Language Research

Object alternations involve different realizations of arguments, which are represented in three forms, including locative alternation, dative shift, and object-oblique alternation. ... Read More Object alternations involve different realizations of arguments, which are represented in three forms, including locative alternation, dative shift, and object-oblique alternation. Object in object-oblique alternation is expressed in two different structures, without fundamental changes in meaning. The second participant, in a transitive predicate, is either stated in a direct object position or in a preposition construction. The present paper investigates object-oblique alternation in Persian Aktionsart, based on Role and Reference Grammar. The objective of this study is twofold; firstly, to determine the im/possibility of object-oblique alternation in different groups of verbs, and secondly to specify various readings of this alternation in the classes of verbs, including state, action, achievement, and accomplishment. The data are extracted from Persian corpus, newspapers, websites, as well as daily conversations. Data analysis denotes that some state verbs, including cognition, emotion, and possession verbs can be represented in object-oblique alternation. The alternate forms in cognition and possession verbs, refer to the kind of the object in question. In action classes of verbs, performance and consumption verbs display partial-total interpretation. The alternative forms of creation verbs in this class, regarding the identity of the second participant, and in the case of being non-resultative, denote the kind of the objects in question. Directed perception verbs, regardless of the parameters of object individuation, are represented in object-oblique alternation. Some achievement verbs may also be used in this alternation. Accomplishment verbs are rarely used in object-oblique alternation, except in cases which, depending on context, partial-total interpretation is intended. Generally speaking, the predicates which undergo object-oblique alternation share some certain characteristics; they are mostly non-state ones, their subjects are mainly agentive, and the objects are low or non-affected. Furthermore, the verbs, which are more prone to object-oblique alternation, are chiefly non-resultative and do not lead to fundamental changes in the object.

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Object Omission in Persian: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis

Faezeh Salimi; Vali Rezai

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, , Pages 55-81

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2022.328325.666733

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate object omission based on Role and Reference Grammar. Object omission is a valency-reduction process in which a verb which is transitive in ... Read More The aim of this research is to investigate object omission based on Role and Reference Grammar. Object omission is a valency-reduction process in which a verb which is transitive in nature, appears without its object. This study, will indicate semantic, syntactic and pragmatic representation of the aforementioned construction with respect to the presented concepts in Role and Reference Grammar including the layered structure of the clause, logical structure, semantic macroroles, information structure, activation status of the referents and linking algorithm. Explaining object omission in the framework of RRG, indicates one of the advantages of this grammar. Although RRG attends to the interaction between form and function, it declines the abstract layers or elements in the syntactic analysis. Accordingly, in this grammar the syntactic structure of the clause is represented based on what is explicitly applicable. Therefore, RRG is not faced with any restriction in explaining object omission and regarding what is explicitly presented in the sentence, it behaves with transitive verbs which omit their objects as intransitive ones. The most specific attainments of investigating object omission in the framework of RRG are as follows: In the layered structure of a clause with omitted object, one of the arguments of the core will be reduced and the syntactic representation will be like an intransitive verb with just one argument (subject) in the core. The logical structure of such verbs, likewise, will be represent with just one argument (x), unlike transitive verbs which has two arguments (x, y) in logical structure. Regarding the aktionsart type of the verbs, the findings indicate that activities are the most frequent verbs in object omission construction. the reason is that the second argument of activity verbs is not a macrorole and therefore can be omitted. Describing object omission with regard to information structure and activation status of the referents in RRG shows that as in the aforementioned construction the object is omitted, it cannot be a focal or topical element and its referent can be considered as an accessible one. Since it is the hearer’s knowledge of the world that makes it possible to understand the notion of the omitted object. Moreover, in this study, regarding object omission construction, linking algorithm from semantic to syntax and from syntax to semantics has been provided. The bidirectional diagrams show that the linking principles of selecting and linking undergoer in both directions will not exist in the objectless sentences.

