Language Research

Abstract With the emphasis of Minimalist program on functional categories as having an equal  or more prominent status than  lexical ones, decision on the nature of the categories has attracted more investigations in recent studies. One of the basic categories the presence of which beside other lexical categories of verb, noun and adjective has been in question, is Preposition. It seems that the functional behavior of this category has cast doubt on its lexical nature. In this paper, using some criteria to diagnose the type of the category, it was found that, while prepositions in Persian are rich in both areas, their lexical nature cannot be ignored and they are correctly placed beside lexical categories. However, it is claimed, not all the items in this category behave in the same way: some have more functional and some more lexical load. In this regard, a continuumis proposed in which the short, old prepositions are placed at one end, and locative prepositions at the other end, still other prepositions in between. It is concluded that taking a fuzzy approach and leaving clear cut borders of functional or lexical categories, leads to the settlement of the debate.

Abstract In this paper, we examine the treatment of Persian relative clauses in role and reference grammar. RRG is a structural-functional theory which has studied the syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface in human language systems. The main objectives of this article, on the one hand, are to elucidate syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of Farsi relative clauses, and on the other hand, to assess this theory in analyzing Farsi relative clauses. Modern Farsi written sentences were selected for analysis. The results show that restrictive clauses in Farsi are peripheral i.e. modifiers of the nominal and occur at the nuclear level. On the other hand, non-restrictive clauses are adjuncts at the NP rather than the nuclear_N level. Like adjectives, relative clauses express attributes of the head noun and accordingly the semantic representation of the relative clause is represented as filling the same slot in an attributive predication that an adjective does. In terms of focus structure, relative clauses could be considered as an information unit. Hence, they can occur in actual focus domain. Moreover, relative clauses could be a presupposed element while they can present contrasts and focus to the interlocutor.

Abstract The present study investigates Azari-Turkish wh-words within the framework of minimalism. The analysis of wh-in-situ data shows that [+Q] &ki/kïparticle are syntactically in complementary distribution in Azari-Turkish. When a wh-word is bound by [+Q] in C-position, it is interpreted as interrogative element. If, on the other hand, the wh-word is bound by ki/kïparticle which appears in C-position, it is assigned only non-interrogative reading. The non-subject wh-words are scrambled to clause initial position in Azari-Turkish. They are scrambled to [Spec, Foc P] & [Spec, Top P] to satisfy focus and topic features. The scrambling is A’-movement, because it is a movement to non-argument position. The findings of the present study are in contrast to those of previous studies which assume C-position for null Q-operator & [Spec, TP] for scrambled wh-words.

Abstract This article addresses the phonetic and phonological representation of H- phrase accent in the tonal structure of Persian pre-nuclear accents. In an experimental study, three groups of pre-nuclear accentual phrases, namely, phrases with antepenultimate, penultimate and final stress pattern, were selected for tonal examination. Materials were designed so as to yield under-pressure and pressure free prosodic environments. The sentences were then read by four speakers of standard Persian. Results revealed some  evidence for the presence of  phrase accent as a part of the tonal structure of all groups, except for oxytones in which there is not sufficient segmental space for the realization of the H- phrase tone. Thus, we may transcribe pre-nuclear accents in Persia as a sequence of an L+H* pitch accent and a H- phrase accent: L+H*H, whereby L+H* is associated with the stressed syllable and the H- is spread as a plateau from the accented syllable to the end of the accentual phrase. The observations further revealed that the H- plateau is realized in different ways depending on the stress pattern of the accentual phrase. The H- plateau can best be explained using the tone copy analysis which assumes that a plateau results from copying a phrase accent from the boundary to units which do not bear tones such as final syllables.

Abstract The present study is a randomized pilot project that intends to test the Graded Salience Hypothesis (Giora, 1997), to investigate the major factors contributing to understanding meaning. According to Graded Salience Hypothesis, more salient meanings–coded meanings foremost on our mind due to conventionality, frequency, familiarity, or prototypicality–are accessed faster than and reach sufficient levels of activation before less salient ones. Even rich and  supportive contexts which  are biased  in  favor of less salient meanings do  not  inhibit  activation  of  salient  meanings. This research addressed predictions derived from this model by examining the salience of metaphor in Persian language. The primary dependent measure was RTs, and the design of this experiment was a combination of 2 Contexts (figurative, literal), 2 Types of Statements (familiar vs. unfamiliar vs. less familiar) and RTs (long, short, equal). Two types of contexts (figurative inviting and literal inviting contexts) were prepared. The software used in this experiment was designed for self-paced reading experiments. Reading latencies could be recorded with millisecond accuracy via this software. Results did not  lend support to the Graded Salience Hypothesis entirely. This result shows that main hypothesis isn't approved. These results show that contrary to the Graded Salience Hypothesis, context and salience do not  run in parallel, but sometimes context obstructs access to salient information and a semi serial process is expected. Also the results indicated that the salient meaning in both familiar and less familiar figurative expressions is mostly figurative meaning. Also salient meaning in unfamiliar metaphors is first figurative meaning, but after the passage of time, literal meaning is activated.

Abstract The present paper sets out to investigate the syntactic category of Persian modals, šâyad ‘perhaps’ and bâyad ‘must’. The syntactic category of the two modal elements has been viewed differently by different scholars. A number of scholars argue that both šâyad and bâyad are modal auxiliaries, while others claim that they both are modal adverbs. We propose that šâyad is a modal adverb and bâyad is a modal auxiliary. This distinction is shown to follow the adverbial treatment along the lines of Cinque (1999, 2004). Under his approach, we propose that šâyad is located in the specifier position of ModP_epistemic and bâyad is located in the head position of ModP_root.

Abstract The present paper seeks to present a minimalist account for the derivational process of marked ergative constructions in Hawrami in terms of Phase Theory (Chomsky 2000, 2001, 2004; Radford 2009; Citko2014). This phase-based approach is compared to the former feature-based approach advocated by Karimi Doustan and Naghshbandi (2011). It is argued that using Phase Theory and its related mechanisms and conditions like Phase Impenetrability Condition on the one hand and ignoring Split Cp Hypothesis (Haegeman and Gueron 1999) and the related Focus and Topic projections on the other hand would end up in a more optimal and economic explanation. From a macro theoretical viewpoint the results of this paper lend more empirical support to effects of Phase Theory on generating more optimal explanations in the framework of Minimalist Program