 interrogative and imperative. Declarative sentences follow the canonical order and permutations described in 1.1. Declarative wordorder is the base form for direct and indirect speech (section 1.1.1.1), and, with a rising intonation, the most common way of asking questions (see Section 1.1.1.2). 1.1.1.1 Direct and indirect speech Quoted material (direct speech) is presented in the form of a sentential complement immediately following the main clause: (16) behruz goft, sinema ne-mi-r-æm Behruz said movie NEG-DUR-go-1S ‘Behruz said, “I won’t go to the movies”.’ (17) tu-ye ketab-æm nevešt ke hærgez færamuš-et in-EZ book-1S.PC wrote that never forget-2S.PC ne-mi-kon-æm. NEG-DUR-do-1S ‘In my book she wrote, “I’ll never forget you”.’ Indirect speech is optionally introduced with the complementizer ke. However, because ke is optional, potential ambiguity as to whether the subordinate clause is direct or indirect can occur. For example, the sentence in (18) is clearly indirect: (18) goft ke ne-mi-ya-d said-3S that NEG-come-3S ‘She said that she isn’t coming.’ But the sentence in example (19) can either be an instance of indirect speech with the same meaning as the above example or it may be understood as quoted speech. Of course, context will disambiguate most such instances. (19) goft ne-mi-ya-d said-3S NEG-DUR-go-3S ‘She said that she isn’t going.’ (Both third person pronouns refer to the same person.) ‘She said, “She isn’t going”.’ (The third person pronouns refer to two different people.)
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Page 9 See Section 1.1.2.2.4 regarding indirect questions and 1.1.2.1 on subordination. 1.1.1.2 Interrogative sentences Persian uses two basic types of interrogative sentence: yes-no questions and question-word questions. 1.1.1.2.1 Yes-no questions Yes-no questions may be classified as neutral, where no particular answer is expected, and leading, where either an affirmative or a negative answer is expected. 1.1.1.2.1.1 Neutral yes-no questions There are two structures associated with neutral yes-no questions. The most common strategy for asking yes-no questions, for both formal and informal contexts, is to use rising intonation. The word order of a rising-intonation yes-no question is identical to that of the corresponding declarative sentence. (20) mive xærid-i (standard intonation) fruit bought-2S ‘You bought some fruit’ (21) mive xærid-i (rising intonation) fruit bought-2S ‘Did you buy some fruit?’ A second, though quite formal, neutral yes-no question construction is sentence-initial placement of aya followed by a declarative sentence with rising intonation. The questioner using aya has no expectation concerning the answer but is neutrally asking for information in the form of a yes answer or a no answer. (22) aya in gorbe-ye šoma-st? INTER this cat-EZ you-is ‘Is this your cat?’
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Page 10 1.1.1.2.1.2 Leading yes-no questions The sentence-initial word mæge corresponds roughly to sentence-final tag-question constructions in English such as ‘didn’t he’, or the French n’est-ce pas. Leading questions are formed with mæge in sentence-initial position followed by a declarative sentence construction uttered with a rising intonation. Question words (discussed in section 1.1.1.2.2.) cannot be used with mæge . A speaker using mæge with a positive sentence assumes the answer will be negative while using mæge with a negative sentence assumes a positive answer. See Section 1.1.1.2.4.2.1.2 regarding answers to leading questions. (23) mæge in gorbe-ye to-e? mæge this cat-EZ you-is ‘Is this cat yours?’ (expecting a negative answer) (24) mæge un mašin-e to nist? mæge that car-EZ you isn’t ‘Isn’t that car yours?’ (expecting a positive answer) 1.1.1.2.1.3 Alternative questions The purpose of alternative questions is to make the respondent choose between two contrasting propositions. As in yes-no questions, rising intonation is required and answers will either overtly or by implication include ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as part of the response. Alternative questions are optionally introduced with the question word aya, and always end with the words ya næ, ‘or not’. It should be noted that aya would only be used in formal settings, for example during an interview. (25) otaq-et-o tæmiz kærd-i ya næ? room-2S.PC-OM clean did-2S or no ‘Did you clean your room or not?’ (26) aya in šæxs-o mi-šnas-id ya næ? INTER this person-OM DUR-know-2P or not ‘Do you know this man or not?’
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Page 11 1.1.1.2.2 Question-word questions Question words in Persian comprise a set of interrogative pronouns: ki ‘who’, whom’, ci ‘what’, ke ‘when’, koja ‘where’, cera ‘why’, cænd ‘how much (price)’; and interrogative adjectives: kodum (yek) ‘which (one)’, cænd, cændta ‘how many’, ceqædr ‘how much’. These uninflected forms can be used as subjects or objects. Again, as with yesno questions, a rising intonation at the end of the sentence is required. Examples of interrogative words are given in (27–32). An interrogative adjectives is shown in (29). In the case of dative, the question word is preceded by a preposition (example 30). There is no genitive pronoun equivalent to ‘whose’ in Persian. Instead the possessive relation for the pronoun is conveyed through an ezafe construction linking the noun to the question word (example 31) or an ezafe construction using mal, ‘property’, as shown in examples (32). (27) ki mi-ya-d? who DUR-come-3S ‘Who’s coming?’ (28) ci-ro did-ænd? who-OM saw-3P ‘What did they see?’ (29) in kase cænd-e? this bowl how much-is ‘How much is this bowl?’ (30) bijæn pul-o be ki dad? Bijæn money-OM to who gave ‘Who did Bijæn give the money to’ (31) in sæg-e ki-ye? this dog-EZ who-is ‘Whose dog is this?’ (32) in sæg mal-e ki-ye? this dog property-EZ who-is ‘Whose dog is this?’
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Page 12 1.1.1.2.2.1 Elements which can be questioned Elements in both main clauses and subordinate clauses may be questioned. 1.1.1.2.2.1.1 Main-clause constituents which can be questioned Any constituent in the main clause may be questioned by using the strategies and question words discussed in section 1.1.1.2.2. The subject, direct object and indirect object of sentence (33) are questioned in (34), (35) and (36), respectively: (33) emruz færiborz bæra-ye širin sobune dorost--kærd today fariborz for Shirin breakfast made--did ‘Today, Fariborz made breakfast for Shirin.’ (34) emruz ki bæra-ye širin sobune dorost--kærd? today who for Shirin breakfast made--do ‘Today, who made breakfast for Shirin?’ (35) emruz færiborz bæra-ye širin ci dorost--kærd? today fariborz for Shirin what made--do ‘Today, what did Fariborz make for Shirin?’ (36) emruz færiborz bæra-ye ki sobune dorost--kærd? today fariborz for who breakfast made--do? ‘Today, who did Fariborz make breakfast for?’ In (37), (38) and (39) the adverbial emruz ‘today’ and the verb phrase are questioned. Here verb phrase means verb+direct object, or verb + direct object and prepositional phrase. Consequently, unlike the noun phrases in (34)– (36), a simple question word cannot be used to replace the verb phrase. Instead, as in many languages, including English, a phrase is required. In Persian the question word ci ‘what’ and the compound verb kar kærdæn ‘to work’ are used to question the verb phrase: (37) ke færiborz bæra-ye širin sobune dorost--kærd? when fariborz for Shirin breakfast fix--did ‘When did Fariborz make breakfast for Shirin?’
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Page 13 (38) emruz, færiborz bæra-ye širin ci kar--kærd? today fariborz for Shirin what work--did ‘What did Fariborz do for Shirin today?’ (39) emruz færiborz ci kar kærd? today fariborz what work did ‘What did Fariborz do today?’ 1.1.1.2.2.1.2 Subordinate-clause constituents that can be questioned Subordinate clauses in Persian are all finite, either indicative or subjunctive, and may be preceded by the optional relative pronoun ke (that/which). Example (40) shows a subordinated clause in the indicative and (41) shows a subordinate clause in the subjunctive. The use of the subjunctive reflects desire or a degree of uncertainty. (40) (mæn) fekr -mi-kon-æm (ke) mæryæm (I) think--DUR-know-1S (that) Maryam se-ta mæjele xær-id three-CL magazine bought ‘I think that Maryam bought three magazines.’ (41) (mæn) mi-x-am (ke) ba to be-r-æm. (I) DUR-want-1S (that) with you SBJN-go-1S ‘I want to go with you.’ All constituents of a subordinate clause, including the verb phrase, can be questioned. The questions in examples (42)–(44) are based on the statement in (40). (42) (to) fekr mi-kon-i (ke) ki se-ta (you) think DUR-know-2S (that) who three-CL mæjele xærid? magazine bought ‘Who do you think bought three magazines?’ (43) (to) fekr mi-kon-i (ke) mæryæm (you) think DUR-know-2S (that) Maryam cænd-ta mæjele xærid how many-CL magazine bought? ‘How many magazines do you think Maryam bought?’
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Page 14 (44) (to) fekr mi-kon-i (ke) mæryæm (you) think DUR-know-2S (that) Maryam se-ta mæjele-ro ci kar kærd? three-CL magazine-OM what work did ‘What do you think Maryam did with the three magazines?’ 1.1.1.2.2.1.2.1 Finite subordinate clauses See Section 1.1.1.2.2.1.2. 1.1.1.2.2.1.2.2 Nonfinite clauses As discussed in Section 1.1.1.2.2.1.2, Persian does not have nonfinite subordinate clauses. 1.1.1.2.2.1.3 Noun phrase constituents that can be questioned A noun phrase may include the following elements: a demonstrative pronoun and/or quantifier which precede the noun, and modification via the ezafe construction following the noun. The modification may consist of an intensifier followed by an indefinite number of descriptive elements (including prepositional phrases, other noun phrases), all connected by ezafe. The final element in a noun phrase is the pronominal possessive suffix. Demonstrative with and without quantifier (45) in pesær this boy ‘this boy’ (46) in se-ta pesær this three-CL boy ‘these three boys’ (47) un cænd-ta goldun that many-CL vase ‘those few vases’ (48) kodum pesær? which boy ‘which boy?’
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< previous page Page 15 Cardinal quantifier (49) (50) Ordinal quantifier (51)
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page_15 do-ta two-NC cat ‘two cats’
gorbe
cænd-ta how many-NC ‘how many cats?’
dovomin second ‘the second cat’ (52) cændomin which ‘which Quantifier (proportional numeral) (53) dæh bærabær ten times ‘ten times as much money’ (54) cænd bærabær how much times ‘How many times as much money?’ Descriptive adjective (55) yek mænzære-ye a view-EZ ‘a very beautiful view’ (56) ce-jur what-kind ‘What kind of view?’
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gorbe? cat gorbe cat gorbe? cat cat? meqdar-e amount-EZ
pul money
meqdar-e amount-EZ
pul? money
xeyli ziba very beautiful mænzære-i? view-IND
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Page 16 Possessive suffix (57) otaq-e xeyli kucik-æm room-EZ very small-1S.PC ‘my very small room’ (58) otaq-e xeyli kucik-e ki? room-EZ very small-EZ who ‘whose very small room?’ Prepositional phrase (59) saxtemun-e dæm-e rudxune building-EZ by-EZ river ‘the building by the river’ (60) kodum saxtemun? which building? ‘which building?’ 1.1.1.2.2.1.4 Questioning elements of prepositional phrases As in English, prepositional phrases in Persian consist of a preposition followed by an NP. Common simple prepositions are: æz ‘from, dær ‘in’, ta ‘until’, be ‘to’, ba ‘with’, bæra-ye ‘for’. Several prepositions are composed of a locative word plus the ezafe: bedun-e ‘without’, tu-ye ‘in’, ru-ye ‘on’, zir-e ‘under’, pæhlu-ye ‘by’. In all cases the NP element can be questioned. In the case of locative prepositions the entire PP may be questioned. See (63)–(68). (61) ba mina with Mina ‘with Mina’ (62) ba ki? with who ‘with who?’ (63) dær emrika in America ‘in America’
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Page 17 (64)
dær koja? in where ‘where?’ The answer to (64) would be emrika or dær emrika, with or without the preposition. (65) koja? where ‘where?’ The answer to (65) would be dær emrika, with the preposition. (66) pæhlu-ye bimarestan by-EZ hospital ‘by the hospital’ (67) pæhlu-ye koja? by-EZ where ‘by where?’ (68) koja? where ‘where?’ 1.1.1.2.2.1.5 Questioning elements of coordinate structures Coordination is achieved with the use of væ or o between the elements being conjoined. The elements being conjoined can be NPs or VPs. Conjoined noun phrases (69) pedær-æm væ jæhan šam xord-ænd father-1S.PC and Jahan dinner ate-3P ‘My father and Jahan ate dinner.’ (70) pedær-æm væ ki šam xord-ænd? father-1S.PC and who dinner ate-3P ‘My father and who ate dinner?’
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Page 18 Conjoined verb phrases (71) tæmam-e šæb avaz xund væ ræxsid all-EZ night song sang and danced ‘She sang and danced all night.’ (72) tæmam-e šæb avaz xund væ cikar kærd? all-EZ night song sang and what-work did ‘She sang and did what all night?’ 1.1.1.2.2.1.6 Number of constituents that can be questioned In principle, any number of constituents may be questioned at the same time. For example, the statement in (73) may have all its elements questioned simultaneously as in (73a). (73) šiva ba rana dišæb ræft sinema shiva with Rana last night went movie ‘Shiva went to the movies with Rana last night.’ (73a) ki ba ki ke koja ræft? who with who when where went ‘Who went where with whom when?’ 1.1.1.2.2.2 Position of the questioned element Question words in Persian consist of a set of interrogative pronouns: ki ‘who/whom’, ci ‘what’, ke ‘when’, koja ‘where’ cera ‘why’, cænd ‘how much (price)’ and interrogative adjectives: kodum (yek) ‘which (one)’, cænd, cænd-ta ‘how many’, ceqædr ‘how much’ (see section 1.1.1.2.2). The position of these words depends on their syntactic function in the context of general SOV ordering in Persian. If the subject is being questioned, the interrogative will appear sentence-initially in place of the subject; if the object is being questioned, the interrogative will appear medially, in place of the object. In the case of the latter, for the purpose of focus the interrogative may be moved to sentence-initial position (see examples (78)–(79)). Examples (75)–(79) question various elements of the statement in (74). (Since Persian is a pro-drop language, the object interrogative will often appear to be sentence-initial when in fact it is not.)
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Page 19 (74)
reza mašin-o be mæn dad Reza car-OM to me gave ‘Reza gave me the car.’ Subject is questioned (75) ki mašin-o be mæn dad? who car-OM to me gave ‘Who gave me the car?’ Direct object is questioned (76) reza ci be mæn dad? Reza what to me gave ‘Reza gave me what?’ Indirect object is questioned (77) reza mašin-o be ki dad? Reza car-OM to who gave ‘Reza gave who the car?’ Direct object interrogative moved for focus (78) ci-o reza be mæn dad? what-OM Reza to me gave ‘What was it that Reza gave me?’ Indirect object interrogative moved for focus (79) be ki reza mašin-o dad? to who Reza car-OM gave ‘Reza gave the car to who?’ 1.1.1.2.3 Echo questions 1.1.1.2.3.1 Yes-no echo questions Yes-no echo questions are formed by repeating part of the sentence. The examples in (81) through (84) are echo question responses to the initial statement in (80). In the examples in (81) the VP is repeated. In (82) just the PP is repeated. Example (83) shows
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Page 20 repetition of the direct object NP and verb, and in (84) only the DO is repeated to form a yes-no echo question. In all responses the last syllable of the item in question not only receives stress but also the highest intonation level of the question. (Bold-face underlined letters indicate highest intonation.) (80) A: kilid-o dad-æm be mæryæm key-OM gave-1S to Maryam ‘I gave the key to Maryam.’ Questioning the IO: (81) B: dad-i be mæryæm? gave-2S to Maryam ‘You gave (it) to Maryam? (82) B: be mæryæm? to Maryam To Maryam?’ Questioning the DO: (83) B: kilid-o dad-i key-OM gave-2S ‘You gave the key?’ (84) B: kilid-o? key-OM? ‘The key?’ For all the above examples in (81) through (84) speaker A’s response is ‘yes’. 1.1.1.2.3.2 Question-word echo questions One way to form question-word questions involves the replacement of one element of the previous utterance with a WH-word. The WH-word can either remain in its original syntactic position, as in example (85a), or be used to form a standard WH-question, shown in example (85b) (see Section 1.1.1.2.2 for WH-questions). The WH-word koja in (85a) receives rising intonation. In
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Page 21 (85b) the intonation rises on the final syllable of the question word and continues to the end of the question. (85) A: ræft-æm šikago. went-1S Chicago ‘I went to Chicago.’ (85a) B: ræft-i koja? went-2S where ‘You went where?’ (85b) B: koja ræft-i? where went-2S ‘Where did you go?’ Question-word questions can also take the form of a simple WH-question appropriate to the original statement. (86) A: ræft-æm šikago. went-1S Chicago ‘I went to Chicago.’ (86a) B: koja? where ‘Where?’ When the original utterance needing clarification is in the form of a question, the echo question repeats the original utterance, replacing one or more of the elements with a WH-word. The intonation of the question-word echo question is generally high throughout with additional stress on any questioned element. (87) azær cera ræft xune? Azar why went home ‘Why did Azar go home?’ (88) ki cera ræft koja? who why went where ‘Why did who go where?’
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Page 22 1.1.1.2.3.3 Yes-no question echo-questions In Persian, when Speaker A asks a yes-no question such as ‘Are you going to the harbor?’, Speaker B cannot ask for clarification in the form of a question like ‘Am I going to the harbor?’. Rather, Speaker B must ask for clarification via a subordinate construction. (89) A: mi-r-i danešga? DUR-go-2S university ‘Are you going to the university?’ (89a) B: porsid-i mi-r-æm danešga? asked-2S DUR-go-1S university ‘Did you ask if I’m going to the university?’ 1.1.1.2.3.4 Question-word question echo questions When Speaker A asks a WH-question, Speaker B can ask for clarification by repeating the question in the first person. Unlike the intonation pattern in nonecho-question WH-questions, the highest intonation is on the last syllable of the question. (See Section 3.3.4.1.) (90) A: koja mi-r-i? where DUR-go-2S ‘Where are you going?’ (90a) B: koja mi-r-æm? where DUR-go-1S ‘Where am I going?’ 1.1.1.2.3.5 Elements that can be questioned in echo questions In an echo question a speaker may ask for clarification of any element of a previous declarative sentence, questionword question or question-word question echo-questions (see Sections 1.1.1.2.3.1–2 and 1.1.1.2.3.4). Elements which can be questioned in a declarative sentence (91) A: diruz kif-o gozæšt-æm ru miz yesterday purse-OM put-1S on table ‘Yesterday, I put the purse on the table.’
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< previous page Page 23 Questioning the DO (91a) Questioning the IO (91b)
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B: kif-o? purse-OM ‘The purse?’ B: ru miz? on table ‘On the table?’
Questioning the VP (91c) B: kif-o ci kar--kærd-i? purse-OM what work--did-2S ‘You did what with the purse?’ Questioning the adverb (91d) B: ke kif-o gozošt-i ru miz? when purse-OM put-2S on table ‘When did you put the purse on the table?’ When the echo question is itself a yes-no question, the entire sentence must be repeated as in shown in Section 1.1.1.2.3.3. 1.1.1.2.3.6 Questioning more than one element Any number of elements can be questioned in an echo question at the same time. (92) A: færda ba firuz mi-r-æm muze tomorrow with Firuz DUR-go-1S museum ‘Tomorrow I’m going to the museum with Firuz.’ (92a) B: ke ba ki ci kar--mi-kon-i? when with whom what work-DUR-do-i ‘When are you doing what with whom?’ In the case of yes-no echo questions, separate elements cannot be questioned. See Section 1.1.1.2.3.3.
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Page 24 1.1.1.2.3.7 Questioning different elements Different word types are questioned through the use of the appropriate WH-word: ci ‘what’, ke ‘when’, koja ‘where’, cera ‘why’, cetowr ‘how’, ki ‘who’, kodum ‘which’ (see Section 1.1.1.2.2). 1.1.1.2.4 Answers 1.1.1.2.4.1 Answers as direct speech acts Answers to yes-no questions or question-word questions and echo questions are not marked as a distinct speech act. 1.1.1.2.4.1.1 Yes-no questions Answers to yes-no questions are typically introduced with the informal are or the more formal bæle, both meaning ‘yes’, or preceded with næ ‘no’. See Section 1.1.1.2.1 for more discussion and examples of yes-no questions. 1.1.1.2.4.1.2 Question-word questions Answers to question-word questions follow the word order of other declaratives and are therefore indistinguishable from other declarative sentences. See Section 1.1.1.2.2 for other examples and discussion of question-word questions. 1.1.1.2.4.1.3 Echo questions Echo questions are answered like other questions. 1.1.1.2.4.2 Answers in the form of incomplete sentences Answers to any type of question can be in the form of complete or incomplete sentences. 1.1.1.2.4.2.1 Yes-no questions 1.1.1.2.4.2.1.1 Minimum answers to yes-no questions A minimal answer to yes-no questions may come in the form
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Page 25 of a simple are ‘yes’ or næ ‘no’ or momken-e ‘maybe’. (93) A: šam xord-i? dinner ate-2S B: are yeah ‘Yeah.’ (94) A: in loqæt æræbi-e? this word Arabic-is ‘Is this word Arabic?’ B: momken-e possible-is ‘Maybe.’ 1.1.1.2.4.2.1.2 Answers to leading questions If the leading question is positive, a simple are/bæle ‘yes’ or næ ‘no’ is sufficient for clarity. (95) A: mi-r-i? DUR-go-2S ‘Are you going?’ B: are næ yes no ‘Yes. (I’m going.)’ ‘No. (I’m not going).’ If the leading question is negative, a næ ‘no’ unambiguously agrees with the assumption. (96) A: maman emšæb ne-mi-ya-d? mom tonight NEG-DUR-come-3S ‘Isn’t Mom coming tonight?’ B: næ no ‘No. (She’s not coming.)’ If the leading question is negative, cera, ‘why’ is used to
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Page 26 mean ‘of course’ and emphatically negates the negative assumption. (97) A: maman emšæb ne-mi-ya-d? mom tonight NEG-DUR-come-3S ‘Isn’t Mom coming tonight?’ B: cera of course ‘Of course (she’s coming).’ If the leading question is negative, a simple are/bæle ‘yes’ is both odd and ambiguous and not likely to be used. Even if followed with clarification, an are answer to a negative leading question is odd. See Section 1.1.1.2.1.2 for other examples of leading questions. 1.1.12.4.2.2 Question-word questions Answers to question-word questions can take the form of incomplete sentences or single words. For example, a where-question can be answered by naming a location or using a prepositional phrase: (98) A: koja mi-r-i? where DUR-go-2S ‘Where are you going?’ B: širaz Shiraz ‘Shiraz.’ (99) A: in-o æz koja gereft-i? this-OM from where got-2S ‘Where did you get this from?’ B: æz nepal from Nepal ‘From Nepal.’ (100) A: ba ki hærf--mi-zæd-i? with who word--DUR-strike-2S ‘Who were you talking with?’
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Page 27 B:
ba mina ba Mina ‘With Mina.’ 1.1.1.3 Imperative sentences 1.1.1.3.1 Positive imperative forms A positive imperative sentence is formed by adding be-/bo-to the present stem of a verb. In some verbs, such as compounds using kærdæn ‘to do’, the be is optional. Imperatives use the second person. No personal suffix is used in the singular; in the plural the ordinary second person plural suffix -id is used. With the imperative the subject pronoun is rarely used, except for emphasis. (Also see Section 2.1.3.4.3 for further example of the imperative.) An imperative is usually softened with lotfæn ‘please’, which can appear in sentence-initial or -final position or before the verb phrase. The phrase xaheš--mi-kon-æm, typically appearing sentence-initially, also softens the command. The imperative is emphasized by using more volume, stress and intonation. (101) gol-a-ro lotfæn ab--be-de flower-PL-OM please water--IMP-give ‘Water the flowers.’ 1.1.1.3.2 Negative imperative In the negative imperative the be- prefix is not used, being replaced by the negative prefix næ-. (102) ba un bazi--næ-kon with that play--NEG-do ‘Don’t play with that.’ (103) gol-a-ro ab--næ-de flower-PL-OM water--NEG-give ‘Don’t water the flowers.’ 1.1.1.3.2.1–2 Person/number in negative imperative forms Person, number marking and degree of the imperative are the same as in the positive imperative.
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Page 28 1.1.1.4 Other distinct sentence types The basic sentence types are mentioned above: declarative, interrogative and imperative. Another type, though much less frequent, is the formulaic subjunctive. (104) inšallah be arezu-t be-res-i God willing to wish-2S.PC SBJN-arrive-2S “God willing, may you get what you want.’ 1.1.1.5 Indirect speech acts Interrogative and declarative sentences can be used for other functions. Imperatives are restricted to an imperative function. Interrogative as imperative or request With an ordinary interrogative intonation which rises at the end of the sentence, this would be interpreted as a request to close the door rather than a query about the person’s ability to close the door. If the stress is moved to mi-tun-i with the highest level of intonation on the durative prefix mi-, the request becomes an imperative. (105) mi-tun-i dær-o be-bænd-i? DUR-be able-2S door-OM SBJN-close-2S ‘Can you close the door?’ Declarative as imperative or request In the following example, the speaker does not intend to make a statement of fact as much as order or ask the listener to turn off the light. There is little if any intonation or stress distinction between the declarative and imperative uses of this sentence. (106) ceraq-o rošæn gozošt-i light-OM on put-i ‘You left the light on.’
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Page 29 1.1.2 Subordination 1.1.2.1 General markers of subordination There are two main markers of subordination. First is the optional use of the complementizer ke ‘that’ to introduce nominal clauses. (107) fekr--mi-kon-æm (ke) šiva emšæb mi-res-e thought--DUR-do-1S (that) Shiva tonight DUR-arrive-3S ‘I think (that) Shiva will arrive tonight.’ Another indicator that a clause is subordinate is the mood of the verb. Depending on the particular verb in the main clause and the degree of certainty about the truth of the proposition described in the subordinate clause, the subordinated verb may be in the subjunctive. Verbs such as xastæn ‘to want’, tunestæn ‘to be able’, the impersonal constructions such as momken-e ‘maybe (it is possible)’, emkan dar-e ‘it is possible’ and behtar-e ‘it is better that’ as well as the negative form of fekr kærdæn ‘to think’ require that the verb of the subordinate clause be in the subjunctive mood. (108) fekr--ne-mi-kon-æm (ke) emšæb bi-ya-d thought-NEG-DUR-do-1S (that) tonight SBJN-come-3S ‘I don’t think (that) she will come tonight.’ Second, to introduce adjective clauses, the demonstrative particle -i is followed by the complementizer ke, resulting in a sequence -i ke ‘who/whom/that/which’. (109) mašin-i ke diruz xærid-æm car-DEM that yesterday bought-1S ‘the car that I bought yesterday’ Canonical word order within subordinate clauses is the same as in main clauses. In addition, most movement rules appear to be permitted in both main and subordinate clauses. However, at least one movement rule that applies in the main clause is not permitted in a subordinate clause. Karimi (1989:144–148) points out that verb preposing that results in V S PP order cannot occur in the subordinate clause. Also see Section 2.1.2.7 on relative pronouns.
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Page 30 1.1.2.2 Noun clauses 1.1.2.2.1 Marking of noun clauses Subordinate noun clauses generally immediately follow the main clause, although in the case of nominal relative clauses the subordinate clause precedes the main verb. NP complements are introduced with the optional complementizer ke ‘that’ or other subordinators such as WH-words, æge ‘if and aya ‘whether’. Subordinate noun clauses are unmarked for case. As in the main clause, the word order in subordinate clauses follows the canonical SOV word order, where pronominal subjects may be deleted. 1.1.2.2.2 Types of noun clauses There are several types of subordinate noun clauses. (a) ke-clauses ke is optional when the ke clause is object or complement. (110) mælum-e (ke) mæriz-e obvious-is (that) sick-is ‘It’s obvious (that) he’s sick.’ (111) mi-dunest-æm (ke) dir mi-res-i DUR-knew-1S (that) late DUR-arrive-2S ‘I knew (that) you’d arrive late.’ When the clause is a subject NP the use of ke is obligatory. (112) ke hænuz zendæ-st mojezæ-st that still alive-is miracle-is ‘That she’s still alive is a miracle.’ (b) WH-interrogative clauses A WH-interrogative subordinate clause is introduced with a WH-word and follows the main clause. (113) ne-mi-fæhm-æm cera in-o xærid NEG-DUR-understand-1S why this-OM bought ‘I don’t understand why he bought this.’
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Page 31 (114)
ne-mi-dun-æm ketab-a-ro be ki dad NEG-DUR-know-1S book-PL-OM to who gave ‘I don’t know who he gave the books to.’ (c) Nominal relative clauses Nominal relative clauses precede the main verb. They are introduced with a WH-element plus an optional ke. (115) hær-ceqæd (ke) pul mi-xa-i be-het however much (that) money DUR-want-2S to-2S.PC mi-d-æm DUR-give-1S ‘I’ll give you however much money you want.’ (116) in-o be hær-kesi (ke) ævvæl mi-res-e be-de this-OM to whoever (that) first DUR-arrive-3S IMP-give ‘Give this to whoever arrives first.’ (d) Yes/no (if/whether) interrogative clauses Yes/no interrogative subordinate clauses follow the main clause and are introduced by the informal æge or the more formal aya, both meaning ‘if, whether’. (117) mi-dun-i æge/aya væqt dar-im? DUR-know-2S if time have-1P ‘Do you know if we have time?’ (e) Nonfinite clauses Nonfinite subordinate noun clauses cannot be formed in Persian. 1.1.2.2.3 Indirect statements For a discussion on indirect statements see Section 1.1.1.1. 1.1.2.2.4 Indirect questions An indirect question follows the main clause, optionally introduced with ke ‘that’. Word order within the indirect question is
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Page 32 the same as in direct questions (see Section 1.1.1.2 for a discussion on different types of interrogative sentences). (118) æli porsid cera mæryæm ne-mi-ya-d Ali asked why Maryam NEG-DUR-come-3S ‘Ali asked why Maryam isn’t coming.’ 1.1.2.2.5 Indirect commands The indirect command is optionally introduced with ke ‘that’ and follows the main clause. The subordinated verb takes the subjunctive mood and can be inflected for any person and number. Also see Section 1.1.1.3 on imperative statements. (119) be to goft (ke) be-r-i to you said (that) SBJN-go-2S ‘She told you to go.’ 1.1.2.2.6 Nonfinite noun clauses There are no nonfinite subordinated nominal clauses. 1.1.2.3 Adjective clauses (relative clauses) 1.1.2.3.1 Marking of adjective clauses Adjective clauses are introduced with the relative pronoun ke ‘who/whom/that/which’. Other morphological marking is required depending on whether the antecedent is definite or indefinite, singular or plural, an abstract noun being used generically and whether the clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive. 1.1.2.3.2 Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses 1.1.2.3.2.1 Restrictive relative clauses A restrictive relative clause is introduced by -i ke. This suffix -i, not to be confused with the homophonous indefinite/specific -i or the attributive -i, is called the “referential” or “demonstrative” morpheme in traditional grammars of Persian. (It has been suggested that demonstrative -i and indefinite/specific -i have different etymological sources.) We use the abbreviation “DEM” for
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Page 33 “demonstrative” in our translations. The demonstrative -i attaches to the head noun and is followed by ke and the relative clause. The bare head noun is interpreted as definite. (120) zæn-i ke vared-e otaq šod woman-DEM that enter-EZ room became ‘the woman who entered the room’ An indefinite NP is preceded by ye(k) ‘one/a’: (121) ye pesær-i ke kolah sær-eš bud a boy-DEM that hat head-3S.PC was ‘a boy who was wearing a hat’ When the relative clause modifies the direct definite object NP of the main clause, the object marker -ra optionally follows the demonstrative -i . (122) film-i-(ro) ke hæme dust--dašt-ænd næ-did-im film-DEM-OM that all friend--have-3P NEG-saw-1P ‘We didn’t see the film that everyone liked.’ 1.1.2.3.2.2 Nonrestrictive relative clauses Nonrestrictive relative clauses are introduced with the relative pronoun ke and follow their antecedent. The demonstrative -i is not used with nonrestrictive clauses. Definite subject antecedents are marked for definiteness with demonstrative adjectives or via possessiveness. Proper nouns, quantified and plural nouns are also interpreted as definite. See Section 2.1.1.10 for further discussion of definiteness in noun phrases. (123) un doxtær-e kucik ke gol dæst-eš-e that girl-EZ small that flower hand-3S.PC-is ‘yhat little girl, who is holding the flowers’ (124) dust-æm ke emrika zendegi--mikon-e friend-1S.PC that America life--DUR-do-3S ‘my friend who lives in America’ When the antecedent of the relative clause is a definite direct object, the object marker attaches to the head noun and is followed by
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Page 34 the ke-clause. (125) un mærd-o ke ruzname mi-xund peyda--kærd that man-OM that newspaper DUR-read visible--did ‘He found the man, who was reading the newspaper.’ Indefinite antecedents take indefinite marking in the form of ye(k) ‘one, a’ or the indefinite/specific suffix -i or a combination of ye(k) and -i . (126) ye zæn-e bur ke mæjele mi-xund a woman-EZ blond that magazine DUR-read ‘a blond woman who was reading a magazine’ (127) ye doxtær-e kucik-i ke gol dæst-eš bud a girl-EZ small-IND that flower hand-3S.PC was ‘a little girl, who was holding the flowers’ 1.1.2.3.3 Position of the head noun As shown above, whether the relative clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive, it follows the head noun. 1.1.2.3.4 Form of the relativized element The relativized subject or direct object of the relative clause is omitted. The unmarked conjunction ke introduces the relative clause. (128) mærd-i ke ræft man-DEM that went ‘the man who went’ (129) mærd-i ke did-æm man-DEM that saw-1S ‘the man who I saw’ As discussed in Section 1.1.2.3.2.1, in addition to ke, the demonstrative -i is attached to the antecedent of restrictive relative clauses. When the relativized element is an oblique object of the relative clause, ke cooccurs with the oblique object which is preserved
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Page 35 as a pronominal clitic. In example (130) the relativized element takes the pronominal clitic form -heš ‘him’. (130) mærd-i ke pul-o be-heš dad-æm man-DEM that money-OM to-3S.PC gave-1S ‘the man who I gave the money to’ 1.1.2.3.5 Position of the relativized element As seen in the examples in Section 1.1.2.3.4, the relativized subject or direct object is omitted. (131) zæn-i ke kot-e qermez pušid-e--bud woman-DEM that jacket-EZ red wore-PSPT--was ‘the woman who was wearing a red jacket’ (132) mærd-i(-ro) ke (mæn) diruz did-æm man-DEM(-OM) that (I) yesterday saw-1S ‘the man that I saw yesterday’ When the relativized element is an oblique object of the relative clause, ke precedes the clause. The oblique object remains in its original position in the form of a pronominal clitic (see (130)). 1.1.2.3.6 Headless relative clauses Headless relative clauses occur in Persian and can function as objects or subjects of the main verb. They are typically introduced with a WH-pronoun such as ci ‘what’, ki ‘who’, hærki ‘whoever’, hærci ‘whatever’, and so on. (133) did-æm ci mi-xa-d saw-1S what DUR-want-3S ‘I saw what she wanted.’ (134) mi-dunest ki-o dust--dar-æm DUR-knew who-OM friend--have-1S ‘He knew who I loved.’ (135) hærki dær-o bæst qofl-eš--næ-kærd whoever door-OM closed lock-3S.PC--NEG-did ‘Whoever closed the door didn’t lock it.’
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Page 36 1.1.2.3.7 Elements that can be relativized Any nominal element of the main clause can be relativized. Relativization of the subject (136) zæn-i ke be mašin-æm zæd woman-DEM that to car-1S.PC hit ‘the woman who hit my car’ Relativization of the direct object (137) mašin-i(-ro) ke pedær-æm zæd car-DEM(-OM) that father-1S hit ‘the car that my father hit’ Some varieties of the language seem to allow pronoun retention for direct objects. This construction appears in classical literature and occasionally in some dialects of modern spoken Persian. (138) mærd-i ke æli u-ra mi-šnas-e man-DEM that Ali he-OM DUR-know-3S ‘the man who Ali knows’ Relativization of the indirect object (139) bæcce-i ke lebas-a-ro be-heš child-DEM that clothes-PL-OM to-3S.PC dad-æm gave-1S ‘the child that I gave the clothes to’ Relativization of other oblique objects (140) mæqaze-i ke færš-o æz-æš xærid store-DEM that rug-OM from-3S.PC bought ‘the store that he bought the rug from’ Elements of subordinate clause can also be relativized.
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Page 37 Relativization of subordinate subject (141) mærd-i ke fekr--mi-kon-æm ræ’is-e man-DEM that thought--DUR-do-1S head-EZ diparteman-e inja bud department-EZ here was ‘the man that I think is the head of the department was here’ Relativization of subordinate direct object (142) mašin-i(-ro) ke goft-æm pedær-æm zæd car-DEM(-OM) that said-1S father-1S hit ‘the car that I said my father hit’ Relativization of subordinate indirect object (143) gorbe-i ke šir-o be-heš dad-æm cat-DEM that milk-OM to-3S.PC gave-1S ‘the cat that I gave the milk to’ Relativization of other subordinate oblique objects (144) mægaze-i ke fekr--kærd æz-æš store-DEM that thought-did from-3S.PC sini-o xærid-æm tray-OM bought-1S ‘the store that she thought I bought the tray from’ 1.1.2.3.8 Movement of relativized element As relativized elements, direct objects, indirect objects and other oblique objects are moved to the immediate right of the antecedent and replaced by ke. See examples in 1.1.2.3.7 above. 1.1.2.3.9 Making nonfinite relative clauses Nonfinite relative clauses do not occur in Persian. 1.1.2.4 Adverbial clauses 1.1.2.4.1 Marking and position Adverb clauses are generally introduced by an adverbial
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Page 38 relativizer of time, manner, cause, etc. Most types of adverb clauses may precede or follow the main clause. (145) væqti-ke vared--šod hæme dæst--zæd-ænd when enter--became all hand--struck-3P ‘When she entered everyone clapped.’ (146) hæme dæst--zæd-ænd væqti-ke vared--šod all hand--struck-3P when enter--became ‘When she entered everyone clapped.’ 1.1.2.4.2 Different types of adverbial clauses 1.1.2.4.2.1 Adverbial clauses of time Adverbial clauses of time are introduced by one of several adverbial subordinators such as væqti-(ke) ‘when’, hærvæqt (ke) ‘whenever, every time’, hærga (ke) ‘every time’, piš-æz-inke ‘before’, qæbl-æz-inke ‘before’, bæd-æzinke ‘after’, ta ‘as soon as’ æz moqe’ike ‘since’ and others. Note that the subordinating conjunction ke ‘that’ is optional in the first three items. Adverbial clauses of time commonly precede the main clause but may occasionally follow it (see examples (145) and (146)). Past, present and future are distinguished from each other via the tense, aspect or mood of the verb in the adverbial clause, the verb in the main clause, and the nature of the adverbial itself, i.e. whether it is referring to habitual action or a point in time. (147) hærvæqt (ke) seda-ye buq mi-ya-d whenever (that) sound-EZ horn DUR-come-3S mi-xænd-e DUR-laugh- 3S ‘Whenever a horn sounds she laughs.’ (148) bæd-æz-inke šam xord-i be mæn telefon--be-zæn after dinner ate-2S to me telephone--IMP-hit ‘After you’ve eaten dinner call me.’ (149) ta resid telefon--kærd as soon as arrived telephone--did ‘He called as soon as he arrived.’
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Page 39 1.1.2.4.2.2 Manner Clauses of manner are introduced by hæmuntor-ke ‘the same way that/exactly as’. The manner clause may precede the main clause, as in (150) or may appear in medial position after the direct object as in (151). If the main clause contains an oblique argument, the adverbial clause may also precede or follow that argument. (150) hæmuntor-ke nešun-et--dad-æm qælæm-o be-gir the same way that show-2S.PC--give-1S pen-OM IMP-get ‘Hold the pen the way I showed you.’ (151) qælæm-o hæmuntor-ke nešun-et--dad-æm be-gir pen-OM the same way that show-2S.PC--give-1S IMP-get ‘Hold the pen the way I showed you.’ 1.1.2.4.2.3 Purpose Purpose clauses precede the main clause, use the subjunctive and are introduced by ta (inke) ‘so that/in order to’ or ke ‘that’ (152) eynæk-æm-o zæd-æm ta be-tun-æm glasses-1S.PC-OM hit-1S so that SBJN-be able-1S behtær be-bin-æm better SBJN-see-1S ‘I put my glasses on so I could see better.’ (153) mæhin-o ferestad be bæqali ke mast Mahin-OM sent to corner store that yogurt be-xær-e SBJN-buy-3S ‘She sent Mahin to the corner store to buy yogurt.’ 1.1.2.4.2.4 Cause clauses The most common conjunction for introducing clauses of cause is cun ‘because, since’ and its variant, cunke. Compound phrases such as be xater-e ‘because of’, be dælil-e ‘for the reason of’ are also used. Cause clauses introduced with cun, be xater-e and be dælil-e typically precede the main clause while those introduced by cunke may follow or precede the main clause.
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Page 40 (154)
cun/cunke dir bud mund-im xune since late was stayed-1P home ‘Since it was late we stayed home.’ (155) ba otobus ræft-im cunke mašin næ-dar-im with bus went-1P because car NEG-have-1P ‘we went by bus because we don’t have a car.’ (156) be xater-e særdærd-e šædid be konsert næ-ræft because of headache-EZ strong to concert NEG-went ‘He didn’t go to the concert because of a bad headache.’ 1.1.2.4.2.5 Condition Condition clauses are introduced chiefly by æge ‘if and precede the main clause. (See Section 2.1.3.4.2 for examples of different degrees of hypotheticality.) (157) æge bahæm kar--kon-im zud if together work--SBJN.do-1P fast tæmum--mi-š-e finish--DUR-become- 3S ‘If we work together it’ll get done quickly.’ A more formal, less frequently used conjunction is cenance ‘if. Adverbial clauses with cenance also precede the main clause. (158) cenance forsæt dar-id be-r-id tæbriz if opportunity have-2P IMP-go-2P Tabriz ‘If you have the opportunity, go to Tabriz.’ Negative condition clauses may be introduced by mæge inke ‘unless’ and follow the main clause, or they may be introduced by ta ‘until’ and precede the main clause. (159) kilid-o be-heš næ-de mæge inke key-OM to-3S.PC NEG-give unless pul-o be-het be-de money-OM to-2S.PC SBJN-give ‘Don’t give him the key unless he gives you the money.’
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ta šam næ-xor-i deser be-het until dinner NEG-eat-2S dessert to-2S.PC ne-mi-d-æm NEG-DUR-give-1S ‘If you don’t eat dinner I won’t give you dessert.’ 1.1.2.4.2.6 Result clauses Clauses of result follow the main clause and are mainly introduced by betori-ke ‘so that’. (161) ta cænd ruz fæqæt tæmizkari--kærd-im for several days only clean--did-1P betori-ke hæmeciz bærq mi-zæd so that everything shine--DUR-hit ‘All we did was clean for days so that everything shined.’ A more formal term used to introduce clauses of result is dær æsær-e ‘as a result of. These clauses precede the main clause. (162) dær æsær-e gerdbad cændin deræxt æz riše kænde--šod as a result of tornado several tree from root picked--became ‘As a result of the tornado several trees were uprooted.’ 1.1.2.4.2.7 Clauses of degree 1.1.2.4.2.7.1–2 Comparative clauses The term be qædrike ‘as much as’ and enqæd ke ‘as much as’ are used to introduce comparative adverbial clauses. Comparative adverbial clauses precede the main clause. (163) be qædrike to mi-xab-i mæn ne-mi-xab-æm as much as you DUR-sleep-2S I NEG-DUR-sleep-1S ‘I don’t sleep as much as you sleep.’ (164) enqæd ke to værzeš--mi-kon-i mæn as much as you exercise--DUR-do-2S I ne-mi-kon-æm NEG-DUR-do-1S ‘I don’t exercise as much as you do.’
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Page 42 1.1.2.4.2.7.2 Equative clauses Equative clauses are introduced with be qæd-e ‘the same as’ or be qædrike ‘as much as’, and a positive verb. (165) jæhan beqæd-e bæhmæn zur dar-e Jahan same as Bahman strength have-3S ‘Jahan has as much strength as Bahman.’ 1.1.2.4. 3 Nonfinite adverbial clauses Nonfinite adverbial clauses can be formed from result clauses which are introduced by dær æsær-e ‘as a result of and the infinitive form of a verb, which is used nominally. Infinitival adverbial clauses are not morphological marked for tense, aspect, mood, person/number agreement. (166) dær æsær-e dærs--xundæn šagerd-ævvæl šod as a result of lesson--to read pupil-first became ‘As a result of studying, she became the number one student (in her class).’ The subject is obligatorily omitted from infinitival adverbial clauses when it is coreferential with the subject of the main clause. Compare examples (167) and (168). In example (167) the subjects of the main and adverbial clause are coreferential. In example (168) the subject of the adverbial clause is non-coreferential with the subject of the main clause and is expressed as a possessor in an ezafe construction. (167) dær æsær-e xændidæn-e šædid deldærd gereft as a result of to laugh-EZ intense stomachache got ‘She got a stomach ache from laughing so hard.’ (168) dær æsær-e bolænd hærf--zædæn-e færzad as a result of loud word--to strike-EZ Farzad sær-aem dærd gereft head-1S.PC ache got ‘As a result of Farzad’s talking so loud, I got a headache.’ Infinitives in adverb clauses can be modified by adverbs or adjectives.
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Page 43 (169) dær æsær-e ziad dærs--xundæn šagerd-ævvæl as a result of much lesson--to read pupil-first šod became ‘As a result of studying a lot, she became the number one student (in her class).’ (170) dær æsær-e dærs--xundæn-e da’emi šagerd-ævvæl šod as a result lesson--to read-EZ constant pupil-first became ‘As a result of constant studying, she became the number one student (in her class).’ 1.1.2.5 Sequence of tenses Some finite adverbial clauses require a sequence of tenses between main and adverbial clauses. Adverbial clauses of purpose When adverbial purpose clauses are in the present subjunctive, the main clause can be in past, present progressive or future tense. (171) dar-æm radio-ro xamuš--mi-kon-æm ta inke have-1S radio-OM off--DUR-do-1S so that be-tun-æm be-xab-æm SBJN-be able-1S SBJN-sleep-1S ‘I’m turning the radio off so that I can sleep.’ (172) radio-ro kæm--mi-kon-æm ta inkebe-tun-i radio-OM less--did-1S so that SBJN-be able-2S dærs--be-xun-i lesson--SBJN-read-2S ‘I’ll turn the radio down so that you can study.’ The sequence can lead to potential ambiguity. The subordinate clause in sentence (173) can refer to present or past time. (173) radiyo-ro xamuš--kærd-æm ta inke be-tun-æm radiyo-OM off--did-1S so that SBJN-be able-1S be-xab-æm SBJN-sleep-1S ‘I turned the radio off so that I can/could sleep.’
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Page 44 Adverbial conditional clauses The conditional adverbial clauses is used in the subjunctive, while the main clause is in the present. (174) æge be-mun-i xune mæn æm mi-mun-æm if SBJN-stay-2S home I also DUR-stay-1S ‘If you stay home I’ll stay too.’ It is also possible to have both the main and subordinate clause in the imperfect: (175) æge mi-mund-i xune mæn æm mi-mund-æm if DUR-stayed-2S home I also DUR-stayed-1S ‘If you were staying home I’d stay too.’ In the case of nonfinite adverbial clauses, the adverbial clause is in the infinitive form while the main clause in the simple past or present. (176) dær æsær-e kæm xabidæn særdærd gereft as a result of less to sleep headache got ‘As a result of not sleeping enough she got a headache.’ (177) dær æsær-e kæm xabidæn særdærd mi-gir-e as a result of less to sleep headache DUR-get-3S ‘As a result of not sleeping enough she’ll get a headache.’ 1.2 STRUCTURAL QUESTIONS 1.2.1 Internal structure of the sentence 1.2.1.1 Copular sentences Copular sentences, like other sentences, have SOV wordorder. As is the case with other sentences, the pronominal subject is optional in copular sentences. However, unlike declarative sentences using other verbs, copular sentences are rigidly SOV. (See Section 1.1 for a discussion on exceptions to SOV order in Persian.) The equivalent of ‘to be’ in Persian is realized in three ways in the present to form copular sentences: as clitics inflected for person and number, as hæst plus the personal endings, or as baš with the
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Page 45 personal endings. Note that baš is not used in spoken Persian. For a detailed discussion of the verb ‘to be’ see Section 2.1.3.2.1.2. In the past there is only one form of the copula, the past of the verb budæn ‘to be’. (178) bæhram bimarestan-e Bahram hospital-is ‘Bahram is at/in the hospital.’ (179) nevisænde bud writer was ‘She was a writer.’ 1.2.1.1.1 Copular sentences with nominal complement 1.2.1.1.1.1 Optional/obligatory be-copula. A copula is obligatory in sentences with a nominal complement. 1.2.1.1.1.2 Marking of the predicate noun The predicate noun is not morphologically marked but is indicated by word order SUBJECT+PREDICATE NOUN+COPULA Also, the fact that the clitic attaches to the noun complement in effect indicates which noun is the complement. (180) un mærd ostad-æm-e that man professor-1S.PC-is ‘That man is my professor.’ 1.2.1.1.1.3 Order of constituents The order of constituents in a predicate nominal construction is the same as in other declarative sentences, (S) (O) (PP) V, with the complement where the direct object would be.
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Page 46 1.2.1.1.2 Copular sentences with adjectival complement 1.2.1.1.2.1 Optional/obligatory be-copula A copula is obligatory in sentences with adjectival complement. 1.2.1.1.2.2 Marking the complement adjective The complement adjective is not morphologically marked per se but is indicated by the word order SUBJECT+PREDICATE ADJECTIVE+COPULA. However, since the complement adjective immediately precedes the verb, the copular clitic attaches to the adjective and in effect indicates which word is the predicate adjective. (181) mašin-e pesær-æm abi-e car-EZ son-1S-PC blue-is ‘My son’s car is blue.’ 1.2.1.1.2.3 Order of constituents The order of the constituents in a predicate adjective construction is the same as in other declarative sentences, (S) (O) (PP) V, with the adjective placed where the direct object would be. 1.2.1.1.3 Copular sentences with adverbial complement 1.2.1.1.3.1 Optional/obligatory be-copula A copula is obligatory in sentences with adverbial complement. 1.2.1.1.3.2 Marking the complement adverbial The complement adverbial is not morphologically marked but is indicated by the word order SUBJECT+PREDICATE ADVERBIAL+COPULA.
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Page 47 Also, since the complement adverbial immediately precedes the verb, the copular clitic attaches to the adverbial and in effect indicates which word is the predicate adverbial. 1.2.1.1.3.3 Order of constituents The order of the constituents in a predicate adverbial construction is the same as that of other declarative sentences, (S) (O) (PP) V, with the adverbial occurring in the place where the direct object would be. Note that the adverbial may not be moved to the right of the copula the way it can with other verbs (see Section 1.2.1.3.2 on positional possibilities of adverbials within the sentence). (182) vida hæmiše dir-e Vida always late-is ‘Vida is always late.’ 1.2.1.1.4–5 Copular sentences without overt ‘be’ copula Copular sentences without a ‘be’ copular do not exist in Persian. 1.2.1.1.6.1–3 Different types of copula There is a single type of copula to express the functions of identity, definition and role. For examples of each of these types see Secion 2.1.1.2.9. 1.2.1.1.6.4 Other copulas In the strictest sense, a copula is a semantically empty verb. In this sense there are no other copular verbs in Persian. Under a broader scope of the term, Persian does have other forms for linking subjects to nominal and adjectival complements. The most common ‘resulting’ copulas are šodæn ‘to become’ and compounds formed with šodæn. The most common ‘current’ copula is benæzær umædæn ‘to appear’. (183) pesærxal-æm šæhrdar šod cousin-1S.PC mayor became ‘My cousin became a mayor.’
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Page 48 1.2.1.2 Verbal sentences 1.2.1.2.1 Verbs-without subjects Persian does not allow dummy subjects or semantically subjectless verbs. However, since Persian is a pro-drop language, pronominal subjects are often omitted. A pro-dropped subject is derivable from both agreement marking on the verb and from pragmatic clues in the discourse. (184) ræft-im went-1P ‘We went.’ 1.2.1.2.2 Verbs without direct objects Verbs may be transitive, intransitive or in some cases, be used either transitively or intransitively. Intransitive verbs lack direct objects. Some common intransitive verbs include amædæn ‘to come’, ræftæn ‘to go’, and statives such as nešestæn ‘to sit’, xabidæn ‘to sleep’, istadæn ‘to stand’. Verbs which may be used transitively or intransitively include xordæn ‘to eat’, šenidæn ‘to hear’. (185) barun mi-ya-d rain DUR-come-3S ‘It’s raining.’ (186) ta zohr xabid till noon slept ‘He slept till noon.’ (187) seda-ye boloænd-i šenid-æm sound-EZ loud-IND heard-1S ‘I heard a loud sound.’ (188) šenid-æm heard-1S ‘I heard.’ It should be noted that a semantic object cannot be dropped completely. It must either be stated as a complete noun phrase, a pronoun or a pronominal clitic marking the object on the verb (see
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Page 49 Section 2.1.1.2.4 for a discussion of direct objects). 1.2.1.2.3 Verbs with indirect objects Some verbs are ditransitive and obligatorily take indirect objects. Such verbs include dadæn ‘to give’. Other verbs can be used either transitively or ditransitively, such as ferestadæn ‘to send’. In this class of verbs the indirect object is optional. Indirect objects are generally introduced with the preposition be ‘to’. Also, as with the direct object, the semantic indirect object cannot be completely dropped but must appear as a phrase, a pronoun or pronominal clitic. See Section 2.1.1.2.5 for a discussion of indirect objects and Section 2.1.5.3 on a discussion on prepositional pronominal forms. (189) bilit-a-ro dad be mæn ticket-PL-OM gave to me ‘She gave the ticket to me.’ (190) ba-haš ræft be cinema with-3S.PC went to movies ‘She went to the movies with him.’ 1.2.1.2.4 Other types of verb arguments There are a number of other optional arguments that some verbs may take. Those bearing the following semantic relationships with the verb are the most common: Dative arguments: are introduced with the preposition be ‘to’, which is nearly always omitted in spoken Persian (see Section 2.1.1.5.1). (191) færda mi-r-æn (be) hæmedan tomorrow DUR-go-3P (to) Hamedan ‘They’re going to Hamedan tomorrow.’ Locative arguments: are introduced with the prepositions dær ‘in’, or tu ‘in’. (192) dær danešgah kar--mi-kon-e in university work--DUR-do-3S ‘He works at the university.’
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Page 50 Benefactive arguments: are introduced with the preposition bæra-ye ‘for’. (193) bæra-ye doxtær-æm mašin xærid-æm for daughter-1S.PC car bought-1S ‘I bought a car for my daughter.’ Source; is introduced with the preposition æz ‘from’. (194) kæfš-a-t-o æz koja gereft-i shoe-Pl-1S.PC-OM from where get-2S ‘Where did you get your shoes from?’ Instrumental arguments: are commonly introduced with the preposition ba ‘with’. (195) cub-o ba ærre bor-id wood-OM with saw cut ‘She cut the wood with a saw.’ For further discussion and examples of these arguments, see Section 2.1.1.2.8 and 2.1.1.4. 1.2.1.2.5–6 Combination and order of constituents There are no general prohibitions against combining various constituents within the same sentence although some verbs make it difficult to include such combinations as benefactive and dative. Also, sentences with many arguments are less common than sentences with relatively fewer arguments. In an argument-laden sentence, the neutral order of constituents is 1) subject 2) time 3) direct object 4) source 5) locative
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Page 51 6) benefactive or goal 7) instrumental The order of the constituents can be changed for purposes of focus, emphasis and contrast. For a discussion on canonical word order see Section 1.1. Also see Section 1.1.1.2.2 regarding movement for focus, Section 1.11 for clefting, pseudoclefting and emphasis, Section 1.12 for topicalization movement and Section 1.13 for heavy shift. 1.2.1.3 Adverbials 1.2.1.3.1 Types of adverbials There is a small number of words that are used only as adverbs, such as færda ‘tomorrow’. Persian also has derived adverbs, often formed with the suffix -ane, that are used primarily in an adverbial function although they can appear adjectivally. A good example of a derived adverb/adjective is mahane ‘monthly’ (see Section 2.2.4 on derivation of adverbs). Many other words function as both adverbs and adjectives, e.g. arum ‘calm/calmly’. Adverbials also include phrase- and clause-level constructions. 1.2.1.3.1.1 Adverbs Persian has many simple adverb forms, such as those for time (e.g. diruz ‘yesterday’, emruz ‘today’, dišæb ‘last night’, hala ‘now’, ruzane ‘daily’, barha ‘often’, gahi ‘sometimes’, etc.), place ( inja ‘here’, unja ‘there’), manner ( tond ‘fast’, arum ‘calmly’, sæxt ‘severely’, etc.). Some common adverbs are formed by combining the quantifier hær with an expression of time: hær ruz ‘every day’, hær dæfe ‘every time’. (196) færda mi-r-e lændæn tomorrow DUR-go-3S London ‘He’s going to London tomorrow.’ 1.2.1.3.1.2 Prepositional phrases Persian makes productive use of prepositional phrases as adverbials. Among the most common prepositions that are used to
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Page 52 introduce adverbial phrases are dær ‘in’, tu ‘in’, ba ‘with’, be ‘to’, ru ‘on’. (197) dær xune in house ‘in the house’ (198) ba otobus with otobus ‘by bus’ (199) be asani to ease ‘easily’ 1.2.1.3.1.3 Cases of noun phrases Persian does not inflect nouns for case. 1.2.1.3.1.4 Adverbial clauses See Section 1.1.2.4 for full discussion of finite and nonfinite adverbials clauses and examples. 1.2.1.3.2 Position of adverbials In nonemphasized, nonfocused, noncontrastive sentence with a subject (which can be pro-dropped), direct and indirect objects, verbs and simple adverbs occur in various positions. Simple adverbs of time can occur in any position with regard to the other arguments. (In the following examples, x indicates the positions the various simple adverbs can take among the other arguments of a simple declarative sentence. Parentheses around the subject refer to its possible absence in the case of a pro-dropped subject.) In initial and final positions, especially when coupled with phonetic stress, the adverbs of time can indicate contrastive or noncontrastive emphasis. ×(S)×O×IO×V× Simple place adverbs occur in any position except after the verb. In initial position, they are interpreted emphatically.
