Scrambling in Persian: An Optimality Account

The present contribution provides a comprehensive analysis of Scrambling in Persian based on Optimality. Scrambling is considered as a syntactic process propelling constituents from their unmarked positions in sentences without changing the analytic meaning of the sentence. In this study, we try to portray two principles and constraints on Persian scrambling, namely, Obligatory Head (OB-HD) and STAY. Results show that the syntax of scrambling in Persian strictly adheres to the STAY constraint. It was demonstrated that top-ranked constraint Obligatory Head (OB-HD) violation is intolerable in all types of scrambling and outranks constraint STAY. However, the results of a statistical analytic model based on the optimal candidates delineate the intolerability of the low-ranked constraint STAY when it occurs more than twice. A close look at optimality tableaus illustrates that final position for verb leads to the optimal candidate in Persian, however, it is not the case for the S-V-PP marked order.