Language Research

The Syntax of coercion: Aspect and Aspect shifting in Persian Based on the Role and Reference Grammar

Faeze Asadi; Rahman Veisi Hasar

Volume 16, Issue 2 , March 2026, , Pages 1-36

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2026.398701.666928

Abstract

This study investigates the phenomena of aspect and coercion in Persian through the lens of Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin & Foley, 1980; 1984) and Cortes-Rodriguez’s ... Read More This study investigates the phenomena of aspect and coercion in Persian through the lens of Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin & Foley, 1980; 1984) and Cortes-Rodriguez’s (2014) approach, focusing on the predicate level and the syntactic layers of nucleus, core, and clause. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the data are collected through fieldwork from daily conversations, magazines, newspapers, and interviews with native Persian speakers. The study aims to identify aspectual categories of the verbs, determine the operators influencing coercion and aspectual shift, and present a hierarchy of these operators in shaping the final aspectual interpretation of the sentence based on the chosen theoretical framework. Findings demonstrate that coercion can occur at any level—nucleus, core, or clause—leading to changes in the verb class. First, the paper introduces examples of Persian verbs corresponding to various aspectual classes (states, activities, accomplishments, achievements, and semelfactives at the nucleus layer, and activity-accomplishment classes at the core layer). It then explicates the properties of each class using syntactic-semantic tests, such as the application of different grammatical operators and adverbial modifiers within sentences. The tests are employed to illustrate the aspectual nature of the verbs. Subsequently, the study examines the roles of various operators like perfective and imperfective grammatical aspect, perfect operator, directional prepositions, the referential nature of internal arguments, and different types of adverbs (durative, completive, frequency, delimitative, speed, and dynamic) in aspectual coercion. Next, we try to explain and identity the structural position of each operator within sentence layers. Lastly, the paper represents types of aspectual shifts resulting from the interaction of aspectual classes with sentence elements and operators through formalized formulas, determining the placement of each element within the nucleus, core, and clause layers. To structure and sequence elements across these layers, the paper proposes a linear hierarchy and syntactic projection model.

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National-Cultural Study of the Symbolism of Ornithonyms in Russian and Persian Languages; Resource for Historical Analysis and Worldview of the Peoples of Iran and Russia

Sevinj Mehdikhanli; Sedighe Khazaie

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, , Pages 229-250

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.385782.666904

Abstract

Knowledge of the concept of symbols, which has its roots in the cultural aspect of the language, is especially important when studying the language. In the process of teaching a foreign ... Read More Knowledge of the concept of symbols, which has its roots in the cultural aspect of the language, is especially important when studying the language. In the process of teaching a foreign language, it is necessary that those working in this field consider themselves obliged, in addition to strengthening the grammatical aspects of the language, to value knowledge of the culture of the language being studied and to include it in the educational content. Thus, symbols are included in the content of education as part of culture and ultimately lead to a correct understanding of national-cultural texts. Given the importance of cultural aspects in teaching foreign languages and considering literature, we find that symbols and symbolism are of particular importance in the educational process, since when studying a foreign language and the literature of that country, it is necessary for the reader to be aware of the meanings hidden in the heart of the symbols. Ornithonyms are one of the areas of symbols and symbolism in popular culture and literature of each nation, and until now, no comparative studies have been conducted in this area in Russian and Persian. The authors of this study, using the library collection method, as well as the method of analyzing questionnaire data, and with the aim of obtaining the differences and similarities of the symbol of birds in the specified languages, when developing a questionnaire to measure the level of knowledge of Russian bachelor students about the symbol of ornithomyms, investigated the issue and after a comparative review and analysis of the questionnaire data, by clarifying the similarities and differences of the symbolism of birds in Russian and Persian, help Russian students and translators to correctly convey to the audience the concept of bird symbolism when translating cultural and literary texts. Therefore, at the bachelor's level in Russian, it is necessary to include the concept of bird symbolism in educational contentof such course unitas "Russian idioms and proverbs", "Cultural and literary influences of Iran on Russia", "Translation of texts" and "Regional studies"

Explaining the Placement Order of Adjectives in Persian Language Based on Functional Discourse Grammar

