Persian Syntax
Research Mentor(s)
Denham, Kristin E., 1967-
Description
Persian (also known as Farsi), is the official language of Iran, and has official status in Afghanistan (where it is known as Dari) and Tajikistan (Tajik) as well. Persian is a synthetic language with indo-European origin, but also exhibits significant influence from the semitic languages, and in particular Arabic, using a modified Arabic alphabet as well as being comprised of an estimated 50% Arabic loanwords. (Hillman, 2012). Persian has some features of agglutination, making use of prefixes and suffixes attached to the stems of verbs and nouns, thus making it a synthetic language rather than an analytic one. Persian is an SOV language, thus having a head-final phrase structure. Because of its synthetic nature, Persian includes multiple types of markers, including question markers and ezafe. One of the most complex and controversial components of Farsi is the word “ra.” “Ra” is a post-positional morpheme used to mark the preceding noun as a definite, direct object in the accusative case. (Karimi, 1989). This paper shows the complexities of the syntax of Persian, including the complexities of “ra.”
Document Type
Event
Start Date
15-5-2019 9:00 AM
End Date
15-5-2019 5:00 PM
Location
Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)
Department
Linguistics
Genre/Form
student projects, posters
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Persian language--Syntax
Type
Image
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Persian Syntax
Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)
Persian (also known as Farsi), is the official language of Iran, and has official status in Afghanistan (where it is known as Dari) and Tajikistan (Tajik) as well. Persian is a synthetic language with indo-European origin, but also exhibits significant influence from the semitic languages, and in particular Arabic, using a modified Arabic alphabet as well as being comprised of an estimated 50% Arabic loanwords. (Hillman, 2012). Persian has some features of agglutination, making use of prefixes and suffixes attached to the stems of verbs and nouns, thus making it a synthetic language rather than an analytic one. Persian is an SOV language, thus having a head-final phrase structure. Because of its synthetic nature, Persian includes multiple types of markers, including question markers and ezafe. One of the most complex and controversial components of Farsi is the word “ra.” “Ra” is a post-positional morpheme used to mark the preceding noun as a definite, direct object in the accusative case. (Karimi, 1989). This paper shows the complexities of the syntax of Persian, including the complexities of “ra.”