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×(S)×O×IO×V Simple adverbs of manner may occur immediately preceding the verb or before the subject and object. ×(S)×O IO×V Prepositional phrases indicating time can occur anywhere except before the subject or after the verb. (S)×O×IO×V Prepositional phrases of place must occur immediately preceding the verb. (S) O IO×V Prepositional phrases of manner can occur anywhere except before the subject or after the verb. (S)×O×IO×V The position of adverbial clauses is discussed in section 1.1.2.4. 1.2.1.3.3 Optionality of adverbials Adverbials are optional. 1.2.2 Adjective phrases 1.2.2.1 Operational definition for adjective phrases There is no single morphological or word-order criterion which provides an operational definition for all adjective phrases. Syntactically, adjective phrases are headed by an adjective and may take arguments to their left or right. Adjective phrases modify nouns as attributives, predicates, appositives or complements. However, if morphology and word order are considered together, there are cases when an adjective phrase can be identified: a word containing the superlative suffix and immediately preceding a noun is clearly an adjective phrase.
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Page 54 (200)
bolænd-tærin saxtemun tall-SUPR building ‘the tallest building’ Further, there are a number of derivational morphemes that unambiguously indicate adjectives. See Section 2.2.3 for a discussion and list of adjectival derivational morphemes. Finally, one indicator, though not proof, of adjectiveness is the ezafe construction. It is important to mention that while ezafe constructions are commonly used in constructions other than adjectival ones, most adjectives do appear in constructions that use the ezafe. 1.2.2.2 Adjectivals with arguments 1.2.2.2.1 Subjects of adjectives Adjectives can occur in sentences without overt subjects. The predicate adjective, suffixed with the copular clitic, modifies the prodropped subject. (201) qermez-e red-is ‘It is red.’ (202) xošhal-æm happy-am ‘I am happy.’ 1.2.2.2.2 Adjectives with direct objects Adjectives referring to a quality of the noun they modify cannot take direct-object arguments, xub ‘good’, zærd ‘yellow’, tond ‘fast’, bozorg ‘big’, daq ‘hot’. However, many nonqualitative adjectives can take direct-object arguments via the ezafe construction. The object is optional. (203) ašeq-e šohær-eš in love-EZ husband-3S.PC ‘in love with her husband’
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negæran-e doxtær-æm worried-EZ daughter-1S.PC ‘worried about my daughter’ 1.2.2.2.3 Adjectives and indirect objects Adjectives can take indirect-object arguments. One structure that can be considered an indirect-object argument involves a prepositional phrase which precedes the adjective. (205) nesbæt be digær-an bæxšænde bud relative to other-PL generous was ‘He was generous to others.’ (206) be musiqi-ye jaz ælaqemænd-e to music-EZ jazz fond-is ‘She is fond of jazz.’ 1.2.2.2.4 Other arguments Adjectives can also take oblique arguments. (207) ba bæcce-ha sæbur-e with child-PL patient-is ‘He’s patient with the children.’ (208) narahæt æz xæbær-e bæd upset from news-EZ bad ‘upset about the bad news’ 1.2.2.3 Adverbial modification of adjectives 1.2.2.3.1 Adverbs Adjectives can be modified by intensifying adverbs such as xeyli ‘very’, besyar ‘much, a lot’, ziyad ‘much, too much’, biændaze ‘extremely’. The intensifier immediately precedes the adjective. (209) biændaze gerun extremely expensive ‘extremely expensive’
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film-e xeyli jaleb film-EZ very interesting ‘a very interesting film’ 1.2.2.3.2 Prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases can also modify adjectives. Adverbial prepositional phrases precede the adjective they modify. (211) ta diruz narahæt bud until yesterday upset was ‘She was upset until yesterday.’ 1.2.2.3.3 Cases of noun phrases Persian nouns are not inflected for case. See Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion of the case-like properties of the postposition -ra, which marks definite direct objects. 1.2.2.3.4 Finite and nonfinite adverbial clauses Some finite adverbial clauses can be used to modify adjectives in predicate position. The finite clause precedes the adjective. Nonfinite clauses do not modify adjectives. (212) jæmšid be ændaze-ye mæn xošhal bud Jamshid to degree-EZ I happy was ‘Jamshid was as happy as I.’ 1.2.2.3.5 Relative order of adverbials and adjectives The relative order of adverbials and adjectives is discussed in each of the appropriate sections immediately above. 1.2.2.4 Order of adjectives, arguments and adverbials Intensifying adverbs, prepositional adverbials and finite adverbial clauses all precede adjectives which take direct object arguments: (213) xeyli negæran-e bæradær-æm very worried-EZ brother-1S
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‘very worried about my brother’ (214) ta diruz negæran-e šoql-eš bud until yesterday worried-EZ job-3S.PC was ‘She was worried about her job until yesterday.’ (215) jæmšid be ændaze-ye mæn negæran-e Jamshid to degree-EZ I worried--EZ šoql-æm-e job-1S.PC-is ‘Jamshid is as worried about my job as I am.’ Simple adverbs, prepositional adverbials and finite adverbial clauses precede the indirect object argument of the adjective. This results in a sequence of adverbial, indirect object and adjective. (216) hæmiše nesbæt be digær-an bæxšænde bud always relative to other-PL generous was ‘He was always generous to others.’ (217) ta cænd sal nesbæt be digær-an bædbin bud for several years relative toother-PL pessimist was ‘For several years he didn’t trust other people.’ (218) jæmšid be ændaze-ye mæn nesbæt be Jamshid to degree-EZ I degree to digær-an bædbin-e other-PL pessimistic-is ‘Jamshid doesn’t trust others any more than I do.’ In the case of adjectives which take oblique arguments, simple adverbs can either precede the adjective or precede the entire argument-adjective construction. (219) ba bæcce-ha xeyli sæbur-e with child-PL very patient-is ‘He’s very patient with the children.’ Prepositional adverbials and finite adverbial clauses must precede the oblique object argument. This results in a sequence of adverbial, indirect object and adjective.
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æz ævvæl ba bæcce-ha sæbur bud from beginning with child-PL patient was ‘From the beginning he was patient with children.’ (221) jæmšid be ændaze-ye mæn ba bæcce-ha sæbur-e Jamshid to degree-EZ I with child-PL patient-is ‘Jamshid is as patient with children as I am.’ 1.2.3 Adverbial phrases 1.2.3.1 Operational definition for adverbial phrases As with adjective phrases, there is not a single morphological or word-order criterion which provides an operational definition for all adjective phrases. Syntactically, an adverbial phrases is headed by an adverb. Functionally, adverbial phrases modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Phrases which are nearly always adverbial include those of time, place and manner. See Section 1.2.1.3.1.1 on types of adverbials. 1.2.3.2 Adverbial modification of adverbials 1.2.3.2.1 Adverbs Intensifying adverbs such as xeyli ‘very’, besyar ‘extremely’, ziyadi ‘too much’, and so on are used to modify other adverbials. (222) xeyli tond doid very fast ran ‘She ran very fast.’ 1.2.3.2.2 Prepositional phrases Generally, adverbial prepositional phrases cannot modify other adverbials. 1.2.3.2.3 Cases of noun phrases Persian nouns do not inflect for case. See, however, Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion on the case-like properties of the postposition -ra, which marks definite direct objects.
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Page 59 1.2.3.2.4 Full/reduced adverbial clauses Adverbial clauses cannot be used to modify other adverbials. 1.2.3.3 Relative order of modifying and modified adverbials The modifying adverbial precedes the modified adverbial. See the example in 1.2.3.2.1. 1.2.3.4 Restrictions on modifying adverbials Intensifies are the only modifiers that can modify other adverbials. The adverbials that can be modified are restricted to adverbs of manner and a few adverbs of time, such as zud ‘early’, dir ‘late’. 1.2.4 Prepositional phrases Prepositions are traditionally divided into two kinds: simple prepositions and those that take the ezafe. A simple preposition directly precedes the noun phrase, as in (223) ba ma with us ‘with us’ (224) dær edare in office ‘in the office’ Other than ba ‘with’ and dær ‘in’, the simple prepositions are æz ‘from’, be ‘to’, bi ‘without’, ta ‘up to’, joz except’, bæra-ye ‘for’. In addition, several prepositions are composed of a locative word plus the ezafe: bedun-e ‘without’, pošt-e ‘behind’, birun-e ‘outside’, miyun-e ‘between’, næzdik-e ‘near’, zir-e ‘under’, tu-ye ‘in’, ru-ye ‘on’, jelow-e ‘in front of, pæhluye ‘by’. Note that in the case of tu-ye ‘in’, ru-ye ‘on’, ‘under’, jelow-e ‘in front of and pæhlu-ye ‘by’, the ezafe is optional. Historically, the ezafe prepositions are derived from nouns and adverbs. Also see Section 2.1.5 for further discussion of prepositions with and without ezafe.
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zir-e miz under-EZ table ‘under the table’ (226) tu(-ye) mænzel in(-EZ) house ‘in the house’ 1.2.4.1 Operational definition for prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases are always headed by a preposition. The canonical placing of the prepositional phrase is after the direct object and before the verb: (S) (O) (PP) V. (228) elahe šapur-o tu-ye mæqaze did Elahe Shapur-OM in-EZ shop saw ‘Elahe saw Shapur in the shop.’ Prepositional phrases may often occur in other positions in the sentence. Allative prepositional phrases introduced with be ‘to’ are nearly always moved to the right of the verb. The preposition be is often omitted whether the bephrase is in canonical position or sentence-final position. (229) (be) park ræft-ænd (to) park went-3P ‘They went to the park.’ (230) ræft-ænd (be) park went-3P (to) park ‘They went to the park.’ It is also possible to move dative be-phrases to the right of the verb though this is not done as frequently as allative be-phrases. If a dative be-phrase is moved, the be can be omitted. (231) pakæt-o be mæn dad envelope-OM to me gave ‘She gave the envelope to me.’ (232) pakæt-o dad (be) mæn envelope-OM gave (to) me ‘She gave me the envelope.’
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Page 61 Benefactive prepositional phrases introduced with bæra-ye ‘for’ and locative phrases introduced with tu-ye ‘in’, ru-ye ‘on’, dær ‘in’, etc. are also often moved to the end of the sentence. (233) gol-a-ro xærid bæra-ye zæn-eš flower-PL-OM bought for wife-3S.PC ‘He bought the flowers for his wife.’ (234) sæfæ-ro gozošt ru-ye miz record-OM put on-EZ table ‘She put the record on the table.’ 1.2.4.2 Prepositional phrases and their arguments 1.2.4.2.1 Prepositions without arguments A number of prepositions can occur without arguments in an adverbial function. The most common prepositions that can stand without nouns phrases are birun ‘out’, tu ‘in’, bala ‘up’, pain ‘down’, daxel ‘inside’. These prepositions never occur with the ezafe when used without arguments. (235) ræft bala went up ‘He went up.’ 1.2.4.2.2 Prepositions with more than one argument Prepositions cannot occur with more than one argument. 1.2.4.2.3 Prepositions with arguments other than noun phrases Strictly speaking, prepositions can only takeNPs as arguments. There are, however, some compound prepositions such as dær pošt-e, literally ‘in back of and æz ru-ye, literally ‘from top of’. 1.2.4.2.4 Stranded prepositions Prepositions cannot be stranded and must be moved with the noun phrase they govern.
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Page 62 1.2.4.3 Modifiers of prepositions 1.2.4.3.1 Adverbs Some intensifies such as kamelæn ‘completely’ and ziyadi ‘too much’ and some adverbs of manner can be used to modify prepositions, though such constructions seem rare. (236) kamelæn be dæst-æm furu ræft completely to hand-1S.PC through went ‘It went completely through my hand.’ 1.2.4.3.2 Prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases cannot modify other prepositional phrases. 1.2.4.3.3 Cases on noun phrases Noun phrases do not inflect for case in Persian. 1.2.4.3.4 Adverbial clauses Adverbial clauses cannot modify prepositional phrases. 1.2.4.4–5 Prepositions governing more than one case Persian prepositions do not govern case. 1.2.5 Noun phrases 1.2.5.1 Operational definition of noun phrases An NP is the element which serves in the various nominal functions in the sentence: subject, direct object, indirect object and other oblique arguments. A noun phrase can be a simple noun or pronoun, compound noun, noun and modifiers or a nominal clause. Only noun phrases take morphological material such as the definite direct object marker -ra, the indefinite marker -i, plural markers such as -ha. See Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 regarding -ra, Section 2.1.1.11.5–6 on the indefinite marker -i, and Section 2.1.1.8.1 on plural marking.
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Page 63 1.2.5.2 Modifiers in a noun phrase 1.2.5.2.1 Adjectives in a noun phrase Adjective can modify noun phrases. Superlative adjectives precede the noun but nearly all other adjectives follow the noun with an interceding ezafe. See Section 1.2.5.2.10 for a complete discussion of the ezafe construction. (237) bozorg-tærin ælmas big-SUPR diamond ‘the biggest diamond’ (238) ye ælmas-e bozorg one diamond-EZ big ‘a big diamond’ There are a few exceptions to the noun-adjective word order. The first group involves the word pir ‘old’ when it is used with the nouns zæn ‘woman’ and mærd ‘man’ as part of a [+specific] definite or indefinite noun phrase. In these cases the adjective pir precedes the noun in an ezafe construction. (239) pir-e mærd old-EZ man ‘the old man’ (240) pir-e zæn-i old-EZ zæn-IND ‘a (specific) old woman’ The adjective pir may also follow the noun, but in this case the reading may be either specific or nonspecific when the noun phrase is indefinite. (241) zæn-e pir-i woman-EZ old-IND ‘an old woman/a specific old woman’ The second group of exceptions to noun-adjective word order includes the words xub ‘good’, bæd ‘bad’ and bicare and heyvunæki, both meaning ‘unfortunate’. These adjectives may precede the noun
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Page 64 without an interceding ezafe. (242) heyvunæki ferešte unfortunate Fereshte ‘poor Fereshte’ (243) xub ja-i-e good place-IND-is ‘It’s a nice place.’ Note that all of the adjectives in the second group can also follow nouns via the ezafe construction without any discernible change in meaning of the adjective. 1.2.5.2.2 Relative clauses Noun phrases can be modified by relative clauses. A relative clause, introduced by the complementizer ke ‘that’, follows the noun it modifies. See Section 2.1.2.7.1.1.1 for further examples and discussion of restrictive relative clauses. (244) kolah-ye qermez-i ke tu-ye mæqaze did-æm hat-EZ red-DEM that in-EZ store saw-1S ‘the red hat that I saw in the store’ 1.2.5.2.3 Possessive “adjectives” in a noun phrase Possessive adjectives, either in the form of a noun, a personal pronoun or a reflexive, modify nouns through the ezafe construction. The possessive adjective follows the noun it modifies. (245) hæmsaye-ye bæradær-æm neighbor-EZ brother-1S.PC ‘my brother’s neighbor’ (246) howle-ye mæn towel-EZ I ‘my towel’ (247) mašin-e xod-æm car-EZ self-1S.PC ‘my (own) car’
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Page 65 1.2.5.2.4 Articles There is no definite article in Persian. The indefinite article, which precedes the noun phrase, is the same as the word for the number ‘one’, ye(k). There is also the discontinuous construction ye(k)…-i to indicate indefinite noun phrases. In this construction, ye(k), which is optional, precedes the noun phrase and -i attaches to the end of the noun phrase. For further discussion of the indefinite marker see Section 2.1.1.11.5–6. (248) ye livan-e por a glass-EZ full ‘a full glass’ (249) (ye) ketab-e jaleb-i (a) book-EZ interesting-IND ‘an interesting book’ 1.2.5.2.5 Demonstrative ‘adjectives’ The demonstrative adjectives in ‘this’ and un ‘that’ precede the noun phrase. There is no plural form of the demonstrative adjectives. For plural nouns, the singular demonstratives are used with the plural form of the noun. (250) in æslæhe this weapon ‘this weapon’ (251) un færš-a that carpet-PL ‘those carpets’ 1.2.5.2.6 Quantifiers and numerals Quantifiers and numerals precede the NPs they modify. (252) divist sæfe two hundred pages ‘two hundred pages’ 1.2.5.2.7 Adverbials
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Page 66 Adverbials do not typically modify nominal constituents. However, a few adverbials such as fæqæt ‘only’ and tæqribæn ‘nearly, approximately’ can be used to modify a noun. (253) fæqæt færzad fæmid only Farzad understood ‘Only Farzad understood.’ 1.2.5.2.8 Emphatic words See 1.2.5.2.7 above. 1.2.5.2.9 Comparative/superlative/equative structures Superlatives precede the noun phrase and comparative and equative constructions follow the noun phrase. See Section 2.1.4.4.2 on the comparative construction, 2.1.4.4.3 on the superlative construction and 2.1.1.2.7 and 2.1.4.4.1 on the equative construction. 1.2.5.2.10 Modification and the ezafe construction The ezafe construction is an extremely productive means for modifying nouns as well as linking other nonverbal heads and their complements. One of the most comprehensive discussions of the ezafe construction is found in Samiian 1983:17–67. The following summarizes the main points and provides an overview of this important construction in modern Persian. The ezafe links a head noun to an adjective (phrase), noun (phrase), adverb (phrase), prepositional phrase or infinitive. The ezafe can also link adjective, quantifier and prepositional heads to their complements. (See Sections 1.2.4 and 2.1.5 for a discussion of prepositional phrases and prepositions which use the ezafe. Also, for two different syntactic analyses of the ezafe construction within X-bar theory, see Mahootian 1993:74–79, and Samiian 1983:60– 65.) The ezafe (the word literally means ‘addition’) is an unstressed [e] ([ye] after a vowel) placed between the head of a phrase and the modifying elements which follow it. The sequence is MODIFIED+EZAFE+MODIFIER In example (254) the modifier is an adjective, in (255) the modifier is a noun and in example (256) the modifier is a PP.
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Page 67 (254)
kolah-ye bænæfš hat-EZ purple ‘a purple hat’ (255) ængoštær-e ælmas ring-EZ diamond ‘a diamond ring’ (256) miz-e tu-ye ašpæzxune table-EZ in-EZ kitchen ‘the table in the kitchen’ Ezafe complements can be embedded, with each additional complement attaching to the previous one via an ezafe. When more than one modifier is used in a noun phrase, they follow the left-to-right sequence shown below: HEAD NOUN+ATTRIBUTIVE NOUN+ADJECTIVE+PP+GENITIVE In example (257), the head noun miz takes, from left to right, the noun modifier bælut, the adjective gerd, the prepositional phrase tu-ye ašpæzxune and the genitive madæræm. (257) miz-e bælut-e gerd-e tu-ye ašpæzxune-ye madær-æm table-EZ oak-EZ round-EZ in-EZ kitchen-EZ mother-1S.PC ‘my mother’s round oak kitchen table’ The definite, indefinite and pronominal clitic suffixes are added to the end of the entire noun phrase. In example (258), the noun phrase (underlined) is the object of a verb and therefore takes the definite direct object marker -ra (-o). In example (259) the indefinite marker -i is added to the end of the noun phrase. (258) angostær-e zomorrod-ye gerun-e pedar-æm-o ring-EZ emerald-EZexpensive-EZ father-1S.PC-OM dær espanya xærid-æm in Spain bought-1S ‘I bought my father’s expensive emerald ring in Spain.’ (259) angostær-e zomorrod-e gerun-i ring-EZ emerald-EZ expensive-IND ‘an expensive emerald ring’
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Page 68 Ezafe in the Noun Phrase In the noun phrase the modifying element may serve in a variety of relationships with the head noun: genitive, attributive and appositive. The ezafe is also used to link the preceding given name to the family name. a) Genitive ezafe The ezafe can link the modifier to the modified in a possessive relationship. Both modified and modifier are nouns. (260) kæfš-e firuz shoe-EZ Firuz ‘Firuz’s shoe’ (261) omid-e mæn hope-EZ I ‘my hope b) Attributive ezafe Many adjectival relationships can be indicated by linking a noun, adjective, prepositional phrase or infinitive to the noun being modified. (262) ketab-e tarix book-EZ history ‘a history book’ (263) ketab-e jaleb book-EZ interesting ‘an interesting book’ (264) ketab-e zir-e sændæli book-EZ under-EZ chair ‘The book under the table’ (265) væqt-e ræftæn time-EZ to go ‘time to go’ c) Appositive ezafe
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Page 69 For geographic locations, the relationship can be one of apposition as in the following examples: (266) kuh-e ælborz mountain-EZ Alborz ‘the Alborz Mountains’ (267) xælij-e fars gulf-EZ Persia ‘the Persian Gulf d) Family-name ezafe The ezafe is also used to join the preceding given name with the following family name. This construction is commonly used in referring to someone or introducing oneself. (268) pærvin-e mæs’udi Parvin-EZ Masudi ‘Parvin Masudi’ Ezafe in the Adjective Phrase (269) negæran-e bæradær-æm worried-EZ brother-1S.PC ‘worried about my brother’ (270) bolænd-tærin-e doxtær-a tall-SUPR-EZ girl-PL ‘the tallest of the girls’ (271) amade-ye hærci ready-EZ anything ‘ready for anything’ Ezafe in the Quantifier Phrase Partitives are constructed by preceding the noun with the quantifier and joining them with the ezafe. (272) tæmam-e bæcce-ha all-EZ child-PL ‘all of the children’
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Page 70 (273)
hickodum-e bæcce-ha none-EZ child-PL ‘none of the children’ Ezafe in the Prepositional Phrase Only some prepositions require an ezafe to precede their NP complement. For an discussion of which prepositions require an ezafe see Section 2.1.5. (274) pošt-e deræxt behind-EZ tree ‘behind the tree’ (275) kenar-e rudxune beside-EZ river ‘beside the river’ 1.2.5.3 Cooccurrence of more than one of the same type of modifier A nominal constituent may be modified by more than one of the same type of modifier. More than one adjective, relative clause or quantifier can modify the same noun. Adjectives Of the six possible permutations of adjectives of color, size and age taken two at a time, there are only two with a preferred unmarked, nonemphasized noncontrastive order: size precedes color and age precedes size. (276) ye badkonæk-e bozorg-e qermez a balloon-e big-EZ red ‘a big red balloon’ (277) xune-ye qædimi-ye bozorg house-EZ old-EZ big ‘a big old house’ Other combinations of color, size and age with other kinds of adjectives taken two at a time don’t have a clearly preferred
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Page 71 unmarked order. (278)
ceraq-e qædimi-ye abi lamp-EZ old-EZ blue ‘an old blue lamp’ (279) ceraq-e abi-ye qædimi lamp-EZ blue-EZ old ‘an old blue lamp’ When two adjectives modify the noun, they can be linked together via the ezafe or the connective particle -o ‘and’. (280) ye badkonæk-e bozorg-o qermez a balloon-e big-and red ‘a big, red balloon’ (281) ye badkonæk-e bozorg-e qermez a balloon-e big-EZ red ‘a big red balloon’ When three or more adjective modify the noun, the ezafe construction is preferred. Relative clauses One or more relative clauses may be used to modify a noun. The noun is obligatorily suffixed with the demonstrative -i and each relative clause is introduced with the relative pronoun ke ‘that’. (282) bošqab-i ke madær-æm dust--dar-e ke plate-DEM that mother-1S.PC friend--have-3S that to šikæst-i you broke-1S ‘The plate that my mother likes that you broke’ Possessive adjectives Any number of possessive adjectives may follow a noun, each linked to the previous element via an ezafe. (283) doxtær-e xoškel-e hæmsaye-ye bæradær-e daughter-EZ pretty-EZ neighbor-EZ brother-EZ
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Page 72 dust-e ali friend-EZ Ali ‘Ali’s friend’s brother’s neighbor’s pretty daughter’ Quantifiers Quantifying adjectives and numerals may cooccur when they are used to modify a noun. In such cases the adjective precedes the numeral. (284) hær se-ta doxtær danešju-ænd every three-CL girl student-are ‘All three girls are students.’ 1.2.5.4 Nonadmissable combinations of types of modifiers Only three combinations of modifiers are not admitted. The indefinite article ye/yek and ye/yek…i (no definite article exists in Persian) cannot occur with possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives or quantifiers. 1.2.5.5 Order of the head and various modifiers See Sections 1.2.5.2. through 1.2.5.4. 1.3 COORDINATION 1.3.1.1 Sentence coordination Sentence coordination is expressed with a number of forms. The most common are the coordinating conjunction væ ‘and’, the connective clitic -o ‘and’, the adversative conjunctions væli and æmma, both meaning ‘but’ and the disjunctive conjunction ya ‘or’. 1.3.1.1.1 “and” coordination The coordinating conjunction væ ‘and’ and the connective clitic -o ‘and’ can connect any number of sentences. Conjoined sentences may be in a coordinating, causal or temporal relationship. The clitic -o is more common than the conjunction in informal speech.
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Page 73 Coordination (285) mæn bala-ro tæmiz--mi-kon-æm væ/-o širin I upstairs-OM clean--DUR-do-1S and Shirin pain-o moraetæb--mi-kon-e downstairs-OM neat--DUR-do-3S I’ll clean upstairs and Shirin will straighten up downstairs.’ (286) mæn bala-ro tæmiz--mi-kon-æm væ/-o I upstairs-OM clean--DUR-do-1S and širin payin-o morætæb--mi-kon-e væ/-o Shirin downstairs-OM neat--DUR-do-3S and fereydun hæyat-o mi-šur-e Feradun courtyard-OM DUR-wash-3S ‘I’ll clean the upstairs and Shirin will straighten up the downstairs and Feradun will wash the courtyard.’ When more than two sentences are being conjoined, the conjunction is usually unmentioned except for connecting the penultimate and the last sentences in the series. Often a brief pause signals the last sentence in the series and the væ conjunction is used instead of the clitic -o . (287) mæn bala-ro tæmiz--mi-kon-æm, širin I upstairs-OM clean--DUR-do-1S, Shirin payin-o morætæb--mi-kon-e væ fereydun downstairs-OM neat--DUR-do-3S and Feradun hæyat-o mišur-e courtyard-OM DUR-wash-3S ‘I’ll clean the upstairs, Shirin will straighten up the downstairs and Feradun will wash the courtyard.’ Cause and effect (288) ziadi mæšrub xord-o hal-eš too much alcohol ate-and condition-3S.PC bæd šod bad became ‘He drank too much and got sick.’ (289) ræft-æm šena væ særma xord-æm went-1S swimming and cold ate-1S ‘I went swimming and caught a cold.’
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Page 74 Temporal/sequential Both væ and -o convey events that take place sequentially. (290) dær-o baz--kærd-o hæme-ro dævæt--kærd tu door-OM open--did-and everyone-OM invite--did in ‘He opened the door and invited everyone in.’ (291) vær-eš--dašt-o xord-eš take-3S.PC--had-and ate-3S.PC ‘She picked it up and ate it.’ Both væ and -o can also be used to join two sentences where the second sentence modifies the information in the first. (292) do-ta sændæli tu otaq bud væ/-o ru-ye two-CL chair in room was and on-EZ hær kodum ye baleš-e turi bud each one a cushion-EZ lacy was ‘There were two chairs in the room and on each one was a lacy cushion.’ When the verbs are identical, gapping can occur in the coordinated sentences. The second sentence lacks the verb. (293) æli sib xord væ/-o mærzi hulu. Ali apple ate and Marzy peach ‘Ali ate apples and Marzy peaches.’ When the allative preposition be ‘to’ is present, it cannot be omitted as it typically is in simple sentences. Compare the simple sentence in (294) to the compound sentence in (295). (294) soheyla ræft (be) bazar Sohala went (to) bazzar ‘Sohala went to the bazzar.’ (295) sohala ræft be bazar-o sima be sinema Sohala went to bazzar-and Sima to movies ‘Sohala went to the bazzar and Sima to the movies.’ More than two sentence may be conjoined as full or gapped sentences. The conjunction væ is commonly used rather than the clitic
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Page 75 -o and occurs before the final sentence. (296) soheyla ræft be bazar, sima ræft be sinema Sohala went to bazzar Sima went to movies væ reza ræft be mædrese and Reza went to school ‘Sohala went to the bazzar, Sima went to the movies and Reza went to school.’ (297) soheyla ræft be bazar, sima be sinema Sohala went to bazzar Sima to movies væ reza be mædrese and Reza to school ‘Sohala went to the bazzar, Sima to the movies and Reza to school.’ 1.3.1.1.2 “but” coordination The most common conjunctions in this category, væli ‘but’ and æmma ‘but’, are used to express comparative or adversative relations. Other, more formal or literary conjunctions, infrequently used in spoken Persian, are bælke ‘but’ and liken ‘but, however’. (298) mæn ræft-æm mehmuni væli doxi I went-1S party but Dokhy mund xune stayed home ‘I went to a party but Dokhy stayed home.’ (299) pærviz mi-xast bavida ezdevaj--kon-e æmma Parviz DUR-wanted with Vida marriage--do-3S but madær-eš moxalef bud mother-3S.PC against was ‘Parviz wanted to marry Vida but his mother was against it.’ 1.3.1.1.3 “or” coordination The conjunction ya ‘or’ is the most common way to express disjunction between two sentences. Repeated, as in ya… ya…, it is used to mean ‘either..or…’. It is also common to use the compound conjunction ya inke ‘or’ in place of the second ya: ya…inke. Typically, when the verbs of both sentences are the same, the
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Page 76 verb of the second sentence in a ya compound sentence is gapped. Compare example (300) to (301). (300) qæve mi-xa-i ya cai (mi-xa-i) coffee DUR-want-2S or tea (DUR-want-2S) ‘Do you want coffee or (do you want) tea?’ (301) mi-tun-im inja be-mun-im ya mi-tun-im DUR-able-1P here SBJN-stay-1P or DUR-be able-1P be-r-im sinema SBJN-go-1P movies ‘We can stay here or we can go to the movies.’ (302) ya mi-r-æm esfahan ya (inke) (mi-r-æm) širaz or DUR-go-1S Isfahan or (DUR-go-1S) Shiraz ‘I’ll either go to Isfahan or (I’ll go to) Shiraz.’ When more than two elements are being coordinated, one coordinator is needed for each extra element: (303) ya mi-r-æm esfahan ya (inke) (mi-r-æm) širaz or DUR-go-1S Isfahan or (DUR-go-1S) Shiraz ya (mi-r-æm) tehran ya mi-mun-æm inja or (DUR-go-1S) Tehran or DUR-stay-1S here ‘I’ll either go to Isfahan or (I’ll go to) Shiraz or (I’ll go to) Tehran or I’ll stay here.’ 1.3.1.1.4 Other types of coordination There are a number of other conjunctions which are used for coordination in Persian. The most common are næ… næ ‘neither…nor’ and næ tænha…bælke…(h) æm ‘not only…but…also’. The næ…næ ‘neither…nor’ conjunction is used to negate both sentences being conjoined. Note the verb in both sentences is in the affirmative. (304) næ mæn cizi ovord-æm næ to no I anything brought-1S no you cizi dar-i anything have-2S ‘I didn’t bring anything and you don’t have anything.’ When the VPs of both sentences are the same, gapping is
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Page 77 possible. Compare examples (305) and (306). In (306) the verb and direct object are missing. (305) næ mæn pul dar-æm næ to pul dar-i no I money have-1S no you money have-2S I don’t have any money and you don’t have any money either.’ (306) næ mæn pul dar-æm næ to no I money have-1S no you I don’t have any money and neither do you.’ When there are more than two elements to coordinate with næ…næ coordination, each element is introduced with a næ . After the first sentence, verbs of subsequent conjoined sentences may be omitted if they are all the same. (307) næ mæn pul dar-æm næ to no I money have-1S no you næ mæhin næ hæsæn no Mahin no Hasan I don’t have any money and neither do you, nor Mahin, nor Hasan.’ The conjunction næ tænha…bælke…(h)æm ‘not only…but also’ is used to extend a notion by providing supplementary information via the conjoined sentence: (308) næ tænha biædæb-e bælke porru æm hæšt not alone rude-is but belligerent also is ‘Not only is he rude but he is also belligerent.’ Or it can be used correlatively. (309) næ tænha mehræbun-e bælke puldar-æm hæšt not alone kind-is but wealthy-also is ‘Not only is she kind but she is also wealthy.’ 1.3.1.2 Number of coordinators and elements coordinated See Sections 1.3.1.1.1 and 1.3.1.1.4, for discussion and examples of the relationship of the number of ‘and’ coordinators to the number of elements being coordinated, and the number of
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Page 78 ‘neither…nor’ (næ…næ) coordinators and coordination. 1.3.1.3 Coordinating the major categories of the sentence All major categories of the sentence can be coordinated. In the event that more than two elements are combined, the coordinator may be optionally omitted from between all but the last two elements in the series. NP subjects or objects The conjunctions væ ‘and’ and hæm…hæm… ‘both…and…’ and the connective -o ‘and’ may be used with any combination of full or pronominal subject noun phrases or object noun phrases. Of the two ‘and’ coordinators, the clitic -o is preferred in most instances of informal speech. Note that when the first person pronoun is used, it occurs as the first element in the conjunction, preceding the coordinator (example (310)). (310) mæn-o madær-æm hæmqæd-im I-and mother-1S.PC same height-are ‘My mother and I are the same height.’ (311) mina-o behruz ne-mi-a-n emšæb Mina-and Behruz NEG-DUR-come-3P tonight ‘Mina and Behruz won’t come tonight.’ (312) pærvin mi-xa-d sirus-o šæhin-o Parvin DUR-want-3S Cyrus-and Shahin-OM be-bin-e SBJN-see- 3S ‘Parvin wants to see Cyrus and Shahin.’ (313) hæm mæn hæm ræj opera dust--dar-im also I also Iraj opera friend--have-1P ‘Both Iraj and I like opera.’ Coordinating more than two NP subjects or objects The conjunction væ or the particle -o is optional before each conjoined element except for the last element, which must be preceded by væ or -o .
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Page 79 (314) mina-o siamæk-o dana-o jæhan ræft-ænd Mina-and Siamak-and Dana-and Jahan went-3P kuh--næværdi mountain climbing ‘Mina and Siamak and Dana and Jahan went mountain climbing.’ (315) mina, siamæk, dana væ/-o jæhan ræft-ænd Mina, Siamak, Dana and Jahan went-3P kuh-næværdi mountain climbing ‘Mina, Siamak, Dana and Jahan went mountain climbing.’ (316) æli bæsse-ha, qotii-ha væ ketab-a-ro Ali package-PL box-PL and book-PL-OM dad be mæn gave to me ‘Ali gave the packages, boxes and books to me.’ Coordinating VPs The conjunction væ ‘and’ and the connective clitic -o ‘and’ are used to coordinate two or more verb phrases to express sequential events involving the same subject. In informal speech the connective clitic is preferred to the conjunction væ . (317) doxtær-e vared--šod-o nešæst girl-DEF enter--became-and sat ‘The girl entered and sat down.’ (318) hoseyn dær-o baz--kærd-o ræft birun Hosain door-OM open--did-and went out ‘Hosain opened the door and went out.’ (319) doxtær-e vared--šod nešæst væ girl-DEF enter--became sat and kæfš-a-š-o dær--ovord shoe-PL-3S.PC-OM out--brought ‘The girl entered, sat down and took off her shoes.’ The coordinators væli and æmma ‘but’ are used to express a contrast between two verb phrases with the same subject.
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Page 80 (320)
hoseyn dær-o baz--kærd væli næ-ræft birun Hosain door-OM open--did but NEG-went out ‘Hosain opened the door but didn’t go out.’ Coordinating adjectives and adverbs Attributive and predicate adjectives as well as adverbs can be coordinated via the use of the connective clitic -o ‘and’ and the conjunction væ ‘and’. The conjunction væli ‘but’ is also used with adjectives. (321) doxtær-e qædbolænd-o/væ barik-i bud girl-EZ tall-and slender-IND was ‘She was a tall and slender girl.’ (322) yævaš-o/væ molayem sohbæt--kærd slow-and calm conversation--did ‘She spoke slowly and calmly.’ The coordinator væli ‘but’ is used to express conflicting or contradictory qualities. (323) doxtær-e ziba vali bædæxlaq-i girl-EZ beautiful but ill-tempered-IND ‘a beautiful but ill-tempered girl.’ (324) servætmænd væli kenes-e rich but stingy-is ‘He is rich but stingy.’ Predicate adjectives and adverbs can also be coordinated using næ…næ… ‘neither…nor’, hæm…hæm… ‘both…and’, and ya…ya… ‘either…or’: (325) næ bolænd næ kutah-e no tall no short-is ‘He’s neither tall nor short.’ (326) hæm bolænd hæm barik-e also tall also slender-is ‘She’s both tall and slender.’
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næ tond næ ba-deqæt kar--mi-kon-e no fast no with-precision work-DUR-do-3S ‘He works neither fast or carefully.’ (328) hæm tond hæm ba-deqæt kar--mi-kon-e also fast also with-precision work--DUR-do-3S ‘He works both fast and carefully.’ 1.3.1.4 Coordination and accompaniment Coordination is expressed in the ways described in Sections 1.3.1.1 and 1.3.1.2. Accompaniment is typically conveyed by means of the preposition ba ‘with’, which occurs between the two NPs. Note that the verb agrees in number and person with the noun phrase which precedes ba. (329) mæn ba færzad šam xord-æm I with Farzad dinner ate-1S ‘I ate dinner with Farzad.’ 1.3.1.5 Structural parallelism and coordination Structural parallelism is necessary to the extent that different word classes cannot be coordinated. Within word classes some restrictions apply. See the following sections for discussion and examples. 1.3.1.5.1 Adjectives and participial constructions Adjectives and participial constructions can be coordinated freely. (330) qiyafe-ye xošhal-o xændan feature-EZ happy-and laugh-PSPT ‘(a) happy and smiling look’ 1.3.1.5.2 Nouns and nominalized constructions Nouns and nominalized constructions can be coordinated freely in the same manner that two or more nouns or other nominalized constructions are coordinated.
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Page 82 (331)
bæhmæn-o dærsxun-i behæm ne-mi-xor-ænd Bahman-and studious-NOM together NEG-DUR-eat-3S ‘Bahman and studying don’t go together.’ (332) musiqi-o avaz--xundæn dust--dar-e music-and song--to read friend--have-3S ‘He likes music and singing.’ (333) næ musiqi næ avaz--xundæn dust--dar-e no music no song--to read friend--have-3S ‘He doesn’t likes music or singing.’ (334) musiqi ræxs væ/-o avaz--xundæn dust--dar-e music dance and song--to read friend--have-3S ‘He likes music, dance and singing.’ 1.3.1.5.3 Different types of adverbials Primarily due to pragmatic constraints, different types of adverbials such as adverbs of manner, time and degree cannot be coordinated with one another. However, adverbs of manner and participial adverb constructions can be coordinated freely by using the clitic -o or the conjunction væ . (335) ærum-o læbxænd--zæn-an umæd tu calm-and smile-strike-PRPT came in ‘He came in calmly and smilingly.’ 1.3.1.5.4 Active and passive verbs Active and passive verbs can be coordinated. (336) mašin-o dozdid væ towqif--šod car-OM stole and arrest--became ‘He stole the car and was arrested.’ 1.3.1.5.5. Other verb categories (337) dær--zæd umæd tu væ šuru--kærd be hærf--zædæn door--struck came in and begin--did to word--to strike ‘He knocked, came in and started to talk.’
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Page 83 1.3.2.1–2 Omission of elements of sentence under identity in coordination a) Omission of the subject In sentences coordinated with ‘and’ ( væ or -o ), the subject of the second conjunct is obligatorily omitted when it is identical to the subject of the first conjunct. (338) maryæm ašpæzi--mi-kærd-o be radio guš--mi-dad Maryam cook--DUR-did-and to radio ear--DUR-gave ‘Maryam was cooking and listening to the radio.’ Subjects, along with the VP (see VP deletion following), may undergo deletion under identity in compound sentences coordinated with ‘neither…nor (næ…næ): (339) daryuš næ musiqi dust--dare næ film Daryush no music friend--have-3S no film ‘Daryush likes neither music nor film.’ The subject of the second conjunct in væli and æmma ‘but’ coordinations is obligatorily deleted since it is identical to the subject of the first conjunct. (340) jæfær dær-o baz--kærd væli næ-ræft tu Jafar door-OM open--did but NEG-went in ‘Jafar opened the door but didn’t go in.’ b) Omission of the verb Sentences coordinated with væ ‘and’, -o ‘and’, or næ…næ ‘neither…nor’ which share the same verb can be gapped: the verb is omitted in the sentence which follows the conjunction. (341) puran ketab mixund-o reza ruzname Puran book DUR-read-and Reza newspaper Puran was reading a book and Reza a newspaper. (342) næ film næ ta’atr dust--dar-e no film no theater friend--have-3S ‘He doesn’t like film or theater.’
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Page 84 As mentioned in Section 1.3.1.1.1, in gapping constructions the locative preposition be ‘to’ cannot be omitted as it typically is in simple, noncompound sentences. Compare the simple sentence in (343) to the compound sentence in (344). (343) soheyla ræft (be) bazar Sohala went (to) bazzar ‘Sohala went to the bazzar.’ (344) soheyla ræft be bazar-o sima be sinema Sohala went to bazzar-and Sima to movies ‘Sohala went to the bazzar and Sima to the movies.’ More than two sentence may be coordinated and gapped. (345) širin mahi dorost--kærd æqdæs hælva Shirin fish fix--did Aqdas halva væ reza kæbab and Reza kebab ‘Shirin made fish, Aqdas halva and Reza kebab.’ c) Omission of the verb phrase Sentences coordinated with næ…næ ‘neither…nor’ may also be gapped when the VPs of both sentences are the same. The VP refers to direct, indirect and oblique objects, adverbs and the verb. In example (347) the object and verb of the second conjunct (bæcce dar-i) have been deleted under identity with the object and verb of the first conjunct. Note that VP-deletion occurs despite the fact that the deleted verb differs from the retained verb in person and number. In example (348) the adverb and verb of the second conjunct have been omitted, and in example (349) the direct object, the dative and the verb have been omitted from the second conjunct. (346) næ mæn bæcce dar-æm næ to bæcce dar-i no I child have-1S no you child have-2S I don’t have children and you don’t have children either.’ (347) næ mæn bæcce dar-æm næ to no I child have-1S no you I don’t have children and neither do you.’
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Page 85 (348)
næ šeyda tond rah--mi-r-e næ mæs’ud no Shada fast way--DUR-go-3S no Masud ‘Neither Shada nor Masud walks fast.’ (349) næ mina hedye bæra-ye davud ovord næ mæn no Mina gift for Davud brought no me ‘Neither Mina nor I brought gifts for Davud.’ d) Omission of the adverb phrase The adverb phrase of the second and subsequent conjuncts can be deleted when identical to the adverb phrase of the first conjunct. This type of construction is restricted to adverbs of time. (350) mæn emruz kar--kærd-æm merdad dærs--xund væ I today work--did-1S Merdad lesson--read and færhad ræft šena Farhad went swimming ‘Today I worked, Merdad studied and Farhad went swimming.’ 1.3.3.3 Omission of elements in major constituents When major constituents are coordinated with the conjunction væ ‘and’ or -o “and’, under identity certain elements may be omitted from the coordinated constructions. Other coordinators such as næ…næ neither…nor or ya…ya either…or do not permit such omissions. a) Noun phrases When two noun phrases are coordinated, the indefinite determiner yek ‘one, a’ may be optionally omitted from the second noun phrase. Compare examples (a) and (b). (351) ye pesær væ/-o ye doxtær a boy and a girl ‘a boy and a girl’ (352) ye pesær væ/-o doxtær a boy and girl ‘a boy and (a) girl’
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Page 86 When the indefinite/specific suffix -i is used, it may also be omitted from all but the last noun phrase: (353) pesær væ doxtær-i boy and girl-IND ‘(a) boy and a girl’ While more than two noun phrases can be coordinated, typically not more than two are coordinated when one of the above types of omissions is applied. Another element generally omitted under identity in coordinated noun phrases is the adjective. Any number of noun phrases sharing the same modifier may be coordinated, with the adjective occurring after the final noun via the ezafe construction. In the following example, all but the last coordinator ( væ or -o ) is optional. Note, however, that when nouns are conjoined, the scope of the attributive adjective is ambiguous. In example (354), piræn ‘dress’ must be red, but the other nouns may or may not be red in an implicational relationship from left to right. That is, if kæfš ‘shoe’ is interpreted as being red, then kolah ‘hat’ must also be interpreted as red; redness of kif ‘purse’ entails redness of both kæfs and kolah. (354) kif-o/væ kæfš-o/væ kolah-o/væ piræn-EZ qermez purse-and shoe-and hat-and dress-EZ red ‘the red purse, shoes, hat and dress’ Other modifiers such as quantifiers and superlatives may also be omitted under identity. Note that the resulting phrases are semantically ambiguous with respect to the scope of the modifier. (355) pænj-ta miz-o sændæli five-CL table-and chair ‘five tables and chairs’ Finally, when two or more noun phrases are coordinated via væ/-o ‘and’, the definite object marker -ra/-ro/-o is omitted from all but the last NP. (356) kif-o kæfš-o xærid-æm purse-and shoe-OM bought-1S ‘I bought the purse and shoes.’
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Page 87 b) Adjective and adverb phrases When two or more adjective phrases or adverb phrases are coordinated, a shared intensifier may be omitted from all but the first adjective or adverb phrase. The resulting phrase is semantically ambiguous. (357) xeyli bozorg-o sængin. very big-and heavy ‘very big and heavy’ Or ‘Very big and very heavy’ (358) besyar tond-o ba-deqæt very fast-and with-precision ‘very fast and precisely’ Or ‘very fast and very precisely’ 1.4 NEGATION 1.4.1 Sentence negation Simple sentences are negated by attaching the negative prefix næ-/ne- to the verb stem of simple verbs and the verbal part of the stem in compound verbs in the present, past, the present and past perfect, imperative, subjunctive and passive. See Section 3.2.6.4.2 for a description of the allomorphy of the negative prefix. (359) ne-mi-ræxs-æm NEG-DUR-dance-1S ‘I won’t dance.’ (360) næ-ræxsid-æm NEG-danced-1S ‘I didn’t dance.’ (361) næ-ræxsid-e-æm NEG-danced-PSPT-1S ‘I haven’t danced.’
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næ-ræxs NEG-dance ‘Don’t dance!’
šayæd næ-ræxs-æm maybe NEG-dance-1S ‘I may not dance.’ (364) bæzi--ne-mi-kon-æm play--NEG-DUR-do-1S ‘I won’t play.’ (365) hærf--næ-zæd-im word--NEG-struck-1P ‘We didn’t talk.’ In the future and the past perfect, the negative prefix attaches to the stem of the first verbal element (see Section 2.1.3.2.1.4 for discussion and examples of the formation of the future tense, and Section 2.1.3.3.1.1–2 on the formation of the past perfect). (366) næ-xah-æm ræxsid NEG-want-1S danced ‘I won’t dance.’ In the passive, the negative prefix precedes the second verbal element in the construction. (367) did-e næ-šod seen-PSPT NEG-became ‘It wasn’t seen’ A sentence may also be negated via a combination of a negation element which occurs sentence initially and a negated verb. See Section 1.4.3 below for discussion and examples of double negatives. 1.4.2 Constituent negation Noun phrases are commonly made negative with the preceding negative elements hic/hici ‘none’ or bedun-e ‘without’. When hic/hi’ci is used the verb must be negative. The verb in bedun-
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Page 89 e sentences may be negative or positive. (368) hic pul næ-dar-æm none money NEG-have-1S ‘I don’t have any money.’ (369) bedun-e ab mi-mir-e without water DUR-die-3S ‘It will die without water.’ (370) bedun-e to ne-mi-r-æm without you NEG-DUR-go-1S ‘I won’t go without you.’ The negative prefix na- is used to negate some positive-quality adjectives (see Sections 2.2.3.3 on the derivation of adjectives from adjectives). (371) na-pak un-clean ‘unclean’ 1.4.3 Double/multiple negation Negative elements cooccur with a negated verb to produce a negative sentence. The most common are hic/hici ‘nothing, hicvæqt ‘never’, hiški ‘no one’, hi’ja ‘nowhere’ and hærgez ‘never’. (372) hici næ-xord nothing NEG-ate ‘She didn’t eat anything.’ (373) nader hicvæqt yæzd næ-ræft-e Nader never Yazd NEG-went-PSPT ‘Nader has never gone to Yazd.’ (374) hiški unja næ-bud no one there NEG-was ‘There was no one there.’
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Page 90 1.4.4 Negation and coordination Negation in coordinated structures is as in simplex structures. However, one form of negation is exclusive to coordination, næ…næ ‘neither…nor’ is a both a coordinator and a sentential/constituent negator (also see Section 1.3 on coordination). (375) færnuš gušt ne-mi-xor-e væ pæri mive Farnush meat NEG-DUR-eat-3S and Parri fruit ne-mi-xor-e NEG-DUR-eat-3S ‘Farnush doesn’t eat meat and Parri doesn’t eat fruit.’ (376) næ mæn cini sohbæt--mi-kon-æm næ una no I Chinese speak--DUR-do-1S no they ‘I don’t speak Chinese and neither do they.’ 1.4.5 Negation and subordination Verbal complement clauses cannot be negated by the verb of the main clause. Compare the sentences in examples (377) and (378). The verb of the main clause is negative in both examples, but to express negation of the proposition in the subordinate clause the verb of the subordinate clause must also be negated as shown in (378). (377) ne-mi-dun-e ke færda mi-ya-m NEG-know-3S that tomorrow DUR-come-1S ‘She doesn’t know I’m coming tomorrow.’ (378) ne-mi-dun-e ke færda ne-mi-ya-m NEG-know-3S that tomorrow NEG-DUR-come-1S ‘She doesn’t know that I’m not coming tomorrow.’ In subordinating constructions where the subordinate clause is in the subjunctive, negation of the subordinate clause must be expressed through the negation of the verb of the matrix clause. Compare examples (379) and (380). (379) bæhram mi-tunest be-fæhm-e Bahrain DUR-could SBJN-understand-3S ‘Bahrain could understand.’
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bæhram ne-mi-tunest be-fæhm-e Bahram NEG-DUR-could SBJN-understand3S ‘Bahram couldn’t understand.’ 1.5 ANAPHORA Anaphora is the use of a proform or null form that has no inherent reference or meaning, but whose reference depends on another noun phrase mentioned earlier or, less frequently, later in the discourse. 1.5.1 Means of expressing anaphora 1.5.1.1–3 Pronouns and deletion of pronouns The personal pronouns mæn ‘I, me’, to ‘you’, u ‘he/she’, un ‘it’, ma ‘we, us’, šoma ‘you (formal or plural)’, una ‘they, them’ and išun ‘he/she (formal)’ are used to express anaphora. Since subject agreement is marked on the verb, however, the anaphoric pronoun is typically deleted. In the example below the parentheses indicate the deleted anaphoric pronoun. The anaphor of the deleted pronoun is the most recent third person referred to in the discourse. (381) ladæn mi-r-e mehmuni. Ladan DUR-go-3S party. ‘Ladan is going to the party.’ unja () behruz-o molaqat--mi-kon-e there (she) Behruz-OM meet--DUR-do-3S ‘She’ll meet Behruz there.’ When the coreferential pronoun is a definite direct object, the pronoun is dropped in favor of a pronominal clitic suffix which attaches to the verb (see Section 2.1.1.2.4.3 on pronominal clitics). In the example below, the coreferential pronoun object is dropped and the verb is suffixed with the third person pronominal clitic -eš. The anaphor is the most recent third person object referred to in the discourse. (382) ketab-o xærid-o () xund-eš book-OM bought-and (it) read-3S.PC ‘She bought the book and read it.’
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Page 92 It is also possible for the coreferential pronoun to precede the noun that it is referring to (the noun that would normally be the antecedent). (383) væqt-i ke resid pedær-æm xæst-e bud time-DEM that arrived father-1S.PC tired-PSPT was ‘When he arrived, my father was tired.’ 1.5.1.4 Reflexive pronouns Reflexive pronouns are anaphoric. Reflexive pronouns have two main functions. They indicate that an object is coreferential with the subject, and they can serve as intensifies. (384) mærjan xod-eš-o tærsund Marjan self-3S.PC-OM scared ‘Marjan scared herself.’ The reflexive pronoun can precede the “antecedent”, when the object is preposed to precede the subject for focus, resulting in either OSV or OVS word order. In the latter case the verb also is preposed for emphasis (Karimi 1989:155). While the English translation in (385) is marginal at best, it attempts to show the focus on the reflexive object as it is interpreted in Persian. (385) xod-eš-o mærjan tærsund (OSV) self-3S.PC-OM Marjan scared ‘Herself she scared.’ (386) xod-eš-o tærsund mærjan (OVS) self-3S.PC scared Marjan ‘She scared herself, Marjan did.’ The intensive function of the reflexive pronouns also results in an anaphoric reference. The coreferential personal pronoun that the reflexive intensifies is dropped, as shown in the following example. (387) ladæn mekanik-e xub-i-e. Ladan mechanic-EZ good-IND-3S xod-eš mašin-eš-o dorost--kærd. self-3S.PC car-3S.PC-OM fix--did ‘Ladan is a good mechanic. She fixed her car herself.’
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Page 93 Also see Section 1.6 for further examples of reflexive pronouns. 1.5.1.5 Special anaphoric pronouns There are no special anaphoric pronouns. 1.5.1.6 Other means of expressing anaphora The demonstratives in ‘this’ and un ‘that’ are used as anaphoric pronouns and adjectives. The plural forms ina and una are only used as pronouns (see Section 2.1.2.5). Note that una in the second sentence of example (388) can be dropped. (388) xanum-o aqa-ye mæhmudi dir-ænd Mrs.-and Mr.-EZ Mahmudi late-are ‘Mr. and Mrs. Mahmudi are late.’ una hæmiše dir-ænd they always late-are ‘They’re always late.’ In example (389, the demonstrative adjective plus noun phrase in tærz-e fekr refers to the antecedent nominalized clause mitun-ænd bedun-e kar--kærdæn put dær--bi-ar-ænd. (389) bæzia fekr--mi-kon-ænd mi-tun-ænd bedun-e some thought--DUR-do-3P DUR-be able-3P without-EZ kar--kærdæn pul dær--bi-ar-ænd work--to do money out--SBJN-bring-3P ‘Many people think they can earn money without working. (390) in tærz-e fekr besiar bæccegane-st this way-EZ thought extremely immature-is ‘This way of thinking is extremely immature.’ Another means to express an anaphoric reference is by using pronominal forms such as axæri ‘the latter’, ævvæli ‘the first one’. 1.5.2 Domain of anaphora 1.5.2.1 Within the clause Within the clause reflexives can be used to express anaphora.
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Page 94 As discussed earlier, the reflexive can precede or follow the antecedent. (391) mehri xod-eš-o bædbæxt--kærd Mehri self-3S.PC-OM unfortunate--did ‘Mehri ruined herself.’ 1.5.2.2 Anaphora between coordinate clauses Between coordinate clauses, both pronouns (typically prodropped, see Section 1.5.1.1–3) and reflexives can be used to express anaphora. The pro-forms can precede or follow the antecedent. See Section 1.5.1.1–3 and 1.5.1.4 for discussion and examples of direction of coreference. (392) hæsæn deraz--kešid-o () xabid Hasan lay down-and (he) slept ‘Hasan lay down and went to sleep.’ (393) surur bolænd--šod-o xod-eš-o hazer--kærd Surur got up-and self-3S.PC-OM ready--did ‘Surur got up and got herself ready.’ 1.5.2.3 Anaphora between superordinate and subordinate clauses 1.5.2.3.1 Anaphora in superordinate-subordinate clause Anaphora between superordinate and subordinate clauses is expressed by means of a pro-dropped pronoun in the subordinate clause or by the reflexive. Nonfinite subordinate clauses are not found. (394) be vidai goft-æm ke ( )i toVidai said-1S that (she)i ne-mi-tun-e be-r-e NEG-DUR-be able SBJN-go-3S ‘I told Vida that she couldn’t go.’ (395) mænsur goft ke xod-eš mi-r-e Mansur said that self-3S.PC DUR-go-3S ‘Mansur said that he will go himself.’