Mohsen Taheri; Ali Alizadeh; Hamed Mowlaei Kuhbanani

Volume 15, Issue 2 , January 2025, , Pages 181-210

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2024.370324.666875

Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to investigate the placement order of different types of adjectives in the sentence in Persian language based on Functional Discourse Grammar. ... Read More The purpose of the present research is to investigate the placement order of different types of adjectives in the sentence in Persian language based on Functional Discourse Grammar. Therefore, in this study, FDG will be considered in determining the arrangement of different types of adjectives in the sentence in Persian language. According to the principles of FDG, presenting a pattern in the arrangement of adjectives in a sentence in Persian language, in which the order of the adjectives in sentences does not follow a certain rule, is another goal of the present research. Although in Persian language, the order of adjectives does not follow a specific rule, the principles of FDG show that the type of the adjective determines that in what level of the hierarchical layer of FDG each adjective is produced and then based on what order it is mapped on morphosyntactic templates. In this study, the method of mapping the different types of adjectives on morphosyntactic templates in four absolute initial, second, medial and final positions and infinite relative positions in FDG was considered. This study is based on a descriptive-analytical method and the examples are taken from Persian adjectives. Examining the samples in this research shows that although the Persian language does not seem to have a particular order for the placement of adjectives in the sentence, the order pattern of adjectives in the sentence based on the mechanisms of FDG is also suggested for Persian language, since each adjective is produced in a special layer. The results indicate that the placement of adjectives in Persian language is based on the type of adjective and the production of each type of adjective takes place in its respective hierarchical layer. The results also show that FDG is an appropriate and efficient method for explaining the placement of adjectives in a sentence in Persian language and provides a suitable model for the placement of adjectives in a sentence in Persian language

Hierarchies in Clause Linkage and Complex Sentence Continuum in Spoken Persian

Fateme Yegane; Farhad Sasani

Volume 14, Issue 2 , March 2024, , Pages 161-192

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2024.366685.666863

Abstract

The inadequacy of previous definitions of the concepts of subordinate or dependent clauses, and coordinate or consistent clauses, along with terminological Inconsistency, and considering ... Read More The inadequacy of previous definitions of the concepts of subordinate or dependent clauses, and coordinate or consistent clauses, along with terminological Inconsistency, and considering all sentences containing relative clauses, complement clauses, and adverbial clauses in their construction as complex sentence in Persian language on one hand, and neglecting the possibility of hierarchical nature of clause linkage on the other hand causes a lot of dispersion in the definition of clause linking and complex sentence in previous research. In Persian language, in many cases, especially in speech, linkers (conjunctions) are not overt, which make the coordinate clauses and subordinate clauses alike on one hand and similar to independent clauses on the other hand. Conjunctions or linkers in clause linkage are also place of dispute, covering an inconsistent collection its items clearly different from each other. To address these issues, in a descriptive approach, a spoken corpus of 4500 minutes of various programs of different television and radio channels of National Media of Iran, in the period of Khordad 1400 to 1401 were examined. For data analysis in this research, no priori theoretical framework was used, but based on the collected data, with a prototypical and hierarchical approach, a model proposed for the study of clause linkage and complex sentence in Persian language. To achieve this goal, definition for different kind of clause linkage presented in the first place, then two concepts of “Clause connection” and “clause relation” were distinguished. And a triple distinction was established between intra-clausal linkage (within the same clause), inter-clausal linkage (between two clauses), and beyond-clause linkage. The concepts of coordination, dependency and subordination, then re-defined. The linkers utilizing in each linkage are also specified. Then by determining same parameters for describing both the coordinate and subordinate clauses, hierarchies in clause linkage and complex sentence continuum in spoken Persian presented.

