Language Report: Persian Part I: Introduction to Persian, Word Structure, Word Order and Sound Structure The first of a twopart report into the Persian language. This report looks to provide generalisations about some of the typology, word structures, word orders and sound structures of the Persian language based on data elicited from correspondences with a native speaker of Persian. LIN403: Languages of the World Lecturer: David Adger November 2010
Transcript
Language Report: Persian Part I:
Introduction to Persian, Word Structure, Word Order and Sound Structure
The first of a two-‐part report into the Persian language. This report looks to provide generalisations about some of the typology, word structures, word orders and sound structures of the Persian language based on data elicited from correspondences with a native speaker of Persian.
LIN403: Languages of the World Lecturer: David Adger
Word Structure in the Noun Phrase ....................................................................................................... 2
Word Order ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Introduction Persian, commonly known as Farsi (in E -‐ PES), is a language widely spoken in Iran and in some neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan . It is part of the Indo-‐European language family, under the Iranian language sub branch of the Indo-‐Iranian branch. Therefore, there may be potential to find links with the English Language, particularly in grammar structure.
In this report, I will construe aspects of the Persian language in order to form basic typological generalisations in a number of set categories, and support these with examples. The data I use will be mainly from translations provided to me by my language correspondent, a native speaker of (the standard variety of) Persian.
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Word Structure in the Noun Phrase Definiteness
Persian -‐ee, which is carried by the indefinite noun. It , on a standalone noun. However, there the definiteness of a noun is often displayed through different contexts, namely definiteness in sequence, plurality, and case, which we will look at further on.
1) Mouse moosh the mouse moosh a mouse
2) Cat gorbe the cat gorbe a cat
3) Apple seeb the apple seeb an apple
4) Pear golabee the pear golabee a pear golabee
Spoken Persian does make an explicit distinction of definiteness in its nouns, through its suffix -‐e, which is perfectly grammatical in Persian seeb with no distinction in definiteness in written form, but seebe marking the distinction in speech form.
Indefiniteness in sequence Indefiniteness in sequence, is marked differently depending on the sequence type.
In English there are two ways of attaching two indefinite articles to eachother in sequence connected with
.
5) A cat and mouse INDF.ART [noun 1] and-CONJ. [noun 2]
6) A cat and a mouse
INDF.ART [noun 1] and-CONJ. INDF.ART [noun 2]
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In Persian, the indefinite suffix -‐ee only seems to appear on the last noun. This shows that both nouns are indefinite. So for both of the forms above, Persian has the following:
7) gorbe o moosh ee cat and-CONJ. mouse- INDF.ART
or When attaching two indefinite articles to eachother are two forms.
8) A cat and mouse INDF.ART [noun 1] and-CONJ. [noun 2]
9) A cat and a mouse
INDF.ART [noun 1] and-CONJ. INDF.ART [noun 2]
In Persian, the indefinite suffixes are present on both nouns, similar to the English example (9).
10) ya moosh ee a cat- INDF.ART or-CONJ. mouse- INDF.ART
Plurality
In Persian, plural can be marked on the noun by adding the suffix -‐haa. Using rough English spelling to show this:
The suffix -‐aan is also a marker for plural, it seems to be used exclusively for most (but not all) human nouns.
In the case of the latter, the suffix appears as gaan, suggesting that aaan cannot follow a word ending with a vowel.
11) seeb apple seebhaa apples
12) mard man mardaan men
13) khaanande singer khaanandegaan singers
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My correspondent pointed out two Arab loanwords in the list of words they gave me. Interestingly, there are also two other forms of plural that both occur with these Arabic loan words. The first form is the suffix -‐een:
The other type of pluralisation appears to be through broken plurals, a common feature of Arabic:
The suffix -‐haa, however, seems to be able to attach itself to most nouns to pluralise them, even if these nouns accept alternative suffixes. For example in the Persian elat, as well as being able to form the broken plural form elal, and alternative can be to attach the plural suffix -‐haa to form Plurality and zero article When an indeterminate noun is made plural, it undergoes no morphological change, and stays in its original form.
16) maasheen car khiaabaan road
17) maasheen dar khiaabaan raa miravad
As a result, it becomes a zero article noun. The zero article phenomenon similarly occurs in English when expressing plurality of indeterminate or mass nouns, the former of which is seen in (17).
Number Although in theory Persian Definiteness), when explicit numerals are used to express quantity of the noun, the presence of morphological pluralisation of the noun depends on its definiteness.
18) Dotaa seeb
19) Dotaa seebhaa
When the noun in its numerically quantified plural form is indefinite, there is no marker for plural. However, we can see that when the numerical quantity of a definite noun is named, the plural suffix -‐haa is added to the noun. This means, despite not having a direct morphological expression of itself on a noun, number does have a passive effect on nouns, as presence of a number enforces a use/disuse of pluralised noun forms.