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Page 95 1.5.2.3.2 Anaphora in the order subordinate-superordinate clause It is possible but not common to precede the superordinate clause with the subordinate clause. In such cases anaphora is still expressed by means of a pro-dropped pronoun in the subordinate clause. (396) ( )i ne-mi-tun-e be-r-e be vidai (she)i NEG-DUR-be able-3S SBJN-go-3S to Vidai goft-æm said-1S ‘She can’t go, I told Vida.’ (397) xod-eti næ-ro be vidai goft-æm self-2S.PCi NEG-go.IMP to Vidai said-1S ‘You can’t go yourself, I told Vida.’ 1.5.2.4 Anaphora between different subordinate clauses Anaphoric reference is possible between different subordinated clauses, as demonstrated in the following example. (398) rezai goft ke ( )i mi-r-e resturan-i Reza said that ( )i DUR-go-3S restaurant-DEM ke dišæb ( )i ræft that last night ( )i went ‘Reza said he’ll go to the restaurant he went to last night.’ 1.5.2.5 Anaphora between different sentences Anaphoric reference is permitted between different sentences with pronouns, reflexives and ‘former, latter’ constructions. (399) sonya ræft sinema. unja ( )i færiborz-o did Sonya went movies. There ( )i Fariborz-OM saw ‘Sonya went to the movies. She saw Fariborz there.’ (400) šiva mi-r-e tehran. xod-eš tænhai mi-r-e. Shiva DUR-go-3S Tehran. self-3S.PC alone DUR-go-3S ‘Shiva is going to Tehran. She’ll go by herself.’
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Page 96 1.5.3 Subordinating conjunctions and anaphoric processes Elements near the complementizer are subject to the anaphoric processes described above. See Sections 1.5.2.3–5. 1.6 REFLEXIVES 1.6.1 Means of expressing reflexivity 1.6.1.1–4 Invariable and variable reflexive pronouns There are three reflexive pronouns in Persian: xod, xiš and xištæn ‘self. The three forms are used in all persons and numbers. xod is the most common, while xiš and xištæn are somewhat archaic. The reflexive pronouns may be used with or without the pronominal clitics which indicate person and number. The invariable form, without the pronominal clitic, is considered more formal or literary. In example (401) xod is used without a pronominal clitic, while in (402) the reflexive takes the third person singular pronominal clitic. See also Section 2.1.2.2 for chart, discussion and examples of the invariable and variable reflexive pronouns. (401) mehdi xod-ra mo’aleje--kærd Mehdi self-OM cure--did ‘Mehdi cured himself.’ (402) mehdi xod-eš-o mo’aleje--kærd Mehdi self-3S.PC-OM cure--did ‘Mehdi cured himself.’ 1.6.2 Scope of reflexivity The scope of reflexivity is not restricted to the clause. The antecedent and reflexive element may occur in separate clauses. See 1.5.1.4, 1.5.2.2–5 for a discussion of reflexive elements appearing in coordinate and subordinate clauses and separate sentences. 1.6.3 Reflexive element as verbal affix Reflexives are not verbal affixes in Persian.
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Page 97 1.6.4 Position of the reflexive element The position of the reflexive element is not restricted to one place in the clause. The examples in Section 1.6.5 immediately below illustrate the possible relationships between antecedent and reflexive. 1.6.5 Relationship between antecedent and reflexive 1.6.5.1 Antecedent subject/reflexive direct object (403) mæryæm xod-eš-o arum-kærd Maryam self-3S.PC-OM calm-did ‘Maryam calmed herself.’ 1.6.5.2 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of direct object (404) mæryæm šam-e xod-eš-o poxt Maryam dinner-EZ self-3S.PC-OM cooked ‘Maryam cooked her own dinner.’ 1.6.5.3–4 Antecedent subject/reflexive indirect object (zero or case marking) This category does not apply in Persian. 1.6.5.5 Antecedent subject/reflexive indirect object (adposition marking) (405) firuze gol-o be xod-eš sænjaq--zæd Firuze flower-OM to self-3S.PC pin--hit ‘Firuze pinned the flower to herself.’ 1.6.5.6 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of indirect object (406) firuze gol-o be yæqe-ye xod-eš sænjaq--zæd Firuze flower-OM to collar-EZ self-3S.PC pin--hit ‘Firuze pinned the flower to her own collar.’ 1.6.5.7 Antecedent subject/reflexive copular complement (407) mæn xod-æm-æm I self-1S.PC-am ‘I am myself.’
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Page 98 1.6.5.8 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of copular complement (408) in ketab-e xod-æm-e this book-EZ self-1S.PC-is ‘This book is my own book.’ 1.6.5.9–10 Antecedent subject/reflexive subject complement and modifier of subject complement These forms do not seem to occur in Persian. 1.6.5.11–12 Antecedent subject/reflexive object complement and modifier of object complement These forms do not seem to occur in Persian. 1.6.5.13 Antecedent subject/reflexive object of adjective (409) (mæn) æz xod-æm motenæfer-æm (I) from self-1S.PC hateful-am ‘I hate myself.’ 1.6.5.14 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of object of adjective (410) kamran æz bæradær-e xod-eš motenæfer-e Kamran from brother-EZ self-3S.PC hateful-is ‘Kamran hates his own brother.’ 1.6.5.15 Antecedent subject/reflexive agent in passive constructions This construction is not possible in Persian. 1.6.5.16 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of passive agent (411) reza be dæst-e xod-eš gul--xord-e Reza to hand-EZ self-3S.PC deception--ate-PSPT was ‘Reza was deceived by his own doing.’
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Page 99 1.6.5.17 Antecedent subject/reflexive in other prepositional phrase (412) lale gol-a-ro bæra-ye xod-eš xærid Lale flower-PL-OM for self-3S.PC bought ‘Lale bought the flowers for herself.’ 1.6.5.18 Antecedent subject/reflexive modifier of other prepositional phrase (413) lale sa’æt-o bæra-ye pesær-e Lale watch-OM for son-EZ xod-eš xærid self-3S.PC bought ‘Lale bought the watch for her own son.’ 1.6.5.19–36 Modifier of subject as antecedent/reflexive direct object The modifier of the subject cannot be the antecedent of any reflexive object, complement, prepositional phrase or modifier of any of these. 1.6.5.37 Direct object antecedent/reflexive subject A direct object cannot be the “antecedent” of a reflexive subject. 1.6.5.38 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of subject A direct object can serve as the “antecedent” of a reflexive modifier of the subject. In example (414) the direct object bižæn is the antecedent of the reflexive xod-eš ‘himself. (414) xorxor--kærdæn-e xod-eš bižæn-o snore--to do-EZ self-3S.PC-OM Bijan-OM narahæt--mi-kon-e upset--DUR-do-3S ‘His own snoring bothers Bijan.’
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Page 100 1.6.5.39–40 Direct object antecedent/reflexive case-marked indirect object or modifier of such indirect object This does not apply in Persian. 1.6.5.41 Direct object antecedent/reflexive indirect object (preposition marking) (415) davud-o æz xod-eš bizar--kærd-æm David-OM from self-3S.PC weary-did-1S ‘I made David weary of himself.’ 1.6.5.42 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of indirect object (preposition marking) (416) davud-o æz bæradær-e xod-eš David-OM from brother-EZ self-3S.PC bizar--kærd-æm weary-did-1S ‘I made David weary of his own brother.’ 1.6.5.43–46 Direct object antecedent/reflexive copular or subject complement or modifier of copular or subject complement A direct object cannot be the antecedent to reflexive copular complements, their modifiers, reflexive subject complements or their modifiers. 1.6.5.47–48 Direct object antecedent/reflexive object complement or modifier of object complement A direct object cannot be the antecedent to reflexive object complements or their reflexive modifiers. 1.6.5.49–50 Direct object antecedent/reflexive object of adjective or its modifier A direct object cannot be the antecedent to the reflexive object of an adjective or its modifier.
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Page 101 1.6.5.51–52 Direct object antecedent/reflexive agent in passive or modifier of such agent A direct object cannot be the antecedent to the reflexive agent in a passive construction or its modifier. 1.6.5.53 Direct object antecedent/reflexive element in other prepositional phrase (417) minu æli-ro æz xod-eš tærsund Minu Ali-OM from self-3S.PC frightened ‘Minu made Ali frightened of himself.’ The reflexive can be coreferential with either the direct object or the subject, such that (417) can be read: ‘Minu made Ali afraid of her’. 1.6.5.54 Direct object antecedent/reflexive modifier of element in other prepositional phrase (418) sohrab-o ferestad-æm be xune-ye Sohrab-OM sent-1S to house-EZ xod-eš self-3S.PC ‘I sent Sohrab to his own house.’ 1.6.5.55–72 Modifier of direct object antecedent Modifiers of direct objects cannot be antecedents to reflexive subjects, reflexive modifiers of subjects, direct objects or their reflexive modifiers, indirect objects or their reflexive modifiers, complements or their reflexive modifiers. Nor can a modifier of a direct object be an antecedent to reflexive object complements, reflexive objects of adjectives, reflexive agents in passive, reflexive elements in other prepositional phrases or the reflexive modifiers of any of these. 1.6.5.73–104 Case-/zero-marked indirect object antecedent This category does not apply since Persian indirect objects are not marked for case.
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Page 102 1.6.5.105–136 Indirect object antecedent Neither indirect objects nor their modifiers can be antecedents to reflexives in any category or position. 1.6.5.137–212 Other antecedents Copular complements, subject and object complements, adjectival objects, agents in passives, elements in adverbials and the modifier of all of these cannot be antecedents to reflexives in any category or position. 1.6.6 Reflexive relations within nominalized clauses Reflexive relations can exist within a nominalized clause. As in ordinary reflexive sentences, the reflexive can occur as a direct object, indirect object and other oblique objects, or as an intensifier. Example (419) has a reflexive direct object, (420) is an example of a reflexive being used as a benefactive and (421) shows a reflexive as an intensifier. (419) mælum-e ke xod-eš-o xeyli dust--dar-e clear-is that self-3S.PC-OM very friend--have-3S ‘It is obvious that she likes herself a lot.’ (420) fekr--mi-kon-im mi-tun-e bæra-ye thought--DUR-do-1P DUR-be able-3S for xod-eš xune be-xær-e self-3S.PC house SBJN-buy-3S ‘We think she can buy a house for herself.’ (421) æjib-e ke pesær-e xod-eš-o strange-is that son-EZ self-3S.PC-OM ne-mi-šnas-e NEG-DUR- recognize-3S ‘It’s strange that she doesn’t recognize her own son.’ 1.6.7 Reflexive relations within noun phrases Reflexive relations cannot exist within ordinary noun phrases.
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Page 103 1.6.8 Reflexives without overt antecedents A Persian reflexive requires an overt antecedent. 1.7 RECIPROCALS 1.7.1 Means of expressing reciprocity Persian has three reciprocal pronouns: hæm, hæmdige and yekdigær, all meaning ‘each other’. They are invariable in form and function as objects with an anaphoric reference to the subject. The reciprocals are not marked for case, but do take a direct object marker or preposition depending on their syntactic/semantic role in the sentence, hæmdige is the commonly used reciprocal pronoun in spoken Persian. (422) mærjan-o širin hæmdige-ro did-ænd Marjan-and Shirin each other-OM saw-3P ‘Marjan and Shirin saw each other.’ (423) kambiz-o lili ba hæmdige ræft-ænd Kambiz-and Lili with each other went-3P ‘Kambiz and Lili left together.’ See Section 2.1.2.3 for further examples of reciprocal pronouns and their use. 1.7.2 Scope of reciprocity The scope of reciprocity is not restricted to the clause, as the antecedent and reciprocal element may occur in the same or in different clauses. See (422) and (423) directly above for examples of antecedents and reciprocals in the same clause. Example (424) shows the antecedent in the main clause and the reciprocal element in a subordinate clause. (424) qol dad-ænd hæmiše hæmdige-ro promise gave-3P always each other-OM komæk--kon-ænd help--do-3P ‘They promised to always help each other.’
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Page 104 1.7.3 Verbal affix Reciprocals are not marked as verbal affixes in Persian. 1.7.4 Positional possibilities of reciprocals within the clause Rreciprocal can occure in various places, as shown in 1.7.5. 1.7.5.1–18 Relation between subject antecedent and reciprocal Following are examples of possible relationships between subject antecedents and reciprocal elements. Direct object reciprocal (425) mæn-o færhad hæmdige-ro I-and Farhad each other-OM dærk--ne-mi-kon-im understand--NEG-DUR-do-1P ‘Farhad and I don’t understand each other.’ Modifier of direct object reciprocal (426) mitra-o nilufær ketab-e hæm-o xund-ænd Mitra-and Nilufar book-EZ each other-OM read-3P ‘Mitra and Nilufar read each other’s books.’ Case-marked indirect object/modifier of indirect object reciprocal Reciprocals cannot function in these roles. Indirect object reciprocal (427) hæsan-o hoseyn be hæm pul dad-ænd Hasan-and Hosein to each other money gave-3P ‘Hasan and Hosein gave each other money.’ Modifier of indirect object reciprocal (428) hæsan-o hoseyn be bæcce-ha-ye hæm pul dad-ænd Hasan-and Hosein to child-PL-EZ each other moneyg ave-3P ‘Hasan and Hosein gave each other’s children money.’
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Page 105 Copular complement reciprocal (429) mæn-o to mesle hæm hæst-im I-and you like each other be-1P ‘You and I are like each other.’ Modifier of copular complement reciprocal (430) æmir-o zohre dust-e sæmimi-ye yekdigær hæst-ænd Amir-and Zohre friend-EZ close-EZ each other be-3P ‘Amir and Zohre are each other’s close friend.’ Subject complement reciprocal Reciprocals cannot be used in this function. Modifier of subject complement reciprocal While it seems syntactically possible to have a reciprocal as the modifier of a subject complement, it is hard to think of a context to use such a structure. Object complement reciprocal/modifier of object complement It is syntactically possible to use a reciprocal as an object complement or modifier of an object complement, but it is hard to think of a natural context to use such structures. Adjective object reciprocal (431) ba yekdigær mehræbun-ænd with each other. kind-are ‘They are kind with each other.’ Modifier of adjective complement reciprocal (432) ba bæcce-ha-ye hæmdige mehræbun-ænd with child-PL-EZ each other kind-are ‘They are kind with each other’s children.’ Agent/modifier of agent in passive construction These constructions are rare, if at all possible.
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Page 106 Reciprocal element in other prepositional phrase (433) una ba hæm ræxsid-ænd they with each other danced-3P ‘They danced with each other.’ Modifier of reciprocal element in other prepositional phrase (434) una ba zæn-e hæm ræxsid-ænd they with wife-EZ each other danced-3P ‘They danced with each other’s wife.’ 1.7.5.19–36 Relation between modifier of subject antecedent and reciprocals The modifier of a subject cannot be the antecedent of a reciprocal element in any grammatical function. 1.7.5.37–54 Relation between direct object antecedent and reciprocal element A direct object can be the antecedent of a reciprocal element in only four cases. The reciprocal may be an indirect object, the modifier of an indirect object or some other oblique object or modifier of such object. Indirect object (435) una-ro be hæm mo’ærefi--kærd-æm them-OM to each other introduce--did-1S ‘I introduced them to each other.’ Modifier of indirect object (436) una-ro be xahær-e hæm them-OM to sister-EZ each other mo‘ærefi--kærd-æm introduce--did-1S ‘I introduced them to each other’s sister.’
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Page 107 Other prepositional object (437) una-ro ba hæmdige ašna--kærd-æm them-OM with each other acquaint--did-1S ‘I acquainted them with each other.’ Modifier of other prepositional object (438) una-ro æz pišræft-e yekdigær them-OM from progress-EZ each other agah--kærd-æm aware--did-1S ‘I made them aware of each other’s progress.’ 1.7.5.55–72 Relationship between modifier of direct object antecedent and reciprocal element The modifier of a direct object cannot be the antecedent of a reciprocal element. 1.7.5.73–104 Relationship between case-marked indirect object antecedent and reciprocal element Persian does not have case-marked objects. 1.7.5.105–120 Relationship between prepositional indirect object antecedent and reciprocal element Direct object (439) be-hešun yekdigær-o nešun dad-æm to-3P.PC each other-OM show gave-1S ‘I showed them each other.’ Modifier of direct object (440) be-hešun ketab-e hæm-o nešun to-3P.PC book-EZ each other-OM show dad-æm gave-1S ‘I showed them each other’s book.’
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Page 108 1.7.5.121–212 Relationship between antecedents in other categories and reciprocal elements There are no other relationships between antecedents and reciprocal elements other than those already discussed in the previous sections. 1.7.6 Reciprocal relations within nominalized clauses Reciprocal relationships are permitted within nominalized clauses. (441) mælum-e ke una hæmdige-ro obvious-is that they each other-OM dust-dar--ænd friend--have-3P ‘It’s obvious they like each other.’ 1.7.7 Reciprocal relations within noun phrases Reciprocal relations cannot exist within a simple noun phrase. 1.7.8 Reciprocal structures without antecedents Persian does not use reciprocals without antecedents. 1.8 COMPARISON 1.8.1 Expressing comparison 1.8.1.1–4 Means of expressing comparison In a comparative expression the following four elements occur, from left to right: the object being compared, the preposition æz ‘from’, the standard of comparison, and the parameter of comparison (generally the adjective) followed by the comparative suffix -tær. (442) mehri æz bædri kuta-tær-e Mehri from Badri short-COMPR-is ‘Mehri is shorter than Badri.’
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Page 109 When the items of comparison are in different clauses, the conjunction ta ‘than’ is used instead of æz ‘from’ to express comparative relations. Also see section 2.1.4.4.2 on comparatives. (443) mæn yævaš-tær mi-jo-æm ta peyman I slow-COMPR DUR-chew-1S than Payman ‘I chew slower than Payman.’ 1.8.2–4 Deletion of identical elements in comparative structures It is preferable to omit as many constituents in the comparative clause as are identical to those in the main clause. In example (444) the entire verb phrase is omitted in the comparative clause (introduced by ta ). The omitted material is shown in brackets. (444) ræxša mi-tun-e tond-tær gol Elahe DUR-be able-3S fast-COMPR flower be-kar-e ta šapur [mi-tun-e gol be-kar-e] SBJN-plant-3S than Shapur ‘Rakhsha can plant flowers faster than Shapur [can plant flowers].’ Of the elements omitted, deletion of the object is obligatory. The omission of the verb or the modal+verb is optional. Compare examples (445) and (446) with (444). In example (444) both the modal and the verb have been omitted. In example (445) the modal is retained and in (446) both the modal and verb are retained. (445) ræxša mi-tun-e tond-tær gol Elahe DUR-be able-3S fast-COMPR flower be-kar-e ta šapur mi-tun-e SBJN-plant-3S than Shapur DUR-be able-3S ‘Rakhsha can plant flowers faster than Shapur can.’ (446) rita mi-tun-e tond-tær gol be-kar-e Rita DUR-be able-3S fast-COMPR flower SBJN-plant-3S ta šapur mi-tun-e be-kar-e than Shapur DUR-be able-3S ‘Rita can plant flowers faster than Shapur can plant (flowers).’
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Page 110 1.8.5 Two types of comparative structures This does not apply to Persian. Comparative structures are formed in only one way: with a comparative element and a comparative conjunction or preposition associated with the comparative clause or standard of comparison. 1.8.6 Correlative comparison Correlative comparative clauses are always introduced with hærci ‘whatever’. When there is more than one clause, hærci only occurs at the beginning of the first clause. The elements being correlated take the comparative suffix tær, with the first one immediately following hærci . (447) hærci gærm-tær behtær whatever warm-COMPR better ‘The warmer the better.’ (448) hærci bištær kar--mi-kon-e kæm-tær whatever more work--DUR-do-3S little-COMPR ænjam--mi-d-e accomplish--DUR-give-3S ‘The more she works the less she accomplishes.’ 1.9 EQUATIVE 1.9.1 Expressing equality 1.9.1.1–4 Means of expressing equality Within the clause, the most general way to express equality between two entities is by using the compound preposition be ændaze-ye ‘in the same amount’ to precede the entity and quality under comparison. Note that (449) is a single clause and that the sequence be ændaze-ye goli is not a truncated clause with a deleted verb. (449) mehran be ændaze-ye goli pul dar-e Mehran to size-EZ Goli money have-3S ‘Mehran has as much money as Goli.
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Page 111 The phrases hæmun qædr or hæmun meqdar, both meaning ‘the same amount’, are used when the elements being compared are in separate clauses. (450) mehran hæmun qædr pul dar-e ke Mehran same amount money have-3S that goli dar-e Goli have-3S ‘Mehran has as much money as Goli has.’ Also see Section 2.1.4.4.1 for further examples of equatives. 1.9.2–4 Deletion of identical elements in equative structures In the second clause of an equative structure, the presence of the verb is obligatory. In example (450) above the second mention of the verb dar-e cannot be deleted. When there is only a direct object present, it may or may not be deleted in the second clause. Example (451) shows the optionality of the direct object ketab ‘book’. (451) zæhra hæmun qædr ketab mi-xun-e ke Zahra same amount book DUR-read-3S that bætul (ketab) mi-xun-e Batul (book) DUR-read-3S ‘Zahra reads books as much as Batul does.’ When there is an indirect object as well as a direct object involved in the equative, the direct object is obligatorily deleted while the presence of the indirect object is optional. (452) æqdæs hæmun qædr be muze pul dad Aqdas same amount to museum money gave ke monir (be muze) dad that Monir (to museum) gave ‘Aqdas gave as much money to the museum as Monir did.’ 1.10 POSSESSION There are three main ways to indicate possession. First, the ezafe is used to link the possessor and the possessed. Second, pronominal clitics are suffixed to the possessed. Finally, the phrase mal-e is used.
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Page 112 The ezafe and pronominal clitic are used attributively. In an ezafe construction, the possessed precedes the ezafe, which is followed by the possessor. The possessor can be a noun, personal pronoun or reflexive pronoun. Also see Section 2.1.1.4.6–7 on possessives. 1.10.1 Sentences expressing possession Sentences expressing possession are formed with the element mal-e ‘property of in a copular construction. The possessed element precedes mal-e and the possessor follows. (453) in xune mal-e mæn-e this house property of me-is ‘This house belongs to me.’ Possession can also be expressed through the use of the ezafe construction discussed in Section 1.2.5.2.3 and 2.1.1.4.6–7. (454) in xune-ye mæn-e this house-EZ me-is ‘This house is mine.’ 1.10.2–4 Types of possession or possessor Alienable possession may be expressed with the use of mal-e ‘property of or with the ezafe construction as described in Section 1.10.1 above. Inalienable possession can only be expressed with the ezafe construction as shown in example (455). (455) dæst-e mæn hand-EZ I ‘my hand’ Permanent possession can be distinguished from potentially temporary possession. Sentences constructed with mal-e always indicate a state of permanent possession, while in the case of alienable possession, the ezafe construction may be used to indicate either permanent or temporary possession. In the following example the ezafe is used to indicate temporary “possession”.
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Page 113 (456)
ostad-e mæn professor-EZ I ‘my professor’ No distinction is made in the expression of possession, whether the possessor or possessed is a person, animal or inanimate object. In all cases mal-e and/or the ezafe construction is used: (457) mašin mal-e hæsæn-e car property of Hasan-is ‘The car belongs to Hasan.’ (458) mašin-e hæsæn-e car-EZ Hasan-is ‘It’s Hasan’s car.’ (459) in pic mal-e miz-e this screw property of table-is ‘This screw belongs to the table.’ (460) in pic-e miz-e this screw-EZ table-is ‘This is the table’s screw.’ (461) in lune mal-e kæbutær-e this nest property of dove-is ‘This nest belongs to a dove.’ (462) in lune-ye kæbutær-e this nest-EZ dove-is ‘This is a dove’s nest.’ 1.10.5 Present and past possession Other than verb tense, there is no syntactic or morphological distinction made expressing present or past possession. 1.11 EMPHASIS 1.11.1 Sentence emphasis Sentence emphasis, whether for contradictory or
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Page 114 noncontradictory emphasis, can be achieved in a number of ways. One common way is to raise one’s voice. Another common way to emphasize a sentence is to repeat it, either in full or elliptically. (463) æz dæst-eš ajez šod-æm. ajez. from hand-3S.PC miserable became-1S. miserable. ‘He’s made me miserable. Miserable.’ A speaker can also use a sentence like (463) but with an emphatic adverb such as kamelæn ‘completely’ or vaqe’æn ‘truly’ with the repeated instance of the sentence. (464) æz dæst-eš ajez šod-æm. from hand-3S.PC miserable became-1S. kamelæn ajez. completely miserable. ‘He’s made me miserable. Completely miserable.’ Emphatic adverbs such as vaqe’æn ‘truly’ and bišæk ‘undoubtedly’ can also occur sentence-initially as disjuncts. (465) vaqe’æn dust-eš--dar-æm truly friend-3S.PC--have-1S ‘I truly love him.’ (466) bišak kar-eš-o xub bælæd-e undoubtedly work-3S.PC-OM well know-is ‘Undoubtedly, he knows his work well.’ Another way a to emphasize a sentence is by putting the main verb in a progressive aspect. The implied complement of the verb is not mentioned and the two verbs are said with stress and higher intonation. (467) A: bo-ro xakrube-ro be-ndaz dur IMP-go garbage-OM SBJN-throw out ‘Go throw out the garbage.’ B: dar-æm mi-r-æm have-1S DUR-go-1S ‘I’m going, I’m going.’ The sentence being emphasized can be made an indirect
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Page 115 statement, introduced by a phrase such as goft-æm ‘I said’. (468) goft-æm, otaq-et-o tæmiz--kon said-1S room-2S.PC-OM clean--do ‘I said, clean up your room.’ 1.11.2 Constituent emphasis 1.11.2.1 Contrastive and noncontrastive constituent emphasis 1.11.2.1.1 Emphatic stress Both contrastive and noncontrastive emphasis can be expressed through stress. The stress itself doesn’t indicate contrastive or noncontrastive emphasis but rather brings the emphasized word to focus. Context is necessarily to determine whether the emphasis is contrastive or noncontrastive. In example (469) the adjective is emphasized noncontrastively, while in example (470) the stress on the demonstrative is used contrastively. (Stress is indicated by bold, underlined type.) (469) doxtær-e qæšæng-e girl-DEF beautiful-is ‘The girl is beautiful.’ (470) in-o mi-xa-m this-OM DUR-want-1S ‘I want this one.’ 1.11.2.1.1.1 Elements which undergo emphatic stress The noun phrase, predicative and attributive adjectives, verbs and adverbials can all receive contrastive and noncontrastive stress to express emphasis. It is important to mention that Persian, which typically drops the subject, uses the pronoun subject to emphasize the person carrying out the action of the verb. Contrastive emphasis is indicated by adding stress to the pronoun. In example (471) the subject pronoun is emphasized by virtue of being mentioned, but it is not contrastive. In example (472), however, the phonetic stress added to the pronoun makes it contrastive.
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Page 116 (471)
mæn gol-a-ro kænd-æm I flower-PL-OM picked-1S ‘I picked the flowers.’ (472) mæn gol-a-ro kænd-æm I flower-PL-OM picked-1S ‘It was I who picked the flowers.’ 1.11.2.1.2 Emphatic particles Persian does not use particles to show emphasis, but it does use adverbs such as vaqe’æn ‘truly’ and kamelæn ‘completely’ as intensifies of adjectives for emphasis. (473) vaqe’æn xær-e truly stupid-is ‘He’s truly stupid.’ 1.11.2.1.3 Movement of emphasized element 1.11.2.1.3.1 Initial position Preposing of the verb to initial position expresses contrastive emphasis. In example (474), by preposing the verb the speaker intends to emphasize that he has eaten, in contrast with the assumption that he may not have eaten yet. (474) xord-æm šam-æm-o mæn ate-1S dinner-1S.PC-OM I ‘I already ate dinner.’ 1.11.2.1.3.1.1 Other elements which undergo movement to initial position Movement of object noun phrases to initial position expresses topic, which is discussed in Section 1.12.1.2.1. Adjectives cannot be moved. Adverbials of time, manner and place move to initial position to indicate emphasis of the adverbial. Movement of amplifier adverbials to sentence-initial position generally serves to emphasize the sentence (see Section 1.11.1).
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Page 117 1.11.2.1.3.2 Final position Movement of the full or pronominal subject to final position, after the verb, expresses noncontrastive emphasis of the subject. (475) šam-æm-o xord-æm mæn dinner-1S.PC-OM ate-1S I ‘Me, I already ate dinner.’ Prepositional phrases containing indirect and oblique objects can also be moved to final position for noncontrastive emphasis. (476) mæn cæmedun-o dad-æm be æsqær I suitcase-OM gave-1S to Asqar ‘I gave the suitcase to Asqar.’ (477) gorbæ-ro gereft-æm æz kæmal cat-OM took-1S from Kamal ‘I took the cat from Kamal.’ Note that if phonetic stress is added to the postposed prepositional phrase emphasis becomes contrastive. 1.11.2.1.3.2.1 Other elements which can move to final position Adjectives cannot be moved to final position. Verbs canonically take this slot. Adverbs of time can occur in final position for emphasis. Also see Section 1.2.1.3.2 on position of adverbials 1.11.2.1.3.3 Other positions The verb can precede the object or subject to express contrastive emphasis of the verb. In the sentence below, the focus is having gotten the car, in contrast to deciding not to get it. (478) A: mašin ci šod? car what became ‘What happened with the car? B: gereft-æm mašin-o got-1S car-OM ‘I got the car.’
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< previous page Page 118 (479) (480)
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page_118 ræft went ‘Sohala left.’
soheyla Sohala
cæmedun-o dad-æm mæn be æsqær suitcase-OM gave-1S I to Asqar ‘The suitcase I gave to Asqar.’ 1.11.2.1.4–5 Clef ting and pseudoclefting Clefting, in Persian, moves the focused element from its unmarked position to the start of the sentence. The focused element of the sentence is followed by a verb, usually a copula, and the relative pronoun ke. It is possible to cleft subjects, DOs and PPs which contain indirect objects and oblique objects (481) æli-e ke umæd Ali-is that came ‘It is Ali who came.’ (482) sa’æt-e ke zohre xærid watch-is that Zohre bought ‘It’s a watch that Zohre bought.’ (483) be zohre bud ke sima sa’æt-o dad to Zohre was that Sima watch-OM gave ‘It was Zohre that Sima gave the watch to.’ (484) tu-ye baq bud ke hæmdigær-o did-im in garden was that each other-OM saw-1P ‘It was in the garden that we saw each other.’ Pseudoclefting moves the nonfocused elements from their canonical position and precedes them with phrases like ‘the one who (kesi ke)/the thing that (cizi ke)/the place where (jai ke)’ etc. (485) kesi ke asb dust--dar-e mina-st someone that horse friend--have-3S Mina-is ‘The one who likes horses is Mina.’
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Page 119 1.11.2.1.4.1 Other elements which can be clefted In addition to noun phrases, prepositional adverbials and verb phrases can be clefted. In example (486) a prepositional adverbial is shown in a clefted construction. (486) ba eštiaq-e tæmam bud ke færiborz with eagerness-EZ complete was that Fariborz be iran bærgæšt to Iran returned ‘It was with complete eagerness that Fariborz returned to Iran.’ 1.11.2.1.6 Emphasis by dislocation 1.11.2.1.6.1 Left dislocation Left dislocation is considered a movement that topicalizes the noun phrase. See Section 1.12.1.3.1. 1.11.2.1.6.2 Right dislocation Right dislocation is extremely marginal in Persian and does not serve an emphatic function. 1.11.2.1.7 Other means to indicate emphasis The discussion in the sections above covers the most frequently used methods for indicating emphasis. 1.11.2.1.8 Combining ways to express constituent emphasis Stress used with any of the movement options for emphasis amplifies the emphasis, particularly for showing contrast. 1.11.2.2 Elements that may be emphasized 1.11.2.2.1.1–4 Noun phrase, adjective, verb, adverbial emphasis See each of the subsections in Section 1.11.2.1.1–8 for a discussions of emphasis of noun phrases, adjectives, verbs and adverbials.
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Page 120 1.11.2.2.2.1 Emphasis of main-clause constituents Main-clause constituents can be emphasized by any of the stress or movement strategies explained above. 1.11.2.2.2.2 Emphasis of subordinate-clause constituents Constituents of finite subordinate clauses can be emphasized by any of the means explained above. 1.11.2.2.2.3 Emphasis of noun-phrase constituents Any element of the noun phrase can be emphasized by phonetic stress. 1.11.2.2.2.4 Emphasis of constituents of coordinate construction Phonetic stress is used to express contrastive emphasis of a constituent of a coordinate structure. The stressed constituent may precede or follow the conjunction. In the examples below stressed elements are bolded and underlined. In example (487) mæn ‘I’ is emphasized to contrast it with ‘anyone else’. In example (488) mina is emphasized for the same purpose. (487) mæn-o mina ræft-im I-and Mina went-2S Mina and I went (488) mæn-o mina ræft-im I-and Mina went-2S Mina and I went. Some coordinators are inherently emphatic. For example the conjunction hæm…hæm…‘both…and’ and the coordinators næ…næ… ‘neither…nor’ and ya…ya… ‘either…or’ tend to direct attention to the constituents which follow each part of the duplicated coordinator. In example (489) both šowle and sima are interpreted as emphasized. (489) hæm šowle hæm sima šena bælad-ænd also shole also sima swim know-3P ‘Both Shole and Sima know how to swim.’
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Page 121 1.11.2.2.3 Elements left behind as a result of movement In the cases of clefting and pseudoclefting, which are the strategies available for emphatic, nontopicalizing movement, no copy of the moved element is left behind. 1.11.3 Focus of yes-no questions The focus of a yes-no question is indicated primarily through phonetic stress. In example (490), the speaker is focusing on the word æks, for example in contrast to some other item that might be bought. In example (491) the speaker focuses on the verb, again in contrast to some other possible verb. (490) mi-xa-i æks be-xær-i? DUR-want-2S picture SBJN-buy-2S ‘Do you want to buy a picture?’ (491) mi-xa-i æks be-xær-i? DUR-want-2S picture SBJN-buy-2S ‘Do you want to buy a picture?’ 1.12 TOPIC 1.12.1 Means of indicating topic of a sentence 1.12.1.1 Particles The definite direct object marker -ra/ -ro/-o is sometimes used with elements other than the direct object in order to indicate the topic of a sentence (see Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion of -ra as a marker of definite direct objects). It should be also noted that the topicalizing function of -ra is often used in conjunction with movement to sentence-initial position. -ra as a topicalizer is used most often with adverbs of time and indirect objects. In example (492), the adverb emšæb ‘tonight’, in its canonical position, is somewhat topicalized via the -ra particle. (492) kæmal emšæb-o inja mi-mun-e Kamal tonight-OM here DUR-stay-3S ‘Tonight, Kamal is staying here.’
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Page 122 An adverb is most clearly topicalized when it moves to initial position in addition to receiving the -ra particle, as in example (493). Although the English translation in example (493) is the same as in example (492), in Persian emšæb is more clearly a topicalized element in example (493) than in example (492). (493) emšæb-o kæmal inja mi-mun-e tonight-OM Kamal here DUR-stay-3S ‘Tonight, Kamal is staying here.’ Like time adverbs, indirect objects can also be topicalized with -ra. Unlike adverbs, however, if an indirect object takes -ra it must also move to initial position. (494) gol-a-ro mæhin ( ) ab dad flower-PL-OM Mahin ( ) water gave ‘The flowers, Mahin watered.’ Note that in example (494) the derivation of the topicalized noun phrase has two possible sources. Before topicalization, gol-a ‘flowers’ may have either been an indirect object, i.e., be gol-a ‘to the flowers’ or it may have been the direct object gol-a-ro ‘the flowers’. Indirect objects may also be topicalized without the -ra particle, in which case they are moved to initial position as a whole prepositional phrase(see Section 1.12.1.2 for examples). 1.12.1.1.1 Elements which can be topicalized using -ra As shown in examples (492), (493) and (494) adverbials of time and noun phrases can be topicalized by adding the particle -ra. Adjectives and verbs do not take-ra for topicalization. 1.12.1.2 Movement without dislocation 1.12.1.2.1 Initial position The most common way to topicalize an element is to move it into initial position. In the following examples, topicalized elements are underlined. The empty parentheses indicate the original position of elements before topicalization.
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Page 123 Generic direct object (495) mahi behtær-e ( fish better-is ( ‘As for fish, you’d better not buy (any).’ Indefinite direct object (496) ye ængoštær reza a ring Reza ‘A ring, Reza wants.’ Definite direct object (497) zænjir-o minu chain-OM Minu ‘The chain, Minu bought.’ (498) aparteman-o aparteman-OM ‘The apartment, we searched.’ Indirect object (499) be mæhin bilit-o to Mahin ticket-OM ‘To Mahin I gave the ticket.’ Oblique object (500) ba æqdæs mæn () with Aqdas I () ‘With Aqdas I went to the theater.’ Adverbial (501) diruz-o bahæm yesterday-OM together ‘Yesterday we spent together.’ (502) ba otobus pærviz with bus Parviz ‘By bus Parviz went to Shiraz.’
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) )
næ-xær-i NEG-buy-2S () ()
mi-xa-d DUR-want-3S () ()
ma we
() ()
xærid bought gæšt-im search-1P
() ()
dad-æm gave-1S
ræft-æm went-1S
ta’atr theater
gozærund-im spent-1P ræft went
širaz Shiraz
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Page 124 (503)
be xune-ye madær-eš-o ræft to house-EZ mother-3S.PC-OM went ‘To his mother’s house he went.’ 1.12.1.2.1.1 Elements which can be moved to initial position As shown above, noun phrases and adverbials of time, manner and place can be topicalized by moving into initial position. Adjectives cannot be topicalized and verbs are moved into initial position for contrastive emphasis rather than topicalization. 1.12.1.2.2 Final position Movement to final position is used for emphasis. See 1.11.2.1.3.2. 1.12.1.3 Dislocation 1.12.1.3.1 Initial position A clear example of left dislocation involves movement of the indirect object to the front of the sentence while it is replaced with a pronominal clitic in its original position, shown in example (504). In examples (505) and (506) the -o (-ra/-ro) marker, which usually indicates a definite direct object, is functioning as a topicalizer. (504) doxtar-ii ke hæmkelasi-m-e be-heši girl-DEM that classmate-1S.Pc-is to-2S.PC telefon-zæd-æm telephone-hit-1S ‘The girl who is my classmate I called.’ (505) iræji-o pul be-heši be-d-e Iraj-OM money to-3S.PC IMP-give-3S ‘Iraji, give himi money.’ (506) unjai-ro ne-mi-xa-m to there-OM NEG-DUR-want-1S you be-bin-i-ši SBJN-see-2S-3S.PC ‘That place, I don’t want you to see it.’
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Page 125 1.12.1.3.1.1 Dislocated elements moved to initial position Noun phrases are the only elements which can be topicalized via dislocation to initial position. Adjectives, adverbials and verbs cannot undergo such a movement. 1.12.1.3.2 Final position Although syntactically possible, right dislocation is not commonly used as a topicalization strategy since the resulting sentence sounds awkward. Furthermore, it is not altogether clear whether the dislocated element has been topicalized. (507) behtær-e pul-o be-heši be-d-i better-is money-OM to-3S.PC SBJN-give-2S iræji-o Iraj-OM ‘You’d better give himi the money, Iraji.’ 1.12.1.3.2.1 Dislocated elements moved to final position As with left dislocation, noun phrases are the only candidates for right dislocation. 1.12.1.4 Verb agreement Verb agreement is not used as a means of indicating the topic of a sentence. 1.12.1.5–6 Combinations of the above As mentioned in Section 1.12.1.1, while adverbs can be topicalized with -ra without moving the adverb, indirect objects must either move to initial position or under dislocation when they are marked as a topic with the -ra particle. 1.12.2 Elements that may be topicalized 1.12.2.1.1–4 Topicalization of noun phrase, adjective, verb, adverbial See each of the subsections in Section 1.12.1.1–6 for a
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Page 126 discussions of topicalization of noun phrases, adjectives, verbs and adverbials. 1.12.2.2.1 Constituents of the main clause Topicalization via the use of -ra applies to adverbs of time and indirect objects (see Section 1.12.1.1). Dislocation as a strategy for topicalization can be used for noun phrases, which can be dislocated to either sentenceinitial or sentence-final position. As shown in Section 1.12.1.2, with the exception of the verb all constituents of a main clause may be topicalized by movement to initial position. Topicalization cannot be indicated by movement to final position. 1.12.2.2.2 Constituents of the subordinate clause Direct, indirect and oblique objects as well as adverbs of time of a subordinate clause can be moved to sentenceinitial position for topicalization. (508) mæšrub goft-æm (ke) () næ-xor alcohol said-1S (that) () NEG-eat ‘Alcohol, I told you not to drink.’ (509) be bimarestan mi-xa-m pul-o () to hospital DUR-want-1S money-OM () be-d-æm SBJN-give-1S ‘To the hospital I want to give the money.’ (510) šæb goft-æm (ke) () mæšrub næ-xor night said-1S (that) () alcohol NEG-drink ‘I told you not to drink alcohol at night.’ (511) ba otobus mi-xa-m () be-r-æm with bus DUR-want-1S () SBJN-go-1S ‘By bus, I want to go.’ (512) un šælvar-o goft-æm (ke) () that pants-OM said-1S (that) () ne-mi-puš-æm-eš NEG-DUR-wear-1 S-3S.PC ‘Those pants, I said that I wouldn’t wear them.’
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Page 127 Also, -ra can be used to topicalize adverbs of time and indirect objects of the subordinate clause just as it can topicalize these elements in the main clause. (513) bimarestan-o mi-xa-m pul () hospital-OM DUR-want-1S money () be-d-æm SBJN-give-1S ‘To the hospital I want to give money.’ 1.12.2.2.3 Constituents of noun phrases It is not possible to topicalize constituents that occur within the noun phrase. 1.12.2.2.4 Constituents of coordinate constructions One constituent of a coordinate structure cannot be topicalized. 1.12.2.2.5 More than one constituent simultaneously Persian does not topicalize more than one constituent at the same time. 1.12.2.3 Elements left behind In the case of topicalization via dislocation, a proform of the topicalized element is left behind as a clitic attached to the verb. See Section 1.12.1.3 for examples. In cases of movement without dislocation nothing is left behind. See Section 1.12.1.2 for examples. 1.12.3 Optionality of topicalization Topicalization is optional. The use of -ra, as described in Section 1.12.1.1, and movement to initial position without dislocation are the most preferred topicalization strategies. 1.13 HEAVY SHIFT Heavy shift is an optional strategy except when a structure is very long and/or complex. In the following examples the underlined
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Page 128 elements are shifted from the site designated by empty parentheses. 1.13.2.1 Adjective phrases A heavy adjective phrase can be optionally shifted to the end of the sentence as shown in the example below. (514) pul-o be un mærd-i ( ) dad-im money-OM to that man-DEM ( ) gave-1P ke kotšælvar-e ærzun-i pušid-e bud that suit-EZ cheap-IND wore-PSPT was ‘We gave the money to that man wearing the cheap suit.’ 1.13.2.2 Direct and indirect object noun phrases Heavy indirect objects can be shifted to the end or beginning of the sentence. In example (515), shifting the prepositional phrase containing the indirect object allows the direct object pul ‘money’ to be topicalized. In example (516), shifting the prepositional phrase to the beginning of the sentence topicalizes the indirect object. (515) pul-o ( ) dad-im be un mærd-i money-OM ( ) gave-1P to that man-DEM ke kotšælvar-e ærzun-i pušid-e bud who suit-EZ cheap-IND wore-PSPT was ‘We gave the money to that man who was wearing the cheap suit.’ (516) be un mærd-i ke kotšælvar-e ærzun-i pušid-e bud to that man-DEM who suit-EZ cheap-IND wore-PSPT was pul-o () dad-im money-OM () gave-1P ‘To that man wearing the cheap suit we gave the money.’ Note that the entire prepositional phrase must be shifted and that the indirect object cannot be extracted from it. The indirect object can, however, be dislocated. See Section 1.12.1.3.1 for a discussion and examples of dislocation. It is difficult, if at all possible, to shift a heavy direct object. 1.13.2.3 Adverb phrases Long adverb phrases can be optionally shifted to the front of
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Page 129 the sentence but not to the end of the sentence. (517) ba caqu-i ke madærbozorg-æm with knife-DEM that grandmother-1S.PC be-hem dad-e bud sæbzi-o () to-1S.PC gave-PSPT was vegetable-OM () xurd--kærd-æm chop--did-1S ‘With the knife that my grandmother had given me I chopped the vegetables.’ 1.14 OTHER MOVEMENT RULES 1.14.1 Scrambling Scrambling of constituents preceding the predicate applies freely in both main and subordinate clauses in Persian. All scrambled results are grammatical and are semantically (truth value) equal. However, as we have seen in Sections 1.11 and 1.12, movement of elements is not without pragmatic consequences or implications. The utterances in (518), (519) and (520) provide three examples of scrambling. In example (a) the PP (be mind) has moved to the left of the subject, in (519) the object (gol-ra) has moved to the left of the subject, and in (520) both the direct object and the PP have moved to precede the subject. Other combinations are also allowable. (518) be Mina mæn gol-ra dad-æm to Mina I flower-OM gave-1S ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ (519) gol-ra mæn be Mina dad-æm flower-OM I to Mina gave-1S ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ (520) gol-ra be mina mæn dad-æm flower-OM to Mina I gave-1S ‘I gave the flowers to Mina.’ 1.14.2 Postposing As we have already seen in Section 1.11, elements may be postposed to sentence-final position. In sentence (521), in addition to
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Page 130 scrambling, the prepositional phrase is postposed. (521) gol-ra mæn dad-æm be Mina flower-OM I gave-1S to Mina ‘I gave the flower to Mina.’ 1.14.3 Verb-preposing Verb-preposing is limited to main clauses. In example (522) the verb has moved to the left of the subject. Example (523) shows verb-preposing and scrambling. (522) dad-æm mæn be Mina gol-ra gave-1S I to Mina flower-OM ‘I did give the flower to Mina.’ (523) gol-ra dad-æm mæn be Mina flower-OM gave-1S I to Mina ‘The flower, I gave to Mina.’ 1.15 MINOR SENTENCE TYPES 1.15.1 Exclamatory/interjectional Exclamations and interjections are often one- or two-word utterances which convey negative or positive surprise, physical pain, regret, etc. (see Section 4.2 for examples of various interjections). (524) ce æjæb what strange ‘What a surprise!’ (525) ax ouch ‘Ouch!’ 1.15.2 Vocatives Vocative utterances do not have subjects or verbs. They are typically formed with a vocative particle followed by the addressee. For further examples and discussion see Section 2.1.1.4.28 on vocatives.
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page_131 ya oh ‘Oh, God!’
ey oh ‘Oh, destiny!’
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ællah God ruzegar destiny
1.15.3 Elliptical Ellipted constructions are usually uttered as a response, unless they are a result of deletion under identity, as, for instance, in coordinate constructions. (528) A: šir xærid-i? milk bought-2S ‘Did you buy milk?’ B: xærid-æm bought-1S ‘(Yes) I bought (it).’ Speaker B can also simply respond with are ‘yes’. Additionally, in some routinized social contexts ellipted forms are permissible: (529) æz in tæræf lotfæn from this side please ‘This way please.’ 1.16 WORD CLASSES 1.16.1 Noun Among the criteria which help identify nouns are: 1) They inflect for singular or plural number 2) They can take determiners 3) They can occur as subject, objects, complement 4) They can take the particles -ra and -e 5) They can occur as the first element in a compound verb 6) They can be modified by adjectives in a N+ezafe+adjective
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Page 132 construction 7) They can be preceded by superlative adjective 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood 9) They canonically occur before the verb 10) They belong to an open class 1.16.2 Pronoun Among the criteria which help identify pronouns are: 1) Singular and plural forms are separate lexical items 2) They do not take determiners 3) They can occur as subject, objects, complement 4) They can take the particle -ra but not -e 5)They do not occur in compound verbs 6) They cannot be modified 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood 9) They canonically occur before the verb 10) They belong to a closed class 1.16.3 Verb Among the criteria which help identify verbs are: 1) They do not take singular or plural but rather are marked to agree with the person and number of the subject 2) They do not take determiners 3) They take subjects, objects complements, adjectives, adverbials as arguments 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They do not conjoin as compound verbs 6) They are modified by adverbials 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives 8) They inflect for tense/aspect, mood 9) They are canonically sentence-final 10) They belong to an open class 1.16.4 Adjective Among the criteria which help identify adjectives are:
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Page 133 1) They do not take number marking 2) They do not take determiners 3) They follow the nouns they attributively modify with an intervening ezafe 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They can appear as the first element in a compound verb 6) They are modified by adverbs 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives but can occur in superlative and comparative forms 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood 9) They canonically occur before the verb 10) They belong to an open class 1.16.5 Preposition Among the criteria which help identify prepositions are: 1) They do not take number marking 2) They do not take determiners 3) They precede the nouns they govern 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They do not occur in compound verbs 6) They are not modified 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood 9) They canonically occur in phrases that precede the verb 10) They belong to a closed class 1.16.6 Number and quantifier Number Among the criteria which help identify numbers are: 1) They do not take number marking but may cause the noun to take a plural inflection 2) They do not take determiners 3) They precede the nouns they quantify and do not use the ezafe 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They do not occur in compound verbs 6) They are not modified 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives
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Page 134 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood but they may take classifiers 9) They canonically occur in phrases that precede the verb and occur between the determiner and the noun 10) They belong to an quasi-open class Among the criteria which help identify quantifiers other than numbers are: 1) They do not take number marking but cause the noun they quantify to be in the plural 2) They do not take determiners 3) They precede the nouns they quantify with an interceding ezafe 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They do not occur in compound verbs 6) They are not modified 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood but they may take classifiers 9) They canonically occur in phrases that precede the verb, placed between the determiner and the noun 10) They belong to a closed class 1.16.7 Pronominal clitic Among the criteria which help identify pronominal clitics are: 1) Singular and plural forms are separate items 2) They do not take determiners 3) They are suffixed directly to the nouns, verbs and prepositions with which they are used and do not call for the ezafe 4) They do not take the particles -ra and -e 5) They do not occur in compound verbs 6) They are not modified 7) They cannot be preceded by superlative adjectives 8) They do not inflect for tense/aspect, mood and do not take classifiers 9) They canonically occur in phrases that precede the verb 10) They belong to a closed class
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Page 135 MORPHOLOGY 2.1. INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY 2.1.1 Noun inflection 2.1.1.1 Expressing syntactic/semantic functions of noun phrases Both the syntactic and semantic functions of the noun phrase are expressed through word order, which is, with few exceptions, SOV (see Sections 1.2.1.1.1.3 Section 1.2.1.2.5–6 on constituent order) and prepositions (see Section 2.1.1.5). Also, an important cooccurrence of definiteness, topicality, specificity and accusative case is expressed through the particle -ra (and its phonetic variants -o and -ro ). See Sections 2.1.1.2.4.2 and 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a more detailed discussion of -ra. 2.1.1.2 Expressions of syntactic functions 2. 1.1.2.1–2 Subject of the intransitive or transitive verb Persian is a nominative-accusative language. The subjects of both transitive and intransitive verbs are unmarked for case. No morphological distinction exists between agentive and nonagentive subjects. The verb, via inflections, typically agrees with number and person of the animate subject. Plural inanimate subjects may take singular inflections on the verb.
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Page 136 Intransitive verb (1) dær baz--šod door open--became ‘The door opened.’ Transitive verb (2) to livan-o šikæst-i you glass-OM broke-2S ‘You broke the glass.’ Inanimate subject (3) cæmedun-a tu-ye mašin-e suitcase-PL in-EZ car-is ‘The suitcases are in the car.’ (4) cæmedun-a tu-ye mašin-ænd suitcase-PL in-EZ car-are ‘The suitcases are in the car.’ 2.1.1.2.3 Subject of copular construction The subject of a copular construction is treated like the subject of any other verb. 2.1.1.2.4 Direct object Three main strategies are used to indicate a noun is the object of the verb: 1) word order, 2) the use of the direct definite object particle -ra and 3) pronominal clitics that are suffixed to the verb. 2.1.1.2.4.1 Word order With the canonical SOV order of basic Persian sentences, the second constituent of the clause immediately preceding the verb is interpreted as the object. Although an NP-V sequence, by itself, can be interpreted as either (S)OV or SV, the transitive/intransitive nature of the verb helps the hearer determine the NP’s role. Additionally, subject-verb agreement provides information regarding the grammatical function of the NP. When the NP does not
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Page 137 agree in number with the V, it usually indicates that the subject has been dropped and that, therefore, the NP is an object. SV (5) piruz oftad Piruz fell ‘Piruz fell.’ OV (6) šam xord dinner ate ‘She ate dinner.’ SOV (7) ye morqabi did-ænd one duck saw-3P ‘They saw a duck.’ In sentences containing a direct object, although there is variation between (S) O IO V and (S) IO O V word orders, there is little potential for confusion since indirect objects and other oblique arguments are typically headed by prepositions. Also see Sections 2.1.1.2.5 and 1.2.1.2.5. (8) tu-ye park ahu did-ænd in park deer saw-3P ‘They saw deer in the park.’ 2.1.1.2.4.2 Direct object marker Indefinite and generic objects do not take any marking to indicate accusative case. (Note also that generic nouns are not marked for plural.) (9) behruz yek sib xord Behruz one apple ate ‘Behruz ate an apple.’ (10) behruz sib xord Behruz apple ate ‘Behruz ate (some) apples.’
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Page 138 Definite direct objects are marked with the particle -ra or one of its phonetic variants -ro and -o . See 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion of -ra.) We use the abbreviation “OM” to indicate the definite direct object marker. (11) behruz sib-o xord Behruz apple-OM ate ‘Behruz ate the apple.’ 2.1.1.2.4.3 Pronominal clitics Persian has a set of pronominal clitics which when suffixed to the verb refer to a definite direct object Table 2.1 lists the pronominal clitics. As indicated in Table 2.1, the endings have two forms, vowel-initial and consonant-initial. When a stem ends in a vowel, the clitic must start with a consonant; when the stem ends in a consonant the clitic begins with a vowel. (See Sections 3.4.4.1.5 on vowel deletion and Section 3.4.4.2.1 on e-insertion.) Table 2.1 Pronominal clitics SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm/-m ‘me’ -emun/-mun ‘us’ SECOND PERSON -et/-t ‘you’ -etun/-tun ‘you’ THIRD PERSON -eš/-š ‘her, him, it’ -ešun/-šun ‘them’ The object clitic follows the agreement inflection on the verb. We designate the pronominal clitics as “PC”. (12) did-i-š? saw-2S-3S.PC ‘Did you see it?’ In the case of compound verbs the pronominal clitic may be either suffixed to the first element in the compound or placed after the verbal inflections.
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komæk-eš--kærd-æm help-3S.PC--did-1S ‘I helped her/him.’ (14) komæk--kærd-æm-eš help--did-1S-3S.PC ‘I helped her/him.’ The pronominal clitic which marks the direct object does not necessarily replace the free direct object. The free noun or pronoun direct object can cooccur with the appropriate pronominal clitic on the verb. In example (15), naser is the direct object marked with -ra. In addition, the third person singular pronominal clitic -eš is attached to the verb. The double appearance of the object as free noun or pronoun and as a clitic is a common colloquial structure and does not appear to serve any function of stress or emphasis. (15) naser-o komæk-eš--kærd-æm Nasser-OM help-3S.PC--did-1S ‘I helped her/him.’ It should be noted that these clitics are also used as noun suffixes to indicate possession (see Section 2.1.1.4.6–7). Additionally, they attach to prepositions to make personal prepositional forms. In these cases the clitic refers to oblique objects (see 2.1.5.3). In a more limited application, attached to a generic direct object, the third person clitics may be used to indicate the indirect object. See Section 2.1.1.2.5 below. 2.1.1.2.5 Indirect object The indirect object of a sentence is generally marked with a preposition such as be ‘to’. The indirect object typically follows the direct object, although it can precede the direct object for focus. (16) pul-o be ma dad money-OM to us gave ‘He gave the money to us.’ (17) be ma pul-o dad to us money-OM gave ‘He gave us the money.’