Pragmatic Aspects of Mægær (‘unless’/’but’) as a Discourse Marker in Persian

Shahin Shirzadi; Mohammad Amouzadeh; Seyed Alo Kalantari; Vali Rezai

Volume 12, Issue 2 , December 2022, , Pages 123-146

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2021.323183.666712

Abstract

Discourse marker is a functional-pragmatic category, not affecting truth conditions of the sentence. These linguistic elements encode procedural rather than representative or propositional ... Read More Discourse marker is a functional-pragmatic category, not affecting truth conditions of the sentence. These linguistic elements encode procedural rather than representative or propositional meanings. Discourse markers have been the subject of increasing attention in recent years, and have been investigated in different theoretical frameworks. Among the vast variety of approaches toward interpreting the role of discourse markers, one major approach is rooted in Grice's suggestion. By elaborating the concept of conventional implicature along the previously well-known concept of conversational implicature, Grice (1989) treats some discourse markers as being instances of the former. He also conceptualized the concept of non-central or higher-level speech acts to account for the contribution of these discourse markers to the meaning of their host sentence. In this article, we will initially describe the characteristics of the discourse marker "magar" (‘unless’/’but’) in terms of prototypical characteristics of discourse markers proposed by Brinton (1996) and Heine (2013). We then present a diachronic exposition of its semantic development from having a propositional meaning to a word with a textual and expressive function in contemporary Persian. This explanation is in accordance with Traugott’s (1986) analysis of semantic change toward more subjectification. Ultimately, we have applied a Gricean interpretation to this Persian discourse marker, as a higher-level speech act. It is argued that "magar" (‘unless’/’but), in addition to its function as a connective element (which connects two textual units or encrypts the connection between the propositional content of an utterance and its previous context), can help with the performance of a non-central speech act with the illocutionary force of indicating opposition. Given the fact that speech acts, in Searl's terms, are the subject of the quadruple felicity conditions, namely Preparatory, Sincerity, Propositional content and Essential conditions we have shown how these conditions can be actualized (or applied) when it comes to higher-level speech acts.

Manipulation of the Acoustic Variables of Yes/No Questions for the Purpose of Turning them into Statements Based on Tilt Model

Marziyeh Badiee; Batool alinezhad; Vali Rezai

Volume 10, Issue 1 , June 2019, , Pages 1-19

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2019.71998

Abstract

This paper investigates intonational characteristics of yes/no questions in contrast to statements in Persian. Based on Tilt model, acoustic variables including duration, pitch amplitude ... Read More

Differentiating Evidentiality and Epistemic Modality Based on the Behavior of Persian Adverbials

Vali Rezai; Mozhgan Neisani

Volume 7, Issue 1 , September 2016, , Pages 37-56

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2016.59413

Abstract

This paper attempts to indicate that the two conceptual categories of evidentiality and epistemic modality are distinct although they may look similar; thus their corresponding adverbs ... Read More

The Status of Adjective Phrases in Persian: A Role and Reference

Shahram Peyman; Vali Rezai; Mohammad Amouzadeh

Volume 6, Issue 2 , January 2016, , Pages 41-60

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2016.57499

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the analysis of Persian adjective phrases (APs) within Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) and to appraise the merits and demerits thereof. In RRG, there ... Read More

Evidentiality in Contemporary Persian

Vali Rezai

Volume 5, Issue 1 , September 2014, , Pages 21-40

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2014.52653

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating evidentiality in contemporary Persian from a typological point of view. First the category of evidentiality and its types in the languages of the world ... Read More

Definiteness and Object Indexation in Persian

Fatemeh Bahrami; Vali Rezai; Adel Rafiei

Volume 4, Issue 2 , March 2014, , Pages 1-20

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2014.50263

Abstract

Object indexation is a grammatical phenomenon in which a clitic pronoun, co-referential with the free nominal object, appends to the verb. Optionality of indexation in Persian leads ... Read More

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Author = Vali Rezai

object-oblique alternation and Aktionsarts

Abstract

Object Omission in Persian: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis

Abstract

Pragmatic Aspects of Mægær (‘unless’/’but’) as a Discourse Marker in Persian

Abstract

Manipulation of the Acoustic Variables of Yes/No Questions for the Purpose of Turning them into Statements Based on Tilt Model

Abstract

Differentiating Evidentiality and Epistemic Modality Based on the Behavior of Persian Adverbials

Abstract

The Status of Adjective Phrases in Persian: A Role and Reference

Abstract

Evidentiality in Contemporary Persian

Abstract

Definiteness and Object Indexation in Persian

Abstract