Soha SAFA

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A diachronic and synchronic analysis of
two complex spatial predicates in Persian
Soha SAFAÏ
Paris III University
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Soha SAFAÏ Paris III University ssafai_at_univ-
paris3.fr
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
Object -spatial verbs which have a preverb
(some say a prefix) -Avestan, Old Persian, Middle
Persian, Modern Persian -two verbs to come and
to go
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INTRODUCTION
Object -spatial verbs which have a preverb
(some say a prefix) -Avestan, Old Persian, Middle
Persian, Modern Persian -two verbs to come and
to go
Question -indo-iranian preverbs were
independent words (Meillet) -what is the status
of the verb with preverb? -does it change along
the time?
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avestan
AVESTAN
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avestan
AVESTAN
-two stems gam- and i-, both meaning to go
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avestan
AVESTAN
-two stems gam- and i-, both meaning to go
-no distinction between the old and the young
Avestan
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avestan
AVESTAN
-two stems gam- and i-, both meaning to go
-no distinction between the old and the young
Avestan
-a mixed stage
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avestan
ONLY ONE WORD
Morphology -Conjugation The verbs with preverbs
are conjugated like simple verbs
participles -Spelling sandhi upa ita upaêta
to arrive -Stress one stress, sometimes on the
preverb, sometimes on the verb
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avestan
ONLY ONE WORD
Morphology -Conjugation The verbs with preverbs
are conjugated like simple verbs
participles -Spelling sandhi upa ita upaêta
to arrive -Stress one stress, sometimes on the
preverb, sometimes on the verb
Syntax -Negation it concerns the preverb and
the verb
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avestan
Meaning pairi-gam pairijasâi I approach
(Yasna 50.8) pairîjasâimaidê, middle voice we
come to serve(Yasna 36.1/3)
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avestan
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avestan
TWO WORDS
Morphology -Origin The preverbs are mainly very
old adverbs. sometimes stereotyped cases of
nouns
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avestan
TWO WORDS
Morphology -Origin The preverbs are mainly very
old adverbs. sometimes stereotyped cases of nouns
Syntax -Connection very loose repetition of the
preverb possible Apa hô jasât. away heNOM
go.inchoative.P3 If he treats him and he
recovers. (Vîdêvdâd 7.39)
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avestan
A MIXED STAGE
Morphology -Nature Some preverbs are also used
as prepositions abi, â, ava, upa, pati, pari.
Some preverbs are also used as adverbs us,
fra. Some are used exclusively as preverbs apa,
ni. -Spelling change in the spelling apagatay
escape fra.gatay approach uzjas?nti
(Vîdêvdâd 1.14) han?.jas?nti (Vîdêvdâd 2.12)
han?jasân?te (Yašt 14.43)
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avestan
Syntax -Cases locative paiti Tâiš vâ
yasnâiš paitî stauuas aiienî. DEMplINS
2ndplACCenclitic praise.plINS towards
consecration.plACC go.subjP1 I want with these
praises to give you consecrations. (Yasna
50.9) paiti-i to go to meet, to pay tribute
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old persian
OLD PERSIAN
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old persian
OLD PERSIAN
-gam- and i- gam- doesnt exist any more as a
simple verb
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old persian
OLD PERSIAN
-gam- and i- gam- doesnt exist any more as a
simple verb
-the preverb and the verb are more bound
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old persian
ONLY ONE WORD
Morphology -Nature more preverbs that are only
preverbs still adverbs and prepositions â, abi,
upa, ni, pati, parâ only preverbs apa, ava, ud,
nij, fra -Spelling niš- gam nijâyam to go
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old persian
ONLY ONE WORD
Morphology -Nature more preverbs that are only
preverbs still adverbs and prepositions â, abi,
upa, ni, pati, parâ only preverbs apa, ava, ud,
nij, fra -Spelling niš- gam nijâyam to
go Meaning The preverb keeps its original
meaning.
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old persian
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old persian
TWO WORDS
Morphology -Conjugation augment niž-âyam but in
a lot of languages
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middle persian
MIDDLE PERSIAN
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middle persian
MIDDLE PERSIAN
-new elements that change a lot of things
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middle persian
VERBS
-âmatan (rare) vs semitic yâtûntan infinitive
and perfect gam other tenses i
-i- vanishes -gâm step, place, footstep remains
-raftan to go appears from an Avestan stem rap
to go
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middle persian
STRUCTURE
Preverbs -Spelling preverb and verb cant be
separated frazam to finish -Combination pati
uz mad?ann pazzâm to mature,
ripen combination of two preverbs -Meaning We
see an evolution compared to the original sense
hamjam to finish
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middle persian
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middle persian
Complements -Nature andar (in) âmad?an to
come in frâž (forward) raftan to come
forward bêrûn (out) âmad?an to come
out -Spelling complements separated, ideograms
or phonetic writing
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middle persian
Complements -Nature andar (in) âmad?an to
come in frâž (forward) raftan to come
forward bêrûn (out) âmad?an to come
out -Spelling complements separated, ideograms
or phonetic writing
Verbal particle a verbal particule bê avestan
apa-, ava-, para-, vi-, aipi-
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modern persian
MODERN PERSIAN
-âmadan to come (a mad?ann) and raftan to
go
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modern persian
MODERN PERSIAN
-âmadan to come (a mad?ann) and raftan to
go
Two possibilities -verbs with preverb -verbs
with spatial complement
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modern persian
VERB WITH PREVERB
dar raftan to flee Morphology -Nature in
synchrony not adverbs (prepositions or
particles) -Conjugation Dar miravam. I
flee -Negation Dar naraft. He didnt flee
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modern persian
Syntax -Nominalization Dar raftanesh zesht
bud. flight.his nasty be.preteritP3 His
flight was nasty -Insertion of enclitic
words Dar ke raft, fahmid
eshtebâh karde bud. in
when go.preteritP3 understand.preteritP3 error
make.past perfectP3 When he fled, he
understood he was wrong. -But no nouns dare
khâne raftan in.ezafe house go in house to go
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modern persian
Meaning -different from the original sense of
the preverb to flee dar âmadan
-doesnt exist alone azraftan beraftan hamraft
an az dast raftan from hand go to lose be
dast âmadan to hand come to obtain
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modern persian
-Addition of a complement az daste man raft
from hand.ezafe I go.preteritP3 I lost
it be daste man âmad to hand.ezafe I
come.preteritP3 I obtain it -Change of word
order Raft az daste man. go.preteritP3 from
hand.ezafe I I lost it
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modern persian
VERB WITH COMPLEMENT
Morphology -Nature both prepositions and adverbs
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modern persian
VERB WITH COMPLEMENT
Morphology -Nature both prepositions and adverbs
Syntax -Change of word order Naraftam bâlâ.