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Page 140 The indirect object may in some cases be indicated by a pronominal clitic on the direct object, if the direct object is generic. Compare examples (18) and (19). (18) be u sæm dad-æm to him poison gave-1S ‘I gave him poison.’ (19) sæm-eš dad-æm poison-3S.PC gave-1S ‘I gave him poison.’ 2.1.1.2.6 Object of comparison The object of comparison is indicated by the preposition æz ‘from’. (20) in mehmunxune æz un yeki gerun-tær-e this hotel from that one expensive-COMPR-is ‘This hotel is more expensive than that one.’ 2.1.1.2.7 Object of equation The most common words to indicate the object of equation are mesl ‘same’ and manænd ‘like’. Both are followed by the ezafe (see Section 1.2.5.2.10 on the ezafe) and the object of comparison. (21) in mašin mesl-e un mašin-e. this car same-EZ that car-is ‘This car is like that car.’ (22) in heyvun manænd-e æsb-e this animal like-EZ horse-is ‘This animal is like a horse.’ Other less common forms in equative constructions, used primarily in written Persian, are co, con, cenin and cenan, all meaning ‘like, same’. 2.1.1.2.8 Other objects governed by verbs The direct object is the only case unambiguously governed by
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Page 141 the verb. Cases other than direct objects are governed by prepositions: (23) ba šohær-æm ræft-æm paris with husband-1S.PC went-1S Paris ‘I went to Paris with my husband.’ (24) namæ-ro ba medad nevešt letter-OM with pencil wrote ‘She wrote the letter with a pencil.’ Some locatives and allatives may seem to be verb-governed since no preposition appears. These prepositionless cases are variants of prepositional phrases. In (25) and (26) the preposition is optional. (25) (dær) nyu york kar--mi-kon-æm (in) New York work--DUR-do-1S ‘I work in New York.’ (26) ræft-ænd (be) lændæn went-3P (to) London ‘They went to London.’ 2. 1. 1.2.9 Complement of copular construction The complement of a copular verb immediately precedes the copula, with no preposition interceding. No morphological device distinguishes identity, role and defining copular complements. (27) Identity un mærd aqa-ye mæsudi-ye that man Mr.-EZ Masudi-is ‘That man is Mr. Masudi.’ (28) Role un xanum ostad-e that woman professor-is ‘That woman is a professor.’ (29) Defining un mærd xeyli aqa-st that man very man-is ‘That man is a real gentleman.’
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Page 142 Other copular verbs include šodæn ‘to become’, which also takes a nominal complement to its left. (30) (u) ræ’is-e diparteman šod (she/he) head-EZ department became ‘She became head of the department.’ 2.1.1.2.10 Subject complement A subject complement is indicated by a prepositional phrase headed by be ‘to’. The PP typically follows the subject and precedes the verb. Unlike allative be-phrases, this type of be-phrase cannot be moved to sentence-final position. (See Sections 1.2.1.1.1.3, 1.2.4 and 2.1.1.5.1 on constituent order.) (31) mæn be onvan-e ræ’is-e diparteman I to title-EZ head-EZ department entexab--sod-æm choose--became-1S ‘I was chosen as head of the department.’ 2.1.1.2.11 Object complement No morphological marking is used to indicate the object complement. (32) u-ra ræ’isjomhur kærd-ænd he/she-OM president made-3P ‘They made him/her president.’ 2.1.1.2.12 Objects governed by adjectives Some adjectives may take a prepositional phrase which includes the “object” of the adjective. (33) færzad ba heyvun-o bæcce xub-e Farzad with animal-and child good-is ‘Farzad is good with animals and children.’ (34) mina raje be kar-eš negæran-e Mina about to work-3S.PC worried-is ‘Mina is worried about her job.’
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Page 143 2.1.1.2.13 Agent in passive construction The passive construction is used in spoken Persian when one does not know who the agent is or does not want to mention the agent. Thus, Persian passives are typically agentless. The passive is formed with the past participle followed by the verb šodæn ‘to become’ or xordæn ‘to receive/to eat’. In the case of compound verbs formed with kærdæn ‘to do’, often the active-voice kærdæn portion of the compound become šodæn in the passive. In the case of many zædæn- and dadæn-compounds, the zædæn/dadæn part of the compound becomes xordæn in the passive. For example, the verb razi kærdæn ‘to satisfy’ becomes razi šodæn in the passive; gul zædæn ‘to deceive’ becomes gul xordæn ‘to be deceived’. (35) košt-e mi-š-i killed-PSPT DUR-become-2S ‘You will get killed.’ (36) angoštær-æm dozdid-e šod ring-1S.PC stole-PSPT became ‘My ring was stolen.’ While it is awkward to mention the agent, it is sometimes done in literary or formal language or in describing technical procedures, with any of several phrases preceding the agent: be væsile-ye ‘by means of, (be) tævæssote ‘by (the intermediary of), æz tæræf-e ‘on the part of’, be dæst-e ‘by (the hands of)’. (37) musiqi-ye æsil be-tævæssote aqa-ye music-EZ traditional by Mr.-EZ mehran ænjam mi-šævæd Mehran accomplish become ‘Traditional music will be performed by Mr. Mehran.’ Also see Section 1.6.5.15–16 on the use of reflexives as passive agents. 2.1.1.2.14 Topic Persian does not typically mark the topic morphologically. However, as explained in 2.1.1.10.1.2, -ra, which is used for the most
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Page 144 part to indicate a definite direct object, sometimes is used to topicalize various arguments including those other than direct objects. See Section 1.12 for a discussion on topicalization. 2.1.1.2.15 Emphasized elements Elements are emphasized through stress, movement, clefting, etc. See Section 1.11 for details. 2.1.1.3 Syntactic functions in relation to nonfinite and nominalized verb forms Infinitival forms are used in some constructions such as the ingressive aspect (see Sections 2.1.3.3.2.1.6 and 2.1.3.5). The infinitive is also used in certain nominal constructions as shown in the following examples, in which the infinitives are used the same way as gerunds are in English. The subject of an infinitive verb is expressed as either a pronominal clitic attached to the end of the infinitive or as a noun or pronoun in a genitive construction with the ezafe. In example (38) the subject appears as a first person pronominal clitic. In example (39) the subject is indicated with a second person pronominal clitic. (38) xorxor--kærdæn-æm to-ro æziyæt--mi-kon-e? snore--to do-1S.PC you-OM bother--DUR-do-3S ‘Does my snoring bother you?’ (39) xorxor--kærdæn-et-o dust--næ-dar-æm snore--to do-2S.PC-OM like--NEG-have-1S ‘I don’t like your snoring.’ In example (40) the nominal subject of an infinitival verb is indicated via the ezafe construction. The subject of xorxor kærdæn ‘to snore’ is zænæm ‘my wife’, which is connected to the infinitive by an ezafe. (40) xorxor--kærdæn-e zæn-æm mæn-o snore--to do-EZ wife-1S.PC me-OM æziyæt--ne-mi-kon-e bother--NEG-DUR-do-3S ‘My wife’s snoring doesn’t bother me.’
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Page 145 A pronominal subject of an infinitive is indicated with an ezafe followed by a personal pronoun, a pronominal clitic attached to the infinitive or a reflexive pronoun. Example (41) is the same as example (40) except that the third person personal pronoun u is used instead of zænæm ‘my wife’. (41) xorxor--kærdæn-e u mæn-o snore--to do-EZ her me-OM æziyæt--ne-mi-kon-e bother--NEG-DUR-do-3S ‘Her snoring doesn’t bother me.’ In example (42) the subject of the infinitive is a reflexive pronoun which follows the infinitive in an ezafe construction. (42) xorxor--kærdæn-e xod-eš bižæn-o snore--to do-EZ self-3S.PC-OM Bijan-OM narahæt--mi-kon-e upset--DUR-do-3S ‘His own snoring bothers Bijan.’ When the subject of an infinitive is not indicated, it is assumed to be generic. (43) xorxor--kærdæn mæn-o æziyæt--mi-kon-e snore--to do me-OM bother--DUR-do-3S ‘Snoring bothers me.’ Direct objects of infinitives are indicated as with finite verbs. They are indicated with the object marker if the direct object is definite. In example (44) abejow-t ‘your beer’ is the definite direct object of the infinitive xordæn ‘to drink’. (44) abejow-t-o xordæn-æm to-ro æziyæt--kærd? beer-2S.PC-OM to drink-1S.PC you-OM bother--did “Did my drinking your beer bother you?’ Generic objects of infinitives are not marked. (45) abejow xordæn-æm to-ro æziyæt--mi-kon-e? beer to drink-1S.PC you-OM bother--DUR-do-3S “Does my drinking beer bother you?’
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Page 146 Infinitives do not seem to take indefinite direct objects. Example (46) sounds awkward. (46) ?ye abejow xordæn-æm to-ro æziyæt--mi-kon-e? a beer to drink-1S.PC you-OM bother--DUR-do-3S “Does my drinking a beer bother you?’ All types of adjuncts can appear with infinitives as they do with finite verbs. Example (47) shows an adverb of manner and example (48) shows an adverb of time. (47) tond-tær kar--kærdæn-æm komæk-et--mi-kon-e? fast-COMPR work--to do-1S.PC help-2S.PC--DUR-do-3S ‘Does my working faster help you?’ (48) hær ruz xunæ-ro tæmiz--kærdæn-æm every day house-OM clean--to do-1S.PC komæk-et--mi-kon-e? help-2S.PC--DUR-do-3S ‘Does my cleaning the house every day help you?’ Also, as in finite clauses, the adverb can appear in different places. Example (49) is like example (50) except that the adverb immediately precedes the verb. (49) xunæ-ro hær ruz tæmiz--kærdæn-æm house-OM every day clean--to do-1S.PC komæk-et--mi-kon-e? help-2S.PC--DUR-do-3S ‘Does my cleaning the house every day help you?’ Like other nominals, infinitives can be put into ezafe constructions and function as subject complements. In example (50), bæcce-ha ‘the children’ is the subject, budænd ‘were’ is the main verb and the complement is the adjectiveinfinitive construction mæšqul-e bazi kærdæn ‘busy playing’. (50) bæcce-ha mæšqul-e bazi--kærdæn bud-ænd child-PL busy-EZ play--to do were-3P ‘The children were busy playing.’
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Page 147 2.1.1.4 Means of expressing nonlocal semantic functions 2.1.1.4.1 Benefactives Benefactive is expressed with the preposition bæra-ye ‘for’. (51) in gol-a-ro bæra-ye to gereft-æm this flower-PL-OM for you got-1S ‘I got these flowers for you.’ A less frequent benefactive construction uses bexatere, ‘for/for the sake of. (52) in mehmuni-o bexatere mina dad-æm this party-OM for mina gave-1S ‘I gave this party for Mina.’ 2.1.1.4.2 Source Source is expressed by the preposition æz ‘from’. (53) mašin-o æz garaž birun ovord car-OM from garage out brought ‘She took the car out of the garage.’ (54) diruz æz æmu-m name resid yesterday from uncle-1S.PC letter arrived ‘Yesterday a letter arrived from my uncle.’ (55) dæstbænd-o æz šohær-æm gereft-æm bracelet-OM from husband-1S.PC got-1S ‘I got the bracelet from my husband.’ In some cases mal-e ‘property of may be used to express source. (56) in gæz mal-e esfahan-e this gaz (a kind of candy) property-EZ Esfahan-is ‘This gaz is from Esfahan.’ 2.1.1.4.3 Instrumentality Persian indicates instrumentality with the preposition ba
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Page 148 ‘with’ and sometimes with the preposition bevæsile-ye ‘by means of. (57) pænjere-ro ba ajor šikæst window-OM with brick broke ‘She broke the window with a brick.’ (58) cetor-e ba mašin be nyu york be-r-im how-(it)-is with car to New York SBJN-go-1P ‘Why don’t we travel to New York by car?’ (59) dær-e qæsr bevæsile-ye kilid-e ahæni baz--šod door-EZ castle by means of key-EZ iron open--became ‘The castle door was opened with an iron key.’ (60) pul-e bilit-a-ro bevæsile-ye cek money-EZ ticket-PL-OM by means of check dad-æm gave-1S ‘I paid for the tickets with a check.’ Negative instrumentality is expressed by bi or bedun-e, both meaning ‘without’. (61) dær-o bedun-e kilid baz kærd door-OM without-EZ key open did ‘He opened the door without a key.’ (62) bi mašin hickar ne-mi-š-e--kærd without car nothing NEG-DUR-did ‘Without a car one can’t do anything.’ 2.1.1.4.4 Comitative In addition to instrumentality, ba is used for the comitative function. (63) ba mæryæm ræft-æm tehran with Maryam went-1S Tehran ‘I went to Tehran with Maryam.’ Negative comitativity is expressed with the preposition bedun-e ‘without’.
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Page 149 (64) bedun-e bæcce-ha šam xord-im without child-PL dinnerate-1P ‘We ate dinner without the children.’ 2.1.1.4.5 Circumstance The preposition ba is used to express circumstance. (65) doxtær-i ba cešm-a-ye badum-i vared--šod girl-IND with eye-PL-EZ almond-ATTR enter-became ‘A girl with almond-shaped eyes entered.’ 2. 1.1 4.6–7 Possessive The genetive relationship can be expressed by three means: the use of suffixed pronominal clitics; the ezafe construction with personal pronouns, nouns or reflexives; and the use of mal-e ‘property of. mal-e is used for alienable property. The others are used for either alienable or inalienable possession. None of the three distinguishes temporary from permanent possession or past from present possession. See Section 1.10 on possession and Section 1.2.5.2.3, 1.6.7 and 2.1.2.4.7 on reflexives used to show possession. Pronominal clitics The pronominal clitic paradigm, presented in Section 2.1.1.2.4.3, is repeated in Table 2.2 for convenience. The phonetic variation in the clitic forms is explained with table 2.1. Table 2.2 Pronominal clitics SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm/-m ‘me’ -emun/-mun ‘us’ SECOND PERSON -et/-t ‘you’ -etun/-tun ‘you’ THIRD PERSON -eš/-š ‘her, him, it’ -ešun/-šun ‘them’ (66) pedær-æm father-1S.PC ‘my father’
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Page 150 (67)
bini-š nose-3S.PC ‘his nose’ (68) mænzel-emun house-1P.PC ‘our house’ (69) pa-ha-šun foot-PL-3P.PC ‘their feet’ As with the personal pronouns, the plural clitic forms in the second and third persons are used to indicate plural as well as singular referents. See Section 2.1.2.1.2. In examples ( )a and ( )b -tun and -šun can be interpreted as either plural or polite singular. (70) xunæ-tun house-2P.PC ‘your (plural/singular) house’ (71) ruznamæ-šun newspaper-3P.PC ‘their/her/his newspaper’ The ezafe construction An alternative to forming possessives with the clitic suffixes is the use of the ezafe construction: POSSESSED+EZAFE+POSSESSOR. The possessor can be any NP, including a personal pronoun or reflexive pronoun. Neither possessor nor possessed is otherwise morphologically marked. See Section 1.2.5.2.10 for a detailed discussion of the ezafe construction. (72) dom-e gorbe tail-EZ cat ‘the cat’s tail’
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doxtær-e mæn daughter-EZ I ‘my daughter’ (74) dæftær-e xod-eš office-EZ self-3S.PC ‘his office’ It should be noted that ezafe has other uses. In example (75) the first ezafe, suffixed to hæyat, connects the noun hæyat to its modifier, qæšæng. The second ezafe serves to indicate possession. (75) hæyat-e qæšæng-e hæmsaye courtyard-EZ pretty-EZ neighbor ‘the neighbor’s pretty courtyard’ mal-e construction mal-e ‘property of indicates alienable possession and is typically used in a copular construction. (76) un dæstkeš-a mal-e to-e that glove-PL property of you-is ‘Those gloves are yours.’ 2.1.1.4.8 Quality Quality is expressed with an ezafe-adjective construction. The preposition bi ‘without’ can be used in some cases to express negative qualities, shown in examples (79) and (80). (77) zæn-e xošbin woman-EZ optimistic ‘an optimistic woman’ (78) mærd-e sæbur man-EZ patient ‘a patient man’ (79) šæxs-e bi vojdan person-EZ without conscience ‘a person without a conscience’
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qazi-ye judge-EZ ‘a merciless judge’
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ræhm mercy
2.1.1.4.9 Quantity 2.1.1.4.9.1 Quantification of count nouns Quantity for count nouns is indicated by a numeral optionally followed by the classifier -ta . The use of -ta is preferred in spoken Persian while used infrequently in the written language. (81) do-ta ketab two-CL book ‘two books’ (82) do ketab two book ‘two books’ The marker -ha is used to mark plural specific noun phrases. Thus, generic and numerically quantified nonspecific NPs are not marked with the plural suffix. Contrast sentences (83) and (84) with (85). The last is ungrammatical because the plural -ha suffix has been inappropriately applied to a nonspecific noun. (83) do-ta ketab ru-ye miz-e two-CL book on-EZ table-is ‘There are two books on the table.’ (Nonspecific) (84) do-ta ketab-ha ru-ye miz-e two-CL book-PL on-EZ table-is ‘The two books are on the table.’ (Specific) (85) *do-ta ketab-ha ru-ye miz-e two-CL book-PL on-EZ table-is ‘There are two books on the table.’ (Nonspecific) 2.1.1.4.9.2 Quantification of noncount nouns Quantification of noncount nouns may be expressed by a numeral followed by a unit of measure. The classifier -ta is not used
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Page 153 with units of measure. Hence, example (87) is ungrammatical. (86) bist kilu berenj twenty kilo rice ‘twenty kilos of rice’ (87) *bist-ta kilu berenj twenty-CL kilo rice ‘twenty kilos of rice’ 2.1.1.4.9.3 Quantification in attributive constructions In order to form an attributive construction, the NP comprises the following sequence: UNIT+QUANTIFIER+ATTRIBUTIVE SUFFIX. (88) kisse-ye pænj kilu-i sack-EZ five kilo-ATTR ‘a five-kilo sack’ (89) lamp-e cel vat-i lightbulb-EZ forty watt-ATTR ‘a forty-watt lightbulb’ (90) mosabeqe-ye do-e sæd metr-i competition-EZ run-EZ 100 meter-ATTR ‘a 100-meter race’ Other frequently used quantity words are geræm ‘gram’, litr ‘liter’ and kilometr ‘kilometer’. 2.1.1.4.10 Material Like other adjective forms, material is expressed via the ezafe construction. Adjectives of material are derived by suffixing the attributive -i to some nouns. (91) xune-ye aj or-i house-EZ brick-ATTR ‘a brick house’
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angoštær-e tæla-i ring-EZ gold-ATTR ‘a gold ring’ A more literary attributive suffix used to refer to material is— in. Besides being literary, its use is further restricted to a small number of materials. (93) sændoq-e cub-in chest-EZ wood-ATTR ‘a wooden chest’ (94) dæstbænd-e zærr-in bracelet-EZ gold-ATTR ‘a golden bracelet’ As for negative material, it seems possible to use bi ‘without’, but the result sounds awkward. (95) ? xune-ye bi ajor house-EZ bi ajor ‘a brickless house’ 2.1.1.4.11 Manner Manner is typically expressed by the placement of an adjective or adverb in a preverbal position. (96) mæhin tond mi-do-e Mahin fast DUR-run-3S ‘Mahin runs fast.’ (97) æli qæšæng mi-ræqs-e Ali pretty DUR-dance-3S ‘Ali dances nicely.’ A second way to express manner through the use of the construction be tor-e ‘in a manner’, followed by an adjective. Syntactically, this is probably best analyzed as a phrase headed by the preposition be: ( be+( tor+EZAFE+ADJECTIVE)NP)PP
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Page 155 (98) šiva be-tor-e molayem ba mina sohbæt--kærd Shiva in a manner gentle with Mina talk--did ‘Fariborz spoke in a gentle manner with Mina.’ Another prepositional strategy for expressing manner is to use the preposition ba ‘with’. (99) dana ba sor’æt æz pellekan bala ræft Dana with speed from staircase up went ‘Dana climbed the stairs quickly.’ A fourth way to show manner is with the present participle (present root+-an). (100) pæri læbxænd--zænan vared--šod Pari smile--strike.PRPT enter--became ‘Pari smilingly entered.’ The preposition bi ‘without’ is commonly used with a noun to produce a negative prepositional phrase of manner. (101) bi seda without sound ‘noiselessly’ (102) bi hærekæt without motion ‘motionlessly’ But it is important to mention that seda cannot be used by itself as a positive adverbial of manner. Rather, the corresponding positive adverbial is ba seda ‘with noise’. 2.1.1.4.12 Cause Cause may be expressed in a number of ways: through the use of the conjunctions be dælil-e ‘for the reason/because’, be ellæt-e ‘for the reason/because’ and con ‘because’. (103) be dælil-e bærf jade-ha-ra bæst-ænd because-EZ snow road-PL-OM close-3P ‘Because of snow they closed the roads.’
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be ellæt-e bi xab-i mæriz šod because-EZ without-sleep-ATTR sick became ‘Because of a lack of sleep he got sick.’ (105) con mæriz bud mund xune because sick was stayed home ‘Because she was sick she stayed home.’ 2.1.1.4.13 Purpose Purpose is indicated by the preposition bæra-ye ‘for.’ (106) bæra-ye xæridæn-e lebas hæmiše mi-r-e šikago for buying-EZ clothes always DUR-go-3S Chicago ‘She always goes to Chicago to buy clothes.’ (107) bæra-ye šam juje dorost--kærd-æm for dinner chicken made--did-1S ‘I made chicken for dinner.’ 2.1.1.4.14 Function The compound preposition be onvan-e is used to show function. (108) mi-tun -i miz-o be onvan-e DUR- be able-2S table-OM for bed tæxt estefade--kon-i bed use--do-2S ‘You can use the table as a bed.’ 2.1.1.4.15 Reference Reference is shown with the prepositions rajebe and dærbare-ye, both meaning ‘about’. (109) roman-ha-ye mæhfuz rajebe zendegi novel-PL-EZ Mahfouz about life dær mesr hæst-ænd in Egypt be-3P ‘Mahfouz’s novels are about life in Egypt.’
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dærbare-ye ci hærf--mi-zæn-id? about what speak--DUR-strike-2P ‘What will you be talking about?’ 2.1.1.4.16 Essive There is no simple morphological means to express essive in Persian. A clause must be used. (111) væqt-i-ke bæcce bud-æm tehran time-DEM-that child was-1S Tehran zendegi--mi-kærd-æm life--DUR-did-1S ‘When I was a child I lived in Tehran.’ When the essive also indicates purpose, be onvan-e ‘for the purpose of is used. (112) be onvan-e danešju emrika bud-æm for the purpose student America was-1S ‘I was in America as a student.’ 2.1.1.4.17 Translative The phrase be onvan-e ‘for the purpose of can be used to show translativity. (113) be onvan-e ræ’is-e diparteman for the purpose of head-EZ department entexab--šod chosen--became ‘She was chosen as head of the department.’ 2.1.1.4.18 Part-whole The relationship between the part and the whole is commonly expressed by either the ezafe construction in its genitive function or the word qesmæt-e ‘portion’. (114) dæst-e mæryæm hand-EZ Maryam ‘Maryam’s hand’
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dær-e door-EZ ‘the car door’ qesmæt-e part-EZ ‘the last part of the film’
mašin car axær-e film last-EZ film
2.1.1.4.19 Partitive 2.1.1.4.19.1–2 Partitive numeral Persian distinguishes between a partitive and nonpartitive sense. Partitives indicating a numeric portion of a group use æz ‘from’. (117) do-ta æz bæcce-ha two-CL from child-PL ‘two of the children’ Note that in a partitive numeral construction such as (117) the number classifier -ta is obligatory, as is the plural inflection on the NP. Compare example (117) with the nonpartitive example (118), where æz is not used and -ta is optional. (118) do-(ta) bæcce two-(CL) child ‘two children’ When quantifying a portion or portions of a noncount noun, a different construction is used: NUMERAL+PARTITIVE EXPRESSION+NP (119) ye tikke nun one piece bread ‘a piece of bread’ (120) ye kase mast a bowl yogurt ‘a bowl of yogurt’
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se litr šir three liter milk ‘three liters of milk’ 2.1.1.4.19.3–4 Partitive and nonpartitive quantifiers To show a partitive quantifier, an æz construction similar to that for partitive numerals is used with one of several quantifiers: cænd-ta ‘a number of, bæzi ‘some (count)’, edde-i ‘some (count, human)’, meqdar-i ‘some (noncount)’, cænd ædæd ‘some (noncount, inanimate)’. (122) cænd-ta/bæzi æz sib-a a number of/some from apple-PL ‘some of the apples’ (123) edde-i æz danešju-a some-IND from student-PL ‘some of the students’ (124) meqdar-i æz ab-e barun some-IND from water-EZ rain ‘some of the rainwater’ (125) cænd ædæd æz mašin-a some from car-PL ‘some of the cars’ Note that cænd-ta, eddei, meqdari and cænd ædæd become nonpartitive when used without æz and the plural marker on the NP. (126) cænd-ta sib a number of apple ‘some apples’ (127) edde-i danešju some-IND student ‘some students’ (128) meqdar-i ab-e barun some-IND water-EZ rain ‘some rainwater’
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cænd ædæd mašin some car ‘some cars’ When bæzi is used nonpartitively it is restricted to nonspecific references. (130) bæzi mærdom hicvæqt razi some people never satisfied nist-ænd NEG.be-3P ‘Some people are never satisfied.’ 2.1.1.4.19.5–6 Partitive and nonpartitive negative quantifier To show negative partitive with a count noun, the term hickodum (literally, ‘no/none which’) is used with the æz construction shown 2.1.1.4.19. (131) hic-kodum æz bæcce-ha none from child-PL ‘none of the children’ To show negative partitive with a noncount noun, the term hic ‘no/none’ is used. (132) hic ard nist none flour isn’t ‘There isn’t any flour.’ 2.1.1.4.20 Price To specify price paid for goods or services, Persian uses the preposition bæra-ye ‘for’ or the compound preposition be qeymæt-e ‘at the price of’. Another prepositional phrase, be bæha-ye ‘at the price of’, is also used for this purpose. (133) in færš-o bæra-ye hezar tomæn xærid-æm this rug-OM for 1,000 toman bought-1S ‘I bought this rug for 1,000 toman.’
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eynæk-æm-o be qeymæt-e sisæd tomæn glasses-1S.PC-OM at price of 300 toman xærid-æm bought- IS ‘I bought my glasses for 300 toman.’ (135) ceraq-o be bæha-ye divist tomæn xærid lamp-OM at the price of 200 toman bought ‘He bought the lamp for 200 toman.’ (136) qeymæt-e in kif sæd tomæn-e price-EZ this purse 100 toman-is ‘The price of this purse is 100 toman.’ 2.1.1.4.21 Value Value is expressed with the noun ærzeš ‘worth’ and its verbal derivation ærzidæn ‘to be worth’. (137) in mašin hici ærzeš næ-dar-e this car nothing worth NEG-have-3S ‘This car isn’t worth anything.’ (138) næsihæt-et xeyli ærzeš dar-e advice-2S.PC very value have-3S ‘Your advice is worth a lot.’ (139) cærx-et 500 tomæn ne-mi-ærz-e bike-2S.PC 500 toman NEG-DUR-be worth-3S ‘Your bike isn’t worth 500 toman.’ Another way to express value is by using the amount as an adjective and placing it after the item in an ezafe construction. (140) kotšælvar-e punsæd dolar-i suit-EZ 500 dollar-ATTR ‘a $500 suit’ 2.1.1.4.22 Distance Distance is typically conveyed without the use of any preposition.
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se kilometr three kilometers ‘We walked three miles.’
rah--ræft-im walk-went-1P
2.1.1.4.23 Extent Extent is denoted by a prepositional phrase headed by the preposition be ‘to’. The NP complement of be consists of a dimension word, modified by an amount expression. (142) estæxr-i be omq-e šiš metr pool-IND to depth-EZ six meter ‘a pool six meters deep’ (143) deræxt-i be qæd-e dæh metr tree-IND to height-EZ ten meter ‘a tree ten meters high’ When the dimension is understood, extent is indicated by simply modifying the nominal with a quantifying expression: (144) deræxt-e dæh metr-i tree-EZ ten meter-ATTR ‘a ten-meter tree’ (145) kisse-ye pænj kilo-i-ye berenj sack-EZ five kilogram-ATTR-EZ rice ‘a five-kilo sack of rice’ 2.1.1.4.24 Concessive Concessive clauses are introduced by ba inke ‘despite’ and bavajud-e inke ‘even though’. A noun phrase mentioned concessively is introduced by bavujud-e ‘despite, with the presence of. (146) ba inke barun mi-umæd ræft-im park despite rain DUR-came went-1S park ‘Despite the fact that it was raining we went to the park.’ (147) bavajud-e barun ræft-im park despite rain went-1S park ‘Despite the rain we went to the park.’
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Page 163 2.1.1.4.25 Inclusion Persian does not morphologically differentiate between inclusion and addition. Inclusion and addition are both indicated via the prepositional expression be ælave ‘in addition’. (148) hæmegi be ælave-ye æli everyone including/in addition-EZ Ali ‘everyone including/in addition to Ali’ 2.1.1.4.26 Exclusion Exclusion is indicated with the prepositional expression be qeyræz ‘except/excluding’. (149) hæmegi be qeyræz æli everyone except/excluding Ali ‘everyone except Ali’ 2.1.1.4.27 Addition See 2.1.1.4.25. 2.1.1.4.28 Vocatives Ordinarily, a vocative appears as a bare noun or pronoun. (150) maman kot-æm koja-st? mom jacket-1S.PC where-is ‘Mom, where’s my jacket?’ (151) to inja be-šin you here IMP-sit ‘You, sit here.’ Outside a few contexts, Persian does not use any vocative marker in everyday speech. However, two important uses of vocative markers are when addressing God or invoking divine assistance. Vocatives also appear in poetry. In these cases the vocative particle ey precedes the addressee. Vocative markers are not obligatory but are used for emphasis. Note that ey is used only with xoda, the native Persian word
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Page 164 for God, and not with the Arabic borrowing ællah. (152) ey xoda komæk-aem--kon Oh God help-1S.PC--do.IMP ‘God, help me.’ Another vocative marker is -a ( -ya after a vowel). (153) xoda-ya komæk-æm--kon God-oh help-1S.PC--do.IMP ‘Oh God, help me.’ Another vocative marker, used without making a direct request, is the free morpheme ya, the Arabic counterpart to the Persian vocative ey, loosely meaning ‘oh’. This vocative is used when seeking help or grace from God or Mohammed or one of Mohammed’s disciples. (154) ya ællah oh God ‘Oh, God’. (155) ya mohæmmæd oh Mohammed ‘Oh, Mohammed.’ Note that Persian uses the familiar kon verb form of the second person instead of the formal konid when addressing God. A few non-theological examples of the -a/-ya vocative do occur. They are oratorical and don’t appear in everyday speech. (156) šah-a king-oh ‘Oh, king!’ A poetic example from the 13th century poet Sæ’di uses the vocative when giving advice to the reigning monarch. (157) ey ke dæst-æt mi-res-æd kar-i bo-kon Oh that hand-2S.PC DUR-reach-3S work-IND SBJN-do ‘Oh you who are able to do something’
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Page 165 2.1.1.4.29–30 Citation and label forms No special citation or label forms exist. The unmarked form of the noun is used. Note, however, that Persian speakers use a formal form, if it is distinct from the colloquial, when referring to words as lexical items. For example, in conversation it is normal to refer to the capital of Iran as [tehrun] or even [terun]. But if asked what the capital of Iran is, a speaker is likely to enunciate [tehran]. Some of the characteristics that distinguish colloquial pronunciation from formal forms are: h-deletion, glottal deletion and the pronunciation of [un] instead of [an]. See Section 3.4.4.1 on these and other phonological rules. 2.1.1.5 Local semantic functions Local semantic functions are expressed by prepositions. 2.1.1.5.1 General location At Rest Persian does not use a preposition for the function ‘at’. Rather, the location is used without a preposition. (158) maman mædrese-st mom school-is ‘Mom is at school.’ When referring to “permanent” location with some verbs such as ‘to live’ and ‘to work’, the preposition dær ‘in’ is optional. (159) behruz dær nyu york zendegi--mi-kon-e Behruz in New York life--DUR-do-3S ‘Behruz lives in New York.’ (160) behruz nyu york zendegi--mi-kon-e Behruz New York life--DUR-do-3S ‘Behruz lives in New York.’ Motion To ‘Motion to’ is expressed with the preposition be ‘to’, which is
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Page 166 optional. Compare example (161) with be and (162) without be. (161) bæcce-ha be mædrese ræft-ænd child-PL to school went-3P ‘The children went to school.’ (162) bæcce-ha mædrese ræft-ænd child-PL school went-3P ‘The children went to school.’ It should be mentioned that the examples (161) and (162) use a less common word order for ‘motion to’ in spoken Persian. The function of ‘motion to’ presents one of the few exceptions to verb-final word order in Persian. The postposed allative, with or without be, is preferred in spoken Persian. (163) bæcce-ha ræft-ænd be mædrese child-PL went-3P to school ‘The children went to school.’ (164) bæcce-ha ræft-ænd mædrese child-PL went-3P school ‘The children went to school.’ Motion From The preposition æz ‘from’ expresses ‘motion from’. (165) mina færda æz širaz mi-res-e Mina tomorrow from Shiraz DUR-arrive-3S ‘Mina is arriving from Shiraz tomorrow.’ Motion Past ‘Motion past’ is generally expressed with the preposition æz ‘from’. For the meaning ‘motion past’ the simple æz form can only be used with the verb gozæštæn ‘to go by/to pass by’ or ræd šodæn ‘to pass by’. (166) æz pol be-gzær from bridge IMP-go by ‘Go past the bridge.’
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æz jelow-ye danešgah gozæšt-im from front-EZ university passed by-1P ‘We passed by the university.’ 2.1.1.5.2 Proximate location At Rest The preposition næzdik-e ‘near’ is used to indicate the proximate ‘at rest’ function. (168) ketabxune næzdik-e bank-e library near bank-is ‘The library is near the bank.’ Motion To The preposition næzdik-e indicates proximate ‘motion to’. (169) bo-ro næzdik-e un deræxt IMP-go near that tree ‘Go near that tree.’ Motion From To express proximate ‘motion from’, the compound preposition æz næzdik-e is used. (170) seda-ye bolænd-i æz næzdik-e saxtemun umæd sound-EZ loud-IND from near building came ‘A loud sound came from near the building.’ Motion Past To express proximate ‘motion past’, the compound preposition æz næzdik-e is used, though it is hard to think of a context where this would occur naturally. (171) æz næzdik-e un resturan be-gzær from near that cafe IMP-pass by ‘Go past near that restaurant.’
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Page 168 2.1.1.5.3 Interior location At Rest To specify interior ‘at rest’ location, Persian typically uses the preposition tu(-ye) ‘in’ or ‘inside’. The ezafe is optional. There is no semantic difference between tu and tu-ye. (172) tu(-ye) qoti inside box ‘in/inside the box’ (173) tu(-ye) xune inside house ‘in/inside the house’ While the preposition dær ‘at/in’ can also suggest interior location, it tends to apply to large spaces. Further, the salient feature of dær seems to be that of general location rather than interiority. (174) dær mæšhæd in Mashhad ‘in Mashhad’ A somewhat literary preposition used to specify interior at rest location is dærun ‘inside’. Motion To ‘Motion to’ is expressed with tu(-ye) ‘in/into/inside’. (175) cætr-o be-zar tu(-ye) gænje umbrella-OM IMP-put in/inside closet ‘Put the umbrella in the closet.’ Motion From Persian expresses ‘motion from’ via the compound preposition æz tu(-ye) ‘from inside’ plus the adverb birun ‘out’, which may precede the verb as in example (176) or follow the verb as in example (177) (see 1.2.1.3.2 for the position of adverbs).
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cæmedun-o æz suitcase-OM from ‘Take the suitcase out of the car.’ cæmedun-o æz suitcase-OM from ‘Take the suitcase out of the car.’
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page_169 tu(-ye) inside
mašin car
birun out
tu(-ye) inside
mašin car
bi-yar IMP-bring
bi-yar IMP-bring birun out
Motion Past Motion past interior location is expressed by the prepositions æz væsæt-e ‘from in the middle of’ and æz daxel-e ‘from inside of’. (178) æz daxel-e tunel ubur--kærd-ænd from inside tunnel pass--did-3P ‘They went through the tunnel.’ 2.1.1.5.4 Exterior location At Rest ‘At rest’ location is expressed with birun-e, birun æz, xarej-e or xarej æz, ‘outside’. The -e is the ezafe and æz means ‘from’. (179) sæg-o birun-e/xarej-e xune negæh dar dog-OM outside house keep have ‘Keep the dog outside the house.’ (180) birun æz/harej æz kešvær outside from country ‘outside the country’ Motion To The best way to express exterior ‘motion to’ is with be tæræf-e or be suy-e ‘toward/in the direction of. The preposition ta indicates ‘up to’ but not ‘through’. (181) jæmšid be tæræf-e mæsjed ræft Jamshid toward mosque went ‘Jamshid went toward the mosque.’
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šiva ta dærvaze-ye Shiva up to gate-EZ “Shiva walked up to the city gate.’
šæhr city
rah--ræft walk--went
Motion From The preposition æz ‘from’ indicates exterior ‘motion from’. (183) æz divar-e xarej-e hæyat from wall-EZ outside-EZ courtyard pænj qædæm be tæræf-e cæp bo-ro five step toward left IMP-go ‘From the outside of the courtyard wall, go left five steps.’ Motion Past To express exterior ‘motion past’ æz ‘from’ is used, usually with a verb such as gozæštæn ‘to go by/to pass by’ or ræd šodæn ‘to pass by’. (184) šapur æz divar-e ætraf-e baq Shapur from wall-EZ around-EZ garden gozæšt passed by ‘Shapur walked past the outside of the garden.’ 2.1.1.5.5 Anterior location At Rest The preposition jelow(-ye) ‘in front of indicates anterior ‘at rest’ location. (185) jelow(-ye) mæn be-šin in front of me IMP-sit ‘Sit in front of me.’ Motion To This is expressed as in example (185), except that a motion verb is used.
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page_171 bo-ro IMP-go ‘Go in front of me.’
jelow(-ye) in front of
mæn me
Motion From Anterior ‘motion from’ uses the preposition æz in addition to jelow(-ye). (187) æz jelow(-ye) mæn kenar bo-ro from in front of me side IMP-go ‘Move away from in front of me.’ Motion Past Anterior ‘motion past’ is expressed with æz jelow(-ye) ‘from in front of in conjunction with a verb such as gozæštæn ‘to pass by’ or ræd šodæn, which also means ‘to pass by’. (188) æz jelow(-ye) sinema gozæšt-im from in front of movie theater passed by-1P ‘We passed by in front of the movie theater.’ (189) æz jelow(-ye) mæqaze ræd--šod from in front of shop passed by ‘She passed by in front of the store.’ 2.1.1.5.6 Posterior location At Rest Posterior ‘at rest’ location is indicated with the preposition pošt-e ‘behind’. (190) gorbe pošt-e sændæli-e cat behind chair-is ‘The cat is behind the chair.’ Motion To Posterior ‘motion to’ can be expressed with pošt-e ‘behind’, optionally preceded by the preposition be ‘to’.
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bo-ro IMP-go ‘Go behind the house.’
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pošt-e behind
xune house
Motion From Posterior ‘motion from’ is expressed with æz pošt-e ‘from behind’. (192) xærguš æz pošt-e deræxt doid birun rabbit from behind tree ran out ‘The rabbit ran out from behind the tree.’ Motion Past The preposition ta pošt-e ‘to behind’ is used to express ‘motion past’. (193) ahu-a ta pošt-e xune umæd-ænd deer-PL up to behind house came-3P ‘The deer came up to behind the house.’ 2.1.1.5.7 Superior location At Rest Superior ‘at rest’ location is expressed with bala-ye ‘above’. (194) bala-ye sæth-e zæmin above surface-EZ ground ‘above the ground’ Motion To Superior ‘motion to’ is expressed in the same way as superior ‘at rest’ location, with bala-ye ‘above’. (195) hævapeyma-ro be-bær bala-ye sær-e tæpe airplane-OM IMP-take above top-EZ hill ‘Take the plane up above the hill.’
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Page 173 Motion From The preposition æz ‘from’ followed by bala-ye expresses superior ‘motion from’. (196) Leslie æz bala-ye pellekan oftad Leslie from above stairs fell ‘Leslie fell from the top of the stairs.’ Motion Past Superior ‘motion past’ is indicated with the prepositions æz ru-ye ‘over’, bala sær-e ‘overhead’ or æz bala-ye ‘above’. (197) hævapeyma æz ru-ye ab pærvaz--kærd airplane over water fly--did ‘The airplane flew over the water.’ The use of bala sær-e is restricted to objects with nonflat surfaces such as mountains or buildings but not bodies of water or plains: (198) hævapeyma bala sær-e kuh-a pærvaz--kærd airplane over mountain-PL fly--did ‘The airplane flew over the mountains.’ 2.1.1.5.8–8a Superior-contact/surface location At Rest The preposition ru-(ye) is used for this purpose. (199) gorbe ru-ye qali mi-xab-e cat on rug DUR-sleep-3S “The cat is sleeping on the rug.’ Motion To Typically, the same preposition ru-ye is used to express ‘motion to’. Less common and rather literary is the use of the preposition be ‘to’ preceding ru-ye.
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gorbe (be) ru-ye cat (to) onto ‘The cat jumped onto the chair.’
sændæli chair
Motion From ‘Motion from’ is expressed with æz ru-ye. (201) gorbe æz ru-ye sændæli cat from off chair ‘The cat jumped off the chair.’ Motion Past ‘Motion past’ is indicated with ru-ye ‘over/across’. (202) Leslie ru-ye yæx liz--xord Leslie over ice slip--struck ‘Leslie slipped over the ice.’ 2.1.1.5.9–10 Inferior and inferior-contact location At Rest The preposition zir-e ‘under’ is used to show ‘at rest’ location. (203) zir-e ab under water ‘under the water’ Motion To The preposition zir-e ‘under’ is used to express ‘motion to’. (204) mašin zir-e pol car under bridge ‘The car drove under the bridge.’ Motion From ‘Motion from’ is expressed with æz zir-e .
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pærid jumped
pærid jumped
ræft went
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ye muš æz zir-e a mouse from under ‘A mouse ran out from under the stairs.’
pelle-ha stair-PL
doid ran
birun out
Motion Past ‘Motion past’ is expressed with zir-e in conjunction with verbs such as gozæštæn or ræd šodæn, both meaning ‘to pass’. (206) rudxune zir-e kuh mi-gzær-e river under mountain DUR-pass-3S ‘The river runs under the mountain.’ 2.1.1.5.11–12 Lateral and lateral-contact location At Rest The preposition dæm-e ‘next to/beside’ is used exclusively for lateral noncontact location. ‘At rest’ for both lateral and lateral contact location is expressed with the prepositions pælu-ye, the somewhat literary kenar-e and the more colloquial bæqæl-e . All three prepositions mean ‘next to/beside’. (207) bi-a dæm-e atiš be-šin IMP-come beside fire IMP-sit ‘Come sit by the fire.’ (208) bi-a pælu-ye/bæqæl-e/kenar-e mæn be-šin IMP-come beside me IMP-sit ‘Come sit beside me.’ Motion To The same four prepositions used for ‘at rest’ location, dæm-e, pælu-ye, kenar-e bæqæl-e, all meaning ‘next to/beside’are used for lateral ‘motion to’. (209) mi-xa-m be-r-æm dæm-e atiš DUR-want-1S SBJN-go-1S beside fire ‘I want to go by the fire.’
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bi-a SBJN-come ‘Come over next to me.’
page_176 pælu-ye/bæqæl-e/kenar-e beside
next page > mæn me
Motion From ‘Motion from’ is indicated with the preposition æz bæqæl-e, pælu-ye or æz dæm-e or æz kænar-e . (211) æz dæm-e rudxune umæd kenar from beside river came aside ‘She moved away from beside the river.’ Motion Past Same as above, though the use of æz is optional when expressing ‘along’ or ‘beside’. (212) æz dæm-e ab ræd--šod beside water pass--became ‘He passed by the water.’ (213) (æz) dæm-e/pælu-ye ab rah--ræft-im (from) beside water walk--went-1P ‘We walked along the water.’ 2.1.1.5.13–14 Citerior location and citerior-contact location At Rest At rest citerior location and citerior-contact location are expressed by the compound preposition in tæræf-e or the more colloquial in vær-e, both meaning ‘this side of. (214) deh-ešun in tæræf-e/in vær-e kuh-e village-3P.PC this side of mountain-is ‘Their village is on this side of the mountain.’ Motion To The prepositions in tæræf-e and in vær-e are used to convey ‘motion to’.
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ayne-ro in tæræf-e mirror-OM this side of ‘Bring the mirror to this side of the room.’
otaq room
bi-ar IMP-bring
Motion From The preposition æz in tæræf-e describes ‘motion from’. A very colloquial option is in vær-e . (216) šir æz in tæræf-e qæfæs betæræf-e ma doid lion from this side cage toward us ran ‘The lion ran toward us from this side of the cage.’ Motion Past The same construction used to indicate ‘motion from’ is used to express ‘motion past’. 2.1.1.5.15–16 Ulterior location Ulterior and ulterior-contact location use the same constructions as in 2.1.1.5.13–14 except that un tæræf-e and un vær-e (both literally meaning ‘that side of) are used instead of in tæræf-e and in vær-e . 2.1.1.5.17–18 Medial location At Rest In Persian the same prepositions are used to refer to medial location between two or three or more objects. The prepositions beyn-e and mian-e express the notion ‘between, among’. (217) miz beyn-e divar o sændæli-e table between wall and chair-is ‘The table is between the wall and the chair.’ To clearly specify two (of the same class of object) the number two must be used. In the example (218) below, ‘trees’ can refer to two or more. Compare example (218) with example (219). In (219) the number of trees is specified.
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pærviz beyn-e Parviz between/among ‘Parviz stood between/among the trees.’ pærviz beyn-e Parviz between/among ‘Parviz stood between the two trees.’
deræxt-a tree-PL do-ta two-CL
deræxt-a tree-PL
istad stood istad stood
Motion To The prepositions beyn-e and mian-e also express medial ‘motion to’ location. (220) miz-o beyn-e do-ta sændæli gozošt table-OM between two-CL chair put ‘He put the table between two chairs.’ Motion From ‘Motion from’ is indicated with æz beyn-e, æz mian-e, which mean ‘from between of’, and æz væsæt-e ‘from the middle of’. (221) xers æz beyn-e deræxt-a pærid birun bear from between tree-PL jumped out ‘The bear jumped out from between the trees.’ Motion Past Medial ‘motion past’ is expressed with the compound preposition æz beyn-e . (222) pasebun-a æz beyn-e saxtemun-a gozæšt-ænd police-PL between building-PL passed-3P ‘The police officers passed between the buildings.’ 2.1.1.5.19 Circumferential location At Rest ‘At rest’ location is expressed by dowr-e ‘around. Another, less common, preposition is gerd-e ‘round’.
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tænab dowr-e deræxt rope around tree ‘The rope was wrapped around the tree.’
picid-e--bud wrapped-PSPT--was
Motion To Both dowr-e and gerd-e can be used to show ‘motion to’. (224) tænab-o dowr-e kæmær-eš be-pic rope-OM around waist-3S.PC IMP-wind ‘Wind the rope around his waist.’ Motion From (225) æz dowr-e miz pa--šod-ænd from around table foot--became-3P ‘They got up from around the table.’ 2.1.1.5.20 Citerior-anterior location At Rest ‘At rest’ is indicated with the preposition ruberu-ye (literally ‘face-to-face’) or moqabel-e and jelow-ye, all meaning ‘opposite/across from’. (226) ketabxune ruberu-ye kæfaši-e library opposite shoe store-is ‘The library is opposite the shoe store.’ Motion To Same construction as above: (227) ruberu-ye xahær-et vasa opposite sister-2P.PC stand ‘Stand facing you sister.’ Motion From The prepositions æz ruberu-ye and moqabel-e indicate ‘motion from’.
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æz ruberu-ye from across from ‘He got up from across from me.’
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page_180 mæn me
pa--šod foot--became
Motion Past The same construction as ‘motion from’ is used to express ‘motion past’. 2.1.1.5.21 Interior motion-long object (direction of length) Motion through the inside of a long object can be indicated with the prepositions daxel-e ‘inside’, æz miyun-e ‘through’, æz tu-ye ‘through the inside of, sær ta sær-e ‘from one end to the other’. (229) ab æz miyun-e lule mi-gzær-e water from through pipe DUR-pass-3S ‘Water passes through the pipe.’ 2.1.1.5.22 Exterior motion-long object (direction of length) There is no particular way to express exterior motion along an object’s length. 2.1.1.5.23 Superior motion-long object (direction of length) No special form exists which indicates motion along the surface of a long object. Such motion is indicated as in 2.1.1.5.7. 2.1.1.5.24–24a Superior-contact motion-long object (direction of length) No special form exists to indicate motion in contact with the surface of a long object. Such motion is indicated as in 2.1.1.5.8–8a. 2.1.1.5.25 Inferior motion-long object (direction of length) No special form exists. See 2.1.1.5.9. 2.1.1.5.26 Inferior motion-long object (direction of length) No special form exists to express ‘inferior motion in the
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Page 181 direction of the length of a long object See 2.1.1.5.10. 2.1.1.5.27–29 Motion past long object (at right angles to its length) No special form exists to show motion perpendicular to a long object. 2.1.1.6 Location in time 2.1.1.6.1 General time expressions Time expressions include adverbs such as emruz ‘today’ and hala ‘now’, and prepositions such as piš ‘before’, qæbl æz ‘before’, bæd æz ‘after’, dær ‘in’, as discussed below. 2.1.1.6.1.1 Time of day The word sa’æt is used to express ‘hour’ and ‘time’. It also means ‘watch’ and ‘clock’. No preposition is used to indicate time of day. (230) sa’æt-e pænj mi-bin-æm-et hour-EZ five DUR-see-1S-2S.PC ‘I’ll see you at five o’clock.’ Requests for time are made using the question word cænd ‘how much / how many’: (231) sa’æt cænd-e? time how much-is ‘What time is it?’ All increments of an hour follow the numeral and are typically expressed by either using the particle -o ‘and’ to indicate minutes after the hour (see example (232)), or kæm ‘less’ to indicate minutes before the hour, as in example (233). ‘Terms denoting a quarter of an hour, rob’, and half past the hour, nim, are used in the same manner, shown in examples (234)– (235). nim literally means ‘half and can be used in other measure contexts. For example, ‘half a kilo’ is nim kilo, ‘half a meter (of material)’ is nim metr .
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dæh-o bist dæqiqe-st ten-and twenty minute-is ‘It’s 10:20.’ (233) cahar-o dæh dæqiqe kæm-e four-and ten minute less-is ‘It’s ten minutes to four.’ (234) yazdæh-o rob’-e eleven-and quarter-is ‘It’s a quarter past eleven.’ (235) pænj-o nim-e five -and half-is ‘It’s half past five.’ Other expressions such as bæ’d æz ‘after’ (literally ‘next from’) and qæbl æz ‘before’ (literally ‘before from’) are also used to indicate minutes after or before the hour. Here the order of minutes with respect to the hour is reversed so that they precede the hour: minutes+ bæd æz/qæbl æz +hour. (236) se dæqiqe qæbl æz hæft-e three minute before seven-is ‘It’s three minutes before seven.’ (237) se dæqiqe bædæz hæft-e three minute after seven-is ‘It’s three minutes after seven.’ Finally, the preposition be ‘to’ can be used with the verb ‘to be‘or the past participle form of the verb ‘to remain’, munde, to express the number of minutes before the hour. (238) bist dæqiqe be pænj-e twenty minute to five-is ‘It’s twenty minutes to five.’ (239) bist dæqiqe munde be pænj twenty minute remain-PSPT to five ‘It’s twenty to five.’
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Page 183 In addition to the numeric reference to noon (twelve o’clock), Persian has a separate lexical item for that time of day, zohr . 2.1.1.6.1.2 Period of day No preposition is used with adverbial time expressions for periods of the day. Word indicating periods of the day are: sæhær ‘sunrise’ sobh ‘morning’ zohr ‘noon’ bædæz zohr ‘afternoon’ qurub ‘dusk, sunset’ šæb ‘evening/night’ (240) bædæz zohr šiva-ro did-æm afternoon Shiva-OM saw-1S ‘I saw Shiva in the afternoon.’ 2.1.1.6.1.3 Day of the week Adverbial expressions referring to days of the week do not use prepositions. (241) jom’e mi-r-im baqevæhš Friday DUR-go-1P zoo ‘We’re going to the zoo on Friday.’ Words for the days of the week (Sunday through Thursday) are constructed using the numerals one through five plus the word for Saturday, šæmbe. Friday has a separate lexical item, jom’e. šæmbe Saturday yek-šæmbe Sunday (literally, ‘one-Saturday’) do-šæmbe Monday se-šæmbe Tuesday cahar-šæmbe Wednesday pænj-šæmbe Thursday jom’e Friday There are two main ways to ask about the day of the week. First, the interrogative pronoun can be used with the word ruz ‘day’,
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Page 184 as in example (242). Or one can ask ‘how many’ with regard to the number of days that have passed since Saturday, as in example (243). (242) emruz ce ruz-i-e? today what day-IND-is ‘What day is it today?’ (243) emruz cænd šambe-st today how many Saturday-is ‘What day is it today?’ 2.1.1.6.1.4 Month of the year The preposition dær ‘in’ is optional in adverbial expressions of time by using only the words for the months of the year. However, as shown in (245), dær is obligatory when describing habitual action. (244) (dær) janviye mi-r-im italya in January DUR-go-1P Italy ‘We’re going to Italy in January.’ (245) dær mah-e octobr xeyli barun mi-ya-d in month-EZ October a lot rain DUR-come-3S ‘It rains a lot in October.’ The Persian calendar is based on a solar cycle of twelve months which begins on 20 March. The four seasons, bahar ‘spring’, tabessun ‘summer’, paiz ‘autumn’ and zemessun ‘winter’, each consist of three months, named after Zoroastrian angels. bahar ‘spring’ (first of) færværdin =20 March ordibehešt xordad tabessun ‘summer’ tir mordad šæhrivær paiz ‘autumn’ mehr
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Page 185 aban azær zemessun’ winter’ de bæhmæn esfænd Persian also uses Western equivalents for the names of the months as well as the Arabic names for the months of the Islamic calendar. Western month names, which are borrowed from French, are typically used in reference to Western events such as independence days, elections, religious (non-Islamic) holidays, etc. Islamic month names are only used to refer to Islamic events (holidays, feasts, fasting, etc). Western month names janviye January fevriye February mars March avril April mey May žuæn June žuye July ut August septamr September octobr October novamr November desamr December Islamic month names Arabic words are used for the lunar Islamic calendar, which contains alternating months of thirty and twenty-nine days. mohærræm Moharram (30 days) sæfær Safar (29) ræbi’ ol-ævvæl Rabi I (30) ræbi’ ol-axær or ræbi’ os-sani Rabi II (29) jomadi ol-ola or jomadi ol-ævvæl Jumada I (30) jomadi ol-oxra or jomadi os-sani Jumada II (29)
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Page 186 ræjæb Rajab (30) šæ’ban Shaban (29) ræmezan Ramadan (30) šævval Shawwal (29) zol-qæ ‘dæ or zel-qæ ‘dæ Dhu-l-Qa’ da (30) zol-hejjæor zel-hejjæ Dhu-1-hijjah (29 or 30) 2.1.1.6.1.5 Year The preposition dær ‘in’ is also optional when making reference to a specific year. (246) (dær) hezar-o noh-sæd-o car be donya umæd (in) 100-and 900-and four to world came ‘She was born in 1904.’ 2.1.1.6.1.6 Festivals No preposition is used in adverbials of time referring to a festival. In the example below eyd refers to the Persian New Year, which is celebrated on the vernal equinox. (247) hæmiše eyd mi-r-im xune-ye æmu-m always New Year DUR-go-1P house-EZ uncle-1S.PC ‘At New Year we always go to my uncle’s house.’ 2.1.1.6.1.7 Seasons The four seasons (fæsl) are paiz ‘autumn’, zemessun ‘winter’, bahar ‘spring’ and tabessun ‘summer’ (see section 2.1.1.6.1.4). These terms for the seasons may be used with or without the preposition dær ‘in’. (248) gol-e nærges (dær) bahar birun mi-ya-d flower-OM daffodil (in) spring out DUR-come-3S ‘Daffodils come out in spring.’ 2.1.1.6.2 Frequentatives Frequentative action may be expressed in one of two ways: by either using hær ‘every’ before a time expression, or by adding the plural inflection -ha to the time expression.
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hær došæmbe šena mi-r-æm. every Monday swimming DUR-go-1S ‘I go swimming every Monday.’ (250) došæmbe-ha šena mi-r-æm. Monday-PL swimming DUR-go-1S ‘I go swimming on Mondays.’ 2.1.1.6.3 Punctual-future No preposition is used to express the punctual future. However, dige ‘else’ must follow the time stated. The verb is commonly in the simple present tense rather than the stilted future tense. See section 2.1.3.2.1.4 for more details on the future tense. (251) ferešte yek sa’æt dige mi-ya-d ferešte one hour else DUR-come-3S ‘Fereshte will come in an hour.’ 2.1.1.6.4 Punctual past piš ‘ago’ is used to show punctual-past location in time, piš always follows the time expression. (252) do sa’æt piš two hour ago ‘two hours ago’ (253) se hæfte piš širaz bud-im. three week ago Shiraz was-1P ‘Three weeks ago we were in Shiraz.’ 2.1.1.6.5 Duration No preposition is used to indicate duration. (254) se sal dær žapon zendegi--kærd-æm three year in Japan live--did-1S ‘I lived in Japan three years.’ For emphasis, however, the word modæt-e ‘for the period of can precede the time.