Acquisition of Recursive Locatives in Persian Speaking Children: An Experiment

Hossein Rouhalamini Najafabadi; Ali Afkhami

Volume 14, Issue 1 , September 2023, , Pages 77-101

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.354733.666835

Abstract

Recursive structures, structures whose representation is produced by the repeated application of a syntactic rule, have been observed and investigated extensively in languages. By means ... Read More Recursive structures, structures whose representation is produced by the repeated application of a syntactic rule, have been observed and investigated extensively in languages. By means of an experiment, the present study investigates the acquisition of recursive locatives in Persian-speaking children and provides new evidence on the subject of children's learning path, which lends its support to theoretical insights about the representation of this structure in the mind. Different languages do not uniformly deem recursive structures well-formed. Furthermore, in languages that consider the same recursive structure well-formed, it is possible for the acquisition age of this same structure to be different in children speaking different languages. Experiments report differences in the age that English and Japanese speakers acquire recursive locatives. In these studies, early acquisition of locative structures that employ identical prepositions is observed, as well as early acquisition in the language that marks the recursive structure by an overt functional element, namely, Japanese. Explaining these observations, Nakato and Roeper (2021) propose a three-step path in the acquisition of recursion: 1. Search for overt morphological elements 2. Search for overt lexical elements 3. The ability to interpret recursive structures without the presence of identical overt elements. In the recursive structure of the locatives of Persian, similar to Japanese and contrary to English, we witness an overt functional element: Ezafe. The presence of Ezafe in this structure qualifies as the first stage of the proposed acquisition path, and therefore it is predicted that the acquisition of recursive locatives in Persian will occur early. This article takes advantage of the presence of the overt element in Persian recursive locatives and by designing and implementing an experiment in accordance with the previous experiments, investigates the acquisition of locative recursion among Persian-speaking children and by means of the collected data examines the proposed acquisition path above.

Non-Pro.Making Persian Topicalization Based on Functional Discourse Grammar

Mohsen Taheri; Ali Alizadeh; Hamed Mowlaei Kuhbanani

Volume 14, Issue 1 , September 2023, , Pages 103-133

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.344562.666788

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to explain the word order of topicalized constituents in non-pro.making persian topicalization based on Functional Discourse Grammar. Since this grammar ... Read More The main purpose of this study is to explain the word order of topicalized constituents in non-pro.making persian topicalization based on Functional Discourse Grammar. Since this grammar does not believe in concepts such as movement, we will also seek to explain this process in base-generated procedures. Therefore, in this study, in order to achieve the above goals, the method of mapping the linguistic elements of sentences containing non-pro.making Persian topicalized constituents in morphosyntactic templates in four absolute initial, second, medial and final positions and infinite relative ones presented in Functional Discourse Grammar was considered. This study is based on a descriptive-analytical method and the examples are taken from selected samples of Persian speech and written texts, which after introducing the mechanisms of this grammar,have been analyzed based on the principles of this theory. The method of determining the order of constituents used in the present study is the dynamic method of FDG that is inspired by the method of determining the word order of Greenberg. In this approach instead of three categories of subject, object and verb, respectively, the concepts of actor, undergoer and predicate, determine the word order of the languages of the world. The results indicate that in marked constituents such as topicalization, considering the communicative intention of the speaker, various elements including ,thematic and non-thematic elements and even predicates can be topicalized and on the other hand, considering that, based on the principles of this grammar, the topicalized constituent in the interpersonal level is given priority in entering morphosyntactic templates, so the topicalization process is not the result of movement, but the topicalized element is produced in base-generated procedures in the same position. The results also show that Functional Discourse Grammar is an appropriate and efficient method by referring to the three principles of iconicity, domain integrity and functional stability in determining the constituent arrangement of sentences containing non-pro.making Persian topicalization.

Relative Clauses in Arabic and Persian

Bassam Rahma; Hayat Ameri; Najme Dorri; Gholamhosseyn Gholamhosseynzade; Eessa Mottaghizade

Volume 11, Issue 1 , October 2020, , Pages 95-117

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2019.285133.666529

Abstract

Typology is a branch of linguistics which studies the structural similarities between languages, regardless of their history. Linguistic studies have proven that different languages ... Read More Typology is a branch of linguistics which studies the structural similarities between languages, regardless of their history. Linguistic studies have proven that different languages in the world have similarities which called Language Universals. Study of Word Order is one of the most important topics in Typology of language, because of languages are more diverse in this respect, and this diversity is a tool for typological studies. One of these diversities is sequence of Relative Clause and Noun. Topologists have identified two types: Relative Clause – Noun (Rel N) and Noun - Relative Clause (N Rel). In their view, these two sequences correlate with the arrangement of the main constituents of language in particular (verb and object).Consequently, according to their predictions, (N Rel) sequence is predominantly in VO languages, and (Rel N) sequence in OV languages. In the present article, we study relative clause in Persian and Arabic languages in order to clarify what are the characteristics of relative clause in both languages and what are the similarities and differences between them. In addition, the research seeks to study the sequence of noun and relative clause in the light of the views of Topologists. The research method is descriptive-analytical and the sentences are collected from different official texts of both Persian and Arabic languages. Over ten thousand sentences were studied .The findings of the study showed that Persian and Arabic languages follow the dominant global pattern in the sequence of relative clause and noun, meaning that both languages have the sequence (N Rel). In this context, however, the Persian language does not follow the predictions made for the ending verbs or OV languages. While the Arabic language is consistent with the predictions presented for VO languages. Also another result of this study is that the phenomenon of relative clause movement in Persian language is possible but not in Arabic.

