An Analysis of Persian Compound Nouns as Constructions (original) (raw)
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Persian noun-noun nominal compounds: metonymy and conceptual blending
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Noun Phrase or Compound Noun? An Investigation of N + A and N + N Boundary Cases in Persian
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The present study seeks to investigate the demarcation between noun phrases (NPs) and compound nouns (CNs) in Persian at the syntax-morphology interface. This objective is accomplished through the examination of two most complex nominal patterns, viz. N + A, N + N, with special focus on boundary cases, i.e. the intermediate constructs which possess some properties of both NPs and CNs simultaneously and thus demonstrate contradictory reactions to the various NP-CN demarcation criteria. The results indicate that boundary cases ensue from partial syntactic erosion of NPs through pure lexicalization, whereby NPs turn into CNs without center-switching or category change. This study also shows that almost all boundary cases have no potential for syntactic modification of their elements. It is further demonstrated that N + A and N + N boundary cases are endocentric, head-initial constructs with optional or obligatory internal inflection as well as Ezafe. Syntactic modifiability is also int...
Facta Universitatis Series Linguistics and Literature, 2022
Persian compound words, which are classified into two categories as primary and secondary compounds (Shaghaghi, 2008), are typically examined in the Construction Morphology proposed by Booij (2010; 2016; 2018). Within the framework of the theory, this study has attempted to explore the constructional schemas of the Persian compound words made of the present stem aefkaen (CAST). To this end, 60 compound words have been collected from numerous sources such as Persian linguistic corpora, Persian grammar books, Persian monolingual dictionaries as well as some Persian reliable websites. Comparing the structure of the compounds made by it, taking the meaning of each compound into account and drawing the constructional schemas, we indicate that these compounds are given eight different semantic categories. Additionally, the constructional schema revealed that the semantic interpretation of these compounds may be allocated a continuum with the most semantically transparent compounds and the metaphorical or idiomatic meaning. Indeed, through the theory of Construction Morphology, the semantic distinctions of the compounds made of aefkaen (CAST) could be well specified.
On Persian Language and Linguistics
Iranian Studies, 2010
This special issue is a product of the seventh biennial conference of the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) that was held from 31 July to 3 August 2008, in Toronto, Canada. The first drafts of most of the articles published in this special issue were presented at the conference. The articles focus on different aspects of Persian language and linguistics: from lexicography and sociolinguistics to theoretical and applied linguistics. Before we turn to a brief review of the content of this issue, we express our appreciation to many individuals. First and foremost, we are grateful to the authors of the articles. We are thankful to the organizers, students and volunteers of the seventh biennial meeting of ISIS for their support and encouragement. We are also indebted to Dr. Homa Katouzian, the editor-in-chief of the journal Iranian Studies, for providing us the opportunity to have a special issue on Persian language and linguistics in Iranian Studies for the first time. In the first article, Mohammad Reza Bateni discusses the challenges of collocations and idioms in natural languages for second language learners, lexicographers and translators. Bateni starts his discussion with the definition of a collocation. A collocation is a sequence of words which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. Collocations impose constraints on how words can be used together and they have two features: non-substitutability and non-modifiability. By presenting more than fifteen patterns of English collocations, Bateni shows various kinds of the constraints in collocations. For example, the adjectives white or live lost their real meaning when they collocate with nouns such as white wine and live music. Furthermore, in Persian, the adjectives (pahn) and (ariz) are usually considered synonyms but they cannot be used interchangeably. For example, we use (damaˆq-e pahn) but we can NOT use (damaˆq-e ariz). In the case of idioms, Bateni shows that in addition to two common features of collocations, i.e., nonsubstitutability and non-modifiability, idioms have a non-compositionality feature too. Non-compositionality refers to the fact that the meaning of an
Alzahra University, 2024
In the present study, we attempted to specify the constructional schemas relevant to the compounds made by the present stem ‘sāz’ in Persian within the framework of the construction morphology (Booij, 2010). To this end, 150 compounds were brought together from numerous sources, such as the Persian Corpus of Bijankhan, Persian novels as well as some Persian websites. Having collected the data, we tabulated and categorized them on the basis of the preverbal elements. Afterwards, a comparison was made, as a result of which it was indicated that there can be a general constructional schema inside which 5 sub-schemas can be placed. Certainly, the broad schema denotes the construction by which a noun (preverbal element) is combined with the verbal element (present stem sāz) to create an adjective that implies the agent of an action, namely the agent of building or making an object. However, there were two exceptions among the whole dataset: a compound in spite of resembling the other compounds regarding its construction denotes the semantic role of patient: dastsāz (handmade), referring to an object which is made by hands as well as the compound ʤāsāz (embedded object), whereas in other compounds, the stem means the agent that builds, creates or makes. Consequently, as might be expected, two broad constructional schemas have been obtained: one relevant to the agents and the other relevant to patients.