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modæt-e se sal dær žapon for the period three year in Japan zendegi--kærd-æm live--did-1S ‘I lived in Japan three years.’ 2. 1.1.6.6–7 Anterior-duration-past/-future Both anterior-duration past and future are expressed using the preposition ta ‘until’. (256) ta diruz hicci ettefaq--nae-yoftad until yesterday nothing happen--NEG-fell ‘Nothing happened until yesterday.’ (257) pæri ta færda ne-mi-ya-d Parri until tomorrow NEG-DUR-come-3S ‘Parri won’t come until tomorrow.’ 2.1.1.6.8–9 Posterior-duration-past To convey posterior-duration-past location, Persian uses the construction æz…ta hala, which literally means ‘from… until now’. The time or date being referred to immediately follows æz ‘from’. This construction can be used with either the simple past or with the past or present perfect tense. (258) æz diruz ta hala hicci næ-xord-æm from yesterday until now nothing NEG-ate-1S ‘I didn’t eat anything since yesterday.’ (259) æz diruz ta hala hicci næ-xord-e-æm from yesterday until now nothing NEG-ate-PSPT-1S ‘I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.’ (260) æz diruz ta ye sa’æt piš hicci from yesterday until one hour ago nothing næ-xord-e bud-æm NEG-ate-PSPT was-1S ‘I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday.’
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Page 189 2.1.1.6.8–9 Posterior-duration-future The compound preposition bæ ‘d æz ‘after’ is used to express ‘after’. (261) bæ’d-æz jom’e daftær-o mi-bænd-im after Friday office-OM DUR-close-1P ‘We will close the office after Friday.’ The notion ‘from (time/date) on’ is indicated with æz…(be bæd) ‘from…(to after)’. The use of be bæd is for emphasis. (262) æz færda (be bæd) dige gušt ne-mi-xor-æm from tomorrow (to after) else meat NEG-DUR-eat-1S ‘From tomorrow (on) I’m not eating meat anymore.’ 2.1.1.6.10 Anterior general To express the notion ‘previous to’, the compound preposition qæbl æz ‘before’ is used. (263) qæbl æz emruz cænd bar inja umæd-æm. before today many time here came-1S ‘I came here several times previous to today.’ 2.1.1.6.11 Posterior general To express ‘subsequent to’, bæd æz ‘after’ is used. (264) bæd æz jom’e mæšhæd-im after Friday Mashhad-1P ‘Subsequent to Friday we’ll be in Mashhad.’ 2.1.1.6.12 Point in period-past The constructions dær ærz-e…(piš) ‘in the course of…(ago)’ and dær moddæt-e…(piš) ‘in the period of…(ago)’ are used. (265) dær ærz-e do sa’æt-e (piš) pænj næfær umæd-ænd in past two hours five people came-3P ‘Five people came in the last two hours.’
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dær moddæt-e yek sa’æt car-ta fæks dašt-im in the period of one hour four-CL fax had-1P ‘We had four faxes in one hour’ 2.1.1.6.13 Point in period-future The preposition ta ‘until’ is used with dige to talk about point in period-future. (267) ta do sa’æt dige bær-mi-gærd-æm. until two hour else around--DUR-turn-1S ‘I’ll be back within two hours.’ 2.1.1.7 Double case-marking Persian does not display double case marking. 2.1.1.8 Number-marking system 2.1.1.8.1 Nature of number-marking system Modern Persian has two numbers for nouns: singular, which is unmarked; and plural, which is marked depending on specificity of the noun (See 2.1.1.8.2). Historically, Persian used the suffix -an ( -yan after vowels) for animate beings and -ha ( -a after consonants) for inanimate beings. In modern spoken Persian -ha has become more generalized and is used for both animate and inanimate nouns. The suffix -an is still used sometimes, but only for animate nouns, as shown in examples (270) and (271). (268) gorbe-ha cat-PL ‘cats’ (269) mašin-a car-PL ‘cars’ (270) mærd-an man-PL ‘men’
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geda-yan beggar-PL ‘beggars’ It should be noted that the -an plural takes the form -gan when the stem ends in [e] followed by ‘silent h’. The ‘silent h’ is indicated in Persian orthography. The rule is apparently nonproductive does apply to a few relatively frequent nouns. Since the -ha form is preferred even in these nouns, the -gan plurals are probably lexicalized. (272) bæcce-gan child-PL ‘children’ (273) može-gan eyelash-PL ‘eyelashes’ (274) pærænde-gan bird’PL ‘birds’ Although nouns of Arabic origin often take Arabic plural form -at, many Arabic loans can also take the Persian plurals -ha and -an. Another Arabic plural, -jat, seems lexicalized in a few words such as sæbzi-jat ‘greens’ and mive-jat ‘fruits’. (275) ettefaq-at incident-PL ‘incidents’ (276) ettefaq-ha incident-PL ‘incidents’ In addition, Persian has taken a number of Arabic nouns whose plurals are irregular. Arabic nouns often form discontinuous plurals based on a consonantal root, into which are inserted vowels and consonants. Persian borrowed both the singular and plural of many of these words. Often the relationship between the singular and plural forms in Persian is relatively transparent in both phonetic form
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Page 192 and meaning.
Singular Plural fe’l æf’al ‘verb’ ‘Verbs’ (278) šæxs æšxas ‘person’ ‘people’ (279) dælil dælayel ‘reason’ ‘reasons’ Sometimes the phonetic forms of the singular and plural are less transparently related, although Persian has maintained a consistent singular/plural semantic relationship between them. (280) ruh ærvah ‘soul’ ‘souls’ (281) sahel sævahel ‘shore’ ‘shores’ (282) hadese hævades ‘incident’ ‘incidents’ (283) ‘no’ ‘ænva’ ‘kind’ ‘kinds’ Occasionally, both the singular and plural Arabic word forms have been maintained in Persian, but the semantic singular/plural distinction between them has been lost. (284) hal æhval ‘health’ ‘health’ That is, one can say either (285) hal-et cetowr-e? health-2S.PC how-is ‘How are you?’ (277)
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Page 193 or, with exactly the same meaning, say (286) æhval-et cetowr-e health-2S.PC how-is? ‘How are you?’ Finally, there are cases where not only is the relationship between the singular and plural forms phonetically opaque but where the meaning of the plural has diverged from the meaning of the singular. (287) sæbæb æsbab ‘cause/reason’ ‘goods/chattel’ 2.1.1.8.2–3 Extent to which number-marking is obligatory Singular is unmarked. Plural is obligatorily marked on nouns carrying specific reference and obligatorily unmarked on nonspecific nouns (see Section 2.1.1.8.1 for the plural morphemes). We define “specific” as identifiable by the speaker though not necessarily identified by the hearer. Since the noun is specific in both (288) and (289), the plural morpheme is used. (288) doxtær-a tu-ye hæyat-ænd girl-PL. in courtyard-are ‘The girls are in the courtyard.’ (289) do-ta doxtær-a tu-ye hæyat-ænd two-CL girl-PL in courtyard-are ‘The two girls are in the courtyard.’ Note that example (288) cannot be interpreted as ‘(some) girls are in the courtyard’. Nor can example (289) indicate a nonspecific pair of girls. When referring to a plural nonspecific noun, -ha is not used. Rather, either a number or other quantifier precedes the noun. (290) do-ta doxtær tu-ye hæyat-ænd two-CL girl in courtyard-are ‘Two girls are in the courtyard.’
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cænd-ta doxtær tu-ye hæyat-ænd many-CL girl in courtyard-are ‘Some girls are in the courtyard.’ 2.1.1.8.4–5 Distributive nouns A few distributive forms exist in Persian, such as do be do ‘two by two/in pairs’, and yeki yeki ‘one by one’. A construction using the classifier ta is productive: se ta se ta ‘three by three’, dæh ta dæh ta ‘ten by ten’, etc. 2.1.1.8.5 Collective nouns and singulatives There are a number of collective nouns in Persian, such as: (292) xanevade ‘family’ mærdom ‘people’ gælle ‘flock’ jæm’ ‘group’ jæm’iyæt ‘crowd’ dæste ‘group’ dolæt ‘government’ Generally, singulatives cannot be derived from collective nouns. Although in some cases the collective is recognizably related to a singular form, the collective is not a simple plural and thus a singulative cannot be derived. For example, mærdom ‘people’ is transparently related to mærd ‘man’. But mærd always means ‘man’ and never the singulative ‘person’. 2.1.1.8.6 Realization of number distinctions See 2.1.1.8.1. 2.1.1.8.7 Number marking of foreign words Arabic loans are discussed in 2.1.1.8.1. Loans from other languages are integrated into the Persian plural system using -ha. (293) radiyo-ha radio-PL ‘radios’
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manto-ha coat-PL ‘coats’
2.1.1.9 Gender and noun classes 2.1.1.9.1–3 Gender and noun classes Persian has neither noun classes nor grammatical gender. The third person singular pronoun u and the third person plural pronouns išun and una refer to both male and female humans. A distinction is made in third person forms with regard to humanness (See 2.1.2.1.2). 2.1.1.9.4 Classifiers There are a number of classifiers in Persian. The most common classifier with the most general application is -ta ‘fold’. This classifier is optionally used when quantifying count nouns, -ta is positioned after the quantifying element and can cooccur with the plural marker on a [+specific] noun (see 2.1.1.8.2). (295) do(-ta) pesær two(-CL) boy ‘two boys’ (296) do(-ta) pesær-a two(-CL) boy-PL ‘the two boys’ Other classifiers, which are used optionally, also follow the number and precede the noun they modify: -tæn ‘body (for people)’,—jeld ‘volume (for books)’, -dune ‘grain/seed’ ( -dune can be used with any singular count noun, for example, ye-dune ængoštær ‘one ring’), -ræ’s ‘head’ (for sheep, horses, etc.). (297) bist(-jeld) ketab twenty-volume book ‘twenty books’ (298) cel(-ræ’s) gusfænd forty-head sheep ‘forty sheep’
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Page 196 2.1.1.9.5 Assignation of loan-words to noun classes See Section 2.1.1.9.1–3. 2.1.1.10 Definiteness in noun phrases We are defining “definiteness” as a feature of the NP that indicates reference to a specific entity identifiable by both speaker and hearer. Several means indicate definiteness of the noun phrase. No morphological marking for definiteness Unmodified NPs in subject and indirect object position are typically interpreted as definite and sometimes as generic. (299) mašin tu garaž-e car in garage-is ‘The car is in the garage.’ (300) dad-eš be mo’ælem gave-3S.PC to teacher ‘She gave it to the teacher.’ (301) værzeš bæra-ye behbudi lazem-e excercise for health necessary-is ‘Excercise is necessary for health.’ Using demonstratives as indicators of definiteness Persian has inherent definites such as demonstrative pronouns, personal pronouns, and proper names as well as demonstrative adjectives, superlatives and ordinals, which cooccur with nouns and force a definite reading of the NP. Plural inflection on a noun phrase also renders a definite interpretation. (302) un bošqab that plate ‘that plate’ (303) mohem-tærin nevisænde important-SUPR writer ‘the most important writer’
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page_197 ævvælin first ‘the first poet’ ceraq-a light-PL ‘the lights’
ša’er poet
Use of -ra to mark definiteness Persian also uses the postposition -ra, in this text glossed as ‘OM’ (object marker), on definite direct object NPs. A full discussion of this postposition is provided in Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 below. Use of -e to mark definiteness Another marker of definiteness is the suffix -e, which optionally attaches to any singular proper or common NP in subject or object position to indicate definiteness. The use of this inflection is restricted to colloquial Persian. See Section 2.1.1.10.1.3 below. 2.1.1.10.1 Marking of definiteness 2.1.1.10.1.1 Demonstratives The demonstratives in ‘this’ and un ‘that’ in the singular are used adjectivally and precede singular or plural NPs to indicate definiteness. Direct objects preceded by one of the demonstratives must also be followed by the object marker -ra. Also see Section 2.1.2.5.4. (306) in otaq xeyli kucik-e this room very small-is ‘This room is very small.’ (307) un bæsse-ha-ro be-zar ru miz that package-PL-OM IMP-put on table ‘Put those packages on the table.’ In both the singular and plural forms demonstratives may be used as pronouns: in ‘this’, un ‘that’, ina ‘these/these people’ and una ‘those/them’. In the plural, these forms may refer to both
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Page 198 animate and inanimate NPs; in the singular they can only refer to inanimate NPs. (308) in-o ne-mi-xa-m this-OM NEG-DUR-want-1S ‘I don’t want this.’ (309) in-a fayde næ-dar-e this-PL use NEG-have-3S ‘These are useless.’ (310) un-a ba ma mi-ya-n that-PL with us DUR-come-3P ‘They’re coming with us.’ (311) ma un-a-ro dust--dar-im we that-PL-OM friend--have-1P ‘We like them/those.’ 2.1.1.10.1.2 The postposition -ra There is some controversy about the precise functions and scope of -ra (and its phonological variants -o and -ro ). Most scholars have traditionally identified -ra as a marker of definite direct objects (Phillott 1919, Sadeghi 1970, Vazinpoor 1977). More recently, however, some researchers (Browne 1970, Karimi 1989, Windfuhr 1990) have disputed this interpretation and suggested that -ra, while often suggesting definiteness, is primarily an indicator of topicalization or specificity. In example (312), Windfuhr argues that -ra is not a definiteness marker since it cooccurs with the indefinite marker i, when -i is suffixed to an NP which refers to a specific, unique entity: (312) xane-i-ra atiš--zæd-ænd house-IND-OM burn--struck-3P ‘They burned a (certain) house.’ He also suggests that objects can appear without -ra and still be interpreted as definite and that -ra can also appear in nonobject position, in a topicalizing function. Examples (313) and (314) are from Windfuhr (1990:534).
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Page 199 (313)
dombal-e aparteman mi-gærd-æm after-EZ apartment DUR-turn-1S ‘I am looking for the apartment.’ (314) emšæb-ra inja has tonight-OM here be ‘Be/stay here’ (for) ‘tonight.’ In example (312), the cooccurrence of -ra with the specific/indefinite -i marker distinguishes the NP as referential. Without -ra, the noun phrase would have to be interpreted as indefinite, nonspecific/nonreferential (see Section 2.1.1.11.5 and 2.1.1.12). Example (313) is not a convincing counterexample to -ra as a definite direct object marker. First, a definite reading for ‘apartment’ is, at best, questionable and strained. The more acceptable interpretation is a generic reading for ‘apartment’. Second, the compound verb dombal-e gæštæn, ‘to look for’ does not allow any object to take -ra, no matter how definite. In example (315) madæræm ‘my mother’ can only be interpreted as definite but does not take -ra with the verb dombal-e gæštæn . (315) dombal-e madær-æm mi-gærd-æm after-EZ mother-1S.PC DUR-turn-1S ‘I’m looking for my mother.’ (316) *dombal-e madær-æm-o mi-gærd-æm after-EZ mother-1S.PC-OM DUR-turn-1S ‘I’m looking for my mother.’ Therefore, the use of -ra is not an option in these cases. Rather, the use of -ra is prohibited with this verb. (This discontinuous compound verb is constructed from the nominal preposition dombal-e ‘after’ and the verb gæštæn ‘to turn or wander’. One simple explanation for its restriction on the use of the -ra marker which attaches to definite direct objects is that the object is obligatorily incorporated into the compound and is considered the object of the preposition dombal-e .) Although example (314) is an acceptable sentence, the -ra is optional as a topicalizer. (Karimi 1989 interprets examples such as (314) as following a rather narrow rule whereby -ra cooccurs with adverbial noun phrases modifying intransitive verbs.) Further, when—ra is functioning as a topicalizer, it does so more frequently with
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Page 200 direct objects than with other elements. For examples of -ra as topic marker see Section 1.12. While we agree with Windfuhr and others that -ra has more than one function, we maintain that the primary function of -ra is that of marking a definite direct object because of two important points: 1) When an object NP is clearly definite, i.e. identifiable by both speaker and hearer, -ra must be used. In contrast, when an object is clearly nonspecific -ra is not used. Putting these two facts in a broader context, we can consider object noun phrases on a scale of most definite to least definite, where -ra marks object NPs toward the higher, more definite end of the scale. Nouns on the most-definite end of the scale include those previously mentioned in the discourse, pronouns, proper nouns, nouns taking a definite determiner, nouns possessed by another noun in the possessive case, first and second persons, specific and referential nouns, or at least delimited in some way. Least-definite nouns tend to be those not previously mentioned, common nouns, nouns taking an indefinite determiner, third persons, generics, nonspecifics and nonreferential nouns. The object mæn ‘me’ in example (317) is clearly toward the most-definite end of the scale since it fulfills several of the criteria mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is a first-person pronoun referential to the speaker. The object mo’ælem-eš ‘his teacher’ in (318) is also definite. The possessive clitic -eš binds it to hæsan, a specific, identifiable entity. The objects mæn in (317) and mo’ ælem-eš in (318) are therefore marked with -ra as definite direct objects. (317) bæhram mæn-o bord mædrese Bahram me-OM carried school ‘Bahrain took me to school.’ (318) hæsan mo’ælem-eš-o dust--næ-dar-e Hasan teacher-3S.PC-OM friend--NEG-have-3S ‘Hasan doesn’t like his teacher.’ The object in (319) is clearly indefinite because it fulfills none of the criteria above. (319) belæxære ye mehmunxune peyda--kærd-im finally a hotel visible--did-1P ‘Finally, we found a hotel.’
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Page 201 In example (320) while the object is not technically definite, it does fulfill at least some of the definiteness criteria. First, by using the deictic ina ‘these’, the speaker assumes the hearer knows the scope of possible referents. The direct object also is in the form of a definite demonstrative. Even though the referent is not definite in that it fails to be identifiable by both speaker and hearer, it fulfills some of the definiteness criteria cited above and is contained in a delimited class of things in the world. It is placed higher on the definiteness hierarchy than the completely unidentifiable object mehmunxune ‘hotel’ in (319) and therefore takes -ra. (320) yeki æz ina-ro vær--dar one from these-OM take--have ‘Take one of these.’ That is, while -ra sometimes marks noun phrases that are not completely definite, those noun phrases are somewhat definite in that they refer to some delimited class of objects rather than a completely nonspecific object. 2) On the other hand -ra is not a topic marker because not all topics need take -ra. Persian has various strategies for topicalization besides -ra, such as stress (see section 3.3.4.3–4 on contrastive stress), preposing and postposing (see Section 1.14.2 on postposing). In conclusion, another way of stating 1) and 2) is to say that while a definite direct object implies -ra, topicality does not. 2.1.1.10.1.3 The postposition -e The postposition -e/-æ optionally attaches to any singular proper or common NP subject, direct object, indirect object and other cases to indicate definiteness. The use of -e is a discourse device to indicate that both speaker and hearer have mutual knowledge of the marked NP through recent mention. (321) zæn-e be mæn goft woman-DEF to me said The woman said to me’ (The woman’ was introduced in the discourse prior to this mention.) When -e (-æ) appears in object position, -ra must follow.
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film-æ-ro did-æm film-DEF-OM saw-1S ‘I saw that film.’ 2.1.1.10.2 Optionality of definiteness markers Marking for definiteness is obligatory since without some morphological ( -ra, -e, possessive construction, etc.) or lexical (in, un) indication, the NP is interpreted as indefinite or generic. 2.1.1.10.3–4 Form of definiteness and spatial relations Except in the case of the demonstratives (see Section 2.1.2.1.6) the form of the definiteness marker does not depend on spatial relationships among participants and referents in the speech act. 2.1.1.10.5–6 Definiteness markers, proper names and abstract nouns Definiteness is not marked on proper names in subject position. In direct object position it is obligatory. (323) mæhæsti ræft doktor Mahasti went doctor ‘Mahasti went to the doctor.’ (324) zæhra-ro næ-did-æm Zahra-OM NEG-saw-1S ‘I didn’t see Zahra.’ In subject position, abstract nouns are not marked. As direct objects, abstract nouns are considered universal and unique and are therefore followed by the definite direct object marker -ra. (325) bædbini bi hasel-e pessimism without product-is ‘Pessimism is unproductive.’ (326) taqæt-e duruqgui-o næ-dar-æm tolerance-EZ lying-OM NEG-have-1S ‘I can’t tolerate lying.’
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esq-o ne-mi-š-e--xærid love-OM NEG-DUR-become-3S--bought ‘One can’t buy love.’ 2.1.1.11 Indefiniteness in noun phrases 2.1.1.11.1 Marking of indefiniteness in noun phrases Indefiniteness in noun phrases can be marked by ye(k) ‘a, one’, the suffix -i which indicates [-definite] and [+specific], or the cooccurrence of ye(k) and -i . (328) ye durbin one camera ‘a camera’ (329) durbin-i camera-IND ‘a (certain) camera’ (330) ye durbin-i one camera-IND ‘a (certain)camera’ 2.1.1.11.2 Optionality of indefiniteness markers Marking of indefiniteness is obligatory for both subject and object noun phrases. Unmarked object noun phrases are interpreted as definite or generic. (331) mæjele ru-ye miz-e magazine on table-is The magazine is on the table. (332) sib dust--næ-dar-æm apple friend--NEG-have-1S ‘I don’t like apples.’ Unmarked object NPs are usually interpreted as generic, though in some cases an indefinite reading is possible. Compare example (333) where the NP ye dæsbænd can only be interpreted as indefinite with example (334) and (335).
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Page 204 (333)
ye dæsbænd xærid-æm a bracelet bought-1S ‘I bought a bracelet.’ (334) emruz gol kašt-æm today flower planted-1S ‘I planted flowers today’ *‘I planted a flower today.’ (335) ketab xund-æm book read-1S ‘I read a/some book.’ ‘I read books.’ 2.1.1.11.3–4 Form of indefiniteness and spatial relations The form of the indefiniteness marker does not vary according to spatial relationships among the speakers and referents. 2.1.1.11.5–6 Indefiniteness markers and nonsingular and mass nouns The indefinite -i and the ye(k)…-i combination are used with plural count nouns to mean ‘some’. (336) (ye) danešju-ha-i a student-PL-IND ‘some students’ Used with mass nouns, ye(k) and ye(k)…-i indicate singularity. The -i suffix used alone indicates ‘some’. When the -i suffix follows a plural mass noun, the latter is interpreted as ‘some kinds of. (337) ye qæve-(i) a coffee-(IND) ‘a coffee’ (338) qæve-i coffee-IND ‘some coffee’
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Page 205 (339)
qæve-ha-i coffee-PL-IND ‘some kinds of coffee’ 2.1.1.12 Referential and nonreferential indefiniteness 2.1.1.12.1–4 Referential and nonreferential indefiniteness Persian distinguishes between referential and nonreferential indefinite direct objects. Referential indefiniteness is indicated with ye(k)…-i followed by the object marker. (340) ye ketab-i-o xærid-æm a book-IND-OM bought-1S ‘I bought a certain book.’ Without the object marker the same sentence can be interpreted as referential or nonreferential. 2.1.1.13 Genericness There is no morphological marking for genericness. Generic nouns occur as bare nouns in the singular, i.e. lacking a plural or any other form of definite or indefinite inflection such as pronominal clitics, -i, -ra or -e . (341) zærrafe dær iran peyda--ne-mi-š-e giraffe in Iran visible--NEG-DUR-become-3S ‘Giraffes are not found in Iran.’ 2.1.1.14 Degree of importance of actor There is no morphological means to distinguish more important actors from less important ones. 2.1.2 Pronouns 2.1.2.1 Personal pronouns 2.1.2.1.1 Free pronouns
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Page 206 2.1.2.1.1.1–2 Free pronouns and their distribution Free pronouns are used in all persons and numbers as subjects, objects, indirect objects, parts of comparative constructions, etc. Persian is, however, a pro-drop language and usually omits the subject pronoun of all persons and numbers. See Table 2.3 in Section 2.1.2.1.2 for a list of the free pronouns. 2.1.2.1.1.3 Pronouns and emphasis 2.1.2.1.1.3.1 Noncontrastive, nonemphatic use of pronouns When the referent is not being contrasted or emphasized, the pronoun is commonly dropped in nonformal contexts. 2.1.2.1.1.3.2 Emphatic use of pronouns When the referent is being emphasized the pronoun is typically used. As with nouns, emphasis of pronouns is achieved through stress and movement. See Section 1.11.2.2.1–4. 2.1.2.1.1.3.3 Unemphatic pronouns with imperative verbs Pronouns are not used in unemphatic contexts with imperative verbs. (342) bo-ro xune IMP-go home ‘Go home.’ 2.1.2.1.1.3.4 Emphasized pronouns with imperative verbs A pronoun is optionally used when it is being emphasized with an imperative verb. (343) to bo-ro xune you IMP-go home ‘YOU, go home!’ 2.1.2.1.1.3.5 Pronouns answering ‘who’ questions When answering a ‘who is it?’ question, the pronoun must be
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Page 207 used, along with the verb budæn ‘to be’. (344) ki-e? mæn-æm. who-is I-am. ‘Who is it?’ ‘It’s me’. 2.1.2.1.1.3.6 Pronouns in cleft and pseudocleft constructions With cleft and pseudocleft sentences the appropriate pronoun must occur. (345) mæn bud-æm ke be danešgah ræft-æm I was-1S that to university went-1S ‘It was I who went to the university.’ (346) kesi ke be tætili ehtiaj--dar-e someone who to holiday need--have-is mæn-æm I-am ‘The one who needs a holiday is me.’ 2.1.2.1.1.4 Emphatic/nonemphatic contrast Free pronouns do not typically occur in unemphatic contexts. See Sections 2.1.2.1.1.3.3 and 2.1.2.1.1.3.4. 2.1.2.1.1.5 Restriction on position of reduced pronouns Reduced pronouns appear as clitics in Persian and are restricted to suffix position on nouns, verbs and prepositions. For a fuller account of Persian clitics, see sections 2.1.1.4.6, 2.1.2.1.19 and 2.1.5.3. 2.1.2.1.2 Person and number distinction in pronouns Pronouns reflect one of three persons and two numbers. The third person singular has separate forms for humans and nonhumans. una, the plural of un ‘that’ refers to either human or nonhuman third person plurals, anan is a literary/formal alternative which is only used for humans.
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Personal Pronouns SINGULAR mæn ‘I/me’ to ‘you’ u, išun ‘he/she’
PLURAL FIRST PERSON ma ‘we/us’ SECOND PERSON šoma ‘you’ THIRD PERSON HUMAN ina ‘these people’ una ‘those people’ anan ‘those people’ THIRD PERSON NONHUMAN un ‘it’ una ‘they/them’ The use of to is restricted to family and close friends. The plural form šoma is used when addressing someone less familiar. šoma is also used to convey the speaker’s respect for the hearer based on the age or status relationship between them. For example, grandchildren nearly always use šoma when addressing their grandparents; grandparents, in turn, use to toward their grandchildren. Between contiguous generations there is some variation on the use of to and šoma. In some families, children may refer to parents as to while in others šoma is preferred. Pronoun use between persons of different social status also varies. Typically, persons of different social status, such as a professor and student or janitor and teacher, will each use šoma when addressing the other. The distinction between u and išun is similar to that between to and šoma. 2.1.2.1.3 Inclusion versus exclusion distinction No distinction is made regarding inclusion or exclusion of the speaker in the first-person pronoun. 2.1.2.1.4 Number marking in pronouns 2.1.2.1.4.1 Number marking in pronouns Persian pronouns have separate lexical forms for singular and plural. See 2.1.2.1.2. No dual, trial or paucal forms exist.
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Page 209 2.1.2.1.4.2 Number distinction in pronouns Plural marking is obligatory to indicate a plural referent in Persian. Sometimes, however, for emphasis the first person plural is used with a singular referent. (347) ma æz in adæm-a nist-im we from this person-PL NEG.BE-1P ‘I’m not that sort of person.’ The second person plural form šoma is used as a polite form with a singular referent. See 2.1.2.1.2. 2.1.3.1.4.3–5 Overlapping of number categories Persian does not have lexical means to describe overlapping number categories and delimitations. 2.1.2.1.4.6 Pronoun association with numerals Numerals can be used with pronouns. There is no obvious limit on the association of numbers with pronouns, but high numbers sound awkward, probably for pragmatic reasons. (348) ma do-ta we two-CL ‘we two’ (349) ma dæh-ta we ten-CL ‘we ten’ (350) šoma se-ta you three-CL ‘you three’ 2.1.2.1.4.7 Collective and distributive numbers No distributive forms exist. A collective construction can be made with the preposition be ‘to’ and numberals, e.g. do be do ‘two by two’. See Section 2.1.1.8.4–5.
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Page 210 2.1.2.1.4.8 Nonsingulars Persian does not have different types of nonsingular pronouns. 2.1.2.1.5 Degree of obviation Persian does not have an obviative pronoun. 2.1.2.1.6 Degree of proximity in third-person pronouns The pronouns per se do not differentiate proximity versus remoteness of the referent. However, the demonstrative adjectives in the plural forms ina ‘these’ and una ‘those’ are used as demonstrative pronouns in order to differentiate a proximate third-person plural referent from a remote third-person plural referent. Also see Section 2.1.1.10.1.1 on demonstratives. 2.1.2.1.7 Anaphoric third-person pronouns There are no special anaphoric third-person pronouns. 2.1.2.1.7.1 Natural/grammatical gender conflicts Since Persian has no grammatical gender, no confusion can arise with pronouns based on natural gender. 2.1.2.1.8 Gender/class distinction in pronouns No masculine/feminine distinction is made in the pronouns. The third person singular u can mean ‘he’ or ‘she’ for human referents. The third person pronoun un refers to nonhuman objects. No gender distinction is made in the pronouns with regard to the speaker. No formal distinctions are made in the pronoun system with regard to social class. However, polite forms of the second and third person singular pronouns are used in certain contexts. See section 2.1.2.1.2. 2.1.2.1.9 Tribal, sectional, family and other relationships No special forms exist.
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Page 211 2.1.2.1.10 Forms of pronouns See 2.1.2.1.2. 2.1.2.1.11 Pronouns and tense Tense is not marked on pronouns. Only verbs are inflected for tense. See section 2.1.3.2.1. 2.1.2.1.12 Status distinction in pronouns Status distinction may be marked through pronouns. See Section 2.1.2.1.2. 2.1.2.1.13 Nonspecific indefinite pronouns bæzia ‘some people’, formed from bæzi ‘some’ and the plural suffix -a, can be used to indicate a nonspecific indefinite pronoun. (351) bæzia hic erade næ-dar-ænd some people none will NEG-have-3P ‘Some people have no will.’ Other nonspecific indefinite pronouns are kesi ‘no one/anyone’, hiški, (from hic kæs ‘no person’) ‘no one’, hær kes(-i) ‘anyone’, folan ‘anything/something’ and folani ‘someone’. folan is often followed by kæs ‘person’ or ciz ‘thing’. In other cases, a nonspecific indefinite referent is indicated through obligatory ellipsis of the third person plural pronoun, shown in example (354). Note that folan and folani can also be used as specific indefinite pronouns. See 2.1.2.1.14. (352) kesi inja nist no one here isn’t ‘There’s no one here.’ (353) kesi cizi mi-xa-d? anyone something DUR-want-3S ‘Does anyone want anything?’ (354) mi-g-ænd færda barun mi-ya-d DUR-say-3P tomorrow rain DUR-come-3S They say it’s going to rain tomorrow.’
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Page 212 2.1.2.1.14 Specific indefinite pronouns Persian has several specific indefinite pronouns: yeki ‘someone’ and, as mentioned in 2.1.2.1.13, folan ‘anything/something’ and folani ‘someone’. (355) yeki dæm-e dær-e someone at-EZ door-is ‘There’s someone at the door.’ 2.1.2.1.15 Emphatic pronouns No special emphatic forms exist. Reflexives can be used for emphasis. See Section 2.1.2.2.7. 2.1.2.1.16 Complex pronouns No complex forms exist. 2.1.2.1.17 Pronoun-noun reference Pronoun-noun constructions are possible in the first and second person plural. (356) ma irani-a we Iranian-PL ‘we Iranians’ (357) šoma danešju-a you student-PL ‘you students’ 2.1.2.1.18 Pairs of pronouns Pronoun constructions of the form ‘we and the priest’ which have the meaning ‘I and the priest’ cannot be found in Persian. 2.1.2.1.19 Secondary pronoun system (clitics) In addition to the free pronouns listed in 2.1.2.1.2, Persian uses a set of pronominal clitics to indicate: 1) possessiveness, by replacing the free pronoun in a genetive construction (see Section
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Page 213 2.1.1.4.6), 2) direct definite objects, by appearing at the end of a verb (see Section 2.1.1.4.3), and 3) oblique arguments, by attaching to certain prepositions to form personal prepositional forms 2.1.5.3). The pronominal clitic paradigm given in Table 2.4 is repeated below for convenience. (The phonetically variant forms are explained with Table 2.1.) Table 2.4 Pronominal clitics SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm/-m ‘me’ -emun/-mun ‘us’ SECOND PERSON -et/-t ‘you’ -etun/-tun ‘you’ THIRD PERSON -eš/-š ‘her, him, it’ -ešun/-šun ‘them’ 2.1.2.1.20 Case system of pronouns Pronouns do not inflect for case. The one instance where a case is morphologically implied on nouns, pronouns and noun phrases is when the particle -ra is suffixed to a nominal element to indicate reference to a definite direct objects. See Section 2.1.1.10.1.2 for a discussion of -ra. 2.1.2.2 Reflexive pronouns 2.1.2.2.1–3 Reflexive pronouns Three reflexive pronouns are used in Persian: xod, xiš and xištæn, all meaning ‘self. The three forms are used in all persons and numbers. xod is used generally, while xiš and xištæn are somewhat archaic. The reflexives appear in object position, function as objects and refer to the subject of the sentence, though the subject may be dropped as in other sentence constructions. The reflexives are commonly used with the pronominal clitics, though they may occur without the clitics.
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Page 214 Table 2.5
Reflexives with clitic suffixes SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON xod-æm xod-emun SECOND PERSON xod-et xod-etun THIRD PERSON xod-eš xod-ešun Below are examples of typical uses of reflexive forms. Example (358) shows a full noun phrase subject and a pronominal clitic on the reflexive object. In example (359) an optional pronoun subject noun phrase is followed by the reflexive object, which is used without a pronominal clitic. Example (360) is a sentence with an optional pronoun subject noun phrase and a pronominal clitic on reflexive pronoun. (358) mæryæm xod-eš-o amade--kærd Maryam self-3S.PC-OM prepare--did ‘Maryam got herself ready.’ (359) (u) xod-ra košt (he/she) self-OM killed ‘He killed himself.’ (360) (to) xod-et-o divune mi-kon-i (you) self-2S.PC-OM crazy DUR-do-2S ‘You’ll make yourself crazy.’ No special forms of the reflexive are used to specify inclusion, obviation, proximity, gender/class, status or kinship/tribal affiliation. 2.1.2.2.4–5 Reflexive case Since reflexive pronouns are inherently definite, they take the definite direct object marker -ra in direct object position. See example (360) immediately above.
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Page 215 2.1.2.2.6 Other ways to express reflexivity No other ways exist to express reflexivity. 2.1.2.2.7 Emphatic uses of the reflexive The cliticized reflexives are often used for emphasis of the subject rather than as an anaphoric object. In these cases the reflexive is placed either immediately after the subject or after the object. (361) pune xod-eš šam-o dorost--kærd Puneh self-3S.PC dinner-OM fix--did ‘Puneh made the dinner herself.’ (362) pune šam-o xod-eš dorost--kærd Puneh dinner-OM self-3S.PC fix--did ‘Puneh made the dinner herself.’ (363) xod-et tæmum-eš--kon self-2S.PC end-3S.PC--do ‘Finish it yourself.’ xod may also be used emphatically in an ezafe construction, in which case it precedes the pronoun or noun. (364) xod-e pune šam-o dorost--kærd self-EZ Puneh dinner-OM fix--did ‘Puneh herself made the dinner.’ (365) xod-e mæn ina-ro nevešt-æm self-EZ I these-OM wrote-1S ‘I myself wrote these.’ 2.1.2.3 Reciprocal pronouns Persian has three reciprocal pronouns: hæm, hæmdige and yekdigær, which are used for all persons. The dige and digær portions of hæmdige and yekdigær are morphological variants, both meaning ‘else’. No special forms exist to indicate inclusion, obviation, proximity, gender/class, status or kinship/tribal affiliation. All three forms function as objects with an anaphoric reference to the subject.
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Page 216 The reciprocals take the definite direct object marker. (366) mæn-o to hæmdige-ro dust--dar-im I-and you each other-OM friend--have-1P ‘You and I like each other.’ (367) šoma do-ta hæmdige-ro mi-šnas-id? you two-CL each other-OM DUR-know-2P ‘Do you two know each other?’ (368) bæcce-ha hæmdige-ro busid-ænd child-PL each other-OM kissed-3P ‘The children kissed each other.’ (369) peyman-o šiva æz arezu-ha-ye Peyman-and Shiva from hope-PL-EZ hæm agah-ænd each other aware-are ‘Peyman and Shiva are aware of each other’s hopes.’ (370) be yekdigær hedye dad-ænd to each other gift gave-3P ‘They gave each other gifts.’ 2.1.2.4 Possessive pronouns 2.1.2.4.1–6 Possessive pronouns Persian does not have independent possessive pronouns. Pronoun possession is shown by either the ezafe construction with the personal pronoun or through the use of pronominal clitics. For a complete discussion and examples of both types of possessive constructions, see Section 2.1.1.4.6–7. No distinction is made in possessive constructions with regards to alienability/inalienability, permanence/nonpermanence, present/past, case or persons/animals/things. 2.1.2.4.7 Reflexive possessive pronouns Persian expresses a reflexive possessive with the word xod ‘self suffixed with the pronominal clitics. For convenience, Table 2.5 from Section 2.1.2.2 is repeated here as Table 2.6.
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Page 217 Table 2.6
Reflexives with clitic suffixes SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON xod-æm xod-emun SECOND PERSON xod-et xod-etun THIRD PERSON xod-eš xod-ešun (371) bædri lebas-e xod-eš-o pare--kærd Badri dress-EZ self-3S.PC-OM rip--did ‘Badri ripped her own dress.’ 2.1.2.4.8 Reciprocal possessive pronouns The reciprocal pronouns hæm, hæmdige and yekdigær are used to show reciprocal possessiveness. Also see Section 2.1.2.3. (372) nahar-e hæmdige-ro xord-ænd lunch-EZ each other-OM ate-3P ‘They ate each other’s lunch.’ 2.1.2.4.9 Emphatic possessive pronouns Persian does not have emphatic possessive pronouns. 2.1.2.5 Demonstrative pronouns Persian has two demonstrative pronouns: in ‘this’ and un ‘that’, along with their plural forms ina and una . The singular forms of the demonstrative pronouns are also used as demonstrative adjectives. It should be noted that ina and una are also used as third person plural personal pronouns. See Section 2.1.2.1.2 for person and number distinction in pronouns. (373) in-o/un-o be-zar ru miz this-OM/that-OM IMP-put on table ‘Put this/that on the table.’ (374) un-a-ro bi-ar inja
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Page 218 that-PL-OM IMP-bring here ‘Bring those here.’ 2.1.2.5.1 Parameters involved in demonstrative pronouns 2.1.2.5.1.1–3 Relative distance from the speaker and hearer The demonstrative pronoun in ‘this’ specifies an object near the speaker while un ‘that’ refers to something distant. 2.1.2.5.1.4–20 Relative location to speaker or hearer No special forms indicate contact with the hearer or speaker, specific lateral or vertical location with the speaker, between the speaker and hearer, interiority or exteriority. 2.1.2.5.1.21 Visibility/invisibility There are no special forms indicating whether the pronoun referent is invisible or visible to either speaker or hearer. 2.1.2.5.1.22 Known/unknown No special forms exist to indicate whether the pronoun referent is known or unknown to speaker, hearer or a third person. 2.1.2.5.1.23–25 Reference in previous discourse and time dimension Referents in the present time are specified with the pronoun in ‘this’ while in the past and future they are specified with un ‘that’. 2.1.2.5.1.26–2.1.2.5.3 Other parameters There are no other parameters involved. 2.1.2.5.4 Number As mentioned in Section 2.1.2.5, Persian marks the demonstrative pronouns in and un for plural.
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Page 219 2.1.2.5.5–7 Other parameters Demonstrative pronouns are not marked for class, gender, case or other grammatical categories. 2.1.2.5.8 Attributive/adjectival use When demonstratives are used as adjectives, they precede the noun but only occur in singular form: i.e. they do not take plural inflection even when the noun is plural. (375) un mærd that man ‘that man’ (376) in doxtær-a this girl-PL ‘these girls’ (377) *in-a doxtær-a these girl-PL ‘these girls’ 2.1.2.6 Interrogative pronouns and other question words Persian has two interrogatives which are fully pronouns and a number of other question words (also see section 1.1.1.2.2.) 2.1.2.6.1 Interrogative pronouns The words ki ‘who/whom’ and ci ‘what’ are the only interrogative pronouns in Persian that occur alone in both subject and object position. (378) ki dær-o baz--kærd? who door-OM open-did ‘Who opened the door?’ (379) naser ba ki ræft? Nasser with who went ‘Who did Nasser go with?’
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Page 220 (380)
ci ru-ye miz-e? what on-EZ table-is ‘What is on the table?’ (381) doktor ci goft? doctor what said ‘What did the doctor say?’ (382) ci-ro xord-i? what-OM ate-2S ‘What did you eat?’ 2.1.2.6.2 Other question words Other question words in Persian include ke ‘when’, koja ‘where’, cera ‘why’, cænd ‘how much (price) / how many’, and interrogative adjectives: kodum (yek) ‘which (one)’, cænd-ta ‘how many’, ceqædr ‘how much (quantity)’. Also see Section 1.1.1.2.2. The interrogatives ke, koja and cera are primarily adverbial. kodum can be either an interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective. (383) una ke mi-res-ænd? they when DUR-arrive-3P ‘When will they arrive?’ (384) xahær-et koja ræft? sister-2S.PC where went ‘Where did your sister go?’ (385) cera gerye—mi-kon-i? why cry--DUR-do-2S ‘Why are you crying?’ (386) kodum yek-i-o did-i? which one-NOM-OM saw-2S ‘Which one did you see?’ (387) kodum-o did-i? which-OM saw-2S ‘Which (one) did you see?’
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Page 221 2.1.2.7 Relative pronouns and other relative words 2.1.2.7.1 Relative pronouns There is one relative pronoun in Persian, ke ‘which/that/who/whom’, which is used both restrictively and nonrestrictively. 2.1.2.7.1.1 Types of relative pronouns 2.1.2.7.1.1.1 Restrictive relative pronouns As a relative pronoun in its restrictive sense, ke always cooccurs with the demonstrative -i : NP modified by relative clauses are always suffixed with -i . The relative clause immediately follows the noun phrase it modifies (see Section 1.1.2.3.2 for a discussion on the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses). (388) mærd-i ke diruz did-æm man-DEM who yesterday saw-1S ‘the man who I saw yesterday’ (389) kæfš-a-i ke qærz--kærd-æm shoe-PL-DEM which borrow--did-1S ‘the shoes which I borrowed’ (390) mašin-e qermez-i ke mi-xa-i car-EZ red-DEM that DUR-want-2S ‘the red car that you want’ 2.1.2.7.1.1.2 Nonrestrictive relative pronouns Used nonrestrictively, the relative pronoun ke occurs without the demonstrative -i . (391) yek zæn-e pir ke palto pušid-e--bud a woman-EZ old who coat wore-PSPT--was ‘an old woman who was wearing a coat’ 2.1.2.7.1.1–3 Other relative words In some cases, a relative clause may be introduced by hær
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Page 222 ‘each/every’ combined with kæs ‘person’ or ja ‘place’. In these constructions ke is optional. (392) hærkes (ke) emrika ræft-e whoever (that) America went-PSPT ‘whoever had been to America’ In other cases væqt ‘time’ may be used to indicate ‘when’. hær and ke are used optionally in this construction. (393) (hær) væqt (ke) umæd-i ketab-æm-o (each) time (that) came-2S book-1S.PC-OM bi-ar IMP-bring ‘Whenever you come, bring my book.’ 2.1.3 Verb morphology 2.1.3.1 Voice 2.1.3.1.1 Passive 2.1.3.1.1.1 Personal passive As explained in 2.1.1.2.13, the passive construction is typically used in spoken Persian when one does not know who the agent is or does not want to mention the agent. Thus, Persian passives are generally agentless. Passive is formed by combining the past participle of a verb with the appropriately inflected form of the auxiliary verb šodæn ‘to become’. (394) livan šekæst-e šod glass broke-PSPT became ‘The glass was broken.’ The agent is sometimes mentioned in literary or formal language or in describing technical procedures with any of several phrases preceding the agent: be væsile-ye ‘by means of, (be) tævæssote ‘by (the intermediary of)’, æz . tæræfe ‘on the part of, be dæste ‘by (the hands of)’. For more examples of the passive construction see Section 2.1.1.2.13.
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Page 223 (395)
ivan be dæste pedær-eš košt-e šod Ivan by father-3P.PC killed-PSPT became ‘Ivan was killed by his father.’ 2.1.3.1.1.2–3 Impersonal passive Impersonal passives do not exist in Persian. 2.1.3.1.1.4 Passive tenses 2.1.3.1.1.4.1 Passive tenses The passive voice may be used in the same tenses and aspects as the active voice. 2.1.3.1.1.4.2 Dynamic versus static passives Persian distinguishes between dynamic and static passives. Dynamic passive constructions use the verb daštæn ‘to have’ as an auxiliary which precedes the past participle of the main verb. (396) xunæ-mun dar-e saxt-e mi-š-e house-1P.PC have-3S built-PSPT DUR-become-3S ‘Our house is being built.’ The static passive is indicated with the present tense of the verb ‘to be’, which follows the past participle of the auxiliary šodæn as the final element of the passive construction. (397) xunæ-mun saxt-e šod-e-æst house-1P.PC built-PSPT became-PSPT-is ‘The house is (already) built.’ 2.1.3.1.2.1–2 Means of decreasing the valency of verb The verb’s valency can be decreased in some cases by simply using a verb in an intransitive sense without any morphological change in the verb outside a possible change in agreement inflection. In these cases the subject of the transitive sentence is not specified in the intransitive while the object of the transitive becomes the overt syntactic subject of the intransitive. Compare examples (398) and (399).
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Page 224 (398)
hæsæn ab-o rixt Hasan water-OM spilled ‘Hasan spilled the water.’ (399) ab rixt water spilled ‘The water spilled.’ In some cases, when the direct object of the transitive construction has been previously mentioned and is therefore understood, the direct object can be dropped, thus decreasing valency of the verb by one argument. (400) šam xord-i? are xord-æm dinner ate-2S yes ate-1S ‘Did you eat dinner?’ ‘Yes, I did.’ Verb valency can also be decreased in some cases by dropping the indirect object if it is understood. In such cases the direct object may also be dropped, thus decreasing valency by two arguments. (401) dæftær-o be æli dad-i? are dad-æm notebook-OM to Ali gave-2S yes gave-1S ‘Did you give the notebook to Ali?’ ‘Yes, I did.’ In order to passivize and thus decrease the valency of compounds with kærdæn ‘to do’ and others, the kærdæn element of the compound must be replaced by šodæn ‘to become’. (402) hæmid dær-o baz--kærd Hamid door-OM open-did ‘Hamid opened the door.’ (403) dær baz--šod door open-became ‘The door opened.’ 2.1.3.1.2.3 Reciprocal intransitive verbs A reciprocal subject of an intransitive verb cannot be formed from a verb which takes subject and object.
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Page 225 2.1.3.1.3 Means of increasing the valency of verb 2.1.3.1.3.1 Verbal causativization 2.1.3.1.3.1.1–3 Forming causatives Verb valency may be increased through the formation of a causative construction. There are two ways to form causatives. First, a causative construction is made by adding the suffix -undæn or— unidæn to the present stem of some transitive and intransitive verbs to form causative infinitives: Present stem Causative infinitive res‘arrive’ resundæn ‘to cause to arrive’ suzun‘burn’ suzundæn ‘to cause to burn’ The second way to make causatives is by using ba’es šodæn ‘to cause’ to introduce a subordinate clause in the subjunctive, šodæn is inflected to agree with the subject and may appear in any tense. ba ‘eš šodæn+(ke)+ SUBORDINATE CLAUSE (404) hæsæn ba’es--šod (ke) ma dir be-res-im Hasan cause-became (that) we late SBJN-arrive-1P ‘Hasan caused us to arrive late.’ (405) hæsæn to ba’eš—mi-š-i (ke) Hasan, you cause—DUR-become-2S (that) ma dir be-res-im we late SBJN-arrive-1P ‘Hasan, you’re going to make us late.’ The causative construction works the same for transitive and ditransitive verbs. 2.1.3.1.3.2 Agentivity of causee The causee is typically an agent, but nonagent causees do occur, as in example (406):
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Page 226 (406) gærma-ye šædid ba’es--šod zud bær--gærd-im heat-EZ intense cause-became early back--turn--1P ‘The intense heat caused us to return early.’ (Note the verb bær gæštæn is one of a small group of verbs whose subjunctive lacks the subjunctive prefix be-. The verb kærdæn ‘to do’ optionally uses the be- prefix in the subjunctive.) In the case of the -undæn causatives, the causee is indicated as the subject of the verb in both intransitive and transitive sentences, just as in causatives formed with ba’es šodæn. In examples (407) and (408) causatives are formed with an intransitive base verb. In (409) the causative is formed using a transitive base verb. In (407)-(409) the causee is agentive while in (410) the causee is nonagentive. (407) bædri berenj-o suz-und Bædri rice-OM burn-caused ‘Badri burned the rice.’ (408) næne bæcce-ro xabund nanny child-OM sleep-caused ‘The nanny put the child to sleep.’ (409) ta tunest be mæn mive xor-und till was able to me fruit eat-caused ‘She made me eat as much fruit as she could.’ (410) atiš xunæ-ro suz-und fire house-OM burn-caused ‘The fire burned the house.’ 2.1.3.1.3.3 Omission of the causee When the causee is an agent it cannot be dropped. 2.1.3.1.4 Reflexive and reciprocal forms There are no special reflexive or reciprocal forms. 2.1.3.2 Tense Tense and aspect are intricately bound in Persian, with some scholars arguing that aspect is the more salient of the two in the
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Page 227 Persian verbal system. Persian tense/aspect forms are derived from either the present stem or the past stem. The past stem itself is derived directly from the infinitive. The relationship of the present stem to the infinitive/past is not always transparent. Often the present stem is derived from the infinitive by simply dropping an infinitival ending. Often, however, the are additional differences between the infinitive form and the present stem, and occasionally there is no discernible relationship between the infinitive and present stem. See 2.1.3.2.1.3 for a sample list of present/past stems. 2.1.3.2.1 Tense distinctions 2.1.3.2.1.1 Universal time reference There is no tense form used exclusively for referring to generic statements, habitual actions and universal truths. To express these the ordinary present is used. The ordinary present is formed by prefixing the durative mi- to the present stem, which is then followed by the personal inflections. (411) xahær-æm hær sal mi-r-e paris sister-1S.PC every year DUR-go-3S Paris ‘My sister goes to Paris every year.’ (412) mah dowr-e zæmin mi-cærx-e moon around-EZ earth DUR-turn-3S ‘The moon revolves around the earth.’ Note that in modern Persian a few verbs such as daštæn ‘to have’ do not take the durative prefix mi-. For expressing universal truths with such verbs, the present stem is used without mi-. (413) hæme pærænde-gan pær dar-ænd all bird-PL feather have-3P ‘All birds have feathers.’ 2.1.3.2.1.2 Present 2.1.3.2.1.2.1 Subject agreement suffixes In the simple indicative present, the present stem of the verb (see 2.1.3.2.1.2.2 on the derivation of the present stem from the
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Page 228 infinitive) receives both the durative prefix mi- and the personal suffixes indicating subject-verb agreement with respect to person and number. The prefix mi- is used to show durative in both the present and the past. The personal suffixes are shown below. Table 2.7 Personal present verb endings SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm -im SECOND PERSON -i -id THIRD PERSON -e/-d -ænd/-d The most common third person singular inflection is -e, which is added to present stems ending in a consonant. The third person singular -d form is used for verbs whose present stems end with a vowel, as in mi-ya-d ‘he/she/it comes’ and mi-xa-d ‘he/she/it wants’. (414) mæn mi-r-æm dæftær I DUR-go-1S office ‘I’m going to the office.’ (415) šiva dærs—mi-xun-e Shiva lesson—DUR-read-3S ‘Shiva is studying.’ One exception to the regular present tense formation is the verb budæn ‘to be’. The present tense of the verb ‘to be’ is expressed in three ways: through the clitic form, the hæst form and the present stem baš. The clitic form The most common way to express the verb ‘to be’ in the present is through the use of a set of unstressed clitics, presented in Table 2.8. The choice of third person singular clitics is based on both phonological considerations and level of formality, with -æst being the most formal.
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Page 229 Table 2.8
Paradigm of the present tense clitics of ‘to be’ SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm -im SECOND PERSON -i -id THIRD PERSON -æst/-s(t)/-e -ænd These clitics are suffixed directly to noun phrases and adjective phrases. Clitic forms can only be used in a copulative sense and cannot be used existentially (see the hæst form below for the existential ‘to be’). (416) qermez-e red-is ‘It is red.’ (417) danešju-im student-we are ‘We are students.’ (418) inja-st here-is ‘He’s here.’ The hæst form Another way to express the copula in the present tense is by using the nonenclitic lexical item hæst . hæst appropriately inflects to agree with the subject in person and number. Note that the paradigm for hæst is irregular in that, unlike most present tense verbs which are inflected with -e in the third person singular, hæst takes no third person singular inflection. Table 2.9 below presents the paradigm for the present copula hæst.
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page_230 Paradigm of the present tense of ‘to be’ SINGULAR hæst-æm hæst-i hæšt qermez red ‘It’s red.’
hæšt is
PLURAL hæst-im hæst-id hæst-ænd
danešju hæst-im student we are ‘We are students.’ Unlike the clitics, hæst can be used existentially. (421) cænd-ta doxtær tu-ye hæyat hæst-ænd some girl in-EZ courtyard be-3P ‘There are some girls in the courtyard.’ hæst- may be interpreted as having either an empty subject or not. (422) mæn hæst-æm I am ‘It’s me.’ / ‘I am (here).’ If the stress is on hæst-, the meaning changes to ‘I am/will be here’. See Section 3.3.4.3–4 on constrastive stress. The baš form While the present tense form derived from the present root baš is constructed regularly, it is seldom used in the simple present, being restricted primarily to literary contexts.
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Page 231 (423)
mi-baš-æm DUR-be-1S ‘I am.’ However, baš is also commonly used in subjunctive and imperative constructions. (424) momken-e baš-æm possible-is be-1S ‘I might be here.’ (425) šayæd ræft-e baš-ænd maybe gone-PSPT be-3P ‘They might have gone.’ (426) movazeb baš careful be ‘Be careful!’ In the negative, the present tense of ‘to be’ takes two forms. The regular form derived from baš, like its positive counterpart, is restricted to use in literary contexts. The form used exclusively in both spoken and written modern Persian, nist+personal endings, is shown in Table 2.10. Table 2.10 Paradigm of nist SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON nist-æm nist-im SECOND PERSON nist-i nist-id THIRD PERSON nist nist-ænd (427) emrikai nist-æm American NEG.be-1S ‘I’m not American.’ 2.1.3.2.1.2.2 Present stem We describe the present stem in terms of being derived from
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Page 232 the infinitive. There is no consistent transparent morphological relationship between the infinitive and the present stem in Persian verbs, although a few patterns predominate. Persian scholars have grouped verbs into patterns of present/infinitive alternations into classes and subclasses, noting that there still remain within most of the classes, depending on how one defines the classes, irregularities. (The alternation is often described between the present stem and the past stem, but as mentioned in Section 2.1.3.2.1.3 the past stem is formed regularly by dropping the an from the infinitive.) We base the following classification on Moinfar 1978. We name the verb class in the subsection head and mention the number of verbs Moinfar cites belonging to that class in his list. The rule for deriving the present stem is stated, and the infinitive, present stem and first person singular forms are given. Note also that we omit some of the verbs from Moinfar’s list which are uncommon. CLASS I. The -idæn class (202 verbs) In what is by far the most common class, and the one to which verbs from other classes spread by analogy as well as the one that is used for classifying borrowings from other languages, the idæn of the infinitive is dropped to get the present stem. Note that busidæn ‘to kiss’ is from French and fæhmidæn ‘to think’ is from Arabic. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular xanidæn ‘to laugh’ xand mi-xand-æm picidæn ‘to turn’ pic mi-pic-æm malidæn ‘to rub’ malid mi-malid-æm xaridæn ‘to scratch’ xar mi-xar-æm xæridæn ‘to buy’ xær mi-xær-æm boridæn ‘to cut’ bor mi-bor-æm busidæn ‘to kiss’ bus mi-bus-æm fæhmidæn ‘to think’ fæhm mi-fæhm-æm CLASS II. The -adæn class (4 verbs) This class is similar to the -idæn class but the vowel of the infinitive is /a/ instead of /i/. The -adæn class contains only a handful of verbs.
