Language Research

The Study of N-P-N Tripartite Exocentric Compounds in Persian: An Analysis within the Framework of Construction Morphology

Ghazaal Asadi; Sahar Bahrami-Khorshid; Ardeshir Maleki-Moghadm

Volume 14, Issue 1 , September 2023, , Pages 23-47

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2021.313793.666665

Abstract

In many languages, compounding as a word-formation process is more productive than the other processes. According to this fact, compounding has a special role in the morphology of languages ... Read More In many languages, compounding as a word-formation process is more productive than the other processes. According to this fact, compounding has a special role in the morphology of languages and this process has been concentrated by grammarians and linguists. Compound words of a language can be classified in various ways. In one of these classification methods, compounds are divided into two major categories: exocentric compounds and endocentric compounds. This research is an attempt to explore the N-P-N tripartite exocentric compounds of Persian within the framework of Construction Morphology. The research examines the systematic semantic relations, the possible schema of the N-P-N construction, its subschemas, and the hierarchical structure of this construction in the lexicon of Persian speakers. The data under the study have been collected from the reference book “Farhang-e Farsi-ye Āmiyāne” (Persian Slang Dictionary) written by Abolhasan Najafi which totally includes 88 tripartite compounds. The approach of this research is construction-based and tries to examine the metaphorical and semantic content of the above-mentioned compounds and to justify their word-formation pattern of them based on the concept of “construction” and “constructional schemas”. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical and the result of the research demonstrates that all the compounds that are examined in this research can be encoded by 10 semantic relations: property, person property, time, location, state, thing, condition/situation, person, action and repetition of time. Each of these semantic relations and their differences has been represented as a schema which is a pairing of form and meaning. The results also evinced that there is a direct relation between the semantic transparency of a construction and its frequency and productivity in Persian, there are 70 N-be-N compounds in the corpus which is considerably more than other types of compounds. Therefore, it is concluded that the frequency of the N-P-N compounds is rooted in their semantic transparency.

The Study of Derived Words Ending in '-ār' Suffix from the Viewpoint of Construction Morphology

Sahar Bahrami-Khorshid; Saeedeh Ghandi

Volume 11, Issue 1 , October 2020, , Pages 25-48

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2020.264867.666402

Abstract

All languages in the world use different mechanisms to create new words. Derivation and compounding are two morphological processes whose main function is the formation of new word-forms. ... Read More All languages in the world use different mechanisms to create new words. Derivation and compounding are two morphological processes whose main function is the formation of new word-forms. In Persian, derivation is one of the dynamic and widely used processes of word formation. In the realm of derivation, Persian language has many prefixes and suffixes that can be attached to existing words in order to create new words. One of these suffixes is "-ār" which is considered as one of the semi-productive suffixes of Persian language; however, the observations reveal that it has become a productive suffix in today's Persian. The main purpose of this research is to study the derivational construction [x-ār] in Persian within the framework of Construction Morphology (CM). It makes use of the notion of ‘construction’, which is defined as a pairing of form and meaning, to describe the properties of complex words. Therefore, on the basis of a construction-based approach and regarding a descriptive-analytic method, the authors try to represent the systematically semantic varieties of "-ār", possible schemas and subschemas and also the hierarchical structures, based on which, [x-ar] construction has been achieved. The data analyzed in this study has been gathered from three sources: Reverse Dictionary (Zansu) (Keshani, 1993), Persian Linguistic Database (PLDB) and FarsNet. Then, the extracted words have been examined in Farhang-e Bozorg-e Sokhan (Anvari, 2002) and obsolete items have been excluded. The findings of the research show that “-ār” has seven different meanings (functions) and thus we can consider it as a polysemous suffix. Its polysemy is not explainable at the level of words, but at the level of abstract schemas; hence, it is called “constructional polysemy”. The results of this study indicate that "entity with relation R to SEM" is the prototypical meaning of [x-ār] which is the most abstract correlation among meaning and form in Persian language.

A Constructional Study of the Compounds of Body Part “Del” (Heart) in Persian

Ava Imani; Adel Rafiei; Mohammad Amouzadeh

Volume 9, Issue 2 , January 2019, , Pages 23-43

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2018.69527

Abstract

This study aims at examining the construction of the word-formation pattern of [del-X] (compounds of “heart”) and investigating its semantic variations, the most general ... Read More

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Keywords = construction morphology

The Study of N-P-N Tripartite Exocentric Compounds in Persian: An Analysis within the Framework of Construction Morphology

Abstract

The Study of Derived Words Ending in '-ār' Suffix from the Viewpoint of Construction Morphology

Abstract

A Constructional Study of the Compounds of Body Part “Del” (Heart) in Persian

Abstract