Adjectival Nuclear Junctures in Persian: A Role & Reference Grammar Analysis

Abstract

The issue of predication is the central theme of all linguistic theories i.e. all the languages of the world have predicating elements through which communication and related propositions form. What these languages differ in is the way different elements or classes of words are used to predicate a sentence or a clause. Verbs are the most frequent and widely known predicating elements and as a matter of fact, and as Napoli (1989) maintains, developments in modern linguistics have recently allowed questions regarding the deeper levels of the nature of predication. Issues such as the status of multiple and complex predicates (CP) or nuclear junctures (NJ) in a single clause are of much interest in linguistic theories dealing with predication since in these constructions nouns, adverbs, or adjectives can also play a predicating role in combination with the verbal elements which are sometimes referred to as ‘light verbs’. 1. Adjectival Light Verb Constructions in Persian In general, CPs or NJs have been analysed crosslinguistically from different perspectives and are of great theoretical importance because their analysis raises important points about inter-relationship of morphology, syntax, and lexicon. Cattell (1984) who is one of the first scholars that characterizes these constructions in English, discusses structures such as the complex predicate ‘make an offer’ compared with the full/heavy verb/predicate ‘offer’. In constructions like ‘make an offer’ the verbal element ‘make’ is not the only predicating element rather the combination of ‘make’ and ‘an offer’ forms a CP in which the verb ‘make’ is in fact a light verb i.e. it has a light predicating role. As referred before, these light verbal elements can also join adjectives to form NJs, which are called ‘adjectival light verbal constructions’ and are the main focus of the present study. Indeed, the aim here is to investigate these structures in Modern Persian as one of the Indo-European languages, with one of the oldest written traditions in this family, of more than 2500 years The theoretical framework adopted is Role and Reference Grammar which is believed to be capable of capturing the double nature of Persian complex predicates in general and light verb constructions in particular. According to Payne (1997), ‘if a language has a morphosyntactically distinct class of adjectives, this group of words is typically used to express the following properties’: 1 Khanlari, P. N. 1979. A History of the Persian Language. vol. 1. Translated by N. H. Ansari. Idarah-I Adabiyat-I Delli, 2009, Qasimjan st., Dehli.