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Page 233 Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular oftadæn ‘to fall’ oft mi-oft-æm ferestadæn ‘to send’ ferest mi-ferest-æm istadæn ‘to stand’ ist mi-ist-æm CLASS III. The -dæn class (96 verbs) The verbs in this large class drop the -dæn of the infinitive to get the present stem. More than half follow this rule alone. The rest not only drop -dæn but also alter the vowel of the stem. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular æfkændæn ‘to throw’ æfkæn mi-æfkæn-æm pærakændæn ‘to strew’ pærakæn mi-pærakæn-æm mundæn ‘to stay’ mun mi-mun-æm ræhandæn ‘to free’ ræhan mi-ræhan-æm xundæn ‘to read’ xun mi-xun-æm Within the -dæn class, many verbs change or drop the vowel of the infinitive as well. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular šodan ‘to become’ š mi-š-æm dadæn ‘to give’ d mi-d-æm bordæn ‘to carry’ bær mi-bær-æm mordæn ‘to die’ mir mi-mir-æm šenudæn ‘to hear’ šeno mi-šeno-æm ( šenudæn has a šenidæn variation of Class I verbs as well as a Class VII very informal, colloquial variant, šenoftæn .) Some -dæn verbs change the /d/ of the infinitive to /n/: Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular cidæn ‘to pick’ cin mi-cin-æm afæridæn ‘to create’ afærin mi-afærin-æm Moinfar puts two common verbs didæn ‘to see’ and
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Page 234 amædæn‘to come’ in the -dæn class, although, as a result of unpredictable sound alternations, their present forms are very different from the infinitives. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular didæn ‘to see’ bin mi-bin-æm amædæn ‘to come’ a mi-ya-m CLASS IV. The -tæn class (59 verbs) While fairly large, this class contains many irregularities in forming the present stem from the infinitive. The rule which applies to all these verbs is to drop the -tæn of the infinitive. But few Class IV verbs do only that. Often a stem vowel and/or consonant changes as well. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular baftæn ‘to knit’ baf mi-baf-æm šekaftæn ‘to split’ šekaf mi-šekaf-æm Some -tæn verbs change the /f/ of the infinitive to a /b/, and some of these also change the vowel: Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular šetaftæn ‘to hurry’ šetab mi-šetab-æm yaftæn ‘to find’ yab mi-yab-æm roftæn ‘to sweep’ rub mi-rub-æm A small group changes the /š/ of the infinitive to /r/: Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular daštæn ‘to have’ dar mi-dar-æm negaštæn ‘to write’ negar mi-negar-æm engaštæn ‘to suppose’ engar mi-engar-æm kaštæn ‘to plant’ kar mi-kar-æm Another subclass of -tæn verbs changes the /x/ of the infinitive to /z/:
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Page 235 Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular baxtæn ‘to be defeated’ baz mi-baz-æm ændaxtæn ‘to throw’ ændaz mi-ændaz-æm saxtæn ‘to build’ saz mi-saz-æm pærdaxtæn ‘to pay’ pærdaz mi-pærdaz-æm Other -tæn verbs undergo a number of changes and/or deletions of vowels and/or consonants. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular jaštæn ‘to jump’ jah mi-j-æm xastæn ‘to want’ xa mi-xa-m xastæn ‘to get up’ xiz mi-xiz-æm nešæstæn ‘to sit’ nešin mi-nešin-æm bæstæn ‘to close’ bænd mi-band-æm peyvæstæn ‘to unite’ peyvænd mi-peyvand-æm CLASS V. The -stæn class (7 verbs) Verbs in this small class drop -stæn from the infinitive to get the present stem. In addition, some of the verbs in this class undergo other changes between infinitive and present stem. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular šostæn ‘to wash’ šur mi-šur-æm jostæn ‘to seek’ ju mi-ju-yæm goristæn ‘to cry’ geri mi-geri-yæm negæristæn ‘to look’ negar mi-negar-æm CLASS VI. The -estæn class (7 verbs) Verbs in this class are regular, forming the present stem by dropping the -estæn of the infinitive. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular tunestan ‘to be able’ tun mi-tun-æm danestæn ‘to know’ dun mi-dun-æm
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Page 236 CLASS VII. The -ftæn class (6 verbs) In this class the -ftæn of the infinitive is dropped, while other vowel alternations occur. Infinitive English Present Stem First person singular goftæn ‘to say’ g mi-g-æm ræftæn ‘to go’ r mi-r-æm gereftæn ‘to receive’ gir mi-gir-æm pæziroftæn ‘to accept’. pæzir mi-pæzir-æm šenoftæn ‘to hear’ šeno mi-šeno-æm (This verb also has Class I and Class III variants.) 2.1.3.2.1.3 Past The simple indicative past tense, used to refer to a past completed action, is indicated by suffixing appropriate inflections for person and number to the past stem. The past stem is derived regularly from the infinitive (citation) form by dropping the -æn: English Infinitive Past stem ‘to go’ ræftæn ræft‘to say’ goftæn goft ‘to sleep’ xabidæn xabid ‘to do’ kærdæn kærdTable 2.11 Simple past personal verb endings SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON -æm -im SECOND PERSON -i -id THIRD PERSON Ø -ænd Therefore, the inflectional paradigm for the past tense of kærdæn ‘to do’ is:
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Page 237 Table 2.12
Simple past paradigm of the verb kærdæn ‘to do’ SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON kærd-æm kærd-im SECOND PERSON kærd-i kærd-id THIRD PERSON kærd kærd-ænd As for the verb ‘to be’, in the past the regular past-tense personal endings are suffixed to the past stem bud-. Table 2.13 Simple past paradigm of the budæn ‘to be’ SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON bud-æm bud-im SECOND PERSON bud-i bud-id THIRD PERSON bud bud-ænd 2.1.3.2.1.3.1–2 Degree of remoteness in the past The pluperfect or past perfect is a tense in that it refers to a time preceding another referenced past event. It is also aspectual in that it implies completion of that earlier action. The past perfect is formed by combining the past participle of the main action verb with a form of budæn ‘to be’. (428) ræft-e bud-im gone-PSPT was-1P ‘we had gone’ (429) xord-e bud ate-PSPT was ‘she had eaten’
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Page 238 2.1.3.2.1.4 Future Although Persian has a future tense construction it is rarely used in conversation, being restricted primarily to formal announcements and lecture formats. The future construction consists of xah (the present stem of the verb want)+present tense verbal inflection to agree with the subject+the third person past stem of the action being referred to: (430) xah-æm ræft want-1S went ‘I will go.’ In spoken Persian, future time is generally indicated with the present tense. If necessary, an adverbial is added for clarity. (431) barun mi-ya-d rain DUR-come-3S ‘It’s raining.’ (432) færda barun mi-ya-d tomorrow rain DUR-come-3S ‘It’s going to rain tomorrow.’ 2.1.3.2.2–3 Absolute and relative tense distinctions The same tense distinctions obtain in all moods and nonfinite forms. Tenses are generally absolute, but there are several cases where tense of the verb does not correspond to the time of the action. In some conditionals, the past is used for an unknown present condition as well as the result contingent upon that condition. (433) æge esm-eš-o mi-dunest-æm be-het if name-3S.PC-OM DUR-knew-1S to-2S.PC mi-goft-æm DUR-said-1S ‘If I knew her name, I would tell you.’ Also, when the condition refers to a single present action and precedes the result, the condition is expressed in the simple indicative past.
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Page 239 (434) æge dir ræft-ænd be mamam telefon--be-zæn if late went-3P to mom telephone--IMP-strike ‘If they leave late, call Mom.’ The tense of the subordinate clauses in the subjunctive is not absolute. Rather, the time of the verb corresponds to the time indicated by the absolute tense in the main verb. In both examples (435) and ()b, the present subjunctive beræm ‘that I go’ is used. The time of the beræm in example ()a is the present since the main verb mixam ‘I want’ is in the present. However, the time of beræm is example (436) is past, since the main verb is in the past. (435) mi-xa-m be-r-æm DUR-want-1S SBJN-go-1S ‘I want to go.’ (436) mi-xast-æm be-r-æm DUR-wanted-1S SBJN-go-1S ‘I wanted to go.’ 2.1.3.3 Aspect 2.1.3.3.1 Perfect aspect 2.1.3.3.1.1–2 Forms and tenses of the perfect aspect The present perfect is formed with the past participle of the main verb followed by the clitic form of the verb ‘to be’ (see Table in Section 2.1.3.2.1.2). (437) inja šiš sal zendegi--kærd-e-im here six year life--did-PSPT-1P ‘We’ve lived here for six years.’ Note that in everyday speech the past participle suffix -e is dropped. The past perfect is formed with the past participle of the main verb followed by a form of budæn ‘to be (past tense)’. (438) ma hærgez unja næ-ræft-e bud-im we never there NEG-went-PSPT were-1P ‘We had never gone there.’
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Page 240 2.1.3.3.1.3 Situations indicated by the perfect aspect 2.1.3.3.1.3.1 Present result of past situation The present perfect form is used. See Section 2.1.3.3.1.1–2. 2.1.3.3.1.3.2 Past situation leading up to the present Either the present perfect form is used (see Section 2.1.3.3.1.1–2) or the simple present is used. 2.1.3.3.1.3.3 Past situation continuing in the present. The present perfect form is used. See Section 2.1.3.3.1.1–2. 2.1.3.3.1.4 Similarity between expression of perfect aspect and recent past tense Both perfect aspect and recent past tense, which is expressed by the simple past form, are similar in that the main action is conveyed by the past stem of the verb. 2.1.3.3.2 Aspect and duration 2.1.3.3.2.1 Nature of marking 2.1.3.3.2.1.1 Perfective aspect No special form is used to indicate a perfective situation, i.e. where the situation is viewed in its totality. To show completion of the action the simple past or past perfect is used. 2.1.3.3.2.1.2 Imperfective aspect Imperfective aspect is shown by verbs using the durative mi-prefix with the past stem and the personal suffixes. (439) færanse zendegi--mi-kærd-æm France life--DUR-did-1S ‘I used to live in France.’
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Page 241 2.1.3.3.2.1.3 Habitual aspect Habitual action is also shown via the durative prefix mi-. The past stem is used, as in 2.1.3.3.2.1.2, to indicate habitual action in the past. In the present, habitual aspect is not morphologically differentiated from the simple present mi-+present stem form. In both the past and present cases, time adverbials s are used to indicate the habitual nature of the action. (440) hær ruz berenj mi-xord-im every day rice DUR-ate-1P ‘We used to eat rice every day.’ (441) hæmiše inja mi-šin-æm always here DUR-sit-1S ‘I always sit here.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.4–5 Continuous/progressive aspect Progressive aspect in both present and past is expressed with the auxiliary verb daštæn ‘to have’ preceding the main action verb. Both the auxiliary daštæn and the main verb take the same personal suffixes. (442) dar-æm bazi--mi-kon-æm have-1S play--DUR-do-1S ‘I am playing.’ (443) dašt-im hærf--mi-zæd-im had-1P word--DUR-hit-1P ‘We were talking.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.6 Ingressive aspect The ingressive is expressed in at least two ways. In both past and present a progressive construction is used with sum kærdæn ‘to begin’ followed by the subjunctive form of the main verb. (444) dar-im šuru--mi-kon-im dærs--be-xun-im have-1P start--DUR-do-1P lesson--SBJN-read-1P ‘We’re starting to study.’
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Page 242 (445)
dašt-im šuru--mi-kærd-im šam boxor-im had-3S start--DUR-did-1P dinner SBJN-eat-1P ‘We were starting to eat dinner.’ Another ingressive form is to substitute the subjunctive with the construction be ‘to’+infinitive of the main verb. (446) dar-im šuru--mi-kon-im be dærs--xundæn have-1P start--DUR-do-1P to to study ‘We’re starting to study.’ (447) dašt-im šuru--mi-kærd-im be šam xordæn had-1P start--DUR-did-1P to dinner to eat ‘We were starting to eat dinner.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.7 Terminative aspect The past tense, present perfect and past perfect may all be used to express the terminative aspect. The past perfect indicates a completed action that precedes another past situation. (448) name-ro nevešt-æm letter-OM wrote-1S ‘I wrote the letter.’ (449) name-ro nevešt-e-æm letter-OM wrote-PSPT-1S ‘I have written the letter.’ (450) name-ro nevešt-e bud-æm letter-OM wrote-PSPT was-1S ‘I had written the letter.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.8 Iterative aspect In the present, the simple present is used to express the repetition of a situation. In the past, iterativity is expressed with the imperfective aspect. (451) hær ruz mi-r-æm danešgah every day DUR-go-1S university ‘I go to the university every day.’
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Page 243 (452)
hær ruz mi-ræft-æm danešgah every day DUR-went-1S university ‘I used to go to the university every day.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.9 Semelfactive No special form exists. Semelfactivity is expressed either with the simple past tense or the past perfect. In either case the adverbial phrase ye(k) bar ‘one time’ must be used to clarify. (453) ye bar mar xord one time snake ate ‘She ate snake once.’ (454) ye bar unja ræft-e bud-im onetime there went-PSPT was-1P ‘We had gone there once. 2.1.3.3.2.1.10 Punctual aspect There is no special form. Punctuality is generally expressed with simple past forms. Some verbs are inherently punctual (455) steve diruz mord Steve yesterday died ‘Steve died yesterday.’ 2.1.3.3.2.1.11 Durative aspect The durative aspect is expressed with the prefix mi-, which may be used with either the present stem (see Section 2.1.3.2.1.2) or the past stem (see section 2.1.3.3.2.1.2). The durative aspect in the past tense indicates ongoing action in a past time. 2.1.3.3.2.1.12–14 Simultaneous and telic aspect There is no special form to indicate simultaneous aspect or telic aspect. 2.1.3.3.2.2 Combinatory restrictions on the aspectual system Tenses, aspects, moods and voices may combine in most
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Page 244 possible ways. For example, active and passive voice verbs may occur in present, past, present perfect and past perfect tense/aspects. Restrictions include the following. Imperative exists only in the present. Subjunctives cannot take a progressive auxiliary (see Section 2.1.3.3.2.1.4–5 on the continuous/progressive aspect). Some verbs of cognition and perception, such as dunestæn ‘to know’, bavær kærdæn ‘to believe’, bu kærdæn ‘to smell’ and mæzze kærdæn ‘to taste’, are not used is progressive aspect. 2.1.3.4 Mood 2.1.3.4.1 Indicative mood Indicative mood is unmarked, although the durative prefix mi- implies the indicative mood since its use precludes the subjunctive or imperative prefix be- (see Section 2.1.3.4.4 on the forms of the subjunctive and Section 2.1.3.4.3 on the imperative). Indicative mood is the most commonly used mood, with the primary exceptions explained in Section 2.1.3.4.2. 2.1.3.4.2 Conditional forms Conditional clauses are commonly introduced by æge ‘if. Depending on the truth or falsity of the proposition in the clause or the degree of possibility that the conditional will be fulfilled and on the tense of the clauses, the conditional clause uses either the subjunctive or indicative mood for the verb. The conditional clause usually precedes the result clause. a) Conditionals using the subjunctive The conditional clause usually calls for the subjunctive when: i) the possible condition and the result are in the future time. Both clauses use present tense. (456) æge be-mun-i xune mæn-æm mi-mun-æm if SBJN-stay-2S home I-also DUR-stay-1S ‘If you stay home I’ll stay home too.’ ii) the possible condition refers to a present-time event or state when the verb budæn ‘to be’ (present stem, baš) is used (see (b, ii) below
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Page 245 for verbs other than ‘to be’). Note that ‘to be’ is irregular in modern Persian in that its present subjunctive does not take the prefix be-. (457) æge xæste baš-e ne-mi-mun-im if tired be.SBJN-3S NEG-DUR-stay-1P ‘If she is tired we won’t stay.’ iii) the possible condition is in the past time described in the perfect tense and the result is in the present or future time. The conditional appears in the perfect subjunctive. (If the condition is described in the simple past, it is usually in the indicative. See (b, ii) below.) (458) æge næ-resid-e baš-e if NEG-arrived-PSPT be-3S telefon--mi-zæn-æm telephone--DUR-strike-1S ‘If she hasn’t arrived, I’ll call.’ iv) there is no element of doubt in the conditional situation. In such a case either the subjunctive or the indicative can be used (see (b,v) below on the indicative conditionals). (459) æge be-xa-i be pærvaz-et be-res-i if SBJN-want-2S to flight-2S.PC SBJN-arrive-2S zud baš fast be.IMP ‘If you want to make your flight, hurry.’ Other conditionals that use the subjunctive include those introduced by the phrases bedun-e inke ‘without’, piš æz inke ‘before’, mæge inke ‘unless’. These are less common than æge . (460) piš æz inke be-r-æm xune mi-r-æm sælmuni before SBJN-go-1S home DUR-go-1S barber ‘Before I go home I’m going to the barber.’ b) Conditionals using the indicative The conditional clause usually calls for the indicative when: i) the reference is to an impossible condition in the present or past. Both the conditional and result clauses are in the continuous past.
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Page 246 (461)
æge mi-dunest-æm cera be-het mi-goft-æm if DUR-knew-1S why to-2S.PC DUR-said-1S ‘If I knew why, I would tell you.’ (462) æge mi-tunest-æm šoql-e paris-o if DUR-was able-1S job-EZ Paris-OM qæbul--mi-kærd-æm accept--DUR-did-1S ‘If I could have, I would have taken the job in Paris.’ ii) the condition refers to a single action and precedes the result. In this case the simple indicative past may be used. (463) æge zud ræft-ænd be mæn telefon--be-zæn if early went-3P to me telephone--IMP-strike ‘If they leave early, call me.’ iii) the condition in the past is expressed in the simple past tense. (464) æge pul-o gom--kærd-i be-het if money-OM lose--did-1S to-2S.PC qærz--mi-d-æm loan--DUR-give-1S ‘If you lost the money I’ll lend you some.’ iv) the possible condition refers to a present event or state for any verb except budæn (see (a, ii) above for budæn). In such cases the present tense is used in the conditional. (465) æge qæza mi-xor-ænd æziyæt-ešun--næ-kon if food DUR-eat-3P bother-3P.PC--NEG-do ‘If they’re eating don’t bother them.’ v) there is no element of doubt in the conditional situation. In such a case the present tense can be used instead of the subjunctive. Compare examples (465) and (466). (466) æge mi-xa-i be pærvaz-et be-res-i if DUR-want-2S to flight-2S.PC SBJN-arrive-2S zud baš fast be.IMP ‘If you want to make your flight, hurry.’
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Page 247 2.1.3.4.3 Imperative The imperative mood is formed by adding be-/bo- to the present stem of a verb. No personal suffix is used in the singular. Note that bo- is used before syllables containing an [o]. (See Section 3.2.6.4.2 on inflections undergoing vowel harmony.) The be- prefix is often omitted with kærdæn verbs, as shown in example (469). (467) bo-xor IMP-eat ‘Eat!’ (468) be-xab-id IMP-sleep-2P ‘Sleep!’ (469) tond-tær kar--kon fast-COMPR work--do ‘Work faster!’ The verb ‘to be’ also (obligatorily) lacks the be- prefix in the imperative. (470) sa’æt-e pænj unja baš hour-EZ five there be.IMP ‘Be there at 5.’ 2.1.3.4.4 Subjunctive Persian has both a present subjunctive and a past subjunctive. The present subjunctive construction is formed with the prefix be-/bo-added to the present stem, which also receives the personal endings. In compound verbs, such as those using kærdæn, the be- prefix is often omitted. The verb ‘to be’ also lacks the subjunctive prefix be-. The subjunctive construction is used for a variety of functions in the subordinate clause such as conditional (see 2.1.3.4.2), optative, intentional, debitive, potential, hortative (for these five see the following sections). Table 2.14 contains the present paradigm of the verb ræftæn ‘to go’ as an example of the present subjunctive forms of a verb.
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Page 248 Table 2.14
Present subjunctive forms of the verb ræf tæn to go’ SINGULAR PLURAL FIRST PERSON be-r-æm be-r-im SECOND PERSON be-r-i be-r-id THIRD PERSON be-r-e be-r-ænd In the past, the subjunctive construction consists of the past participle of the main verb and the present stem of ‘to be’, baš, with person/number agreement inflections added to baš. The past subjunctive is used to refer to an action about which there is doubt or to an action thought to have been completed. In example (471) the action in the subordinate clause is suspected but not assumed by the speaker to have taken place. (471) fekr—mi-kon-æm ræft-e baš-ænd thought—DUR-do-1S went-PSPT be-3P ‘I think they may have gone.’ It should be noted that the present subjunctive form has a past meaning if the main clause is in the past. See Section 2.1.3.4.5.2 for an example. 2.1.3.4.5 Optative/Intentionality 2.1.3.4.5.1 Optative One of the important functions of the subjunctive form of the verb is the optative. By using the optative the speaker expresses a wish for something to come about. The subordinate clause takes a subjunctive verb. (472) omidvar-æm tabessun be-r-æm iran hopeful-am summer SBJN-go-1S iran ‘I hope to go to Iran this summer.’ 2.1.3.2.5.2 Intentionality Intentionality is also expressed with the subjunctive form.
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Page 249 Verbs commonly used in the main clause to show intention are xastæn ‘to want’, qæsd daštæn ‘to have intention’ and xial daštæn ‘to have the thought of’. (473) mi-xa-m æræbi yad--be-gir-æm DUR-want-1S Arabic memory--SBJN-get-1S ‘I want to learn Arabic.’ (474) qæsd--dar-e færda be-r-e intention--have-3S tomorrow SBJN-go-3S ‘He intends to leave tomorrow.’ When the main clause is in the past, the present subjunctive form in the subordinate clause has a past meaning. (475) qæsd--dašt ruz-e bæ’d be-r-e intention--had day-EZ next SBJN-go-3S ‘He intended to leave the next day.’ 2.1.3.4.6 Debitive Obligation to do something is conveyed by means of modals such as bayæd ‘must’, mæjbur budæn ‘to be forced to’ and lazem budæn ‘to be necessary’. These introduce a clause in the subjunctive. (476) bayæd dærs--be-xun-æm must lesson--SB JN-read-1S ‘I have to study.’ There is no distinction made between moral and physical obligation. (Note in example (477) that the be- prefix is optional with the verb kærdæn ‘to do’. See Section 2.1.3.4.4.) (477) mæjbur-æm komæk-eš-kon-æm forced-I am help-3S.PC--do-1S ‘I have to help him.’ (478) mæjbur-im benzin be-xær-im forced-we are gasoline SBJN-buy-1P ‘We have to buy gas.’ A stronger sense of obligation can be conveyed with the
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Page 250 zæruri budæn ‘to be imperative’, væzife ‘duty’, mædyun budæn ‘to be under obligation / to owe a favor in return’. (479) zæruri-st benzin be-xær-im forced-is gasoline SBJN-buy-1P ‘It is imperative that we buy gas.’ 2.1.3.4.7 Potential Potential is indicated with several verbs. The verb tunestæn ‘to be able to’ is quite general, referring to either learned or inherent ability. The verb bælæd budæn ‘to know how’ also can be used generally but seems to suggest an ability that is more learned than inherent. Both these verbs appear in the indicative in the main clause, with the subordinate clause in the subjunctive. (480) mæryæm mi-tun-e Sanskrit be-xun-e Maryam DUR-be able-3S Sanskrit SBJN-read-3S ‘Maryam can read Sanskrit.’ Colloquial Persian makes no distinction between physical ability and permission. The verb tunestæn is used in both cases. In more polite contexts, such as a student wanting to leave a professor’s office or someone wishing to leave the dinner table or children wanting permission to do something, the compound verb ejaze dadæn ‘to give permission’ or ejaze daštæn ‘to have permission’ is used, followed by a verb in the subjunctive. Persian makes no distinction between inherent and learned abilities. (481) ejaze--dar-æm be-r-æm xune? permission--have-1s SBJN-go-1S home ‘May I go home?’ 2.1.3.4.8 Degree of certainty Degree of certainly is conveyed through the use of modal phrases such as momken-e and emkan dar-e both meaning ‘might’ and šayæd ‘maybe’, all taking the subjunctive in the subordinate clause. Other modals indicating degree of certainty take the indicative, such as guya ‘very likely’, bišæk ‘undoubtedly’, hætmæn ‘certainly/definitely’ and qæt’ æn ‘definitely/decisively’.
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Page 251 (482)
emšæb šayæd be-mun-æm xune tonight maybe SBJN-stay-1S home ‘Maybe I’ll stay home tonight.’ (483) emšæb hætmæn mi-mun-æm xune tonight certainly DUR-stay-1S home ‘I’ll definitely stay home tonight.’ 2.1.3.4.9 Authority for assertion The speaker can claim authority for an assertion by using the word guya ‘very likely’, which suggests the speaker has witnessed a situation or heard information through a reliable source. (484) guya zæn-eš irani-e very likely wife-3S.PC Iranian-is ‘It seems that his wife is Iranian.’ 2.1.3.4.10 Hortatory The imperative form is used to express a hortatory meaning, (485) be-r-im IMP-go-1P ‘Let’s go.’ 2.1.3.4.11 Monitory The imperative is used to issue a warning. (486) movazeb baš careful be ‘Be careful!’ 2.1.3.4.12–13 Narrative and consecutive moods There is no consecutive or narrative form. 2.1.3.4.14 Contingent mood Besides conditional clauses (see Section 2.1.3.4.2) there are several modal phrases that can be used to indicate contingency such
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Page 252 as momken-e (ke) and emkan dar-e (ke), both meaning ‘it is possible that’ and both introducing a clause in the subjunctive. (487) momken-e (ke) færda barun bi-ya-d possible-is (that) tomorrow rain SBJN-come-3S ‘It could rain tomorrow.’ 2.1.3.4.15 Promissory The main promise clause is marked for the appropriate tense and the subordinate clause, optionally introduced with ke ‘that’, is in the subjunctive. (488) qol mi-d-æm (ke) zud bi-ya-m promise DUR-give-1S (that) fast SBJN-come-1S ‘I promise I’ll come quickly.’ 2.1.3.5 Finite and nonfinite forms Finite and nonfinite forms are clearly distinguished. Finite verbs inflect for both tense and agreement with the subject while also taking negative, subjunctive and durative prefixes. Nonfinite forms take none of these. Of the verbal forms that are clearly nonfinite, the infinitive is rarely used in Persian. The use of the infinitive in the subordinate clause is called for in a small class of ingressive verbs including sum kærdæn ‘to begin’, mæšqul šodæn ‘to become busy with’, pærdaxtæn ‘to set to work to’ and bæna kærdæn ‘to begin’. These verbs require the preposition be ‘to’ followed by the infinitive: VERB+be+INFINITIVE (489) dar-im šuru--mi-kon-im be xordæn have-3S start--DUR-do-1P to eat ‘We’re starting to eat.’ Past participles are also nonfinite, interpreted for time by the tense of the accompanying auxiliary verb. It is also the auxiliary which agrees with the subject while the auxiliary retains a constant form, outside phonological variation. For examples of the use the past participle see Sections 2.1.3.1.1.1 and 2.1.3.2.1.3.1. The present participle is another nonfinite verbal form. The present participle is formed from the present root+-an. This is a
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Page 253 productive means of making adverbials. (490) bæcce-ha gerye--konan doid-ænd xune child-PL cry--do.PRPT ran-3P home ‘The children ran home crying.’ 2.1.3.6 Agreement (numbers, persons, etc.) 2.1.3.6.1 Items coded in the verb and verb agreement 2.1.3.6.1.1 Subject Subject must be coded on the verb via the personal endings, which agree with the subject in person and number (see tables in Section 2.1.3.2.1.2). The subject must be coded on the verb even if the subject NP is pro-dropped. An important exception to subjectverb agreement is with inanimate plural subjects, which can take a singular verb. See Section 2.1.1.2.1–2. (491) azær ba mæn mi-r-e Azar with me DUR-go-3S ‘Azar will go with me.’ (492) (una) inja mi-mun-ænd (they) here DUR-stay-3P ‘They will stay here.’ 2.1.3.6.1.2 Direct object Objects may be coded on the verb in the form of the pronominal clitics. The pronominal clitic follows the personal endings. In the case of compound nouns the pronominal clitic may attach to either part of the compound (see Sections 2.1.1.4.6–7, 2.1.2.1.19). (493) did-æm-eš saw-1S-3S.PC ‘I saw her.’ (494) peyda-kærd-æm-eš find--did-1S-3S.PC ‘I found her.’
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Page 254 (495)
peyda--š-kærd-æm find-3S.PC--did-1S ‘I found her.’ Note that the object clitic does not necessarily replace the object noun: both may appear in the sentence. (Also see Section 2.1.3.6.3.3 on the relationship between the cliticized object and definiteness.) Some verbs, such as goftæn ‘to say’, do not allow a cliticized object in modern spoken Persian. (496) belæxære un mašin-o xærid-ænd-eš finally that car-OM bought-3P-3S-PC They finally bought that car.’ 2.1.3.6.1.3–5 Indirect objects, benefactives and other cases Indirect objects, benefactives and other case relations are not coded on the verb. 2.1.3.6.2 Agreement marking See Section 2.1.3.6.1 for agreement marking. 2.1.3.6.3 Conditioning factors 2.1.3.6.3.1 Word order Word order does not affect what is coded on the verb. 2.1.3.6.3.2 Topic/comment structure Topic/comment structure does not affect what is coded on the verb. 2.1.3.6.3.3 Definiteness of noun phrase Definiteness of the noun phrase does not affect subject agreement coding on the verb, but definiteness of the direct object noun phrase does affect coding of the object on the verb. The pronominal object clitic can be coded on the verb only if the object of the verb is definite and known to both speaker and hearer. In example (498) the clitic -eš implies that ‘it’ is identifiable by the hearer even
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Page 255 though the subject noun phrase is not mentioned. (497) ketab-o tæmum--kærd-æm book-OM finish--did-1S ‘I finished the book.’ (498) tæmum-eš--kærd-æm finish-3S.PC--did-1S ‘I finished it.’ However, a cliticized object cannot refer to an indefinite object. The clitic in examples (500) cannot be read to refer to ‘a book’. (499) ye ketab xærid-æm one book bought-1S ‘I bought a book.’ (500) *xærid-æm-eš bought-1S-3S.PC ‘I bought it.’ 2.1.3.6.3.4 Animacy Animacy of subject or objects is not coded on the NPs. 2.1.3.6.3.5 Deletion or nonoccurrence of noun phrase As demonstrated in the examples in Section 2.1.3.6.1.1, the subject need not be present in Persian. 2.1.3.6.4 Features of noun phases coded in the verb The verb must be coded to agree with the number and person of the subject noun phrase whether it is a noun or pronoun. Coding of the object noun phrase is optional but when done must agree with number and person of the object, whether a noun or pronoun. As discussed in 2.1.3.6.3.3, coding of the object on the verb implies that the object is definite.
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Page 256 2.1.3.6.5 Effect on coding of incompatible features 2.1.3.6.5.1 Syntactic/semantic discrepancy A plural inanimate subject can be coded as singular on the verb. (Also see Section 2.1.1.2.1–2.) (501) sændæli-a unja-s chair-PL there-is ‘The chairs are over there.’ 2.1.3.6.5.2 Coordination of noun phrases in different agreement classes Different agreement classes do not exist in Persian. 2.1.3.6.6 Agreement features Agreement is the same for all voices, tenses, aspects moods, except for the infinitive, which does not code any agreement. 2.1.3.6.7 Identity between subjects of different verbs Identity of subjects of coordinate finite verbs is not specifically indicated, though it is often suggested when the personnumber inflection is the same on two or more verbs. When two sequential finite verbs, one main and one subordinate, both have a first person inflection or both have a second person inflection, the subjects of the two verbs are assumed to be identical. In example (502), the main verb mixai ‘you want’ and the subordinate verb beri ‘that you go’ are both inflected for second person. The verbs therefore have identical subjects. (502) mi-xa-i be-r-i DUR-want-2S SBJN-go-2S ‘Do you want to go?’ In a similar construction using the third person, the subjects may or may not be identical. Although both finite verbs in example (503) are third person singular, the two subjects may or may not be identical.
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Page 257 (503)
mi-g-e ke mi-r-e DUR-say-3S that DUR-go-3S ‘He says that he will go.’ There is no ambiguity when the subordinate clause uses a nonfinite verb. Although an infinitival verb does not take a free noun subject, free pronoun subject or person inflection, the semantic subjects of the two verbs must be identical. (See Section 2.1.3.3.2.1.6 for discussion of the infinitive construction.) (504) dar-im šuru--mi-kon-im be dærs--xundæn have-1P start--DUR-do-1P to to study ‘We’re starting to study.’ 2.1.3.6.8–9 Reflexive and reciprocal forms There is no special morphological marking to indicate reflexivity or reciprocity. For a discussion of reflexivity see Section 2.1.2.2. For a discussion of reciprocity see Section 2.1.2.3. 2.1.3.6.10 Marking of actions involving motion No morphological distinction is made among actions depending on motion towards or away from the speaker or hearer or third person. 2.1.3.6.11 Modes of body orientation No morphological distinction is made among different modes of body orientation. 2.1.3.6.12 Incorporation of other sentence constituents in the verb The only elements which can be incorporated onto the verb are the definite direct object pronouns, which are incorporated as pronominal clitics. See 2.1.3.6.1.2 and 2.1.3.6.3.3. In example (505) the third person singular clitic eš implies that both the speaker and hearer know what the direct object of the verb is even though it’s not mentioned.
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Page 258 (505)
did-æm-eš saw-1S-3S.PC ‘I saw her.’ 2.1.3.7 Change or loss of features in a string of verbs Items such as the negative marker, pronominal clitics used as direct objects and the ingressive aspect are used on only one verb in a sequence. For example, the negative prefix ne-/næ is used on only one verb in (506)–(507). (506) ne-mi-xa-m be-r-æm NEG-DUR-want-1S SBJN-go-1S ‘I don’t want to go.’ (507) mi-xa-m næ-r-æm DUR-want-1S NEG-go-1S ‘I want to not go.’ Note that while a double negative can be used, the meaning of the sentence is altered: (508) ne-mi-xa-m næ-r-æm NEG-DUR- want-1S NEG-go-1S ‘I don’t want to not go.’ The pronominal clitic appears on the last verb in the series. (509) dar-æm mi-r-æm have-1S DUR-go-1S be-bin-æm-eš SBJN-see-1S-3S.PC ‘I’m going to see him.’ In cases of the ingressives, the ingressive verb takes the inflection while the main verb does not. (510) šuru--kærd-im be hærf--zædæn start--did-1P to word--to strike ‘We started to speak.’
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Page 259 2.1.4 Adjectives 2.1.4.1 Predicative/attributive forms With the exception of superlatives, attributive adjectives appear in ezafe constructions and follow the noun. Superlative adjectives precede the noun. (511) dæstmal-e qermez handkerchief-EZ red ‘a red handkerchief’ (512) qermez-tærin dæstmal red-SUPR handkerchief ‘the reddest handkerchief’ Predicate adjectives follow the noun without the use of ezafe. (513) in dæstmal qermez-e this handkerchief red-is ‘This handkerchief is red.’ 2.1.4.2 Absolute/contingent distinction No morphological distinction is made between adjectives describing permanent and contingent states. 2.1.4.3 Adjective agreement Neither attributive nor predicative adjectives show any form of agreement. 2.1.4.4 Comparisons 2.1.4.4.1 Equality Equality is shown by using hæmun qædr, hæmun meqdar, ‘the same amount’, and hæm-ændaze ‘same size / same amount’. (514) mæn hæmun qædr xošhal-æm ke to hæst-i I same amount happy-am that you you are ‘I’m as happy as you are.’
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Page 260 (515)
æli-o merdad hæm-ændaze hæst-ænd Ali-and Merdad same size they are ‘Ali and Merdad are the same size.’ (516) æli hæmændaze-ye merdad-e ali same size-EZ Merdad-is ‘Ali is the same size as Merdad.’ Some equatives are lexicalized, such as hæm-væzn ‘same weight’, hæm-sen ‘same age’ and hæm-qæd ‘same height’. (517) šiva-o kuroš hæm-sen-ænd Shiva-and Kurosh same age-are ‘Shiva and Kurosh are the same age.’ 2.1.4.4.2 Comparative When two items are being compared, the suffix -tær is affixed to an adjective in predicate position. The word æz ‘from’ follows the item being compared and precedes the standard of comparison. (518) dana æz naser bolænd-tær-e Dana from Nasser tall-COMPR-is ‘Dana is taller than Nasser.’ An alternative comparative form, when the items of comparison appear in different clauses, uses the conjunction ta . (519) dana bolænd-tær-e ta naser Dana tall-COMPR-is than Nasser ‘Dana is taller than Nasser (is). 2.1.4.4.3 Superlative When contrasting more than two different items, or the same item from more than two perspectives, the suffix tærin is used. Superlative adjectives are attributive and precede the noun. (520) æzim-tærin rudxune wide-SUPR river ‘the widest river’
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Page 261 Superlative -tærin forms are not used predicatively. In order to express a superlative predicatively, the comparative suffix is used in a comparative construction where the standard of comparison is always ‘everyone else’ hæme, or ‘all of us/you/them’ hæme-ye ma/šoma/una (521) šæhin æz hæme xošgel-tær-e Shahin from all pretty-COMP-3S ‘Shahin is prettier than everyone else.’ 2.1.4.5 Degrees of quality 2.1.4.5.1 Large measure To express large measure, the adverb xeyli ‘very’, or besyar ‘very/many/much’ is used before the adjective. The word biændaze ‘immeasurably/incredibly/unbelievably’ is another modifier which expresses large measure, but biændaze is most often used for emphasis. (522) xeyli jaleb very interesting ‘very interesting’ (523) xosro biændaze arum bud Khosro incredibly calm was ‘Khosro was incredibly calm.’ 2.1.4.5.2 Superabundance To show superabundance, ziyad or ziyadi precedes the adjective. (524) ziyadi bolænd-e too tall-is ‘He’s too tall.’ 2.1.4.5.3 In small measure To show small measure, the adverb nesbætæn ‘relatively’ precedes the adjective.
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Page 262 (525)
nesbætæn xošhal-e relatively happy-is ‘She’s relatively happy.’ 2.1.4.6 Predicate adjectives and verbal morphology Verbal morphology is not expressed in the adjective morphology. Predicate adjectives are expressed by means of a copular verb such as budæn ‘to be’ or šodæn ‘to become’. (526) æsæbani šod angry became ‘She became angry.’ A copular clitic can also be used (527) æsæbani-e angry-is ‘She is angry.’ 2.1.5 Prepositions 2.1.5.1 List of prepositions Prepositions may be divided into two groups: bare prepositions and ezafe prepositions. Bare prepositions never take any additional particle. Ezafe prepositions are of two types. The first type of ezafe preposition can either take an ezafe or appear without an ezafe. The meaning of the preposition is the same whether it uses the ezafe or not. The second type of ezafe preposition must occur with an ezafe. Following are lists of the most commonly used prepositions in spoken Persian. Bare prepositions PREPOSITION: æz GLOSS: from, of, made of, than, out of FUNCTIONS: In its most basic functions, æz indicates origin of location or source. It also can be used in comparative constructions or to denote the material that things are made of. It also appears in compound forms: birun æz, xarej æz ‘outside’; qæbl æz, piš æz ‘before in time’; bæd æz, pæs æz ‘after’; qer æz ‘other
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Page 263 than’. Also see Section 2.1.1.4.2. PREPOSITION: ba GLOSS: with FUNCTIONS: Used to show accompaniment or instrumental case ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.4.3, 2.1.1.4.4 PREPOSITION: be GLOSS: to FUNCTIONS: Its main use is to indicate ‘motion toward’ or the dative. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 PREPOSITION: bi GLOSS: without FUNCTIONS: The negative of ba, in both its instrumental and comitative functions. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.4.3, 2.1.1.4.4 PREPOSITION: ta GLOSS: up to, until, than FUNCTIONS: Indicates ‘motion as far as a certain location but not beyond’. It is also used to introduce some conditional clauses and in some comparative constructions. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5.4–2.1.1.6.13, 2.1.3.4.2, 2.1.4.4.2 PREPOSITION: joz, bejoz GLOSS: except FUNCTIONS: Indicates omission of certain members of a group. PREPOSITION: dær GLOSS: in, into, at FUNCTIONS: Designates interiority or used for the locative case. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5.3–4, 2.1.1.6.1.4–7 Prepositions that can take ezafe As mentioned above, there is no difference in meaning or usage between the ezafe and ezafe-less variants. PREPOSITION: ru/ru-ye GLOSS: on top of, over, above FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative superiority
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Page 264 ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5.7–8 PREPOSITION: tu/tu-ye GLOSS: in, inside, into FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative interiority. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 PREPOSITION: pælulpælu-ye GLOSS: beside, next to FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative laterality. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 PREPOSITION: jelow-ye GLOSS: in front of FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative anteriority. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 Prepositions that must take ezafe PREPOSITION: pošt-e GLOSS: behind FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative posteriority. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 PREPOSITION: bæra-ye GLOSS: for FUNCTIONS: Indicates the benefactive case or purpose. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.4.1, 2.1.1.4.13 PREPOSITION: zir-e GLOSS: under FUNCTIONS: Indicates locative inferiority. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: 2.1.1.5 PREPOSITION: bedun-e GLOSS: without FUNCTIONS: Same as bi. ALSO SEE SECTIONS: See bi above. 2.1.5.2 Prepositions and agreement Prepositions in Persian do not show agreement for any
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Page 265 grammatical category with the nouns they govern. 2.1.5.3 Combinations of prepositions and pronouns The prepositions be ‘to’, ba ‘with, æz ‘from’ and bæra-ye ‘for’ combine with the pronominal clitics to make a series of personal forms, where the clitic denotes the object of oblique cases. For the prepositions ending with vowels, two variants of each personal form occur. As a model, consider the forms with be ‘to’ given below: Table 2.15 Preposition-pronoun forms FULL FORM PREP+PRON LONG FORM SHORT FORM 1P SINGULAR be mæn be-hem be-m 2P SINGULAR be to be-het be-t 3P SINGULAR be u be-heš be-š 1P PLURAL be ma be-hemun be-mun 2P PLURAL be šoma be-hetun be-tun 3P PLURAL be una be-hešun be-šun (528) kilid-o be-m dad key-OM to-1S.PC gave ‘She gave me the key.’ (529) mæn ba-hatun mi-r-æm I with-2P.PC DUR-go-1S ‘I’ll go with you.’ Note that vowel harmony is involved in the prepositional form in example (529). For a discussion on vowel harmony see Section 3.2.6.4. 2.1.5.4 Combinations of prepositions and articles Prepositions do not combine with the articles of the noun phrases they govern.
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Page 266 2.1.6 Numerals/quantifiers 2.1.6.1 Forms of numerals The cardinal numbers 1–100 are as follows. Compound numerals can be created by using the conjunction -ol-yo ‘and’ between two numerals, with the larger number preceding the smaller number. Note that car ‘four’ also has the variant cahar and that cel ‘forty’ has the variant cehel. Also see Section 3.4.4.1.1 on h-deletion. 1–100 1 yek 11 yazdæh 21 bist-o yek 31 si-yo yek 2 do 12 dævazdæh 22 bist-o do 32 si-yo do 3 se 13 sizdæh 23 bist-o se 33 si-yo se 4 car 14 cardæh 24 bist-o car 34 si-yo car 5 pænj 15 punzdæh 25 bist-o pænj 35 si-yo pænj 6 šiš 16 šunzdæh 26 bist-o šiš 36 si-yo šiš 7 hæft 17 hivdæh 27 bist-o hæft 37 si-yo hæft 8 hæšt 18 hiždæh 28 bist-o hæšt 38 si-yo hæšt 9 noh 19 nuzdæh 29 bist-o noh 39 si-yo noh 10 dæh 20 bist 30 si 40 cel 41 cel-o yek 51 pænja-o yek 61 šæst-o yek 71 hæftad-o yek 42 cel-o do 52 pænja-o do 62 šæst-o do 72 hæftad-odo 43 cel-o se 53 pænja-o se 63 šæst-o se 73 hæftad-o se 44 cel-o car 54 pænja-o car 64 šæst-o car 74 hæftad-o car 45 cel-o pænj 55 pænja-o pænj 65 šæst-o pænj 75 hæftad-o pænj 46 cel-o šiš 56 pænja-o šiš 66 šæst-o šiš 76 hæftad-o šiš 47 cel-o hæft 57 pænja-o hæft 67 šæst-o hæft 77 hæftad-o hæft 48 cel-o hæšt 58 pænja-o hæšt 68 šæst-o hæšt 78 hæftad-o hæšt 49 cel-o noh 59 pænja-o noh 69 šæst-o noh 79 hæftad-o noh 50 pænja 60 šæst 70 hæftad 80 hæštad 81 hæštad-o yek 91 nævæd-o yek 82 hæštad-o do 92 nævæd-o do 83 hæštad-o se 93 nævæd-o se 84 hæštad-o car 94 nævæd-o car 85 hæštad-o pænj 95 nævæd-o pænj 86 hæštad-o šiš 96 nævæd-o šiš 87 hæštad-o hæft 97 nævæd-o hæft 88 hæštad-o hæšt 98 nævæd-o hæšt 89 hæštad-o noh 99 nævæd-o noh 90 nævæd 100 sæd
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Page 267 100s UP to 1000 200 divist 700 hæfsæd 300 sisæd 800 hæšsæd 400 carsæd 900 nohsæd 500 punsæd 1000 hezar 600 šišsæd 100s UP to 100,000 2000 do hezar 20,000 bist hezar 3000 se hezar 30,000 si hezar 4000 car hezar 40,000 cel hezar 5000 pænj hezar 50,000 pænja hezar 6000 šiš hezar 60,000 šæst hezar 7000 hæft hezar 70,000 hæftad hezar 8000 hæšt hezar 80,000 hæštad hezar 9000 noh hezar 90,000 nævæd hezar 10,000 dæh hezar 100,000 sæd hezar 2.1.6.2 Cardinal numerals as attributes No distinct cardinal-numeral attributive forms exist. 2.1.6.3 Counting different kinds of objects No other forms of cardinals exist other than those in 2.1.6.1. 2.1.6.4 Ordinal numerals Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -om to the cardinal numbers. This derivational process is regular with the exception of the first three ordinals. The Arabic ordinal ævvæl ‘first’ is used to mean ‘first’, though the regular form yek-om ‘first’ is used for all compounds, as in, for example, si-yo-yek-om ‘thirty-first’. The second and third ordinals, dovvom and sevvom ( doyyom and seyyom are very colloquial alternatives) are irregular, with the inserted consonant breaking up contiguous vowels. The ordinals ‘first’ through ‘tenth’ are given below. (530) ævvæl ‘first’ dovvom ‘second’ sevvom ‘third’ car-om ‘fourth’
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Page 268 pænj-om ‘fifth’ šiš-om ‘sixth’ hæft-om ‘seventh’ hæšt-om ‘eighth’ noh-om ‘ninth’ dæh-om ‘tenth’ 2.1.6.5 Other derivatives of numerals The word bar ‘time/turn’ can be added to cardinal numbers to make a compound adverbial referring to a number of occasions. (531) do-bar two-times ‘twice’ (532) sæd-bar be-het goft-æm 100-times to-2S.PC said-1S ‘I’ve told you a hundred times’ 2.1.6.6 Quantifiers The most common nonnumerical quantifiers are bæzi (æz.) and cænd-ta ‘some’, cændin ‘several’, hær ‘each’, hæme(-ye) ‘every’, tæmum-e ‘all’, hic ‘no’, xeyli and besyar ‘many, a lot’. Of these, only hæme ‘every’ can be used nominally, meaning ‘everyone’. (Also see Sections 2.1.1.4.19.3–6.) (533) hæme ræft-ænd everyone went-3P ‘Everyone left.’ 2.1.6.6.1 Quantifier compounds The words hær ‘every’ and hic ‘nothing’ are used to create quantifier compounds: hærkodum ‘either / any one of a group’, hickodum ‘neither/none’, hær-do ‘both’, hiški (hic kæs) ‘no one’, hærja ‘anywhere’, hæmeja ‘everywhere’, hærkæs ‘anyone’, hærvaqt ‘anytime’. Also see Section 2.1.2.1.13.
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Page 269 2.1.6.6.2 Other means of quantification Several reduplicative forms exist in Persian with quantificational meaning, such as dæse-dæse ‘group by group’, cænta-cænta ‘several at a time’ and ‘kæm-kæm ‘little by little’, ( do-ta do-ta and related forms are discussed in Section 2.1.1.8.4–5). (534) danešju-a dæse-dæse vared--šod-ænd student-PL group by group enter--became-3P ‘The students arrived in groups.’ 2.1.7 Adverbs Adverbs typically precede the verbs and adjectives they modify. 2.1.7.1 Comparison 2.1.7.1.1 Equality To show equality hæmun qædr ‘the same amount’ and hæmun-ændaze ‘same size/same amount’ are used. (535) sima hæmun qædr tond mi-do-e Sima same amount fast DUR-run-3S ke to mi-do-i that you DUR-run-2S ‘Sima runs as fast as you do.’ 2.1.7.1.2 Comparative Adverbial comparison is expressed in the same manner as with adjectives. The comparative suffix -tær is affixed to the adverb and the preposition æz ‘from’ follows the item being compared and precedes the standard of comparison. The entire adverbial phrase precedes the verb. (536) pæri æz surur tond-tær mi-do-e Pari from Surur fast-COMPR DUR-run-3S ‘Pari runs faster than Surur.’ An alternative comparison, when the items of comparison
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Page 270 appear in different clauses, uses the conjunction ta . (537) mæn mi-tun-æm tond-tær be-do-æm I DUR-can-1S fast-COMPR SBJN-run-1S ta to than you ‘I can run faster than you (can run).’ 2.1.7.1.3 Superlative To express superlative comparison with adverbs, the comparative suffix is used in a comparative construction where the standard of comparison is always ‘everyone else’ hæme, or ‘all of us/you/them’ hæme-ye ma/šoma/una . (538) mæs’ud æz hæme yævaš-tær mi-xor-e massud from all slow-COMP DUR-eat 3S ‘Massud eats slower than everyone else.’ 2.1.7.2 Degrees of quality 2.1.7.2.1 Large measure As with adjectives, the most common way to express large measure is to use xeyli ‘very’ or besyar ‘very, many, much’ before the adverb. For more emphasis biændaze ‘immeasurably, incredibly’ is preferred. (539) besyar vaze hærf--mi-zæn-i very clear word--DUR-strike-2S ‘You speak very clearly.’ 2.1.7.2.2 Superabundance Superabundance is shown with ziyad or ziyadi before the verb. (540) ziyadi hærf--mi-zæn-e too word--strike-3S ‘She talks too much.’