Creating Lexical Phrases within Construction Grammar and their Application in Persian Dictionaries
Alzahra University, 2024
Idioms and collocations are part of lexical phrases which are of high importance in lexicography. One of the criteria for distinguishing these two types of phrases from each other is the inflexibility of their constituent elements. Idioms, unlike collocations, are not flexible in terms of word order and are always used in a fixed and specific form. The purpose of the present article was to show firstly whether all Persian idioms are inflexible against syntactic changes or some are flexible; secondly, to indicate how a new lexical phrase is created as a result of converting an idiom into a collocation. To illustrate this phenomenon, a new and practical definition for idioms and collocations, based on syntactic criteria not merely semantic, was provided. According to Construction Grammar, idioms were analyzed based on four syntactic tests: ‘passivization’, ‘clefting’, ‘dislocation’, and ‘interrogation’. Two hundred idioms were collected from two of the most up-to-date and comprehensive sources, namely Farsi Amiyaneh Dictionary (Abolhassan Najafi, 2008) and the two-volume Dictionary of Kenayat-e Sokhan (Hassan Anvari, 2019). Some idioms were flexible to syntactic changes, and behaved similarly to collocations. The flexibility of idioms led to introducing a new definition of these phrases based on syntactic criteria. Thus, such phrases were considered a kind of collocation, not an idiom. The result showed that converting an idiom into a collocation always creates a lexical phrase or lexeme with a new meaning. Finally, a plan was introduced to represent such idioms practically in Persian dictionaries.
Processing Compound Verbs in Persian
2012
CHAPTER 2 COMPLEX AND COMPOUND WORD PROCESSING …………….11 2.1 Hypotheses of complex and compound word processing ……….……………………12 2.2 Morphologically complex noun processing ……………………………………..……15 2.2.1 The effect of Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) on polymorphemic word processing ………….……...……………………………………………………...19 2.2.2 Compound noun processing …………………………………………...……22 2.3 Processing morphologically complex verbs …………………………………….…….24 2.4 Processing of complex and compound words by aphasic patients ……..……….…….29 2.4.1 The distinction between noun and verb processing ……………...…………34 2.4.2 Noun/verb prominence in Aphasic patients ………………………….…..…35 2.4.3 Aphasic studies on Persian ……………………………………………….....39 2.5 Linguistic and non-linguistic effects on the processing of morphologically complex words ………………………………………..……………………………………………43 2.5.1 Influence of linearity on priming effect …………………………….………43 2.5.2 Influence of Simultaneous Onset Asynchrony (SOA) on priming effect .….46 III 2.5.3 Influence of frequency on priming effect ……………………………...……48
A Constructional Study of Word-formation patterns consisting of body parts in Persian
The Conference of Word-Formation Theories III & Typology and Universals in Word-Formation IVAt: Slovakia-Kosice, 2018
This paper aims to examine the construction ofthree word-formation patterns namely [sar-X],[del-X] and [cheshm-X] (compounds of three frequent body parts “head”, “heart” and “eye”) and to investigate their semantic variations, the most general schemas and subschemas in Persian employing the Construction Morphology approach (Booij, 2010). To this end, a collection of 294 compounds were collected from differentPersian Dictionariesand Google. The results reveal that two general constructional schemas and several subschemas make up the hierarchical construction of [sar-X] and one general constructional schema and three subschemas form [del-X], while for the “eye” compounds no subschema is formed. It means that the polysemy we are dealing with here is not at the word level but it is at the construction level and the meaning contribution of the mentioned compounds lies within the constructions on the one hand, and the meaning of the constituents, operation of conceptual metaphor (metonymy) and encyclopedic knowledge on the other. Finally, postulating a paradigmatic nature of word-formation and positing the concept of construction as a basis for argument, CM can account for our data andnecessitate reevaluation of the demarcation between derivation and compounding at least in compounds of body parts in Persian.
Incorporation and Complex Predica-Tion in Persian
2010
This study deals with the nature of N+V sequences in Persian and suggests a sub-classification of these sequences into Noun Incorporation and Complex Predication. This classification is grounded in the lexical and phrasal properties of the nouns involved in these sequences. Noun Incorporation cases are analyzed in terms of head-adjunction of the non-projecting Noun at the level of c-structure (Toivonen 2001). Complex Predication is dealt with in terms of the predicate composition proposed in Butt (1995, 1997) and Alsina (1997), along with some adaptations from Pustejovsky's (1995) theory of the generative lexicon.