14) moasel student moaseleen students
15) madresse school madaaress schools
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Case In Persian, a specific definite direct object of a transitive noun phrase carries the suffix -‐raa, whilst zero article nouns do not carry such affixes. All other nouns, in both transitive and intransitive forms remain the same.
20) dokhtaree pesareeraa mizane A girl a boy-‐ACC. hits A girl hits a boy
21) dokhtaree pesar mizane A girl boy-‐ACC. hits .
s boys ( )
22) pesaree daveed A boy ran. A boy
However, there is no suffixation present with subjects of intransitive noun phrases, meaning that the regular form of the noun (i.e. the subject form of the transitive) occurs in the intransitive.
,P system:
23) A P dokhtaree pesareeraa zad A girl a boy-‐ACC. hit
S
24) dokhtaree daveed A girl ran girl
the case of A [transitive] = the case of S [non-‐transitive] therefore the system is Nominative-‐Accusative.
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Word Order
Subject, Object and Verb In Persian, we find a basic SOV word order, as can be seen in the following sentences:
1) Tom moosheeraa kosht Tom-‐SU. a mouse-‐OBJ. kill-‐PAST.
2) Zanee dozdeeraa gereft A woman-‐SU. a robber-‐OBJ. grab-‐PAST. woman grabbed a
The word order can be rearranged in all combinations and still result in grammaticality. These are in marked orders, and are not natural, conventional formations, but can be understood by the Persian speaker. Feedback from my correspondent was that these forms conveyed poetic effect, and are often employed in a poetic context.
OVS
3) dozdeera gereft zanee A robber-‐OBJ. grab-‐PAST. a woman-‐SU.
SVO
4) zanee gereft dozdeeraa a woman-‐SU. grab-‐PAST. a robber-‐OBJ. A woman grabbed a
VSO
5) gereft zanee dozdeeraa grab-‐PAST. a woman-‐SU. a robber-‐OBJ. A woman grabbed a
OSV
6) dozdeeraa zanee gereft a robber-‐OBJ. a woman-‐SU. grab-‐PAST. A woman grabbed a
VOS
7) gereft dozdeeraa zanee grab-‐PAST. a robber-‐OBJ. a woman-‐SU. A woman grabbed a
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The reason behind the grammaticality of every word order is due to presence of the accusative case marker -‐raa, a suffix of the noun in the subject position of the transitive noun phrase. This allows case to be distinguished regardless of word order. Therefore, despite being a SOV language, this feature causes Persian to bear resemblance to a free word order language.
-‐raa is only attached to specific nouns (i.e. with (marker of) article). Therefore the free word order does not work when the accusative suffix is an indeterminate plural (of zero article). If we refer to the example from (21) in the previous section (Word Structure in the Noun Phrase), we can prove this.
8) dokhtaree pesar mizane A girl-‐SU. boy-‐OBJ. hits .
OSV
9) *pesar dokhtaree mizane boy(s) a girl hits
We can see that when the word order of (8) is changed, the sentence results in ungrammaticality. Adposition and Noun Phrase Persian uses prepositions with a noun phrase.
10) pesaree be maghaze raft a boy-‐SU. to shop-‐OBJ. go-‐PAST Prep N A boy went to the shop
11) pesaree toopraa be divaar zad a boy-‐SU. ball-‐DEF. to wall hit-‐PAST Prep N
hit the ball against the wall
Interestingly, this does not corroborate with the general trend of one of claims that the majority of languages with a dominant SOV order are postpositional (Greenberg 1963, Universal 4).
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Genitive possessor and noun The order for genitive possessor and noun in Persian appears to be Noun-‐Genitive. Upon creating this formation, we are introduced to the ezafe, the suffix (see Appendix I). In this case, it appears to serve as link . Looking at the examples (12) and (13), suffix (-‐e) from the head noun (baraadar) joint with possessor (Niki). This would suggest that the suffix carries the genitive case (i.e. is the genitive possessor). I have illustrated this on the third lines of the examples:
12) baraadar-‐e Niki brother -‐EZ. Niki N Gen
13) sag-‐e hamsaye dog-‐EZ. neighbour N Gen
Although it is unclear to fully understand its usage within the assumptions we have implemented in class. Nevertheless, there is enough information to deduce that the word order is Noun-‐Genitive, and this was true across all translations my correspondent provided. Adjective and noun The order for adjective and noun in Persian appears to be Noun-‐Adjective. And again, we see the presence of the ezafe There appears to be two separate functions in the following examples. If we look at (14), where there is only one adjective modifying the noun, the word order is Noun(+ezafe) Adjective. The ezafe in this case links the noun to the modifier, permitting the modification.
14) otagh-‐e tameez room-‐EZ. clean N Adj. A clean room
We find this form in (15) as well, however there are also ezafes present on each adjective apart from the final one. So here, it serves the function of linking each adjective to the next.