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Page 271 2.1.7.2.3 In small measure To show small measure, nesbætæn ‘relatively’ is used in conjunction with the adverb to modify the verb. (541) nesbætæn zud resid relatively fast arrived ‘She arrivedÆ relatively ‘quickly.’ 2.1.8 Clitics and particles A set of pronominal clitics appears on nouns (see 2.1.1.4.6), prepositions (see 2.1.5.3) and verbs (see 2.1.2.1.2.19). In addition to the pronominal clitics there are two other clitics: the connectives -o ‘and’ and -hæm/-æm ‘also’. (542) mæn-o to I-and you ‘you and me’ (543) mæn-æm mi-ya-m I-also DUR-come-1S ‘I’ll come too.’ 2.2 DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY 2.2.1 Derivation of nouns 2.2.1.1 Nouns from nouns The following suffixes are used to derive nouns from nouns. These suffixes are semantically regular. Suffix Noun Noun Productivity (544) -i (stressed) mærd mærdi yes abstract nom. man manliness (545) -ban baq baqban no one who garden gardener
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Page 272 (546)
-(e)stan/(e)sun qæbr qæbresun limited place grave graveyard (547) -ga(h) daneš danešgah yes place knowledge university (548) -ci post posci limited one who post office mail carrier (549) -dan/dun qælæm qælæmdun limited container pen penholder (550) -gi bærde bærdegi limited abstract nom. slave slavery (551) -e dæst dæste no nominalizer hand group (552) -kar/-gar gona gonakar yes one who sin sinner (553) -gær ahæn ahængær limited one who iron blacksmith (554) -æk doxtær doxtæræk yes diminutive girl little girl (555) -ce ketab ketabce yes diminutive book notebook 2.2.1.2 Nouns from verbs Semantically regular, the following suffixes are attached to the present stems of some verbs to derive nouns. Suffix Present stem Noun Productivity (556) -(y)ænde -gu guyænde limited nominalizer say announcer (557) -e -xændxænde no nominalizer laugh laughter
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-(y)eš -færmafærmayeš no abstract nom. command order (559) -ak -xorxorak no nominalizer eat food The nominalizer suffix -ar is added to the past stem of verbs to derive nouns: didi ‘saw’ becomes didar ‘view/sight/meeting’. This process has limited productivity. Additionally, nouns may be derived from various forms of the verb. For example, the infinitive form of verbs are used nominally, as gerunds, with no additional morphology. This is a productive process and applies to virtually all verbs. (560) ašpæzi--kærdæn xeyli væqt mi-gir-e cook--to do very time DUR-get-3S ‘Cooking takes a lot of time.’ Present and past stems of some verbs are also used nominally, but the process seems nonproductive and the forms lexicalized. (561) furuš sell ‘sale’ (562) xærid bought ‘shopping’ 2.2.1.2.1 Syntax of deverbal nouns Syntactically, deverbal nouns behave like nonderived nouns. 2.2.1.3 Nouns from adjectives Nouns are derived from adjectives in one of the following ways. All are semantically regular. Suffix Adjective Noun Productivity (563) -i xub xubi yes abstract nom. good goodness
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Page 274 (564)
-gi æfsorde æfsordegi limited abstract nom. sad sadness (565) -a pæhn pæhna limited abstract nom. wide width (566) -e sefid sefide limited nominalizer white egg white The prefix hæm ‘also/like’ combines with adjectives to produce compound nouns. (568) hæm+kelas-i > hæmkelasi yes same+ class-ATTR > classmate 2.2.1.3.1 Syntax of deadjectival nouns Syntactically, deadjectival nouns behave like nonderived nouns. 2.2.1.4 Nouns from adverbs Adverbs are not a common source of nouns. One suffix for forming nouns from adverbs is -(g)i-. Suffix Adverb Noun Productivity (569) -(g)i tond tondi yes nominalizer fast quickness 2.2.2 Derivation of verbs 2.2.2.1 Verbs from nouns Verbs are commonly derived from nouns through compounding (see in Section 2.2.6.3). One somewhat productive means of deriving denominal verbs is by adding the infinitival suffix idæn to nouns: dozd ‘thief becomes dozdidæn ‘to steal’. 2.2.2.2. Verbs from verbs Passivization and causativization are two common ways to
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Page 275 make verbs from other verbs. Passive construction consists of the past participle of a verb plus some form of šodæn ‘to become’. Causatives are made by adding the suffix -undæn or -unidæn to the present stem of some transitive and intransitive verbs or by using ba’es šodæn ‘to cause’ to introduce a subordinate clause in the subjunctive. See Section 2.1.3.1 on voice and Section 2.1.3.1.3.1.1 on causative constructions. Verbs may also be derived with the use of separable verbal particles. It is difficult to specify a meaning for these particles, since they change the meanings of the verbs to which they are attached in so many different ways (Moinfar 1978:183). Although, for the most part, the particles listed below are no longer a productive way to derive verbs from verbs, it should be noted that all do appear in an appreciable number of lexicalized verbs. Particle Verb Derived verb Productivity (570) bær gæštæn bær gæštæn limited back/away to wander/turn to return/turn (571) bær daštæn bær daštæn limited back/away to have to take (572) dær yaftæn dær yaftæn limited in to find to receive (573) pæs gereftæn pæs gereftæn no behind, back receive to receive back (574) piš ræftæn piš ræftæn no before to go to advance (575) furu nešestæn furu nešestæn no through to sit to subside (576) færa residæn færa residæn no up, forward to arrive to arise (577) va mundæn va mundæn no again stay to be tired out (578) baz gæštæn baz gæštæn no again to wander/turn to return
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Page 276 2.2.2.3–5 Verbs from adjectives, adverbs and other categories This typically occurs in compounding. See Section 2.2.6.3. 2.2.3 Derivation of adjectives 2.2.3.1 Adjectives from nouns Adjectives are derived from nouns by adding the suffixes and prefixes listed. All are semantically regular. Note that words formed with the first three suffixes below, -ane, -gi and -e are also used adverbially. See Section 2.2.4.1 on deriving adverbs from nouns. Suffix Noun Adjective Productivity (579) -one dust dustane yes quality of friend friendly (580) -gi hæfte hæftegi limited -ly week weekly (581) -e hær sal hær sale limited related to every year annually (582) -gane bæcce bæccegane yes quality of child childish Suffix Noun Adjective Productivity (583) -i qæve qævei yes attributive coffee brown (584) -mænd servæt servætmænd limited quality of wealth wealthy (585) -gin qæm qæmgin limited attributive sorrow sorrowful (586) -nak dærd dærdnak no attributive pain painful (587) -var omid omidvar no attributive hope hopeful
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-yar huš hušyar no attributive intelligence intelligent (589) -in cub cubin no made of wood wooden There are two prefixes which form adjectives from nouns. One is the negative prefix na-, which is also used to derive adjectives from adjectives (see Section 2.2.3.3). The preposition bi ‘without’ seems to be preposition-like in forming adjectives as well. Prefix Noun Adjective Productivity (590) naomid naomid yes negative hope hopeless (591) hæmahæng hæmahæng yes same/like music harmonious (592) bi ehtiat biehtiat yes without caution careless 2.2.3.2 Adjectives from verbs The now nonproductive derivational morpheme -a was once used to derive adjectives from the present stem of verbs: tævan ‘able’ >tævana ‘mighty’. Other means of deriving adjectives from verbs are discussed in the section on compounding, Section 2.2.6.3. 2.2.3.3 Adjectives from adjectives There are two productive prefixes which derive adjectives from other adjectives: Prefix Adjective Adjective Productivity (593) naxoš naxoš yes negative good sick (594) qeyrræsmi qeyr-e ræsmi yes negative official unofficial
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Page 278 Also productive and regular are the comparative and superlative suffixes -tær and -tærin. The suffixes -man and -var, no longer productive, were also used to derive adjectives from adjectives: šad ‘happy’ became šadman, also meaning ‘happy/joyful’, bozorg ‘big’ became bozorgvar ‘great’. Neither is the suffix -var very productive. Adjectives may also be derived from adjectives through compounding. See Section 2.2.6.3. 2.2.3.4 Adjectives from adverbs Most adjectives and adverbs of quality have the same form. Exceptions are those adverbs of quality derived from nouns with a preceding bi ‘without’ or be ‘to’ (see Section 2.2.4.1) and adverbs formed with the suffix -vær (see Section 2.2.4.3). (595) seda-ye bolænd sound-EZ loud ‘a loud sound’ (596) bolænd hærf--mi-zæn-e loud word--DUR-strike-3S ‘She speaks loud.’ 2.2.4 Derivation of adverbs 2.2.4.1 Adverbs from nouns One relatively productive means of deriving adverbs from nouns is by adding the suffix -manænd ‘-like’ to nouns. The three suffixes -ane, -gi and -e also form adverbs from nouns. The forms derived with -ane, -gi and -e, typically used with time expressions to form adverbs of time, can also be used adjectivally (see Section 2.2.3.1 on deriving adjectives from nouns). Not as productive, and restricted to nouns of Arabic origin, is the suffix -am. Suffix Noun Adverb (597) -manænd gonjišk gonjiškmanænd -like sparrow sparrowlike
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-ane ruz ruzane -ly day daily (599) -gi hæfte hæftegi -ly week weekly (600) -e hær sal hærsale -ly every year annually (601) -æn æsl æslæn adverbial origin actually Adverbs may also be derived from nouns by adding the preposition bi ‘without’ to an abstract or concrete noun or the preposition be ‘to’ to an abstract noun. (602) bi+seda > biseda without+sound > quietly (603) be+xubi > bexubi to+goodness > well (604) be+zudi > bezudi to+earliness > soon 2.2.4.2 Adverbs from verbs Adverbs can be derived from verbs by adding the suffix -an to the present stem: xænd ‘laugh’ becomes xændan ‘laughingly’. This is a regular and highly productive process. 2.2.4.3 Adverbs from adjectives As mentioned earlier, adverbs and adjectives generally have the same form. With the exception of a few derivational affixes, there is no morphological means to derive adverbs from adjectives and vice versa. (605) -var divane divanevar -like crazy crazylike
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Page 280 With Arabic adjectives only: (606) -æn mæmuli mæmulæn adverbial ordinary ordinarily 2.2.4.4 Adverbs from adverbs Adverbs can be derived from adverbs by means of the comparative and superlative suffixes, -tær and -tærin. 2.2.5 Derivation of prepositions 2.2.5.1 Forming complex prepositions 2.2.5.1.1 Compound prepositions Compound prepositions are formed from various combinations of preposition+preposition and preposition + denominal preposition (for the formation of denominal prepositions see Section 2.2.6.1.2). The most common prepositions used in compound derivations are æz ‘from’, dær ‘in’, be ‘to’ and ba ‘with’. Some of the more common compound prepositions are: (607) qer æz ‘other than’ æz qærar-e ‘according to’ bæ:d æz ‘after’ ba vujud-e ‘in spite of pæs æz ‘after’ dær ætrof-e ‘about, around’ piš æz ‘before’ dær jæhæt-e ‘towards’ qæbl æz ‘before’ be tæræf-e ‘towards’ xarej æz ‘outside’ dær bare-ye ‘concerning’ 2.2.5.1.2 Nominal formations Denominal prepositions take the form noun+ezafe. Many of the nouns in such constructions are no longer used in modern Persian as separate nouns but are bound to the ezafe as part of a complex preposition. Also see Section 2.1.5. (608) pošt-e ‘behind’ jelow-ye ‘in front of’ pælu-ye ‘next to’ moqabel-e ‘across from’ daxel-e ‘inside’ dowr-e ‘around’ zedd-e ‘against’ xarej-e ‘outside’ birun-e ‘outside’ tu-ye ‘inside’
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Page 281 bala-ye ‘above’ zir-e ‘under’ ru-ye ‘on’ 2.2.6 Compound morphology 2.2.6.1 Compound nouns Compound nouns are formed in a number of ways: (a) Noun-noun compounds N+N combinations are a common and productive source of compound nouns. In some cases the second noun is the head, modified by the first noun. (609) post+xune > postxune post+house > post office (610) ruz+name > ruzname day+letter > newspaper In other cases the two nouns are in a genitive relationship where the first noun is the head. Historically, these are probably ezafe constructions with the ezafe having undergone syncope. In fact, some people will pronounce words as those in (611) as madær-e šohær. (611) madær+šohær > madæršohær mother+husband > mother-in-law (612) saheb+xune > sahebxune owner+house > landlord (b) Two nouns connected with the ezafe This is the most productive strategy of noun compounding. (613) toxm +e+morq > toxm-e morq seed+EZ+chicken > egg (614) gol +e +sorx > gol-e sorx flower+EZ+red > rose
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Page 282 (c) Noun+ o+ noun These are exocentric compounds. (615) ab+o +hæva > abohæva water+air > climate sær+o+seda > særoseda head+and+noise > noise, fuss (d) Adjective+noun (616) no+ruz > noruz new+year > New Year (617) xoš+bæxt > xošbæxt good+luck > good luck (e) Combinations of nouns and verb stems (618) šah+zad-e > šahzade king+born > prince, princess (619) ab+keš > abkeš water+pull > sieve, colander (620) daneš+ju > danešju knowledge+look > student There are several less-productive means of making compound nouns: noun+preposition+noun, as in etemad be næfs ‘selfconfidence’; adjective+present stem, as in no amuz ‘beginner’; past stem+o +past stem, as in ræft o amæd ‘interaction/relationship / social intercourse’; past stem+o+ present stem, as in šost o šu ‘the act of washing’. Compound nouns can also become stems for further compounding: (621) isgah-e +(rah(-e) +ahæn) > isgah-e rah(-e) ahæn station-EZ+(road(-EZ)+iron) > railroad station (622) xælæban-e+(hæva+pema) > xælæban-e hæva pema pilot-EZ+(air+travel) > airline pilot
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Page 283 2.2.6.2 Compound verbs Compounding has been and is a highly productive process for making verbs. Simple verbs are conjoined with nouns, adjectives/adverbs, prepositions and prepositional phrases, kærdæn ‘to do’, šodæn ‘to become’, zædæn ‘to strike and dadæn ‘to give’ are the most frequently used simple verbs for compounding. Others include xordæn ‘to eat’, amadæn ‘to come’, dæštæn ‘to have’, gereftæn ‘to take’. Whatever category is compounded with the simple verb, the nonverbal element precedes the verb. The personnumber inflections are suffixed to the verbal component of the compound. Pronominal clitics can be suffixed to either component of the compound (see Section 2.1.2.1.19). (a) Noun+verb (623) šune+kærdæn > šune--kærdæn comb+to do > ‘to comb’ (624) dærs+dadæn > dærs--dadæn lesson+to give > to teach (625) qædæm +zædæn > qædæm--zædæn step+to strike > ‘to walk’ (b) Adjective/adverb+verb (626) peyda+kærdæn > peyda--kærdæn visible+to do ‘to find’ (627) bolænd kærdæn > bolænd--kærdæn tall+to do > ‘to lift’ (628) piš +ræftæn > piš--ræftæn forward+to go > ‘to make progress’ (c) Preposition+verb (629) dær +mundæn > dær--mundæn in+stay > ‘to be tired out’
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furu +ræftæn through to go (d) Prepositional phrase+verb (631) æz dæst +dadæn from hand+to give (632) dær miyun+gozoštæn in center+to put 2.2.6.3 Compound adjectives Various combinations can result in adjectives. a) Noun+noun (633) sæng+del stone+heart b) Noun+adjective (634) del+baz heart+open c) Noun+verbal (635) gol +æfšan flower+strewn (636) gel+alud mud+taint d) Adjective+noun (637) kæm+æql little+mind (638) kæm+hærf little+speech (639) xoš+ru
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furu--ræftæn ‘to pierce’
æz dæst--dadæn ‘to give up something’ > dær miyun--gozoštæn > ‘to discuss’
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sængdel cold-hearted delbaz open-hearted
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golæfšan flower-strewn > gelalud > muddy kæmæql thoughtless > kæmhærf > quiet > xošru
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Page 285 good+face > pleasant, happy e) Preposition+noun The most productive preposition used in this strategy is ba ‘with’. (640) ba+ehsas with+feeling (641) ba+ensaf with+justice
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baehsas sensitive baensaf fair, just
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Page 286 PHONOLOGY 3.1 PHONOLOGICAL UNITS 3.1.1 Distinctive segments Persian sounds are produced with a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. Modern Tehran Persian has twentythree consonantal and seven vocalic phonemes (six vowels and one diphthong). In the following tables of vocalic and consonantal phonemes, IPA symbols, when different from our notation, are given in parentheses. Table 3.1 PERSIAN VOCALIC PHONEMES front back high i u mid e(ε) O low æ a diphthong ow (ou) It should be noted that the phonemic status of the diphthong /ow/, along with the status of another diphthong, [ey], which we are not considering phonemic, lacks unanimous consensus, with claims
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Page 287 varying on whether the diphthongs add zero, one or two phonemes to the language. See section 3.1.2.2.2 on diphthongs. Also see Section 3.4 for descriptions of allophonic variation of the units discussed in Section 3.1.2 below. Table 3.2 PERSIAN CONSONANT PHONEMES labiolabial/ apicoalveolar/ dorsopostalveolardorsopalataldorsoprevelardorsopostvelardorsouvularglottal labio-dental apicodental STOP -voice p t k ‘(?) +voice b d g q(G) AFFRICATE -voice c(t∫) + voice j(d3) FRICATIVE -voice f s š(∫) X 4- voice V z ž(3) NASAL m n LIQUID l, r GLIDE -voice h + voice y(j) 3.1.2 Phonetic characteristics 3.1.2.1 Nonsyllabics 3.1.2.1.1 Plosives and affricates The voiceless plosives /p, t, c, k/ are aspirated in syllableinitial position and unaspirated at the end of a syllable. /p/ is a voiceless labio-labial (bilabial) stop. There is some variation in the description, and presumably the pronunciation, of voiceless /t/, being either an apico-alveolar or apico-dental stop. It is aspirated word-initially. /c/ (IP A /t∫/) is a voiceless dorso-postalveolar
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Page 288 (alveopalatal) affricate. The consonant /k/ is a voiceless dorsoprevelar (velar) stop. It is somewhat aspirated wordinitially. The voiced counterparts to the plosives just described, /b, d, j, g/, are unaspirated in both syllable-initial and syllable-final positions. They partially devoice word-finally. /b/ is a voiced labio-labial stop. Voiced /d/, like /t/, is either apico-alvelar or apico-dental. Voiced /g/ is a dorsoprevelar stop, /j/ (IPA /d3/) is a voiced dorso-postalveolar affricate. In both their articulatory and auditory qualities, the voiceless and voiced Persian plosives mentioned so far are very similar to those in North American English. Persian also has a glottal stop /i/ (IPA /i/), as in sa’æt ‘hour/time’, rob’ ‘a quarter (fraction)’. Glottals are often omitted in conversational speech, particularly word-finally (see Section 3.4.4.1.2). A glottal is also phonologically inserted before a vowel at the beginning of a breath group. Thus, (1) /in/ [‘in] ‘this’ [’æks] /æks/ ‘photograph’ But when two words are combined into one breath group, the noninitial word loses its prevocalic glottal. Thus [’æks] becomes [æks] in the example below. [’inæks] (2) /in æks/ ‘this photograph’ The glottal stop is therefore not distinctive in initial position: a wordinitial glottal-vowel sequence never contrasts with a word-initial vowel. The glottal is distinctive in noninitial positions. Compare the word no meaning ‘new’ with no’ meaning ‘kind, sort’, though as mentioned above the word-final /’/ is particularly prone to deletion. There is some question about the phonemic status of /q/, whether stop or fricative or even whether voiced or voiceless. In any case, there are several varieties. Following the most common analysis, we classify the phoneme /q/ as a voiced dorso-uvular (uvular) stop (IPA /G/), which is often spirantized into the voiced dorso-uvular fricative between voiced segments (see Section 3.4.4.1.4). It is important to note that the variation is not a matter of purely
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Page 289 phonological conditioning, since a word containing /q/ can be pronounced as either an occlusive or spirant: e.g. aqa ‘man/sir’ can be pronounced [aGa] or However, /q/ cannot be a fricative wordinitially. Thus, qermez ‘red’ is pronounced [Germez], not * All plosives occur word-initially and word-finally, syllableinitially and syllable-finally as well as morpheme-initially and morpheme-finally. The only qualification is that, as mentioned above, word-initial [’] is nonphonemic. Plosives also occur in word-medial, syllable-medial and morpheme-medial positions. See Section 3.4 on segmental morphology. (3) Distribution of plosives INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL Labio-labial (bilabial) pain læppe cæp ‘down’ ‘split pea’ ‘left’ bozorg læbu šæb ‘large’ ‘beet’ ‘night’ Apico-alveolar/apico-dental (alveolar/alveodental) tut ætse sæxt ‘berry’ ‘sneeze’ ‘difficult’ doxtær edare zærd ‘daughter/girl’ ‘office’ ‘yellow’ Dorso-postalveolar (alveopalatal) ci kucik gæc ‘what’ ‘small’ ‘chalk’ jostæn ejaze borj ‘to seek’ ‘permission’ ‘tower’ Dorso-prevelar kærdæm saket tarik ‘I did’ ‘quiet’ ‘dark’
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Page 290 gæšæng šagerd ræg ‘beautiful’ ‘student’ ‘vein’ Dorso-uvular (uvular) qermez æqlæb dæmaq ‘red’ ‘often’ ‘nose’ Glottal As mentioned above, the word-initial glottal stop is nonphonemic. ‘ævvæl sa’æt rob’ ‘first’ ‘clock’ ‘quarter of 3.1.2.1.2 Fricatives Persian has a labio-dental voiceless/voiced pair, /f, v/, and an apico-alveolar /s, z/. The dorso-postalveolar (alveopalatal) /š/ and /ž / are slightly rounded. Voiceless /x/ has often been described as uvular but the point of articulation doesn’t seem quite as far back as that of /q/. We classify /x/ as an unvoiced dorso-postvelar fricative. Also, /x/ has no voiced phonemic counterpart. Fricatives occur word-initially and word-finally, syllableinitially and syllable-finally as well as morpheme-initially and morpheme-finally. Fricatives also occur in word-medial, syllablemedial and morpheme-medial positions. (4) Distribution of fricatives INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL Labio-dental færda æfsus kif ‘tomorrow’ ‘regret’ ‘purse’ væli heyvun gav ‘but’ ‘animal ‘cow’
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Page 291 Apico-alveolar sib æsæb pæs ‘apple’ ‘nerve’ ‘then’ zæmin æzim miz ‘ground/ea arth’ ‘large’ ‘table’ Dorso-postalveolar šam emšæb kæfš ‘dinner’ ‘tonight’ ‘shoe’ žale ež deha garaž ‘Zhale ‘dragon’ garage’ (woman’s name) It should be noted that /ž/ is infrequent in any position. Dorso-postvelar xoda extiar šax ‘God’ ‘will’ ‘horn’ 3.1.2.1.3 Nasals Persian has a labio-labial nasal /m/ and an apicoalveolar/apico-dental /n/. Both are voiced. Neither is syllabic. Nasals occur word-initially and word-finally, syllable-initially and syllablefinally as well as morpheme-initially and morphemefinally. Nasals also occur in word-medial, syllable-medial and morpheme-medial positions. (5) Distribution of nasals INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL Bilabial maman emaræt dam ‘mom’ ‘building’ ‘trap’
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Page 292 Alveolar noxod onsor xordæn ‘pea’ ‘element’ ‘to eat’ 3.1.2.1.4 Liquids The lateral /l/ is a somewhat tense and somewhat apico-dental liquid, with the tip of the tongue touching the upper front teeth as well as the alveolar ridge. /l/ is voiced and nonsyllabic. Voiced nonsyllabic /r/ is made by flapping the tip of the tongue forward against the alveolar ridge. There is allophonic variation, with more trill at the beginning of a word than in the middle or at the end. Both /l/ and /r/ occur word-initially and word-finally, syllable-initially and syllable-finally as well as morpheme-initially and morpheme-finally. Liquids also occur in word-medial, syllablemedial and morpheme-medial positions. (6) Distribution of liquids INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL læbu eltemas hal ‘beet’ ‘plea’ ‘health’ ræng arenj xahær ‘color’ ‘elbow’ ‘sister’ 3.1.2.1.5 Glides The voiced dorso-palatal glide /y/ (IP A /j/) is a palatal lateral approximant. It occurs in initial, medial and final positions. Unvoiced /h/ is a glottal approximant, similar to /h/ in English except in Persian it may also appear in syllable-final position, as in rah ‘path’, and in certain clusters, such as shæhr ‘city’, /h/ is often deleted in noninitial positions. Thus rah may be pronounced [rah] or [ra] and shæhr may be pronounced [šæhr] or [šær]. See Section 3.4.4.1 on deletion processes. (7) Distribution of glides
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Page 293 INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL yek maye pay ‘one’ ‘fluid’ ‘foot’ hal æhali ruh ‘condition’ ‘inhabitants’ ‘spirit/ghost’ 3.1.2.1.6 Consonant length Geminates typically appear in words of Arabic origin and are clearly pronounced. (8) ævvæl ‘first ællah ‘Allah’ sekke ‘coin’ Several minimal pairs exist based on consonant length: (9) bæna bænna ‘building/base’ ‘mason/construction worker’ Note, however, that double consonants are pronounced as a single consonant unless a vowel follows. For example, rædd ‘rejection’ is pronounced with a single [d] in (10) but [d:] in (11). (10) [ræd]--šod rejection-became ‘He failed.’ (11) [ræd:]-e pišnehad rejection-EZ proposal ‘rejection of the proposal’ Also, there is variation in the pronunciation in some words with geminates as well as discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation. The word bæcce ‘child’ is often pronounced with a [c] though the word is spelled as a geminate in Persian orthography. Some geminates in words of native Persian origin do exist, primarily resulting from assimilation. See Section 3.4.1.1 on assimilation and 3.4.1.1.5 for examples of Persian-origin geminates.
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Page 294 3.1.2.2 Syllables 3.1.2.2.1 Vowels All Persian vowels are voiced. 3.1.2.2.1.1 Monothongs /i/ High front /i/ is long, tense and closed. (12) širini ‘cookie’ in ‘this’ zendegi ‘life’ nist ‘is not’ /e/ Mid front /e/ is short, lax and slightly open. (13) bæcce ‘child’ ke ‘that’ cešm ‘eye’ emšæb ‘tonight’ /æ/ Low front /æ/ is short, lax and open. (14) sæxt ‘difficult’ kærdæn ‘to do’ doxtæræm ‘my daughter’ æge ‘if /u/ High back /u/ is long, tense, closed and round. (15) xormalu ‘persimmon’ nur ‘light’ buf ‘owl’ unja ‘there’ /o/ Mid back /o/ is short, lax, slighly open and rounded. (16) bolænd ‘loud’ do ‘two’ lakpošt ‘turtle’ omr ‘life’
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Page 295 /a/ (17)
Low back /a/ is long, tense and open. baba ‘dad’ ab ‘water’ dad ‘she gave’ almani ‘German’ Note that /a/, /u/ and /i/ are long and /e/, /æ/ and /o/ are short. In both long and short vowels, length is a redundant feature. 3.1.2.2.1.2 Diphthongs Linguists agree that at least two diphthongs, [ey] and [ow], exist in modern Persian, though there is dispute about their status phonemically. One claim is that the diphthongs [ey] and [ow] are allophonic to /e/ and /o/, respectively, occurring at the end of a word or before a consonant. The analysis that [ey] and [ow] are word-final allophones of /e/ and /o/ is challenged by the fact that both [e] and [o] also exist word-finally: (18) be pey ‘to’ ‘follow’ co jow ‘like’ ‘barley’ kilo jelow ‘kilogram’ ‘front’ Also [e] and [o] contrast with [ey] and [ow] in minimal pairs, as in (19). (19) ke key ‘that (complement)’ ‘when’ do dow ‘two’ ‘run (noun)’ Further, both [ey] and [ow] occur in nonfinal contexts just as [e] and [o] do.
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Page 296 (20)
del meyl ‘heart’ ‘preference’ (21) kot dowr ‘jacket’ ‘around’ In addition, [ey] and [ow] sometimes minimally contrast with [e] and [o] in nonfinal position: (22) sel seyl ‘tuberculosis’ ‘flood’ Other analyses consider [ey] a sequence of contiguous phonemes, /e/ and /y/, and [ow] as resulting from a wordfinal offglide. One argument for interpreting [ey] and [ow] as vowel + consonantal sequences is based on syllable structure. Within a syllable, Persian vowels may be followed by as many as two consonants (see Section 3.2.5.2). [ey] and [ow], however, may only be followed by a single consonant, thus leading one to think of the glide in [ey] and offglide in [ow] as consonantal. The argument that these two diphthongs are nonphonemic holds better for [ey] than for [ow] because the [y] has independent status in Persian and can in fact occur as a clear glide consonant word-initially. The offglide in [ow], in contrast, has no independent status and occurs only after the [o]. Further, while it is interesting that [ow] is never followed by two consonants within the same syllable (Windfuhr 1990:529), this does not imply that the offglide is unambiguously consonantal. Syllable structure provides another argument in favor of a phonemic analysis of [ow]. Given that a consonant between two vowels is syllabically assigned to the second vowel (see Section 3.2.5.1), if the offglide is considered consonantal, when [ow] is followed by a vowel we should expect the offglide to be assigned to the following syllable. That is, the prediction is that the phonetic sequence [ow]+V should syllabify as [o]+[w]V. However, Persian [ow]+V sequences do not syllabify in this way. Thus, while both [ey] and [ow] are diphthongs and neither is unambiguously phonemic, the analysis above indicates that /ow/ is phonemic and [ey] is not. 3.1.2.3 Restriction of vowels to loanwords None of the seven vocalic phonemes occurs exclusively in loanwords.
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Page 297 3.1.2.4 Restriction of vowels to word classes No vocalic segment is restricted to any word class and no word class excludes any vocalic segment. 3.2 PHONOTACTICS 3.2.1 Distribution of nonsyllabic segments 3.2.1.1 Word-final consonants There are no restrictions on which consonants may appear at the end of a word, though different consonants occur with varying frequency in that position. For example, word-final /v/ appears only after /a/ and /i/ and word-final /y/ is relatively rare. See Section 3.1.2.1–5 for examples of words ending in consonants. 3.2.1.2 Word-initial consonants There are no restrictions on which consonants may appear at the start of a word, although word-initial glottal [’] is not phonemic. The glottal is inserted via a rule specifying that any word-initial (or, more generally, breath groupinitial) vowel be preceded by a glottal (see Section 3.1.2.1.1 and Section 3.4.4.2 on glottal insertion). A word-initial glottal-vowel sequence never contrasts with a word-initial vowel. 3.2.2.1 Consonant clusters 3.2.2.1.1 Word-initial consonant clusters Word-initial consonant clusters do not occur in Persian. Borrowed words with initial clusters in the source language are broken up with a vowel to prevent word-initial CC (Strain 1968). The consonant cluster may be broken up via prothesis, where a vowel is inserted before the cluster to make two syllables with a single consonant assigned to each, resulting in a VC+C sequence. (23) esport ‘sport’
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Page 298 estudiyo ‘studio’ espageti ‘spaghetti’ Alternatively, word-initial clusters may be broken up via anaptyxis, with the epenthetic vowel inserted between the consonants, resulting in a CV+C sequence. (24) færanse < French France teræn < French train doroške < Russian drožki ‘small carriage’ Persian speakers learning a language such as English which allows word-initial consonant clusters tend to break up the clusters with epenthetic vowels. See Section 3.4.4.2. It is arguable that consonant clusters do exist morphemeinitially, at least on an abstract level, in the present stems of a few verbs such as gozæštæn ‘to pass’ (present stem gzær) and šenaxtæn ‘to recognize’ (present stem šnasid ). However, these present stems never appear word-initially since they are preceded by the durative prefix mi- or the subjunctive/imperative prefix be-. 3.2.2.1.2 Word-final consonant clusters Two-consonant clusters of various types can occur syllablefinally. Most classes of consonants may conjoin, though some particular combinations are more common than others. In the list below, gaps should be interpreted as extremely rare occurrences, at best, though not necessarily nonexistent. plosive+plosive: kæbk ‘partridge’, plosive+fricative: hæbs ‘imprisonment’, lotf ‘kindess’, boqz ‘spite’ plosive+nasal: xætm ‘finish’ plosive+liquid: qætl ‘murder’, æbr ‘cloud’ plosive+glide: sæth ‘surface’, væjh ‘manner’ nasal+plosive: jæm’ ‘group’, omq ‘depth’
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Page 299 nasal+fricative: ons ‘bond/connection’, senf corporation’ nasal+nasal: æmn ‘secure/safe’ nasal+liquid: omr ‘life’ nasal+glide: -liquid+plosive: xælq ‘creation’, gorg ‘wolf liquid+fricative: hers ‘greed’, bærf ‘snow’ liquid+nasal: gærm ‘warm’ liquid+liquid: -liquid+glide: solh ‘peace’ fricative+plosive: deræxt ‘tree’, dæst ‘hand’ fricative+fricative: bænæfš ‘purple’ fricative+nasal: esm ‘name’, ræzm ‘habit/custom’ fricative+liquid: shæhr ‘city’, qofl ‘key, lock’ fricative+glide: -glide+plosive: nahj ‘manner’, qæht ‘famine’ glide+fricative: mæhv ‘abolition’, mæhz ‘pure’ glide+nasal: fæhm ‘understanding’, væhm ‘imagination’ glide+liquid: mohr ‘seal’ glide+glide: -3.2.2.1.3 Word-medial clusters Medial clusters are permitted in monomorphemic words: mæmnun ‘grateful’, peste ‘pistachio’, momken ‘possibility’. Further, many other clusters result at the juncture of morphemes, with as many as three consonants permitted contiguously. It should be noted that consonant clusters are often reduced. See Section 3.4.4.1.4. (25) dæstmal ‘handkerchief cærxbad ‘cyclone’ angoštnema ‘notorious’ bæxšname ‘circular’
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Page 300 dæstgah ‘equipment’ 3.2.2.2 Description of consonant clusters See Sections 3.2.2.1.1–3, above for examples of clusters. 3.2.3 Admissible vowels 3.2.3.1 Word-final vowels The three long vowels, /a/, /i/ and /u/, are frequent wordfinally: (26) hala šoma inja ‘now’ ‘you’ ‘here’ (27) irani miduni bi ‘Iranian’ ‘you know’ ‘without’ (28) alu xormalu mu ‘plum’ ‘persimmon’ ‘hair’ Less common word-finally are the short vowels, /e/ and /o/ and /æ/. It should be noted that /e/ does occur in some high-frequency words such as ke ‘that’ and be ‘to’ as well as occurring as the ending in the past participle forms of verbs, for example, kærd-e ‘done’, ræft-e ’gone’, dad-e ‘given’. Word-final /o/, while infrequent overall, also appears in some high-frequency words: to ‘you’, do ‘two’, boro ‘go (imperative)’, polo ‘cooked rice’. 3.2.3.2 Word-initial vowels Any vowel may occur at the start of a word, some more frequently than others. Word-initial /a/ is very common. (29) ab alu ajor ‘water’ ‘plum’ ‘brick’ Word-initial /i/ is somewhat less common.
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in iman ijad ‘this’ ‘faith’ ‘creation’ Word-initial /u/ is uncommon. (31) u umæd unja ‘she/he’ ‘she came’ ‘there’ Of the short, lax vowels, /e/ and /æ/ are the most common in word-initial position. (32) estefade ensaf emkan ‘use’ ‘justice’ ‘possibility’ (33) æks ændaze æfkar ‘photograph’ ‘size’ ‘thoughts’ (34) omr otaq ostad ‘life’ ‘room’ ‘professor’ Word-initial /ow/ is rare. (35) owlad owza owqat ‘offspring’ ‘condition’ ‘mood’ 3.2.3.3. Sequences of vowels Most vowel-vowel combinations are possible, the majority of which occur across morpheme boundaries. The most common VV combinations involve the sequence vowel+/i/ or /i/+vowel. Other combinations are less frequent. One vowel combination that does not occur within a word is /a/+/a/. Although many VV combinations result from sequences of a lexical morpheme plus either an inflectional or derivational morpheme, intramorphemic VV sequences also occur. See Section 3.2.3.3.1 below on the phonological rules that apply to vowel sequences across morpheme boundaries. Examples of vowel sequences across morpheme boundaries (36) /ziba-i/ ‘beautiful-ATTR’ ‘beauty’
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/zendegi-æm/ life-1S.PC ‘my life’ (37) /palto-a/ coat-PL ‘coats’ (38) /mu-a/ hair-PL ‘hair’ (39) /bi-ændaze/ without-measure ‘immeasurably/extremely’ (40) /mi-do-æm/ DUR-run-1S ‘Iran’ Examples of vowel sequences within a morpheme (41) /doidæn/ ‘to run’ (42) /xiar/ ‘cucumber’ (43) /sanie/ ‘second (of time)’ (44) /ziad/ ‘a lot’ 3.2.3.3.1 Sequences of vowels across morpheme boundaries Most vowel sequences in Persian are found across morpheme boundaries. When two contiguous vowels belonging to separate morphemes conjoin, depending on the phonetic environment, either a [y], [h] or nothing is inserted between them, or one of the two vowels is dropped. See Section 3.4.4.2 on insertion processes.
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Page 303 3.2.4 Structure of lexical morphemes The syllabic breakup of words does not necessarily correspond to morphological structure. The rules of syllabification take precedence over morphemic integrity. In spoken Persian, morpheme, word and phrasal boundaries are generally ignored in syllabification at both the phonemic and phonetic levels. Compare the morphological structure of the following words with their syllabic structure. See Section 3.2.5 below for rules of syllabification. (45) goft-e [gof+te] ‘said’ azad-i [a+za+di] ‘freedom’ mi-dun-i [mi+du+ni] ‘you know’ 3.2.5 Syllable structure Six syllable types occur: V, VC, VCC, CV, CVC, CVCC. Examples of syllables of the simple type V are: (46) u e+te+faq a+sun ‘she, he’ ‘experience’ ‘easy’ Examples of syllables of the type VC are: (47) an os+tad al+mas ‘that’ ‘professor’ ‘diamond’ Examples of syllables of the type VCC are: (48) æsb esm æšk ‘horse’ ‘name’ ‘teardrop’ Examples of syllables of the type CV are:
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ba u+tu ae+da ‘with’ ‘iron’ ‘mimic’ Examples of syllables of the type CVC are: (50) pæ+ræn+de jam baq ‘bird’ ‘goblet’ ‘garden’ Examples of syllables of the type CVCC are: (51) pošt zæng hosn ‘behind’ ‘bell’ ‘beauty’ Combining these syllable types into words of more than one syllable, we have, for example: atiš ‘fire’ (V+CVC) dændun ‘tooth’ (CVC+CVC) albalu ‘cherry’ (VC+CV+CV) ærzun ‘cheap’ (VC+CVC). 3.2.5.1 Consonant clusters and syllables 3.2.5.1.1 Assignation of medial units and medial clusters Two strategies guide the division of syllables and how consonant clusters are broken up syllabically. First, two syllables are divided to keep the first syllable open. Thus, a consonant between two vowels is syllabically assigned to the second vowel with the syllabic result being V+CV, as shown in the examples below. (52) dæ+maq ‘nose’ ni+ru ‘force’ xa+heš ‘request’ a+dæm ‘man/person’ i+jad ‘creation’ Second, in cases of consonant clusters, the final consonant of the cluster is assigned to the second syllable. Thus, a syllable break is between two successive consonants, with the resulting syllabic sequence VC+CV:
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eš+kal ‘difficulty’ sæn+doq ‘box’ mæz+nun ‘infamous’ piš+va ‘leader’ eš+te+bah ‘error’ The latter rule applies to a series of three consonants. Three contiguous consonants are broken up so that the final consonant is assigned to the second syllable and the first two consonants are assigned to the first syllable, with the resulting syllabic structure VCC+CV. This is consistent with the prohibition against word-initial consonant clusters. (54) qæ+šæng+tær ‘more beautiful’ dæst+mal ‘handkerchief šæhr+dar ‘mayor’ sæng+del ‘hardhearted’ 3.2.5.1.2 Canonical syllable type The canonical syllable type is (C) V (C) (C). Considering that breath group-initial (including word-initial) vowels are preceded by epenthetic [’], one can reinterpret the above phonemic canonical syllable type of words in citation form or in breath-group initial position as phonetically C V (C) (C). It has been suggested that a borrowed word like tæmr < French timbre ‘stamp’, which is spelled with a ‘b’ in Persian, should be considered as ending in a triconsonantal cluster. However, the [b] is never pronounced in Persian and it appears that the Persian spelling merely reflects its French source rather than Persian pronunciation. Even if one were to accept CVCCC as a possible syllable type, it is an extremely marginal attempt to adopt a foreign pronunciation. Some syllable types are more common than others. According to several studies, the most common syllable type is CVC while the least frequent is VCC. At the word level, the most common word type is CV+CVC, with the next most common being CVC. Of 529 possible clusters, 183 actually occur (see references in Windfuhr 1979:143). As a historical note, intramorphemic consonant clusters are predominantly of Arabic origin. One study showed that word-final clusters fall into 11 groups in Persian-origin words and 126 groups in Arabic-origin words while there are twice as many word-medial
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Page 306 cluster combinations of Arabic types than of Persian types (see Windfuhr 1979:143). 3.2.6 Co-occurrence restrictions 3.2.6.1 Word/syllable initial elements There are no restrictions on which syllabic element can follow a word-initial or syllable-initial consonant. As mentioned earlier, word-initial consonant clusters are prohibited. A word-initial vowel is seldom followed by another vowel. 3.2.6.2 Word/syllable-final elements There are few absolute restrictions between word-final consonants/clusters and preceding vowels. Of the restrictions that do exist, one specifies that word-final /v/ can only be preceded by /a/ or /i/, as in the following examples. (55) gav ‘cow’ (56) div ‘devil’ 3.2.6.3 Initial-final restrictions There are no restrictions between syllable-initial units or clusters and syllable-final units or clusters. Within a word, /a/ cannot end one syllable and begin the following syllable. Other than this restriction, cooccurrence is free between which units end a syllable and which units start the next syllable. 3.2.6.4 Vowel harmony Vowel harmony is a restricted phenomenon in Persian. Instances of vowel harmony involve a few prepositions, clitics and inflections. In all cases, vowel harmony applies across morpheme boundaries and involves a lexical root which triggers a change, either forward to the clitic or backward to an inflectional prefix.
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Page 307 3.2.6.4.1 Prepositions effecting vowel harmony The prepositions ba ‘with’, be ‘to’ and æz ‘from’ trigger vowel harmony on clitics which suffix to them. Note also that in the cases of ba and be, both ending in vowels, an [h] is inserted between the final vowel of the preposition and the initial vowel of the clitic. (Also see Section 3.4.4.2 for a discussion of insertion rules.) (57) ba+æm [bah am] ‘with me’ [bahat] ‘with you’ ba+et [bahaš] ‘with her/him’ ban+ eš [bahamun] ‘with us’ ba+emun [bahatun] ‘with you’ ba+etun [bahašun] ‘with them’ ba+ešun [behem] ‘to me’ (58) be+æm [behet] ‘to you’ be+et [beheš] ‘to her/him’ be+eš [behemun] ‘to us’ be+emun [behetun] ‘to you’ be+etun [behešun] ‘to them’ be+ešun [æzæm] ‘from me’ (59) æz+æm [æzæt] ‘from you’ æz+et [æzæš] ‘from her/him’ æz+eš [æzæmun] ‘from us’ æz+emun [æzætun] ‘from you’ æz+etun [æzæšun] ‘from them’ æz+ešun 3.2.6.4.2 Inflections undergoing vowel harmony The negative prefix næ- and the subjunctive/imperative prefix be- undergo vowel harmony to assimilate to the vowel in the following morpheme. In the case of næ-, only the durative prefix mitriggers harmony. Compare the examples in (60) which do not undergo harmony and the examples in (61), where vowel harmony applies as /æ/ is raised to [e]. (60) næ+xord [næxord] ‘he/she didn’t eat’ [nærixt] ‘he/she didn’t spill’ næ+rixt [næxast] ‘he/she didn’t want’ næ+xast
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Page 308 (61) næ+mi+xor+e [nemixore] ‘he/she doesn’t eat’ [nemiræm] ‘I’m not going’ næ+mi+r+æm [nemixabi] ‘you won’t sleep’ næ+mi+xab+i The subjunctive/imperative prefix be- undergoes harmony more generally than does næ-, be- become bo- before a syllable containing an /o/. In spoken Persian the rule applies regularly before kon ‘do’ and r ‘go’, although the prefix is often deleted in compounds made with kon ‘do’. (62) ben+kon [bokon] ‘Do it.’ [boro] ‘Go.’ be+ro [boxor] ‘Eat.’ be+xor In a number of other verbs the harmony applies optionally. With respect to usage, in (640) [bopors] is less common than [bepors]. [bedo] or [bodo] ‘Run.’ (63) be+do [bepors] or [bopors] ‘Ask.’ (64) be+pors 3.2.6.5 Consonant harmony See restrictions immediately below. 3.2.6.6 Restrictions between adjacent/nonadjacent segments See Section 3.2.2.1 on permissible consonant clusters. 3.2.6.7 Phonotactic patterns with different word classes There are no particular phonotactic patterns that correspond to particular word classes. 3.3 SUPRASEGMENTALS 3.3.1 Length distinction 3.3.1.1 Vowel length There are no vowel distinctions based on length. The vowels
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Page 309 /a/, /i/ and /u/ and the diphthong /ow/ are long; /e/, /æ/ and /o/ are short. Vowel length is a redundant feature in Persian. 3.3.1.2 Length in other syllables There are no nonvowel syllabics in Persian. 3.3.1.3 Length in glides/semivowels There are no distinctions between glides or semivowels based on length. 3.3.1.4–7 Length in liquids, nasals, fricatives and plosives Geminate consonants exist in Persian and occasionally result in minimal pairs. As mentioned in 3.1.2.1.6, geminate consonants are more likely to be found in words of Arabic origin than in words of Persian origin. It should be noted that a geminate is pronounced long only if followed by a vowel. Following are some words of Arabic origin that contain geminates. (65) ællah qesse madde ‘God’ ‘story’ ‘matter’ æmma edde sekke ‘but’ ‘group’ coin Some geminates exist in Persian-origin words, but these are usually a result of assimilation. The assimilation is common but not obligatory. See Section 3.4.1.1.5 on total assimilation. (66) /peste/ [pesse] ‘pistachio’ [zemessun] ‘winter’ /zemestun/ Some Persian-origin words with geminates that do not stem from assimilation are bæcce ‘child’, tikke ‘piece’, tæppe ‘hill’ and læppe ‘split pea’. Note, however, that the geminates in these words are often, if not usually, reduced.
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Page 310 3.3.2 STRESS 3.3.2.1 Role of stress Word-stress placement is on the whole predictable. Persian stress is, therefore, generally not phonemic. Only in a few word pairs does stress serve to distinguish meanings (see Section 3.5.1–2). On the whole, the role of stress seems to be to demarcate words and phrases. 3.3.2.2 Phonetic correlates of stress Stress in Persian involves both intensity and pitch. It is unclear whether pitch or intensity is the primary feature of stress. Intensity and pitch are associated in that the syllable with strong stress is often the syllable with the highest pitch level. Pitch levels are not absolute, but relative to each other and other intonation patterns in the sentence. 3.3.2.3 Levels of stress There are two levels of stress, weak and strong. One syllable per word is assigned strong stress and the others receive weak stress. See Section 3.3.2.4 for assignment of stress in the word. Syllables also get different pitch levels within the word. In most cases, as many as three different pitch levels can be realized (a fourth pitch level is used for extra emphasis). As mentioned above, typically the syllable in the word with strong stress correlates with the highest pitch. There are, however, many exceptions to the cooccurrence of stress and pitch when units longer than the word are involved. While each word in a sentence will, often, retain its stress as assigned by the rules explained in Section 3.3.2.4.1, pitch assignment is more phrase-sensitive and is applied beyond the word level. In a one-word sentence, pitch and stress correlate. In example (67) the last non-enclitic syllable, nun, gets both the strong stress and the highest pitch. Both of the other two syllables receive weak stress, but they get different pitch levels, with the enclitic suffix -æm getting the lowest pitch and the nonstressed syllable of the stem, mæm, getting a mid-level pitch. (In the following examples, bold underlined letters indicate that the syllable receives strong stress. The superscripts 1, 2, and 3 preceding the syllable indicate the highest, mid and lowest pitch levels, respectively.)
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2æm1nun-3æm grateful-am ‘I’m grateful.’ When the stress in on a syllable other than the last nonenclitic/noninflectional syllable of the word, the highest pitch still cooccurs with the stress. Thus, the durative prefix mi-, which takes primary stress, also receives the highest pitch level in the word. (68) 1mi-2fæhm-3æm DUR-understand-1S ‘I understand.’ But in the context of a longer phrase, although words will often keep the stress pattern assigned to them by wordstress rules, the pitch levels tend to be phrase-sensitive, taking into account phrasal and sentential pitch for focus and contrast. (69) 2un1ja 2dæs3te1ras3te 2ban3ke there hand-EZ right-EZ bank-is ‘Over there to the right of the bank.’ Note in example (69) that the word bank, although stressed, does not get a high pitch. This sentence would have been used in a context where the emphasis is on which side of the bank something is located. If instead bank had been a element of contrast or some other focus (‘to the right of the bank, not to the right of the insurance company’), then it would have received high pitch as well as the stress given it by word-stress rules, as shown in example (70). (70) 2un1ja 2dæs3te 2ras3te 1ban3ke there hand-EZ right-EZ bank-is ‘Over there to the right of the bank.’ Also see Section 3.3.4 for a discussion of intonation patterns. 3.3.2.4 Position of stress 3.3.2.4.1 General word-final stress With few exceptions, stress is word-final in simple nouns, derived nouns, compound nouns, simple adjectives, derived
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Page 312 adjectives, compound adjectives, infinitives, the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives as well as in nouns with plural suffixes. The regular word-final stress pattern also applies to borrowed words. Simple nouns (71) juje ‘chicken’ pasebun ‘police officer’ mædrese ‘school’ otobus ‘bus’ labratuar ‘laboratory’ Plurals (-a, -ha, -an, -gan) (72) æsba ‘horses’ deræxtan ‘trees’ setareha ‘stars’ pærændegan ‘birds’ Derived nouns (73) širini ‘cookie’ gorosnegi ‘hunger’ qarætgær ‘plunderer’ baqeban ‘gardener’ bibu ‘odorless’ danešmænd ‘scholar’ Compound nouns (74) mehmunxune ‘hotel’ doxtærxale ‘female cousin’ gavæhæn ‘plowshare’ tæxtexab ‘bed’ Simple adjectives (75) xošgel ‘pretty’ zeræeng ‘smart’ jaleb ‘interesting’
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Page 313 Derived adjectives (76) tæ’æsofamiz ‘unfortunate’ qæmgin ‘sorrowful’ bifæhm ‘stupid’ Compound adjectives (77) xošæxlaq ‘good-natured’ bædbin ‘pessimistic’ tizrow ‘speedy’ basæfa ‘pleasant’ Comparatives (-tær) (78) behtær ‘better’ bozorgtær ‘bigger’ balatær ‘higher Superlatives (-tærin) (79) kuciktærin ‘smallest’ mohemtærin ‘most important’ tæmiztærin ‘cleanest’ Infinitives (80) duxtæn ‘to sew’ fekr kærdæn ‘to think’ saxtæn ‘to build’ 3.3.2.4.2 Exceptions to word-final stress There are a few exceptions to the general word-final stress pattern, mostly in multimorphemic words. A few are lexically determined. Among the suffixes which do not take stress are the pronominal clitics -æm, -et, -eš, -emun, etun, -ešun. When these are used, the primary stress is on the penultimate syllable of the word. (81) mašin-æm ‘my car’
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qælæm-et ‘your pen’ Both the connectives, -o ‘and’ and -hæm ‘also’, are also unstressed. (83) nun-o… bread-and… ‘bread and…’ (84) mæn-æm… I-also ‘I also…’ The definite direct object marker -ra/-ro/-o is unstressed. Stress thus falls on the last syllable of the nominal stem. (85) pænieræ-ro window-OM ‘the window’ The person/number endings of verbs take no stress and leave the primary stress of the word on the final syllable of the verbal root. (86) šost-ænd washed-3P ‘They washed.’ The ezafe -e/-ye is unstressed, leaving word stress on the penultimate syllable. (87) tu-ye in-EZ (88)
eynæk-e eyeglasses-EZ ‘eyeglasses’ In addition, the indefinite marker -i does not receive stress but leaves stress on the penultimate syllable.
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æks-i picture-IND ‘a picture’
dæbestan-i elementary school-IND ‘an elementary school’ The durative prefix mi-, the subjunctive/imperative prefix beand the negative prefix næ- all attract primary stress from the verbal root when they occur as the first syllable of the word. (91) mi-xun-æm DUR-read-1S.PC ‘I’m reading.’ (92) be-xab IMP-sleep ‘Sleep.’ If næ- appears with mi-, næ- gets the primary stress. (93) ne-mi-dun-æm NEG-DUR-know-1S.PC ‘I don’t know.’ Finally, there are some lexical items which are irregular in that, although not containing any inflections, they place stress on a nonfinal syllable. (94) bæle ‘yes’ šayæd ‘possibly’ bælke ‘not only, contrary to’ æmma ‘but’ mægær ‘but/unless’ hærgah ‘whenever’ 3.3.2.5–6 Predictability of stress Stress is generally predictable. See Section 3.3.2.4.1–2,
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Page 316 3.3.3 Tone Persian is not a tone language. 3.3.4 Intonation 3.3.4.1 Major intonation patterns At least five important syntactic and semantic intonation patterns can be distinguished in conversational Persian. The pitch levels in the intonation patterns are heavily influenced by the stress patterns of the syllables in the words and phrases. Stressed syllables raise the pitch level higher than the general intonation pattern would ordinarily demand and unstressed syllables lower the expected pitch levels of the intonation pattern. Therefore the following descriptions of intonation patterns are meant to be general. The five patterns can be labeled as: a) rising-falling intonation, typically used in statements, b) mid-rising intonation, typically used in yes/no questions, c) low-rising intonation, typically used in a sequence of phrase groups, d) mid-falling intonation, typically used in imperatives, and e) high-falling intonation, typically used in WH-questions. a) Rising-falling intonation In a rising-falling intonation, which is used in declarative statements, the pitch starts from a low level, rises toward the middle of the sentence and drops significantly at the end of the statement. (95) hæfte-ye dige mi-r-im tæbriz week-EZ else DUR-go-1P Tabriz ‘Next week we’ll go to Tabriz.’
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pedær-eš father-3S.PC professor-is ‘Her father is a professor.’
ostad-e
b) Mid-rising intonation In mid-rising intonation, used in yes/no questions, the sentence begins on a mid-level pitch and rises to a rather high pitch at the end of the question. (97) mi-r-i birun? DUR-go-2S out ‘Are you going out?’
(98)
pedær-et father-2S.PC professor-is ‘Is your father a professor?’
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Page 318 c) Low-rising intonation In low-rising intonation, used to indicate that each of a set of phrase groups is to be followed with more information, each phrase starts low and rises high. The pattern can be repeated an indefinite number of times. After the series of phrases, the sentence resolves with a falling intonation as a declarative sentence. (99) ye kif-o ye joft kæfš-o ye piræn xærid-æm a purse- and a pair shoe-and a dress bought-1S ‘I bought a purse, a pair of shoes and a dress.’
d) Mid-falling intonation Mid-falling intonation, which is used in imperative sentences, begins on mid-level pitch, maintains at a relatively mid level and then falls at the end of the sentence. (100) bo-ro mædrese IMP-go school ‘Go to school.’
(101)
otaq-et-o room-2S.PC-OM clean--do ‘Clean your room.’
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Note that the intonation patterns in the imperatives in both (100) and (101) are the same, even though the verb is at the beginning of the sentence in (100) and at the end in (101). e) High-falling intonation High-falling intonation, which is used in WH-questions, has an intonation peak on the WH-word, whether or not there is sentential material preceding it, and falls at the end of the question. (102) koja mi-r-i? where DUR-go-2S ‘Where are you going?’
(103)
ki tu hæyat-e? who in courtyard-is ‘Who’s in the courtyard?’
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pedær-et father-2S.PC where DUR-go-3S ‘Where’s your father going?’
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page_320 koja
mi-r-e?
3.3.4.2 Intonation peak In normal nonemphatic, noncontrastive intonation, the peak of intonation overlaps with the stress of the most prominent word in terms of focus, according to the various types of intonation patterns described in Section 3.3.4.1. (In the following sentences, the bolded and underlined syllables receive both stress and intonation peak.) a) In a rising-falling intonation pattern typical of declarative sentences, the intonation peak applies according to the following hierarchy: NEW INFORMATION>NEGATIVE VERBAL PREFIX næ->DURATIVE miSee examples in 3.3.4.1 (a). b) With mid-rising intonation, typically used in yes/no questions, the intonation peak hierarchy is as follows: NEGATIVE næ->DURATIVE PREFIX mi->LAST SYLLABLE OF QUESTION See examples in 3.3.4.1 (b). c) In the low-rising intonation pattern used in a concatenation of conjoined phrase groups, the intonation peak is on the stressed syllable of each phrase group. Syllable stress is typically assigned by the usual stress rules requiring stress on the last non-enclitic or non-inflectional syllable of the word.
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Page 321 (105)
ye kif-o ye joft kæfš-o ye piræn a purse-and a pair shoe-and a dress xærid-æm bought-1S ‘I bought a purse, a pair of shoes and a dress.’ (106) ræft-im kuhnæværdi-o dæm-e sahel-o didæn-e went-1P hiking-and next-EZ beach-and to see-EZ dust-a-mun friend-PL-1P.PC ‘We went hiking and to the beach and to see our friends.’ d) In the mid-falling intonation pattern typical of imperatives, the intonation peak hierarchy is applied as follows: NEW INFORMATION>NEGATIVE or IMPERATIVE PREFIX See examples in 3.3.4.1 (d). e) In the high-falling intonation pattern of WH-questions, the intonation peak falls on the stressed syllable of the WH-word. Syllable stress is typically assigned by the usual stress rules requiring stress on the last nonenclitic/noninflectional syllable of the word. (107) koja mi-r-im? where DUR-go-1P ‘Where are we going?’ (108) un pærænde-ye zærd be Farsi ci-e that bird-EZ yellow in Persian what-is ‘What do you call that yellow bird in Persian?’ 3.3.4.3–4 Emphatic intonation and contrastive stress In a sentence using contrastive stress or emphatic intonation, the stress and intonation patterns shift to the word being contrasted or emphasized. For example, as described in Section 3.3.4.1 above, the stress/intonation peak in an unmarked (nonemphatic, noncontrastive) yes/no question is at the end of the sentence, shown in example (109). However, if someone wants to question whether one means of transportation rather than another is intended, the stress/intonation shifts to the stressed syllable of the word referring to the means of
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Page 322 transportation, as shown in example (110), Note again that holding and underlining indicate peaks of stress and intonation. (109) ba mašin mi-r-i tehrun? with car DUR-go-2S Tehran ‘Are you going to Tehran by car?’ (110) ba mašin mi-ri tehrun? with car DUR-go-2S Tehran ‘Are you going to Tehran by car (rather than by train)?’ Shifting the stress changes focus in many kinds of sentences. For example, the focus in the answer to the question in (111) is on identifying who is present while in (112) the focus in on whether someone is or will be present. (111) A: ki-e ‘Who’s there?’ B: mæn hæst-æm I be-1S ‘It’s me.’/‘I am (here).’ (112) A: ne-mi-xa-m bæcce-ha-ro tænha be-zar-æm ‘I don’t want to leave the children alone.’ B: mæn hæst-æm I be-1S ‘I’ll be here.’ In cases where the contrasted/emphasized element is already in the syntactically determined stress/intonational peak of the unmarked sentence, the intonation of that element in the contrastive sentence will be raised higher than usual in order to distinguish the contrastive/ emphasized sentence from the noncontrastive/ nonemphasized sentence. Compare (113) and (114). (113) ba mašin mi-ri tehrun? with car DUR-go-2S Tehran? ‘Are you going to Tehran by car?’
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Page 323 (114) ba mašin mi-ri tehrun? with car DUR-go-2S Tehran? ‘Are you going by car to Tehran (rather than to Shiraz)?’ It is possible for more than one element to receive emphatic intonation/contrastive stress. (115) ba mašin mi-ri tehrun? with car DUR-go-2S Tehran? ‘You’re going by car to Tehran ?’ 3.3.4.5 Subtypes of intonation patterns There are no noteworthy subtypes of intonation patterns other than those already described. 3.3.4.6 Interaction of intonations patterns with tone height This is not relevant since Persian is not a tone language. 3.4 MORPHOPHONOLOGY (SEGMENTAL) 3.4.1 Morphophonology 3.4.1.1 Assimilatory processes There are a number of straightforward assimilation rules in Persian. Following are some of the easily observable assimilation phenomena. 3.4.1.1.1 Velarization and uvularization /n/ velarizes before the back consonants /k/ and /g/ and uvularizes before /q/. (116) Velar n /ræng/ [ræŋg] ‘color’ [æŋgošt] /ængošt/ ‘finger’
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Page 324 /enkar/ [eŋkar] ‘denial’ [enqqæd] /enqæd/ ‘this amount’ 3.4.1.1.2 Labialization /n/ labializes before /b/ and /p/ although it is hard to find an intraword /np/ sequence. (117) /ænbær/ [æmbær] ‘amber’ [mæmbæ’] /mænbæ’ ‘source’ [dombal] /donbal/ ‘following’ [gombæd] /gonbæd/ ‘cupola’ [impænir] /in pænir/ ‘this cheese’ Before /v/ and /f/, /n/ assimilates and becomes either labial or labiodental. [æmva] /ænva/ ‘variety’ [æmfiye] /ænfiye/ ‘snuff 3.4.1.1.3 Devoicing The voiced stops partially devoice after a voiceless segment. (We use the symbol ‘k’ in (118) and (119) to represent a partially devoiced velar stop.) (118) /xošgel/ [xoskel]
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Page 325 (119) /mošgel/ [moškel] The voiced stops also partially devoice word-finally. It is important to note that the devoicing is not complete and that a devoiced /b/, for example, is not homophonous with /p/ in word-final position. (Again, we use symbols for the voiceless sounds to represent a partially devoiced stop.) (120) /xub/ [xup] ‘good’ [bat] (121) /bad/ ‘wind/breeze’ 3.4.1.1.4 Spirantization The voiced dorso-uvular stop /q/, whose unclear phonemic status is discussed in Section 3.1.2.1.1, often spirantizes between sonorants. (122) /aqa/ ‘šir, man’ (123) /qurbaqe/ ‘frog’ (124) /æqræb/ ‘scorpion’ (125) /æql/ ‘intelligence’ If /q/ is considered a voiced dorso-uvular stop, then cases can be found where both Spirantization and devoicing take place, as in (126) and (127). (126) /væqt/ [væqt] ‘time’ [ræxs] (127) /ræqs/ ‘dance’
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Page 326 3.4.1.1.5 Total assimilation Total assimilation sometimes occurs when /s/ precedes /t/ within a morpheme. (128) /bæste/ [bæsse] ‘package’ [pesse] (129) /peste/ ‘pistachio’ [zemessun] (130) /zemestun/ ‘winter’ [essekan] (131) /estekan/ ‘tea glass’ 3.4.1.2 Dissimilation Dissimilation does not seem to be very productive. There are, however, two processes involving affricates that can be argued to be dissimilatory. The affricate /j/ sometimes spirantizes. The typical environment for affricate spirantization seems to be before alveolars. The process can be considered dissimilatory in that the occlusive /j/ becomes a fricative before another occlusive. (132) /ejtema/ [ežtema] ‘society’ [hiždæ] (133) /hijdæ/ ‘eighteen’ [tæždid] (134) tæjdid ‘renew’ [ežbar] (135) ejbar ‘obligation’ A similar case of dissimilation involves the affricate /c/, which spirantizes before the occlusive /k/.
