نامه فرهنگستان
سال شانزدهم شماره 1 (پاییز و زمستان 1396)

This paper aims to investigate the development of new first and second person pronouns in New Persian from the perspective of grammaticalization. The data on which this work is based comes from the prose texts of the period. In the course of the paper, the role of metonymic and metaphorical processes involved in the grammaticalization of the pronouns are critically examined. Our findings suggest that metonymic processes, and along the same lines, syntagmatic relations play a significant role in paving the way for the metaphorical extension of the noun in the construction “singular proximal demonstrative + NP” and the functional shift of the construction into a first person pronoun. The slot for head noun of the construction is filled with nouns such as bande ‘slave’, jâneb “side’, etc. or de-adjectival nouns with original meanings of moxles ‘devoted’, haqir ‘humble’, and the like. Other phenomena that play quite some role in the formation of new pronouns are plurification and hypercharacterization. Plurification is responsible for the growth of new first and second singular pronouns, while hypercharaterization is at work forming new first and second person plural pronouns. Politeness is the major motivating factor for the evolution of the most new pronouns discussed, excluding those developed by hypercharacterization.

Bound personal pronouns, due to their high flexibility in changing their location, always provide a suitable marker for deviation from norms. But in poetic language, these pronouns are removed from their original place and are attached to different constituents in the clause. The aim of the present research is to study the diversity of these attachments and displacements in Saadi’s Bustan. Studying the diversity and manner of these displacements can reveal Saadi’s aesthetic approach and personal style in Bustan. In Bustan, these pronouns are attached to nouns, verbs, conjunctions, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs as well as particles including question and simile particles, and in rare cases to numbers.

This paper, adopting Sadeghi’s (1970/1349) viewpoint (the complexity of items such as bar ruye (on), dar kenāre (beside), etc.) explores the process of forming complex prepositions in Persian, the reason(s) for omission of simple prepositions, the properties of the nominal part for the complex prepositions before and after participating in word-formation process as well as their semantic contribution based on the semantic framework of Lieber (2004, 2009). To study the semantics of lexical items, this framework presents seven semantic primitives and a principle (co-indexation) and assumes one semantic skeleton and one semantic body for each lexical item. The co-indexation principle coindexes two or more arguments of lexical items and creates a unified item with one signified or identity. The research results show that complex prepositions are made up of two/more parts: the arguments are connected with each other via co-indexation principle and with the participation of semantic body of the parts and leads to creation of a unified lexical item that contributes in the syntactic structure as a single unit. The main reason for the omission of simple prepositions in the complex prepositions are the poor semantic body of the simple preposition and the semantic redundancy of common features of simple preposition and the nominal part, on one hand, and verb, on the other hand.

With a comparative analysis of the views of contemporary Persian language experts, we find that the verb in their view is the central element of the sentence. In addition, by examining the similarities and differences of experts in what concerns the category of the verb we find that throughout the history of language, the verb has been examined from the two aspects of morphology and syntax. This process is to some extent influenced by other languages and various linguistic theories, and tries to reach a comprehensive conclusion and ultimately eliminate the plurality of opinions and theories. In this article, we will try to give a brief description of the history of Persian prose and provide a brief overview on the book Nafthat al Masdur and its author. The authors’ purpose in this paper is to analyze various structures of the verb.

In this paper, the structural characteristics of Hindi Persian are examined from the perspective of descriptive linguistics, in three scripts belonging to Mughal Akbar era (963-1014 A.H/ 1555-1605 A.D); such as Mokatebat (Abolfazle ‘Allami) ; Tazkare-ye Homayun va Akbar (Bayazid Bayat) and Roqa’at (Abolfath-e Gilani) in which some examples have been cited from inflectional and word formation views. Orthography and variety of Persian written forms in Subcontinent are the other sections of the current study.

In usage-based linguistics, the importance of frequency as a factor in shaping grammar is well-established. It is suggested that language form can be related to language use. In this approach, linguistic structure is often characterized as an emergent phenomenon which is influenced by frequency of occurrence. The asymmetry between short (and zero) and long forms could be seen in expressing different categories and structures. Basically, those values which are expressed frequently tend to be expressed by short forms. These short forms are used not only at the level of words, but also at the level of grammar. In this paper some of these asymmetries in Persian grammar are investigated and frequentist explanations are suggested.

This Paper intends to shed more light on the types of vocative constructions recognized in Persian prose and verse texts by Iranian grammarians. The paper shows that classical Persian prose and verse texts contain vocative uses of personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, emphatic pronouns, pro-forms and participles. These findings seem to enhance our understanding of the use of the Persian vocatives.

This article Presents a critical overview of Færhæng-e Pæsvænd dær Zæban-e Farsi, ‛A Dictionary of Persian Suffixes’, Showing the strengths of this book which is a description and exemplification of twelve Persian suffixes. The article also discusses the book’s shortcomings and suggests a few missing items based on Mæqalat-e Shæms to be included in the book.