Event Structure of Prepositional Nuclear Junctures in Persian: a Role & Reference Grammar Account

Abstract

In the present research study an attempt has been made to analyze one group of complex predicates or nuclear junctures (NJs) in Persian (as an Indo-European language) in terms of its event attribute within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin & Lapolla 1997, Van Valin 2005). These complex predicates fuse with the prepositional phrases and the impoverished forms of the verb referred to as ‘light verb’ (Cattell 1984). In this study a distinction is made between predicative and non-predicative prepositions providing some examples along with schematizing their layered structure of the clause. To determine the verb class of the prepositional (P) light verb constructions (LVCs) the main five diagnostic tests are applied to a wide range of examples from our collected Persian data. It has emerged from the findings of this study that all the prepositional phrases in Persian prepositional nuclear junctures are of locative type and the light verbs in these constructions belong to the phase class of verbs i.e. the continuative, terminative, and resultative event phases. 1. Types of Preposition In Modern Persian or Farsi, there are generally two types of prepositions: simple/bare as in (1a-b) and compound as in (1c) below. Simple or bare prepositions include such prepositions as: (1) a. ændær 'in', æz 'from', ba 'with', bær 'on', bæraye 'for', bæhr 'for', be 'to', beyn 'between', bi 'without', joz 'except', næzd 'with, by', miyan 'among', piš 'front', pey 'after', ta 'up to', and dær 'in'. Some of the simple prepositions in Persian, as Mahootian (1997) also notes, take ezafe (the suffix –e or sometimes -ye is called ezafe in Persian and is the same as 'of' in English), which include: b. bedun-e 'without', birun-e 'outside', jelow-ye 'in front of', næzdik-e 'near', miyan-e or as pronounced in spoken Persian miyun-e 'between', pæhlu-ye 'by', pošt-e 'behind', ru-ye 'on', tu-ye 'in', and zir-e 'under'. As noted by Shamisa (2000: 214), compound prepositions may be formed by combining prepositions, for example: c. æz bæraye 'because of' (Lit.: 'from for'), æz bæhre 'for' (Lit.: 'from for' bæhre is more formal than bæraye) , æz ruye 'out of' (Lit.: 'from on'), dær bareye 'about' (Lit.: 'in about'), and dær næzde 'front, with' (Lit.: 'in with/by'). Prepositions can also refer to: a) the place or location (e.g., dær xiyaban 'in street'); b) the direction (e.g., betæraf-e mædrese 'towards school'); and c) the time (e.g., qæbl æz mædrese 'before school' (Lit.: before from school). In Persian prepositional phrases