Chapter 4. The additive particle in Persian
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Jila Ghomeshi
Abstract
This chapter discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of the additive marker -am in Persian. I show that -am exhibits positional variability, is polysemous in meaning, and does not always contribute meaning that affects the truth conditions of the sentence. On the basis of this I classify -am as a pragmatic particle. Noting that -am is homophonous with both the first person singular agreement suffix and the first person pronominal enclitic, I propose that it is precisely because additive -am is a pragmatic particle that it is distinguished from the inflectional morphemes it resembles in form. Thus the chapter argues for three levels at which morphemes can be classified: derivation, inflection, pragmatic, and suggests that cross-level homophony is not accidental. Rather, frequency of use at one level predisposes a particular form to be used at another level. This ultimately gives a language its morphological ‘flavour’.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of the additive marker -am in Persian. I show that -am exhibits positional variability, is polysemous in meaning, and does not always contribute meaning that affects the truth conditions of the sentence. On the basis of this I classify -am as a pragmatic particle. Noting that -am is homophonous with both the first person singular agreement suffix and the first person pronominal enclitic, I propose that it is precisely because additive -am is a pragmatic particle that it is distinguished from the inflectional morphemes it resembles in form. Thus the chapter argues for three levels at which morphemes can be classified: derivation, inflection, pragmatic, and suggests that cross-level homophony is not accidental. Rather, frequency of use at one level predisposes a particular form to be used at another level. This ultimately gives a language its morphological ‘flavour’.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Advances in Iranian linguistics 1
- Chapter 2. Syntactic and semantic constraints on pronoun and anaphor resolution in Persian 15
- Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages 29
- Chapter 4. The additive particle in Persian 57
- Chapter 5. The pronoun-to-agreement cycle in Iranian 85
- Chapter 6. The suffix that makes Persian nouns unique 107
- Chapter 7. The meaning of the Persian object marker rā 119
- Chapter 8. Topic agreement, experiencer constructions, and the weight of clitics 137
- Chapter 9. Another look at Persian rā 155
- Chapter 10. The Ezafe construction revisited 173
- Chapter 11. Quantitative meter in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics 237
- Chapter 12. Stripping structures with negation in Persian 257
- Chapter 13. Oblique marking and adpositional constructions in Tat 275
- Author index 301
- Languages index 305
- Subject index 307
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Advances in Iranian linguistics 1
- Chapter 2. Syntactic and semantic constraints on pronoun and anaphor resolution in Persian 15
- Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages 29
- Chapter 4. The additive particle in Persian 57
- Chapter 5. The pronoun-to-agreement cycle in Iranian 85
- Chapter 6. The suffix that makes Persian nouns unique 107
- Chapter 7. The meaning of the Persian object marker rā 119
- Chapter 8. Topic agreement, experiencer constructions, and the weight of clitics 137
- Chapter 9. Another look at Persian rā 155
- Chapter 10. The Ezafe construction revisited 173
- Chapter 11. Quantitative meter in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics 237
- Chapter 12. Stripping structures with negation in Persian 257
- Chapter 13. Oblique marking and adpositional constructions in Tat 275
- Author index 301
- Languages index 305
- Subject index 307