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Page 327 (136)
/hicki/ [hiški] no one [hiškodum] (137) /hickodum/ ‘none of’ 3.4.1.3 Other alternations between segments Three other alternations between segments which are common in Persian are the a/u alternation, -ra/-ro alternation and ye/yek alternation. a) a/u-alternation In colloquial speech, /a/ usually becomes [u] before an /n/ or /m/ within a word. This alternation affects words from various categories: nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. This is a very productive rule used by all speakers of the Tehran dialect except in formal contexts. (138) /an/ [un] ‘that’ [mundæn] /mandæn/ ‘to remain’ [tehrun] /tehran/ ‘Tehran’ [eyvun] /eyvan/ ‘veranda’ [negærun] /negæran/ ‘worried’ [xændun] /xændan/ ‘laughingly’ [badum] /badam/ ‘almond’ [arum] /aram/ ‘calm’
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Page 328 However, it should be noted that there are some exceptions to this rule. (In the following examples the barred arrow indicates the sound rule or alternation does not apply.) *[vun] (140) /van/ ‘bathtub’ *[dum] (141) /dam/ ‘trap’ b) -ra/-ro alternation There is also a frequent alternation between the -ra and -ro forms of the definite object marker, -ra is used in formal contexts while -ro ( -o following words ending in consonants) is used in informal and colloquial interactions. c) yek/ye-alternation In colloquial style yek is used almost exclusively for the cardinal number ‘one’ and ye is used for the indefinite article. In formal contexts yek is used for both functions. 3.4.2 Metathesis Metathesis is not a productive process in modern Persian. 3.4.3 Coalescense and split There are no examples of coalescence or split in Persian. 3.4.4 Deletion and insertion 3.4.4.1 Deletion processes A number of deletion processes are productive in Persian, many of which are related to simplification of consonant clusters. The back consonants /h/ and /’/ are particularly susceptible to deletion, but other sounds can be dropped as well. Deletion is on the whole a variable rule. In formal contexts speakers are generally careful to pronounce all the sounds of words as they are spelled. Also, speakers will enunciate when asked for a
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Page 329 lexical item, such as when asking what the Persian word is for suchand-such. But in informal conversational Persian, deletion is not only quite common but is probably the rule. 3.4.4.1.1 h-deletion The glottal /h/ is optionally deleted in conversational Persian in any position within the syllable other than syllableinitially. (There is one case where h-deletion occurs syllable-initially, when the connective clitic -hæm ‘also’ is added to a stem. See 3.4.4.2.2.2 below.) /h/ is most often deleted in clusters, word-finally and intervocalically. h-deletion in consonant clusters /h/ is often deleted in both medial and final consonant clusters. While a more general strategy of consonant simplification plays a role, it is the /h/ rather than the other sound in a cluster which is deleted. That is, /h/ is deleted whether it is the first or second consonant of a cluster. Consider the following words in which /h/ is deleted as the first element in a word-final cluster. (142) /šæhr/ [šær] ‘city’ [æl] (143) /æhl/ ‘inhabitant’ [mæv] (144) /mæhv/ ‘invisible’ /h/ is also deleted when it is the second element in a wordfinal consonant cluster. [sæt] (145) /sæth/ ‘surface’ [sob] (146) /sobh/ ‘morning’ In word-medial clusters, /h/ is also dropped as both the first and second element of the consonant cluster.
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Page 330 (147)
/tehran/ [teran] ‘Tehran’ [ævaz] (148) /æhvaz/ Avaz (name of a city) [eteram] (149) /ehteram/ ‘respect’ [šapur] (150) /šahpur/ Shapur (a man’s name) [fæmidæn] (151) /fæhmidæn/ ‘to understand’ [sæfe] (152) /sæfhe/ ‘page’ It should be noted that when the /h/ is deleted between a vowel and a consonant, the vowel undergoes compensatory lengthening. Thus, here we transcribe several of the examples immediately above more narrowly to indicate the lengthened vowel. [æ:l] (153) /æhl/ ‘inhabitant’ [e:teram] (154) /ehteram/ ‘respect’ The variation between the -a and -ha forms of the plural are probably an instance of the more general rule of hdeletion in a consonant cluster. If /ha/ is considered as the underlying form of the Persian plural, then the variant -a can be thought of as resulting from deletion of the /h/ in a resultant word-medial consonant cluster. When the stem ends in a consonant, the -a variant of the plural is used. (155) /durbin-ha/ [durbin-a] camera-PL ‘cameras’ (156) /mahi-ha/ fish-PL ‘fishes’
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Page 331 Exceptions to h-deletion in consonant clusters There are some cases where h-deletion cannot take place, although it is difficult to say whether these nondeletions stem from restrictions on h-deletion rules or from other, morphological or lexical, considerations. (In the following indicates the sound rule or alternation does not apply.) examples the barred arrow *[ærom] (157) /æhrom/ ‘lever’ *[æd] (158) /æhd/ ‘treaty, covenant’ *[ode] (159) /ohde/ ‘responsibility’ *[med] (160) /mehd/ ‘disappearance’ Word-final noncluster h-deletion When not part of a cluster, /h/ is typically deleted at the end of a word in conversational Persian. (161) /dæh/ [dæ] ‘ten’ [de] (162) /deh/ ‘village’ [ša] (163) /šah/ ‘king’ [sæhi] (164) /sæhih/ ‘correct’ While the final /h/ is nearly always deleted in conversational Persian, we can be reasonably certain that the /h/ does exist at a more abstract level of representation. The /h/ appears in derived and inflected forms when the derivational or inflectional morpheme begins with a vowel. In the derivational and inflectional forms the /h/ is pronounced.
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Page 332 (165)
/dæh-omin/ [dæhomin] ten-ordinal suffix ‘tenth’ [šahan] (166) /šah-an/ king-PL ‘kings’ Intervocalic h-deletion Less productive is deletion of /h/ between vowels. There are a few words in which /h/ can be deleted: (167) /xaheš/ [xaeš] ‘request’ [xaær] (168) /xahær/ ‘sister’ Also, in a few words where /h/ is preceded and followed by the same vowel, both /h/ and the following vowel are deleted. [car] (169) /cahar/ ‘four’ [cel] (170) /cehel/ ‘forty’ Further, there are many more words where the /h/ cannot be dropped intervocalically. (In the following examples indicates the sound rule or alternation doesn’t apply.) the barred arrow *[bar] (171) /bahar/ ‘spring’ *[bešt] (172) /behest/ ‘heaven’ *[aæn] (173) /ahæn/ ‘iron’ *[sael] (174) /sahel/ ‘coast’
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Page 333 Syllable-initial h-deletion /h/ is generally not deleted syllable-initially. However, as mentioned above, there is one case where h-deletion occurs at the start of a syllable. When the unstressed clitic -hæm ‘also’ is added to a stem ending in a consonant, the /h/ is typically deleted. (175) /mæn-hæm/ [mænæm] I-also ‘I also’ [færhadæm] (176) /færhad-hæm/ Fahrhad-also ‘Fahrhad also’ [ceraqæm] (177) /ceraq-hæm/ lamp-also ‘lamp also’ 3.4.4.1.2 Glottal-stop deletion In conversational speech, the glottal stop can be deleted in many of the same environments where h-deletion also takes place. Glottal-stop deletion in consonant clusters The glottal stop is often deleted in consonant clusters, whether word-finally or word-medially. Like /h/, /’/ is the deleted element whether it is the first or second element in the cluster. As in h-deletion, when /’/ is deleted as the first element of a cluster after a vowel, that vowel undergoes compensatory lengthening. Example (178) shows deletion word-finally, while (179)-(181) show medial glottal deletion and compensatory vowel lengthening. (178) /jæm’/ [jæm] ‘crowd’ [bæ:d] (179) /bæ’d/ ‘after’ [mæ:muli] (180) /mæ’muli/ ‘ordinary’
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Page 334 (181)
/te’dad/ [te:dad] ‘a number of’ Deletion of noncluster glottal word-finally When /’/ is deleted after a vowel word-finally, the preceding vowel is slightly lengthened. (182) /no’/ [no:] ‘kind, sort’ [æšya:] (183) /æšya’/ ‘items’ [tulu:] (184) /tulu’/ ‘rising’ Intervocalic glottal-stop deletion Intervocalic deletion of /’/ is quite productive and seems generally unconstrained. Compensatory lengthening does not seem to occur since there already is a resulting VV sequence after the /’/ is deleted. (185) /sa’æt/ [saæt] ‘hour’ [teedad] (186) /te’edad/ ‘a number’ [tæbii] (187) /tæbi’i/ 3.4.4.1.3 r-deletion In a limited number of words, /r/ is optionally deleted as the second element of a word-final consonant cluster. (188) /fekr/ [fek] ‘thought’ [estæx] (189) /estæxr/ ‘pool’
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Page 335 (190)
/sæbr/ [sæb] ‘patience’ There are many words where the /r/ in the cluster cannot be deleted. On purely phonological grounds, it is difficult indicates that the sound rule does to predict which words allow r-deletion and which do not. (The barred arrow not apply.) *[æb] (191) /æbr/ ‘could’ *[æt] (192) /ætr/ ‘perfume’ *[æm] (193) /æmr/ ‘command’ *[fæx] (194) /fæxr/ ‘honor’ *[qæb] (195) /qæbr/ ‘grave’ *[bæb] (196) /bæbr/ ‘panther’ In word-final /hr/ clusters, it is always the /h/ that is deleted. (197) /šæhr/ [šær], but not *[šæh] ‘city 3.4.4.1.4 Other consonant cluster reductions Two other consonant-cluster reductions involve alveolar stops. As the second element of an /st/ or /št/ cluster, the /t/ can be deleted when it is not followed by a vowel. (198) /dæst/ [dæs] ‘hand’ [dæsgah] (199) /dæstgah/ ‘equipment’
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/ængoštnema/ [ængošnema] ‘notorious’ [rasgu] (201) /rastgu/ ‘truthful’ When a vowel follows an /st/ cluster, either /t/ is retained or gemination occurs. See Sections 3.3.1.4–7 and 3.4.1.1 on gemination. The voiced apico-alveolar stop /d/ can be deleted word-finally when it follows /n/. The most common occurrence of this deletion is in the third-person plural agreement verbal suffix /-ænd/. This suffix is nearly always simplified to [æn] in conversational speech, even when the subsequent word begins with a vowel. [mundæn] (202) /mund-ænd/ stay-3P ‘They stayed.’ [mineveštæn] (203) /mi-nevešt-ænd/ DUR-wrote-3P ‘They were writing.’ Other instances of post-/n/ apico-alveolar deletion occur only across morpheme boundaries when the morpheme following the cluster begins with a consonant. [cænta] (204) /cænd-ta/ how many-CL ‘how many’ [bolænqæd] (205) /bolænd-qæd/ tall-height ‘tall’ Deletion of /m/ as the second element in a consonant cluster seems extremely restricted, occurring only in the word cešm ‘eye’, /m/ is not deleted after other consonants such as /s/ ( esm ‘name’), /l/ ( elm ‘science’), /k/ ( hokm ‘order’) or even after /š/ in other words such as pæšm ‘wool’. (206) /cešm/ [ceš] ‘eye’
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Page 337 3.4.4.1.5 Vowel deletion Vowel deletion occurs in a restricted set of circumstances when a pronominal clitic beginning with a vowel is added to either a nominal stem or preposition or when a person/number agreement marker is suffixed to a verbal root. In all these cases the initial vowel of the suffixed clitic or agreement marker is deleted. In examples (207) through (210), note that the clitic vowel is dropped when it is added to a nominal stem: (207) /širini-et/ [širinit] cookie-2S.PC ‘your cookie’ [sændælim] (208) /sændæli-æm/ ‘my chair’ [zanuš] (209) /zanu-eš/ knee-3S.PC ‘her knee’ [babam] (210) /baba-æm/ dad-1S.PC ‘my dad’ The clitic vowel also drops when added to the prepositions ba ‘with’ and be ‘to’. (211) /be-et/ [bet] to-2S.PC ‘to you’ [baš] (212) /ba-eš/ with-3S.PC ‘with him’ In example (213) the initial vowel of the person/number agreement suffix is deleted when attached to a verbal root: [mixam] (213) /mi-xa-æm/ DUR-want-1S ‘I want’
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Page 338 3.4.4.2 Insertion processes 3.4.4.2.1 e-insertion The most common e-insertion is across morpheme boundaries when the plural pronominal clitics are added to stems which end in a consonant. The forms -mun, -tun and -šun become -emun, -etun and ešun. (214) /mænzel-mun/ [mænzelemun] house-1P.PC ‘our house’ Consonant clusters preceded by one of the long vowels, /a, i, u/ or a diphthong, may be broken up with an epenthetic /e/. Also see Section 3.2.2.1.1 on permissible consonant clusters. afetab (215) aftab ‘sun’ [ruzegar] (216) /ruzgar/ ‘era’ [paseban] (217) /pasban/ ‘police officer’ 3.4.4.2.2 Glide insertion 3.4.4.2.2.1 y-insertion The glide /y/ is obligatorily inserted between the long vowels, /a/, /i/ or /u/, and a following vowel. This process occurs across morpheme boundaries. (218) /ketab-ha-æm/ [ketabhayæm] book-PL-1S.PC ‘my books’ [zendegiyæm] (219) /zendegi-æm/ life-1S.PC ‘my life’
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Page 339 (220)
/mu-æm/ [muyæm] hair-1S.PC ‘my hair’ The phonetic forms in examples (218)-(220) are used in more formal speech (and in some dialects of Persian). In a more colloquial style deletion rules would apply to the vowel of the clitic and, therefore, y-insertion would not take place. See Section 3.4.4.1.5 on vowel deletion. 3.4.4.2.2.2 h-insertion In an obligatory but nonproductive rule involving only the prepositional-clitic forms, the glottal glide [h] is inserted between the vowel of the prepositional stem and the vowel of the clitic. (Or, as discussed in Section 3.4.4.1, the vowel of the clitic may be deleted, rendering h-insertion unnecessary.) [baham] (221) /ba-æm/ ‘with me’ [behet] (222) /be-et/ ‘with you’ For a discussion on the vowel harmony taking place in (221) and (222) see Section 3.2.6.4.1. For discussion of the prepositionalclitic forms see Section 3.2.6.4.1 and 2.1.5.3. Also, there are alternative forms to those presented in (221) and (222) wherein one vowel is deleted and no hinsertion occurs. See Section 3.4.4.1.5. 3.4.4.2.2.3 Cases where no glide is inserted intervocalically It is important to mention that there are cases where a glide cannot be inserted between vowels. For example, when a mid vowel is followed by any other vowel nothing is inserted. (223) /to-i/ [toi] ‘it is you’ [zendeæm] /zende-æm/ ‘I’m alive’
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Page 340 3.4.4.2.3 Glottal insertion The glottal stop in inserted at the beginning of a breath group. See Section 3.1.2.1.1. 3.4.5 Reduplication There are two types of reduplication processes. One is a partial reduplication which affects nouns. It is a very productive process in colloquial speech, producing words which usually indicate some kind of plurality and/or intensification. In this process a noun is reduplicated to result in a rhyming compound. The second part of the compound is a nonsense word formed by replacing the initial consonant of the first word with either an /m/ or /p/. (224) ciz cizmiz ‘thing’ ‘things’ bæccemæce (225) bæcce ‘child’ children qatipati (226) qati ‘mix’ ‘mishmash’ pulmul (227) pul ‘money’ ‘some money’ A process of total reduplication is typically used to make adverbs. An adverb is reduplicated and used as an intensified adverb as in tond tond ‘fast fast’. A present participle can also be reduplicated to produce an intensified adverb, as in dævan dævan ‘running running’. 3.4.6 Other processes 3.4.6.1 Geminate simplification Geminates are reduced when not followed by a vowel. See examples (10) and (11) in Section 3.1.2.1.6.
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Page 341 3.4.6.2 Deaspiration The voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/, which are aspirated wordinitially, usually receive less aspiration word-finally and before other consonants, as in (228) xæt ‘line’ (229) lop ‘cheek’ (230) pak ‘clean’ (231) qætl ‘murder’ (232) hokm ‘order’ 3.5 SUPRASEGMENTAL MORPHOPHONOLOGY 3.5.1–2 Stress and morphological processes and compounding Generally, assignment of stress is constant under morphological processes although the rules of stress assignment may result in a particular syllable being stressed or not, depending on the stress that other syllables are assigned. For example, the stem xub has an inherent stress. Clitics, on the other hand, do not receive strong stress. When a word is formed by adding the second person copular clitic -i, the stem xub keeps the strong stress. (In examples (233) and (234) syllable boundaries do not correspond to morpheme boundaries. See Section 3.2.4 for a discussion on syllable boundaries.) (233) xub-i ‘You are good.’ But when the nominalizer -i is added to make a noun, since this suffix receives a strong stress, the stress on the syllable xub is correspondingly weakened.
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Page 342 (234)
xub-i ‘goodness’ Strong stress is regularly assigned to the last non-enclitic/ non-inflectional syllable of the word, except in the case of a few prefixes which take strong stress. In cases of compounding, the resulting compound is considered the word and therefore the last nonenclitic syllable of the compound receives strong stress. For a discussion of stress assignment see Section 3.3.2.4. 3.5.3–4 Stress and phonological structure Stress is not predictable in terms of phonological structure of the stem. Stress is, however, predictable from wordlevel morphological and compounding processes. See Section 3.3.2.4.1–2. 3.5.2 Tonal structure and changes Persian is not a tone language.
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Page 343 IDEOPHONES AND INTERJECTIONS 4.1 IDEOPHONES Most ideophones in Persian are reduplicated monosyllabic, onomatopoeic words. They can be used as nouns, adjectives or verbs. Verbs are formed by adding some tensed version of kærdæn ‘to do’ or zædæn ‘to strike’. qar-qar crow’s call vaq-vaq dog’s bark miyu cat’s meow xor-xor snoring sound vez-vez buzzing sound associated with a fly/insect qor-qor sound of grumbling taeq-o-tuq noise associated with loudly shutting doors, drawers, moving small objects around qaeh-qaeh sound of loud laughter qol-qol sound associated with boiling xeš-xeš scraping, rough sound ær-ær donkey’s bray qod-qod chicken’s clucking
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Page 344 4.2 INTERJECTIONS Interjections are often single words which conform to the regular principles regarding the phonological structure of words in Persian. Foroughy (1944:138–139) identifies seven functionally distinct types. Of these, five are relevant to spoken Persian. We have altered Foroughy’s original entries in each category to reflect interjections commonly used in Modern Persian today. 1) Exclamation These interjections express surprise, both negative and positive. æjæb Strange! ce æjæb What a surprise! e’ What the…! va Unbelievable! 2) Admiration afærin Excellent! Good for you! æhsænt (æhsænt) Bravo! baeh(baeh) Good! barikaella Good for you! mashalla Well done! May God preserve you, him, etc 3) Regret heyf Pity! Too bad! vay (vay), ey-vay That’s terrible! axes Too bad! Poor thing! 4) Disparagement æh Awful! 5) Wish (ey)-kaš, kaški If only…; I wish… elahi I hope to God… inš a l la God willing! May God will it!
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Page 345 Finally, the interjections ax and ux, used reduplicatively, indicate physical pain. Used singularly, ax indicates regret, as in ‘alas’. This is a more literary usage and not commonly used in spoken Persian.
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Page 346 LEXICON 5.1 STRUCTURAL SEMANTIC FIELD 5.1.1 Kinship Terms Beyond words for the immediate family (parents, siblings and grandparents), kinship terms in Persian can be broadly classified into two categories: mother’s family and father’s family. Within these two categories, kinship is further specified according to blood relations and relation through marriage. 5.1.1.1 The immediate family Terms for wife, husband, parents, children, siblings grandparents and grandchildren are given below. Formal and informal terms are given where applicable. ENGLISH PERSIAN FORMAL INFORMAL spouse hæmsær hæmsær wife zæn; xanum zæn (woman) xanum (lady) husband šohær šohær parents valedin pedær-madær (father-mother) mother madær maman
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page_347 pedær færzænd (s), færzændan (pl) olad (pl) pesær doxtær xahær bæradær madærbozorg (mother grand) pedærbozorg (father grand) næve
baba bæcce bæcce pesær (boy) doxtær (girl) xahær, hæmšire xahær, dadaš mamanbozorg (mom grand) bababozorg (dad grand) næve
grandchild 5.1.1.2 The extended family Aunts and uncles, their spouses and their children (ego’s cousins) are referred to by different titles depending on whether they belong to the mother’s side or the father’s side of the family. Where relevant literal glosses are given in parentheses. RELATIONSHIP PERSIAN ENGLISH mother’s sister xale aunt mother’s sister’s husband šohær-xale uncle (aunt’s husband) mother’s sister’s daughter doxtær-xale cousin (aunt’s daughter) mother’s sister’s son pesær-xale cousin (aunt’s son) mother’s brother dayi uncle mother’s brother’s wife zæn-dayi aunt (uncle’s wife) mother’s brother’s daughter doxtær-dayi cousin (uncle’s daughter) mother’s brother’s son pesær-dayi cousin (uncle’s son)
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Page 348 father’s sister æmme aunt father’s sister’s husband šohær-æmme uncle (aunt’s husband) father’s sister’s daughter doxtær-æmme cousin (aunt’s daughter) father’s sister’s son pe sær-æmme cousin (aunt’s son) father’s brother æmu uncle father’s brother’s wife zæn-æmu aunt (uncle’s wife) father’s brother’s daughter doxtær-æmu cousin (uncle’s daughter) father’s brother’s son pesær-æmu cousin (uncle’s son) sister’s son pesær-xahær nephew (sister’s son) sister’s daughter doxtær-xahær niece (sister’s daughter) brother’s son pesær-bæradær nephew (brother’s son) brother’s daughter doxtær-bæradær niece (brother’s daughter) It should be noted that the compound relationship terms are all derived from genitive ezafe constructions. In some cases, the ezafe construction form is used along side the reduced form. For example, doxtær-xahær (sister’s daughter) is also commonly you will hear doxtær-e xahær. (See Section 1.2.5.2.10 for a discussion of the ezafe construction.) (1) doxtær-e xahær girl-EZ sister ‘sister’s daughter.’ 5.1.1.3 In-laws In-law relationship terminology consist of transparent compounds, reduced from genitive ezafe constructions. In each compound, the first word is the in-law and the second refers to who they are related to. For example madæršohær literally means
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Page 349 ‘mother-husband’ (in other words ‘husband’s mother’). RELATIONSHIP PERSIAN ENGLISH husband’s mother madær-šohær mother-in-law husband’s father pedær-šohær father-in-law wife’s mother madær-zæn mother-in-law wife’s father pedær-zæn father-in-law sister’s husband šohær-xahær brother-in-law brother’s wife zæn-bæradær sister-in-law Cumbersome as these terms may seem, there are clear advantages to having such descriptive labels. For example, the term ‘brother-in-law’ in English can mean one’s spouse’s brother or a sister’s husband. In Persian, there can be no such confusion. The same holds true for terms for ‘aunt’, ‘uncle’, and ‘cousin’, where each label can refer to four sets of relations. ‘Aunt’, for instance, can mean one’s mother’s or father’s sister or the wife of an uncle on either the father’s or mother’s side of the family. 5.1.1.4 Kinship by adoption/affiliation The prefix na- (meaning ‘without’) is used to refer to a ‘step’ relationship and the suffix -xande (meaning ‘called’ or ‘so-called’) is used to show kinship by adoption. When na- is used, the adjectival suffix -/ is also added to the end of the title. In the case of stepparents, additional terms are also available. Where relevant, literal translations are provided in parentheses. PERSIAN ENGLISH zæn-pedær (wife-father); stepmother na-madær-i šohær-madær (husband-mother); stepfather na-pedær-i na-doxtær-i stepdaughter na-pesær-i stepson færzænd-xande (so-called child) adopted child
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Page 350 doxtær-xande (so-called daughter) adopted daughter pesær-xande (so-called son) adopted son 5.1.2 Color terminology The word ræng means ‘color’ or ‘paint’. To ask about the color of something, as in, ‘What color is this?’, the attributive suffix -i is added to ræng: (2) in ce ræng-i-e this what color-ATTR- is ‘What color is this?’ Color terms in Persian are of two types: basic terms and terms derived from objects. Following is a list of commonly used terms. Notice that all the derived color terms end with the attributive suffix— i at the end of each word (see Section 2.2.3.1 for discussion of derivational suffixes). BASIC DERIVED Persian English Persian English sefid white qæhve-i brown (coffee-like) siah black narenj-i orange (orange-like) qermez; sorx red ab-i blue (water-like) zærd yellow dud-i gray (smoke-like) sæbz green xakestær-i gray (ash-like) bænæfš purple suræt-i pink (face-like) In addition to these terms there are also two color-related words which are often used to modify a color: por-ræng, which
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Page 351 means ‘dark’- or ‘deep’-colored (literally ‘full-color’), and kæm-ræng, which means ‘light’-colored (literally ‘littlecolor’): (3) zærd-e kæm-ræng yellow-EZ little-color ‘light yellow’ (4) ab-i-ye por-ræng blue-EZ full-color ‘dark blue’ 5.1.3 Body parts External body parts are native Persian with some Arabicorigin alternatives. Internal organs have taken their names mostly from Arabic. a) External body parts PERSIAN ENGLISH bædæn; tæn body pust skin bala-tæne torso (upper body) pain-tæne lower body (below waist) pošt back (from the waist up) kæmær waist sær; kælleh (Ar) head mu hair gis hair (usually woman’s hair) ru; suræt (Ar) face pišani forehead gune cheekbone lop cheek cane chin arvare; fæk (Ar) jaw
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< previous page Page 352 æbru cešm pelk moze bini; dæmaq (Ar) surax-e bini; mænxær (Ar) dæhæn læb dændan zæban gærdæn šane zir-e bæqæl dæst bazu arenj moc dæst kæf-e dæst ængošt šæst naxun sine pestan nok-e pestan delp; šekæm naf kæfæl niam; qælaf(Ar)
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eyebrow eye eyelid eyelash nose nostril mouth lip tooth tongue neck shoulder armpit arm, hand upper arm elbow wrist hand palm finger thumb finger/toenail chest; breast breast nipple (end of the breast) stomach belly-button buttocks vagina
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< previous page Page 353 kir; zækær (Ar) toxm; beyze (Ar) pa ran zanu saq-e pa mahice-e saq-e pa quzæk-e pa pa angošt-e pa (finger of foot) kæf-e pa pašne b) Internal organs and body parts PERSIAN ostexan mahice ræg xun mox; mæqz gælu del, qælb (Ar) šoš; riye (Ar) dænde me ‘de (Ar) rude jegær koliye mæsane (Ar)
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page_353 penis testicles leg; foot thigh knee shin calf (muscle of shin) ankle foot toe sole heel ENGLISH bone muscle vein blood brain throat heart lung rib stomach intestine liver kidney bladder
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Page 354 ræhem uterus, womb toxmdan ovaries 5.1.4 Cooking terminology There are two verbs ‘to cook’ in Persian: the verb poxtæn ‘to cook’, which can be used either transitively or intransitively, means ‘to cook’ (see examples (5) and (6)), and the compound transitive verb ašpæzi kærdæn ‘to cook’ which literally means ‘to do the act of cooking soup’. (5) dišæb mahi poxt-æm. last night fish cooked-1S ‘Last night I cooked fish.’ (6) mahi zud poxt. fish fast cooked ‘The fish cooked fast’. (7) dišæb ašpæzi--næ-kærd-æm. last night cooking--NEG-did-1S ‘Last night I didn’t cook.’ A third verb, dorost kærdæn, literally means ‘to make’ but is frequently used instead of poxtæn. It can only be used transitively. (8) dišæb mahi dorost--kærd-æm last night fish make did-1S ‘Last night I made (cooked) fish.’ The word as which refers to any one of a variety of hearty, thick soups, appears in a number of general cookingrelated terms: ašpæzi cooking (gerund) ašpæzxune kitchen ašpæz chef/cook 5.1.4.1 Ingredients and utensils Common raw ingredients and utensils are listed below. Where relevant, literal translations are provided in parentheses.
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< previous page Page 355 a) Raw ingredients PERSIAN berenj næmæk felfel adviye darcin zærdcube roqæn serke hel golab šikær ard šir toxmemorq pænir kære sæbzijat limu gojefærængi piyaz sir sibzæmini næna šivid esfenaj xiar
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ENGLISH uncooked rice salt pepper special mix of sweet spices cinnamon turmeric oil vinegar cardamom rosewater sugar flour milk egg cheese butter vegetables lime/lemon tomato (foreign plum) onion garlic potato (apple of the ground) mint dill spinach cucumber
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Page 356 bademjun eggplant ædæs lentils lubia beans noxod peas gušt meat juje chicken bærre mutton mahi fish cai tea qæhve coffee qænd sugar cube b) Utensils and dishes PERSIAN ENGLISH kase bowl qasoq spoon cængal fork caqu knife bošqab plate livan glass estekan tea glass nælbeki saucer kæfgir spatula maytabe frying pan dig pot 5.1.4.2 Methods of cooking Some basic cooking methods and activities related to cooking include:
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Page 357 PERSIAN ENGLISH sorx kærdæn to fry jušundæn to boil kæbab kærdæn to grill xurd kærdæn to chop, to grind boridæn to cut, to slice hæm zædæn to stir dæm kærdæn to steep, to steam pust kændæn to peel 5.1.4.3 Typical foods The stews listed below are just a few of the many varieties that are prepared and consumed regularly in a typical household. These dishes are always served over white rice, with a salad or plate of fresh herbs and greens such as mint, basil, radishes and green onions. Most meals are accompanied by a bowl of yogurt, either plain or as mast-oxiar (yogurt, cucumbers and mint). PERSIAN ENGLISH nan bread mast yogurt polo/celo cooked white rice sæbzi polo green vegetable rice baqali polo lima bean and dill rice kæbab grilled meat (usually lamb) juje kæbab grilled chicken pænir cheese xorešt-e qeyme yellow split-pea stew xorešt-e sæbzi minced vegetable and lamb stew xorešt-e bademjun eggplant stew aš-e rešte thick noodle and vegetable soup
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Page 358 duq yogurt drink mive fruit sib apple moz banana ænar pomegranate hulu peach ængur grapes porteqal orange hendune watermelon 5.1.5 Agriculture 5.1.5.1 Crops grown in the area Nearly 12% of the area of Iran is farm land. The main foodproducing areas are in the Caspian littoral and in the valleys of the northwest. The most important crop, wheat, is grown mainly in the west and northwest. Rice is the major crop in the Caspian littoral. Other important crops include barley, corn, cotton, tea, hemp, tobacco, sugar beets, fruits (including citrus), nuts and dates. PERSIAN ENGLISH berenj rice gændom wheat jo barley cai tea peste pistachio pæmbe cotton tutun tobacco kænæf hemp læbu sugar beet xorma date zorræt corn
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Page 359 5.1.5.2 Agricultural implements PERSIAN ENGLISH šoxm plow yoq yoke cærx wheel bil shovel cæng harrow kæjbil hoe (crooked shovel) tæbær axe zin saddle gari wagon 5.1.5.3 Agricultural activities PERSIAN ENGLISH kændæn to dig kaštæn to plant, to sow dero kærdæn to harvest šoxm zædæn to plow 5.1.5.4 Animals Below is a list of common farm animals and pets. PERSIAN ENGLISH gav-e nær bull (cow of male) gorbe cat morq chicken, hen xorus cock gav cow sæg dog
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Page 360 miš; gusfænd-e made ewe (sheep of female) boz goat æsb horse bozqale kid bære lamb madiyan mare gav-e nær ox (cow of male) xuk pig gusfænd-e nær ram (sheep of male) xærguš rabbit gusfænd sheep maddexuk sow 5.1.5.5 Time Following are general terms used to refer to time. See Section 2.1.1.6 for a detailed discussion and examples. PERSIAN ENGLISH ruz day šæb night sobh morning qurub evening bæd-æz-zohr afternoon (after from noon) sæhær dawn qurub dusk fæsl season zemestan winter bahar spring tabestan summer paiz autumn
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Page 361 sal year mah month hæfte week sa’æt hour dæqiqe minute emruz today færda tomorrow diruz yesterday pæriruz day before yesterday pæsfærda day after tomorrow 5.2 BASIC VOCABULARY The following is a list of basic vocabulary. Parenthetical information includes literal translations for items with internal structures and, where relevant, cross-references of other places in the grammar where items are discussed more fully. ENGLISH PERSIAN 1. all hæme 2. and væ 3. animal he van 4. ashes xakestær 5. at (locative) dær 6. back pošt (body part, preposition) 7. bad bæd 8. bark (tree) pust-e deræxt (skin of tree) 9. because bæra-ye inke (for this that) 10. belly šekæm 11. big bozorg, gonde 12. bird pærænde 13. (to) bite gaz gereftæn (bite to take) 14. black siah 15. blood xun 16. (to) blow fut kærdæn (blow to do) 17. bone ostexan 18. breast sine
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< previous page Page 362 19. (to) breathe 20. (to) burn (intrans) (to) burn (trans) 21. child 22. claw 23. cloud 24. cold 25. (to) come 26. (to) count 27. (to) cut 28. day 29. (to) die 30. (to) dig 31. dirty 32. dog 33. (to) drink 34. dry (ADJ) (to) dry (trans) (to) dry (intrans) 35. dull 36. dust 37. ear 38. earth 39. (to) eat 40. egg 41. eye 42. (to) fall 43. far 44. fat 45. father 46. fear 47. feather 48. few 49. (to) fight 50. 51. 52. 53.
fire fish five (to) float
54. 55. 56.
(to) flow flower (to) fly
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næfæs kešidæn (breath to do) suxtæn suzundæn bæcce cæng æbr særd (ADJ); særma (N) amadæn šemordæn boridæn ruz mordæn kændæn kæsif sæg nušidæn; xordæn xošk xošk kærden (dry to do) xošk šodæn (dry to become) kond gærd guš zæmin xordæn toxm-e morq (seed of a chicken) cešm oftadæn dur caq pedær tærs pær ændæk, kæm dæ:va kærdæn (argument to do); jængidæn ateš mahi pænj šenavær šodæn (swimming to become) rævan šodæn (flowing to become) gol pærvaz kærdæn (to flight do)
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< previous page Page 57. 58. 59. 60.
363 fog foot four (to) freeze
61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77.
fruit full (to) give good grass green guts hair hand he head (to) hear heart heavy here (to) hit (to) hold
78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92.
horn (animal’s) horn (instrument) how (to) hunt husband I ice if in (to) kill knee (to) know lake (to) laugh leaf leftside
93. 94. 95.
leg (to) lie (to) live
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meh pa cahar (Section 2.1.6) yæx zædæn (ice to strike); yæx bæstæn (ice to close) mive por dadæn xub ælæf sæbz rude mu dæst u (he/she) (Section 2.1.2) sær šenidæn qælb; del sængin inja zædæn negæh daštæn (hold to hav gereftæn šax, buq/šepur cetor šikar kærdæn (to hunt do) šohær mæn yæx ægær dær; tu (Sections 2.1.1.4 and 2.1.5) koštæn zanu danestæn dæryace xændidæn bærg dæst-e cæp (hand of left); sæmt-e cæp (direction of left) pa deraz kešidæn (length to draw) zendigi kærdæn (life to do)
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< previous page Page 364 96. liver 97. long 98. louse 99. man/male 100. many 101. meat/flesh 102. moon 103. mother 104. mountain 105. mouth 106. name 107. narrow 108. near 109. neck 110. new 111. night 112. nose 113. not 114. old 115. one 116. other 117. person 118. (to) play 119. (to) pull 120. (to) push 121. rain 122. red 123. right 124. rightside 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136.
river road root rope rotten round (to) rub salt sand (to) say (to) scratch (an itch) sea
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jegær deraz sepes mærd xeyli gušt mah madær kuh dæhæn esm barik næzdik gærdæn no; taze šæb bini; dæmaq næ pir (person); kohne (inanimate item) yek (-i) (Section 1.2.5.2.4–6 and 2.1.1.11) digær adæm; ensan; šæxs; færd bazi kærdæn (to play do) kešidæn fešar dadæn (to pressure do) baran qermez; sorx dorost (correct); rast (vs. left) dæst-e rast (hand of right); sæmt-e rast (side of right) rud; rudxane jadde; riše tænab gændide gerd malidæn; maleš dadæn næmæk sen goftæn xarandæn dærya
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< previous page Page 365 137. (to) see 138. seed 139. (to) sew 140. sharp 141. short 142. (to) sing 143. (to) sit 144. skin 145. sky 146. (to) sleep 147. small 148. (to) smell (to) smell 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171.
smell (N) smoke (N) (to) smoke smooth snake snow some (to) spit (to) split (to) squeeze (to) stab, pierce (to) stand star stick stone straight (to) suck sun (to) swell (to) swim tail that there they thick
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didæn hæste duxtæn tiz kuta avaz xandæn (song to read) nešestæn pust aseman xabidæn kuček bu kærdæn (odor to do=to perceive an odor) bu dadæn (odor to have=to have an odor) bu dud sigar kešidæn (cigarette to draw/pull) saf mar bærf bæzi, meqdari tof kærdæn (spit to do) šekaftæn fešordæn surax kærdæn (hole to make) istadæn setare six sæng mostæqim (direction); saf (not crooked) mikidæn, mik zædæn aftab, xoršid bad kærdæn šena kærdæn (swim to do) dom an anja anha koloft or zæxim (dimension); qæliz (viscosity)
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< previous page Page 366 172. thin 173. (to) think 174 this 175. thou 176. three 177. (to) throw 178. (to) tie 179. 180. 181. 182.
tongue tooth tree (to) turn
183. 184.
two (to) vomit
185.
walk (to) walk warm (to) wash water we wet what when where white who wide wife wind wing (to) wipe with woman woods worm yes year yellow
186. 187. 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207.
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barik or nazok (dimension); ræqiq (viscosity) fekr kærdæn (thought to do) in to se endaxtæn bæstæn; gere zædæn (knot to strike) zæban dændan deræxt cærxidæn; cærx zædæn (wheel to strike) do oq zædæn (vomit to strike); estefraq kærdæn (vomit to do) rah rah ræftæn (walk to do) gærm šostæn ab ma tær ci ke koja sefid ki pæhn; æriz; væsi’ zæn; hæmsær; xanum bad bal pak kærdæn (clean to do) ba zæn jængæl kerm bæle sal zærd
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Page 367 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bashiri, I. 1972. ‘To be’ as the Origin of Syntax: A Persian Framework . Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica. Bashiri, I. 1975. Persian 70 Units . Minneapolis: Manor House. Birner, B and S.Mahootian. 1996. Functional constraints on inversion in English and Farsi. Language Science, Volume 18 numbers 1–2:127–138. Boyle, J. 1966. Grammar of modern Persian. In B.Spuler (ed). Browne, W. 1970. More on definiteness markers: interrogatives in Persian. Linguistic Inquiry, Volume 1, Number 3:59–63. Clarke, W. 1878. The Persian Manual: A Pocket Companion. London: Wm. H.Allen and Co. Comrie, B. (ed). 1990. The World’s Major Languages. New York: Oxford University Press. Comrie, B. 1981. Language Universals and Language Typology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Croft, W. 1990. Typology and Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. 1992. An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Dabir-Moghaddam, M. 1982. Syntax and Semantics of Causative Constructions in Persian. PhD dissertation, University of
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Page 368 Illinois at Urbana. Dehghan, I. 1972. ‘Dastan’ as an auxiliary in contemporary Persian. Archiv Oriental’lni, Volume 40:198–205. Faroughy, A. 1944. A Concise Persian Grammar . New York: Orientalia. Forbes, Duncan. 1861. A Grammar of the Persian Language. London: Wm. H Allen & Co. Greenberg, J.H. (ed). 1963. Universals of Language. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. Haïm, S. 1953. The One-Volume Persian-English Dictionary. Tehran: Librairie-Imprimerie Béroukhim. Hashemipour, P. 1989. Pronominalization and Control in Modern Persian. PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego. Heny, J. 1986. The analysis and development of Persian clitics. Paper presented at MESA (Middle East Studies Association), New York. Hinnells, J.R. 1985. Persian Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick Books. Homa’i, J. 1959. Dastur-e zaban-e Farsi (Farsi grammar). Name-ye farhangestan. DL: 40:110–47. Hudson-Williams, T. 1953. A Short Grammar of Old Persian. Cardiff: University of Wales Press Board. Karimi, S. 1989. Aspects of Persian Syntax, Specificity, and the Theory of Grammar. PhD dissertation, University of Washington. Kashani, A. and Manochehr Kashani. 1975. The Concise EnglishPersian Dictionary. Tehran: Amir Kabir Publications Organization. Castello-Cortes, I. (ed). 1994. World Reference Atlas. London:
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Page 369 Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc. Kramsky, J. 1972. The Article and the Concept of Definiteness in Language. The Hague: Mouton. Ladefoged, P. 1975. A Course in Phonetics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Lambton, A. 1938. Three Persian Dialects . London: The Royal Asiatic Society. Lambton, A. 1953. Persian Grammar . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lambton, A. 1954. Persian Vocabulary . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lambton, A. 1971. Persian Grammar . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lazard, G. 1957. Grammaire du persan contemporain. Paris: Librairie C.Klincksieck. Mace, J. 1962. Teach Yourself Modern Persian. London: The English Universities Press Ltd. Mackey, S. 1996. The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation . New York: Dutton. Mahootian, N. 1989. Gahname-ye jalali va degar taqavim (A comparison of the solar calendar with other calendars). Raharvad: A Persian Journal of Iranian Studies, Volume VII, Number 22:92–96. Mahootian, S. 1993. A Null Theory of Codeswitching . PhD dissertation, Northwestern University. Mahootian, S. and B.Birner. 1995. Pragmatic constraints on word order in Farsi, Paper presented at Linguistic Society of America, New Orleans. Meshkat al-Dini, M. 1987. An Introduction to Persian Transformational Syntax . Mashad: Ferdowsi University
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Page 370 Press. Moïnfar, M. 1978. Grammaire du persan . Paris: Editions JeanFavard. Moseley, C. and R.E.Asher (eds.). 1994. Atlas of the World’s Languages . London: Routledge. Moyne, J. 1970. The Structure of Verbal Constructions in Persian. PhD dissertation, Harvard University. Moyne, J. 1974. The so-called passive in Persian. Foundations of Language, Volume 12:249–267. Moyne, J. and G.Garden. 1974. Subject reduplication in Persian. Linguistic Inquiry, Volume V, Number 2:205–249. Nayer-Nouri, A.H. 1969. Iran’s Contribution to the World Civilization . Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Arts Press. Nayer-Nouri, A.H. 1971. Iran’s Contribution to the World Civilization . Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Arts Press. Nilsen, D.L.B. 1972. Syntactic and semantic categories of echo words in Persian. Iranian Studies, Volume V: 88–95. Nye, G. 1954. The Phonemes and Morphemes of Modern Persian: A Descriptive Study. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan. Obolensky, S., Panah, K.Y. and Khaje Nouri, F. 1973. Spoken Persian. Ithaca: Spoken Language Services. Payne, J.R. ‘Iranian Languages’. In Comrie 1990. Phillott, D. 1919. Higher Persian grammar . Calcutta: The Baptist Mission Press. Pullum, G.K. and William A.Ladusaw. 1986. Phonetic Symbol Guide . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Quirk, R. and Sidney Greenbaum. 1973. A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
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Page 371 Rajai, A A. 1973. Chegune mitavan be zaban-e meyar dast yaft (How one can access the standard language). Rahnema-ye Ketab, Volume 16:4–46. Rubinchik, Y. 1971. The Modern Persian Language. Moscow: Nauka Publishing House. Sadeghi, A. 1973. Zaban-e Farsi va farhangestan (The Persian language and the Iranian academy). Rahnema-ye Ketab, Volume 16:8–38. Safa, R. 1983. Tarix-e adabiyat dar Iran (The History of Literature in Iran). Tehran: Ferdowsi Publishers. Samiian, V. 1983. Structure of Phrasal Categories in Persian: an Xbar Analysis . PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. Shafa’i, A. 1983. Dastur-e zaban-e Farsi (Farsi Grammar). Tehran: Paik Publishers. Soheili-Isfahani, A. 1976. Noun Phrase Complementation in Persian. PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Spuler, B and Hans Wehr (eds). 1966. Porta linguarum orientalium, Neue Serie 9. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Strain, J.E. 1968. A contrastive sketch of the Persian and English sound systems. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, Volume VI/1:55–62. Tabaian, H. 1974. Conjunction, Relativization, and Complementation in Persian. PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston. Tabaian, H. 1979. Persian compound verbs. Lingua, Volume 7, Number 2/3. Tabatabai, M. 1970. Zaban-e Farsi dar rah-e sarnevesht (The Persian language and its destiny). Rahnema-ye Ketab, Volume 13: 541–548.
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Page 372 Towhidi, J. 1974. Studies in the Phonetics and Phonology of Modern Persian: Intonation and Related Features . Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. Trask, R.L. 1993. A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics . London: Routledge. Windfuhr, G. 1979. Persian Grammar. History and State of its Study. The Hague: Mouton. Windfuhr, G. 1990. Persian. In Comrie (1990). Yarmohammadi, L. 1969. English consonants and learning problems for Iranians: a contrastive sketch. TESOL Quarterly, 231–236. Yarmohammadi, L. 1973. Problems of Iranians in learning English reported speech. IRAL Vol. IX/4:357–368.
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Page 373 INDEX accompaniment 81, 263 active 82, 143, 223, 244 addition 7, 29, 34, 59, 119, 122, 129, 139, 148, 163, 171, 183, 191, 212, 235, 271, 296, 314, 350 adjectival complement 46 adjective 6, 15, 29, 32, 46, 51, 53–58, 63, 64, 66–72, 86, 87, 93, 98, 100, 105, 108, 115, 119, 125, 128, 131, 132, 142, 146, 151, 153, 154, 161, 220, 229, 259–262, 273, 276, 277, 282–284, 327 adjective phrase 53, 69, 128 adverb 23, 37, 38, 42, 51, 58, 66, 82, 84, 85, 87, 114, 121, 122, 125, 128, 146, 154, 168, 261, 269–271, 274, 278, 283, 340 adverb phrase 85, 87 adverbial clause 38, 39, 42, 44 agent 98, 101, 105, 143, 222, 225, 226 agent in passive construction 105, 143 agreement 42, 48, 91, 125, 136, 138, 223, 227, 228, 248, 252–254, 256, 259, 264, 336–338 allative 60, 74, 142, 166 alphabet 4 anaphora 9), 93–95 answer 9, 10, 17, 24, 26, 322 antecedent 32–34, 37, 92–94, 96–104, 106, 107 article 65, 72, 328 aspect 5, 38, 42, 114, 132–134, 144, 226, 227, 239–244, 258 assimilation 293, 309, 323, 326 attributive adjective 86 benefactive 50, 51, 61, 102, 147, 264 cardinal numbers 266–268
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Page 374 case 11, 16, 18, 23, 30, 44, 52, 56–59, 62, 63, 92, 97, 100, 101, 103, 104, 107, 112, 122, 127, 135, 137, 138, 140, 143, 190, 200, 202, 213–216, 219, 226, 243, 245, 246, 253, 254, 263, 264, 288, 307, 326, 329, 333, 342, 349 causatives 225, 226, 275 cause 38, 39, 73, 133, 134, 155, 225, 226 circumstance 149 citation 165, 236, 305 classifiers 134, 195 cleft 118, 207 clefting 7, 51, 118, 121, 144 collective nouns 194 color terms 350 comitative 148, 263 command 27, 32, 273 comparative 41, 66, 75, 108–110, 133, 206, 260–263, 269, 270, 278, 280, 312 complement 8, 30, 45–47, 67, 70, 90, 97–100, 105, 114, 131, 132, 141, 142, 146, 162, 295 complement of copular construction 141 concessive 162 condition 40, 73, 238, 244–246 conditional clause 244, 245 consonant clusters 297–300, 304–306, 308, 328, 329, 331, 333, 338 consonant length 293 consonants 190, 191, 235, 293, 296–299, 304–306, 309, 323, 328, 336, 341 contingent mood 251 coordinate structure 120, 127 coordination 17, 72, 73, 75–78, 81, 83, 90, 256 copula 45–47, 118, 141, 229 dative 11, 49, 50, 60, 84, 263 day 146, 181, 183, 184, 241–243, 249, 279, 281, 360–362 deaspiration 341 debitive 247, 249 declarative 7–10, 22, 24, 28, 44–47, 52, 316, 318, 320 definite direct object 6, 33, 62, 67, 91, 121, 123, 124, 138, 144, 145, 197, 199–202, 214, 216, 257, 314 definiteness 33, 135, 196–198, 201, 202, 254 degree 13, 27, 29, 41, 56–58, 82, 205, 210, 237, 244, 250 deletion 83, 84, 91, 109, 111, 131, 138, 165, 255, 266, 288, 292, 328–337, 339
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Page 375 demonstrative 6, 14, 29, 32–34, 65, 71, 72, 93, 115, 196, 201, 210, 217–219, 221 demonstrative adjective 93 derivational morphology 271 devoicing 324, 325 diphthongs 287, 295, 296 direct object 6, 12, 19, 20, 33–37, 39, 45–47, 49, 50, 56, 60, 62, 67, 77, 84, 91, 97, 99–104, 106, 107, 111, 121– 124, 128, 129, 136–140, 144, 145, 197, 199–202, 214, 216, 224, 253, 254, 257, 314 direct speech 8, 24 dislocation 7, 119, 122, 124–128 dissimilation 326 distance 161, 218 distinctive segments 286 distributive nouns 194 ditransitive 49, 225 durative 28, 227, 228, 240, 241, 243, 244, 252, 298, 307, 311, 315, 320 durative aspect 243 echo question 19–23 emphasis 7, 27, 51, 52, 92, 113–117, 119, 120, 124, 139, 163, 187, 189, 206, 209, 212, 215, 261, 270, 310, 311 essive 157 extent 81, 162, 193 ezafe construction 11, 14, 42, 54, 63, 64, 66, 71, 86, 112, 113, 144, 145, 149, 150, 153, 157, 161, 215, 216, 348 finite clause 56 future 38, 43, 88, 187–190, 218, 238, 244, 245 gapping 74, 76, 84 geminate simplification 340 geminates 293, 309, 341 gender 195, 210, 214, 215, 219 genitive 5, 11,67, 68, 144, 157, 281, 348 goal 51 habitual aspect 241 heavy shift 7, 51, 127 hortatory 251 imperative 8, 27, 28, 32, 87, 206, 231, 244, 247, 250, 251, 298, 300, 307, 308, 315, 318, 321 imperfective aspect 240, 242 inanimate subject 136, 256 inclusion 163, 208, 214, 215
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Page 376 indefinite direct object 123 indefiniteness 203–205 Index 367 indicative 13, 227, 236, 238, 244–246, 250 indirect speech 8, 28 inflection 133, 135, 138, 158, 186, 196, 197, 205, 219, 223, 228, 229, 238, 256–258 ingressive aspect 144, 241, 258 insertion 138, 297, 302, 307, 328, 338–340 instrumental 50, 51, 263 instrumentality 147, 148 intentionality 248 interjections 130, 343–345 interrogative 8, 9, 11, 18, 19, 28, 30–32, 183, 219, 220 interrogative pronouns 11, 18, 219 intonation 8–11, 20–22, 27, 28, 114, 310, 311, 316–323 intransitive 48, 135, 136, 199, 223–226, 275 iterative aspect 242 kinship terms 346 labialization 324 lexical morphemes 303 location 26, 165, 167–179, 181, 187, 188, 218, 262, 263 locative 16, 49, 50, 59, 61, 84, 263, 264, 361 main clause 8, 12, 29–33, 36, 38–44, 90, 103, 109, 126, 127, 248–250 modifier 66–68, 70, 86, 97–102, 104–107, 151, 261 month 184, 185, 361 mood 29, 32, 38, 42, 132–134, 244, 247, 251 movement 7, 29, 37, 51, 116, 117, 119–122, 124–127, 129, 144, 206 negation 87–90 negative 9, 10, 25–27, 29, 40, 87–90, 130, 148, 151, 154, 155, 160, 231, 252, 258, 263, 277, 307, 315, 320, 321, 344 nominalized clause 93, 102 noncount nouns 152 nonreferential 199, 200, 205 nonspecific 63, 152, 160, 193, 199–201, 211 noun classes 195, 196 noun phrase 14, 48, 59, 61–68, 81, 85, 86, 91, 93, 108, 115, 119, 120, 122, 125, 127, 135, 162, 196, 199, 214, 221, 254, 255 numeral 15, 72, 152, 158, 181, 267 object complement 98, 100, 105, 142
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Page 377 object of comparison 140 object of equation 140 oblique object 34, 35, 57, 106, 123 optative 247, 248 ordinal numbers 267 partitive 158–160 partitive quantifier 159 passive 82, 87, 88, 98, 101, 105, 143, 222, 223, 244, 275 past 38, 43–45, 87, 88, 113, 143, 149, 166, 167, 169–178, 180–182, 187–189, 216, 218, 222, 223, 227, 228, 232, 236–249, 252, 273, 275, 282, 300 past stem 227, 232, 236–238, 240, 241, 243, 273, 282 perfect 87, 88, 188, 237, 239, 240, 242–245 perfective aspect 240 personal forms 265 personal pronouns 91, 149, 150, 196, 205, 208, 217 possession 111–113, 139, 149, 151, 216 possessive 11, 14, 16, 64, 68, 71, 72, 149, 200, 202, 216, 217 possessive pronouns 216, 217 postposing 7, 129, 201 predicate adjective 46, 54 preposing 7, 29, 116, 130, 201 preposition 6, 11, 16, 17, 49, 50, 59, 60, 74, 81, 84, 100, 103, 108, 110, 133, 139–141, 147–149, 151, 154–156, 160–162, 165–179, 181–184, 186–190, 199, 209, 252, 262–265, 269, 277, 279, 280, 282, 283, 285, 307, 337, 361 prepositional phrase 6, 12, 16, 26, 55, 60, 66–68, 70, 99, 101, 106, 117, 122, 128, 130, 142, 155, 160, 162, 284 present 6, 27, 38, 43, 44, 74, 87, 111, 113, 149, 155, 187, 188,216, 218, 223, 225, 227–236, 238–249, 252, 255, 272, 273, 275, 277, 279, 282, 298, 322, 340 present stem 27, 225, 227, 228, 231–236, 238, 241, 243, 244, 247, 248, 272, 275, 277, 279, 282, 298 price 11,18,160,161,220 progressive aspect 114, 241, 244 pronominal clitic 35, 48, 49, 67, 91, 96, 112, 124, 134, 138–140, 144, 145, 149, 213, 214, 253, 258, 337 pronoun 11, 13, 14, 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 48, 49, 62, 64, 71, 78, 91, 92, 94, 95, 103, 112, 115, 118, 132, 139, 144, 145, 150, 163, 183, 195, 200, 206–212, 214–216, 218, 220, 221, 255, 257, 265 pro-drop 5, 18, 48, 206 pseudocleft 207
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Page 378 pseudoclefting 7, 51, 118, 121 purpose 10, 18, 39, 43, 120, 156, 157, 160, 173, 264 quality 54, 89, 110, 151, 261, 270, 276, 278 quantification 152, 153, 269 quantifier 14, 15, 51, 66, 69, 70, 133, 153, 159, 160, 193, 268 question 9–12, 18–26, 31, 121, 181, 206, 219, 220, 288, 317, 319, 320, 322 reciprocal pronouns 103, 215, 217 reciprocity 103, 257 reduplication 340 reference 91–93, 95, 103, 156, 183, 185, 186, 193, 196, 212, 213, 215, 218, 227, 245 referential 199, 200, 205 reflexive 64, 92–94, 96–103, 112, 145, 150, 213–216, 226, 257 reflexive pronouns 92, 93, 96, 213, 214 reflexivity 96, 215, 257 relative clause 6, 32–35, 64, 70, 71, 221 result 41–44, 121, 131, 154, 234, 238, 240, 244–246, 284, 299, 301, 304, 309, 340, 341 scrambling 7, 129, 130 seasons 184, 186 sequence of tenses 43 source 50, 147, 251, 262, 274, 281, 297, 305 spiraritization 325, 326 subject 5–7, 12, 18, 19, 27, 30, 33–37, 42, 44–46, 48, 50, 52–54, 62, 78, 79, 83, 91, 92, 96–106, 115, 117, 129– 132, 135–137, 142, 144–146, 196, 197, 201–203, 206, 213–215, 219, 223–230, 238, 252–257 subject complement 98, 100, 105, 142 subject of copular construction 136 subjunctive 13, 28, 29, 32, 39, 43, 44, 87, 90, 225, 226, 231, 239, 241, 242, 244–250, 252, 275, 298, 307, 308, 315 subordinate clause 8, 13, 29, 30, 36, 43, 44, 90, 94, 95, 103, 126, 127, 225, 247–250, 252, 257, 275 subordination 9, 29, 90 superlative 53, 63, 66, 132–134, 259–261, 270, 278, 280, 312 syllable 20–22, 287–292, 296, 298, 303–306, 308, 310, 311, 313–315, 320–322, 329, 333, 341, 342 tense 5, 38, 42, 43, 88, 113, 132–134, 187, 188, 211, 223, 225–231, 236–240, 242–246, 252, 292, 294, 295 terminative aspect 242 time expressions 181, 183, 278 topic 116, 121, 125, 143, 200, 201, 254
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Page 379 topicalization 7, 51, 122, 124–127, 144, 198, 201 transitive 48, 135, 136, 223–226, 275, 354 translative 157 valency of verb 223, 225 value 129, 161 verb morphology 222 verb phrase 12, 13, 27, 84, 109 vocative 130, 163, 164 vowel harmony 247, 265, 306, 307, 339 vowel length 308, 309 vowels 190, 191, 235, 265, 267, 286, 294–298, 300–302, 304–307, 309, 332, 338, 339 week 183, 187, 276, 279, 316, 361 wh-question 20–22 word classes 81, 131, 297, 308 word order 5, 6, 9, 24, 29–31, 45, 46, 51, 53, 63, 92, 135, 136, 166, 254 yes-no question 9, 22, 23, 121
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