15) seeb-‐e bozorg-‐e ghermez-‐e khoshmaze apple-‐EZ. big-‐EZ. red-‐EZ. tasty A big, red, tasty apple
Again, it is unclear to fully understand its usage within the assumptions we have implemented in class. Nonetheless, information available allows us to deduce that the word order for this is Noun-‐Adjective.
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Demonstrative and noun Similar to English, in Persian, the order for demonstrative and noun is Demonstrative-‐Noun. This can be seen in the following examples.
16) een sandalee this chair DEM N this chair
17) -‐raa mikhaham Those ticket -PL. .DEF.OBJ. I want DEM N I want those tickets
Numeral and noun For a numeral and a noun, in Persian, the word order is Numeral-‐Noun.
1) Har dota dastraa tekon bedehid Every two hand movement give NUM N
2) Oo Panjta saaz mizane he/she five instrument(s) play-3SG. NUM N He/She plays five instruments
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Syllable Structure
Simple Syllables On initial observation of my data, I deduced that, for monosyllabic words in Persian, there are six syllable structures:
1) V VC CV VCC CVC CVCC
These can be seen in the following examples.
2) a. b. c. d. C e. f. CVCC
These suggest that the maximal syllable pattern is:
3) CVCC
As I continued gathering data from my consultant, I noticed that words that seemingly began with a vowel could possibly have begun with a glottal stop preceding the initial vowel. This leads me to suggest that perhaps Persian syllables may not start with vowels. However, I was unable to find any external sources to support this observation. This may be because of an uncertain, or maybe disputed, classification of the glottal stop as a consonant. I feel I would have to see further phonetic study into this particular case to convince me that syllables with vowel onsets exist in Persian, or at least in my data. Complex vowels I identified two diphthongs in my data:
4) /o / e.g. nau /e / e.g. ney
This suggests that Persian V other vowel]
5) V V
These diphthong structures are also present in Southern British English. However SBE also has the /V / structure. In my data, I have not encountered any words with the / / vowel. Therefore I can surmise that, due to the absence of the schwa / r/ would not exist in Persian. Similarly, the SBE diphthong / also not appear in Persian because of the schwa, despite Persian having the /V / structure.
After eliciting further data, specific to the use of these diphthong structures in monosyllabic words, I can deduce that there are no restrictions as to the placement of these diphthongs in dependence of other consonant positions. We can see that these diphthongs in the following positions:
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6) a. nau CD b. eyb DC c. beyn CDC
Therefore, Persian CDCC and the DCC structures, meaning that a diphthong cannot precede two adjacent consonants. Syllable Structure Hypothesis So the data suggests the maximal syllable pattern is CVCC exist in any vowel position apart from before two adjacent consanants. I can test this hypothesis on a list of 30 random words to assess its validity.
The hypothesis works on these words, and no new stuctures appear to be apparent in the date. I have named the syllable structures for the words containing diphthongs, from we which we could possibly draw the generalisation that syllables containing diphthongs only appear at the beginning of the word, however, there is not enough data to fully come to this conclusion.
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References
Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL
International. [Online version]
<http://www.ethnologue.com/>, accessed 2nd November 2010.
Image source [online]: <http://www.wsu.edu/~gordonl/S05/354/IE-‐Germanic_files/image002.jpg> accessed 2nd November 2010.
Greenberg, Joseph H. (1999), universals of grammar with particular reference to the order
of pp. 76-‐80. <http://ling.kgw.tu-‐berlin.de/korean/artikel02/basicorder.html>, accessed 9th November 2010 Mace, John. (2003). Persian Grammar: For reference and revision. Oxford: Routledge
-‐marking inflectional affix: Evidence from Persian and Kurmanji Kurdish In V. Samiian S. Karimi and D. Stilo (eds.), Aspects of Iranian Linguistics: Papers in Honor of Mohammad Reza Bateni. (Cambridge Scholars ltd. 2007)
<http://www.iranianlinguistics.org/papers/Samvelian-‐EZ-‐revised.pdf>, accessed 14th November 2010.
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Appendix: ezafe
ezafe , the word is a common grammatical device use to link adjacent words in Persian, for various uses. Its different uses mean that the ezafeclass is somewhat ambiguous. In fact, it is subject of much dispute (Samvelian, 2007) The ezafe is often glossed as EZ. work.
e.g.
This is the notation I have used in the glosses in this report, as it appears to be an accurate way of labelling it. In the cases, in this report, where the ezafe has appeared, it has not caused me to be unable to deduce the generalisations from my data, in terms of word order. However, it is not always clear how the elements are marked. Whilst I have provided an attempt at suggesting the function of the ezafe in each case, the assumptions we have implemented in class do not cover such a phenomenon, therefore I cannot pursue the matter further in this report.