neg.go.preterit.P1 up I didnt go up
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modern persian
-Addition of a complement bâlâye divâr âmadan
up.ezafe wall come to come up the wall bâlâye
divâr raftan up.ezafe wall go to go up the
wall
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modern persian
Meaning -in synchrony two different words
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CONCLUSION
-an important gap between the three ancient
languages and Modern Persian
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CONCLUSION
-an important gap between the three ancient
languages and Modern Persian
-In Avestan, Old Persian and Middle Persian, the
fusion between the two parts of the verb is
important, specially in the last two, and we can
talk of verbs with preverbs
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CONCLUSION
-an important gap between the three ancient
languages and Modern Persian
-In Avestan, Old Persian and Middle Persian, the
fusion between the two parts of the verb is
important, specially in the last two, and we can
talk of verbs with preverbs
-In Modern Persian, on the contrary, we have
mostly verbs with complement, and preverbs slowly
disappear
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Avestan -BARTHOLOMAE, Christian, 1904,
Altiranisches Wörterbuch, Strasbourg,
Trübner -BEEKES, Robert S. P., 1988, A Grammar of
Gatha-Avestan, Leiden/New-York, E. J.
Brill -CHEUNG, Johnny, 2007, Etymological
Dictionary of the Iranian Verbs, Leiden/Boston,
Brill -DUCHESNE-GUILLEMIN, Jacques, 1936, Les
composés de lAvesta, Paris, Droz -HARLEZ, C. de,
1882, Manuel de la langue de lAvesta, Paris,
Maisonneuve -JACKSON, A. V. Williams, 1933, An
Avestan Grammar, Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer -KELLENS
, Jean, PIRART, Eric, 1990, Les textes
vieil-avestiques, Wiesbaden, L. Reichert
Verlag -SOKOLOV, S. N., 1967, The Avestan
Language, Moscow, Nauka
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Old Persian -KENT, Roland G., 1950, Old Persian,
New Haven, American Oriental Society -MEILLET,
Antoine, 1915, Grammaire du vieux perse, Paris,
Champion Middle Persian -BHARUCHA, Ervad
Sheriarji Dadabhai, 1912, Pahlavî-pâzend
English-Glossary, Bombay, The Trustees of the
Parsee Panchayet Funds and Propeties -BLOCHET,
E., 1905, Etudes de grammaire pehlvie, Paris,
Guilmoto -SALEMANN, Karl, 1930, A middle persian
grammar, Bombay, The Trustees of the Parsee
Punchayet Funds and Properties Modern
Persian -FOUCHECOUR, Charles-Henri de, 1981,
Eléments de persan, Paris, Publications
orientalistes de France -LAZARD, Gilbert, 1957,
Grammaire du persan contemporain, Paris,
Klincksieck -SAMAI, Mehdi, 2000, "Pardâzeshe
fele morakab", Majaleye zabânshenâsi, XV, 2, p.
18-44
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Complex predicates -ALSINA, Alex BRESNAN, Joan
SELLS, Peter, 1997, Complex Predicates, Stanford,
CDLI -BRIL, Isabelle OZANNE-RIVIERRE, Françoise,
2004, Complex Predicates in Oceanic Languages,
Berlin/New-York, Mouton de Gruyter -KOOPMAN,
Hilda SZABOLCSI, Anna, 2000, Verbal Complexes,
Cambridge, The MIT Press -MÜLLER, Stefan, 2002,
Complex Predicates, Stanford, CSLI -NEELEMAN, Ad,
1994, Complex Predicates, Utrecht, OTS -The
Syntax of Iranian Languages, Canadian Journal of
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Chiharu, 1994, Complex Predicates in Japanese,
New York/London, Garland Publishing -VERMA,
Manindra K., 1993, Complex Predicates in South
Asian Languages, New Delhi, Manohar -ZELLER,
Jochen, 2001, Particle Verbs and Local Domains,
Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing
Company
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Paris III University