A Historical Analysis of Adpositions in Middle & New Persian:  Examining First Feature of Dryer’s Branching Direction Theory

Shakiba, Fahimeh; Mowlaei Kuhbanani, Hamed; Mohammadi Rafsanjanipur, Fatemeh

doi:10.30465/lir.2024.46754.1762

A Historical Analysis of Adpositions in Middle & New Persian: Examining First Feature of Dryer’s Branching Direction Theory

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Fahimeh Shakiba ¹

Hamed Mowlaei Kuhbanani ²

Fatemeh Mohammadi Rafsanjanipur ³

¹ Assistant professor in Ancient Iranian Languages and Culture, Iranian Studies Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

² Assistant professor in Linguistics, Linguistics Department , Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

³ M.A in Linguistics, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Kerman, Irann

https://doi.org/10.30465/lir.2024.46754.1762

Abstract

Introduction

To determine the linguistic category of Persian based on typological models, some researches have been conducted, and in some of them, hypotheses have been proposed about the non-correlation of sentence word order and the word order of other phrases.
Among noun phrases, the Adpositional phrase is one of the problematic phrases in linguistic studies; the reason for this is the existence of different definitions and functions for the Adposition. Some researchers, such as Dryer, believe that cross-linguistic findings show a tendency for verb-final languages to use postpositions and object-final languages to use prepositions (1991: 34). He and Haspelmath, in a comprehensive study, divided the world's languages into three categories of prepositions, interpositions, and postpositions based on the position of adpositions relative to the noun phrase. They believe that prepositions and postpositions are the most common forms of adpositions in the world's languages. However, the results show that some languages do not have prepositions at all or use prepositions and postpositions relatively equally (2011: 178). New Persian does not conform to Dryer's theory in this respect and is considered a typologically disharmonic language. To further examine this, here an attempt is made to study the historical course of this issue with consideration of evidence from Middle Persian.
Middle Persian, a language of the Western Middle Iranian branch, exhibits a unique adpositional usage pattern, employing adpositions both before and after the noun they modify (Abolghasemi 2013: 266). This characteristic sets it apart from many other languages, which typically adhere to either a prepositional or postpositional system.
To illustrate this distinctive feature, this response delves into a comparative study of adpositions in two notable texts: The Middle Persian Kārnāmag ī Ardaxšīr ī Pābagān and the New Persian Zoroaster's last journey.
Kārnāmag ī Ardaxšīr ī Pābagān, possibly dating back to the 7th century AD, narrates the life events, rise to power, and battles of Ardaxšīr ī Pābagān, the founder of the Sassanian Empire. In contrast, the novel Zoroaster's last journey (Keshvari, 2007) revolves around the life and deeds of Zoroaster.
Despite its significance in Middle Persian grammar, adpositional usage has received relatively scant scholarly attention. Among the notable contributions in this area are the works of Azhideh Moghaddam (2005 and 2009), which provide a comprehensive overview of Middle Persian adpositions. Additionally, Lazard (1975 and 1986), MacKenzie (1990), and Skjærvø (2013) have also addressed the topic of adpositions in their respective studies. In contrast, research on adpositions in New Persian is more extensive, with numerous studies complementing the existing grammar books (see bibliography).
This research stands out from previous work by employing a theoretical framework based on Dryer’s Branching Direction Theory to examine adpositions in both Middle and New Persian. This novel approach offers a fresh perspective on adpositional usage in these two closely related languages.
The primary goal of this study is to determine the frequency of different types of adpositions: simple prepositions, compound prepositions, simple postpositions, and compound postpositions. In this context, the focus is on the occurrence frequency of prepositions, rather than the number of unique prepositions.
Here, the study delves into the classification of adpositional phrases (APs) based on the position of the core, the central element of the phrase. To effectively categorize APs, both structural and semantic criteria are employed. This approach ensures greater precision and confidence in identifying and analyzing APs.
The study aims to address the intriguing question of why Persian, throughout its Middle and New Persian stages, has not consistently adhered to either a core-initial or core-final typology. Instead, Persian exhibits characteristics that fall between these two extremes, possessing elements of both. This typological ambiguity sets Persian apart from languages that exhibit a more consistent core-initial or core-final structure.

Methodology

This research employs Dryer’s Branching Direction Theory (1992) to examine the usage of adpositions in Middle Persian text from the Kārnāmag ī Ardaxšīr ī Pābagān and New Persian text from Zoroaster's last journey. Dryer’s Theory is based on the correlation between 23 pairs of features and the order of verb and object across languages. Features 1 (postposition/preposition) and 23 (object-verb order) exhibit unique behavior in both Middle and New Persian, encompassing examples of both possibilities. Hence, they are termed “bifurcated features”. The study provides a statistical analysis of the frequency of each variant of Dryer's Feature 1 in the two selected works of Middle and New Persian. This analysis serves as evidence for further examination of DabirMoghaddam's Hypothesis 34 (2013) and other works that claim a shift in Persian's typological alignment.

Findings and Observation

In Middle Persian text:

3% of prepositional phrases (PPs) exhibit core-initial (prepositional) structure.
3% of PPs exhibit core-final (postpositional) structure.
4% of PPs exhibit both core-initial and core-final structure.

In New Persian text:

73% of PPs exhibit core-initial structure.
27% of PPs exhibit core-final structure.

Both Middle and New Persian demonstrate a preference for prepositional over postpositional PPs. Furthermore, New Persian exhibits a particularly strong inclination towards prepositional PPs, with only one postposition (“rā”) and even its status as a true postposition being debated among linguists.

Conclusian

The proportions of core-initial and core-final prepositional phrases (PPs) in the two analyzed works do not exhibit a perfect match, and Middle Persian has a higher number of postpositions. The lower percentage of postpositions in Middle Persian is attributed to the author's emphasis on the dominant prepositional tendency in each work individually, rather than indicating a typological shift from Middle to New Persian. According to Dryer (1992), object-verb (OV) languages tend to use postpositions, while verb-object (VO) languages tend to use prepositions. Since both languages retain both OV and VO word order and exhibit an intermediate position between strong verb-final and strong verb-initial languages, it can be concluded that while both works exhibit an intermediate OV-VO order, both languages also exhibit an intermediate preposition-postposition order. Based on the statistics presented here, Middle Persian, with its higher number of postpositions, may naturally lean towards OV languages, while New Persian, with only one postposition (“rā”), may lean more towards VO languages.

Keywords

Typology

Dryer&rsquo

s Branching Direction Theory

Adpositions

Middle Persian

New Persian

Subjects

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