Sincerity of Ta’arofs Across Genders in Persian Language: A Cognitive Approach

Maryam Bordbar; Arsalan Golfam; Sahar Bahrami; Hayat Ameri

Volume 10, Issue 1 , June 2019, , Pages 21-37

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2019.71999

Abstract

This paper deals with the sincerity of Persian language Ta’arofs across genders. The sincerity is evaluated by means of cultural schemas. Data that is gathered from different ... Read More This paper deals with the sincerity of Persian language Ta’arofs across genders. The sincerity is evaluated by means of cultural schemas. Data that is gathered from different conversational contexts and Iranian films is analyzed by conversation analysis method. Using emic approach, the researchers identify fifteen underlying cultural schemas for Persian Ta’arofs and represent a model. To fulfill this aim, the Ta’arofs with similar illocutionary forces are identified and classified as cultural micro-schemas. Each class is given a title and the first encoding is done. To make sure about the validity of the classifications two inter-raters are employed. Then the concepts which are considered as the basis for these micro-schemas in Iranian culture are identified and labeled as macro-schemas. The Ta’arofs are evaluated in questionnaires in terms of sincerity they are associated with across genders. Ta’arofs and their contexts are presented in the questionnaire and the subjects are asked to evaluate the sincerity of Ta’arofs. Ta’arofs are chosen from both genders’ conversations equivalently and distributed in the questionnaire with different cultural schemas. The evaluation of data demonstrates that despite the common belief that men’s Ta’arofs are more sincere than women’s, there wasn’t any significant difference between their degrees of sincerity. Moreover, considering that the most and the least sincere Ta’arofs belong to women, we can say that the range of sincerity of Ta’arofs is wider in women than in men. The underlying micro-schemas of the most sincere Ta’arofs in women and men are respectively sympathy (Hamdeli) and compliment (Tahsin); and, the underlying micro-schemas of the least sincere Ta’arofs are respectively hospitality (Mehmannavazi) and Shekastehnafsi in women and men. Although the underlying micro-schemas of the most (in) sincere Ta’arofs are different in the two genders and reflect social and psychological differences between them, the underlying macro-schemas obey the notion of distributive cognition.

Ezafe Constructions in Persian Language from Goldberg’s Construction Grammar Perspective

Hossein Razavian; Sedighe Kavusi Tajkoh; Sahar Bahrami Khorshid

Volume 7, Issue 2 , January 2017, , Pages 39-57

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2016.61524

Abstract

Goldberg’s Construction Grammar is a cognitive linguistics approach which has considered ‘Constructions’ as the basic units of language. The present study aimed to ... Read More

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Keywords = Persian language

The Syntax of coercion: Aspect and Aspect shifting in Persian Based on the Role and Reference Grammar

Abstract

National-Cultural Study of the Symbolism of Ornithonyms in Russian and Persian Languages; Resource for Historical Analysis and Worldview of the Peoples of Iran and Russia

Abstract

Explaining the Placement Order of Adjectives in Persian Language Based on Functional Discourse Grammar

Abstract

Hierarchies in Clause Linkage and Complex Sentence Continuum in Spoken Persian

Abstract

Acquisition of Recursive Locatives in Persian Speaking Children: An Experiment

Abstract

Non-Pro.Making Persian Topicalization Based on Functional Discourse Grammar

Abstract

Relative Clauses in Arabic and Persian

Abstract

Sincerity of Ta’arofs Across Genders in Persian Language: A Cognitive Approach

Abstract

Ezafe Constructions in Persian Language from Goldberg’s Construction Grammar Perspective

Abstract