Adposition and Its Correlation with Verb/Object Order in Taleshi, Gilaki, and Tati Based on Dryer’s Typological Approach

This paper is a descriptive-analytic study on the adpositional system in a number of northwestern Iranian languages, namely Taleshi, Gilaki, and Tati, based on Dryer’s typological approach. To this end, the correlation of verb/object order was examined with the adpositional phrase and the results were compared based on the aforesaid approach. The research question investigated the correlation between adposition and verb/object order in each of these three varieties. First, the data collection was carried out through a semi-structured interview that was devised based on a questionnaire including a compilation of 66 Persian sentences that were translated into Taleshi, Gilaki, and Tati during interviews with 10 elderly illiterate and semi-literate speakers, respectively, from Hashtpar, Bandar Anzali, and Rostamabad of the Province of Gilan for each variety. Then, the transcriptions were examined in terms of diversity in adpositions, including two categories of preposition and postposition. The findings of the study indicated a strong correlation between the order of verbs and objects with postpositions. More specifically, in most samples in all the varieties, objects precede verbs and postpositions are predominantly employed.