Nominal predication in Persian
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Zari Saeedi
Abstract
The present study explores the nominal complex predicates (CPs) in Persian, one of the oldest Indo-European languages with 2500 years of written history (Khanlari 1979), where a noun fuses with the impoverished form of the verb referred to as ‘light verb’ (Cattell 1984). The framework adopted is Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) theory (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin 2005, 2010). Following Saeedi (2009a), the paper analyzes these nominal CPs or nuclear junctures (NJs) (in RRG’s term) with regard to their argument structure. The findings indicate that the nominal constituent being of concrete, abstract, action, and process type plays an important role in determining the Aktionsart type of the juncture.
Abstract
The present study explores the nominal complex predicates (CPs) in Persian, one of the oldest Indo-European languages with 2500 years of written history (Khanlari 1979), where a noun fuses with the impoverished form of the verb referred to as ‘light verb’ (Cattell 1984). The framework adopted is Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) theory (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin 2005, 2010). Following Saeedi (2009a), the paper analyzes these nominal CPs or nuclear junctures (NJs) (in RRG’s term) with regard to their argument structure. The findings indicate that the nominal constituent being of concrete, abstract, action, and process type plays an important role in determining the Aktionsart type of the juncture.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Argument realisation in complex predicates and complex events at the syntax-semantic interface 1
- The syntactic realisation of complex events and complex predicates in situations of Irish 13
- Pleonasm in particle verb constructions in German 43
- Serial verb constructions and event structure representations 79
- Non-conventional arguments 117
- Complex predicates in Lithuanian 137
- Serial verb constructions in Estonian 169
- Complex predication in three dialects of Australia’s Western Desert 191
- Complex verbs in Bohairic Coptic 213
- The organizational structure of lexical compound verbs in Japanese 245
- Verb-verb compounds and argument structure in Tepehua 277
- Multi-verb constructions in Cheyenne 305
- Feelings as emotion, attitude, and viewpoints 347
- Nominal predication in Persian 373
- Concept structuring in Persian PP-centric complex predicates 413
- Index 449
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Argument realisation in complex predicates and complex events at the syntax-semantic interface 1
- The syntactic realisation of complex events and complex predicates in situations of Irish 13
- Pleonasm in particle verb constructions in German 43
- Serial verb constructions and event structure representations 79
- Non-conventional arguments 117
- Complex predicates in Lithuanian 137
- Serial verb constructions in Estonian 169
- Complex predication in three dialects of Australia’s Western Desert 191
- Complex verbs in Bohairic Coptic 213
- The organizational structure of lexical compound verbs in Japanese 245
- Verb-verb compounds and argument structure in Tepehua 277
- Multi-verb constructions in Cheyenne 305
- Feelings as emotion, attitude, and viewpoints 347
- Nominal predication in Persian 373
- Concept structuring in Persian PP-centric complex predicates 413
- Index 449
