Empty category in Persian relative clauses
Abstract
Empty categories are one of the fundamental parts of generativist’s view towards language. Empty operators, the so-called null elements, which are syntactically active in relative clauses and possibly move into [spec, CP], have reportedly been found in different languages. However, there is no solid evidence for the existence of empty operators in Persian relative clauses. Despite this, syntactic evidences such as theta theory, argument structure and subjacency condition provide satisfactory provable tests in favor of their role in Persian grammar. Namely, Persian relative clauses contain resumptive pronouns which may be covert. Their movement into [spec, CP] can precisely account for subjacency effect in relative clauses. Resumptive pronouns can occupy the subject as well as the object position. This articles attempts to introduce empty operators to Persian syntax, and shows that in such a way it is possible to account for the peculiar behavior of the Persian complementizer “ke” and its obligatory nature.
Downloads
References
Abolqasemi, M. (2016). A Historical Grammar of Persian Language. Tehran: Samt.
Abolqasemi, M. (1996). The History of Persian Language. Tehran: Samt.
Ahangar, A. A. (2000). The Subordinate Clause Construction in Persian based on Government and Binding Theory. Ph.D. Dessertation. Tehran University.
Carnie, A. (2002). Syntax: a generative introduction. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Chomsky, N. (1982). Some concepts and consequences of the theory of government and binding. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Studies in generative grammar. Dordrecht: Foris.
Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Comrie, B. (1989). Language universals and linguistics typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Cowper, E. (1992). A concies introduction to syntactic theory. Chicago, London: Chicago University Press.
Culicover, P. W. (1997). Principles and parameters: an introduction to syntactic theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Estaji, A. (2000). Historical study of “ke” multifunctions in Modern Persian. Journal of Linguistics and Khorasan Dialects.
Haegeman., L. (1992). Introduction to government and binding theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harris, A. C., & Campbel, L. (1995). Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hornstein, H., Nunes, J., & Grohmann, K. (2006). Understanding minimalist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Horrocks, G. (1987). Generative grammar. London: Longman.
Hurford, J., & Heasly, B. (1996). Semantics: a course book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jaeggli, O. (1981). Topics in Romance syntax. Dordrecht: Foris.
Katz, J. J., & Postal, P. M. (1964). An integrated theory of linguistic description. Cambridge,. Mass: MIT Press.
Kayne, R. (1984). Connectedness and binary branching. Dordrecht: Foris.
Kent, R. G. (1953). Old Persian. New Haven: American oriental society.
Khayampour, A. (1973). Persian Grammar. Tabriz: Tehran Bookshop.
Lasnik, H. (1988). A course in GB syntax: lectures on binding and empty categories. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Lazard, G. (1957). Grammaire du persan contemporain. Paris: Klincksieck.
Miremadi, S. A. (2008). Persian Syntax, A G. B-Based Analysis. Tehran: Samt.
Pesetsky, D. (1982). Paths and Categories. Doctoral Dissertation. MIT Press.
Radford, A. (2006). Minimalist syntax: exploring the structure of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Riemsdijk, H., & Tushyeh, H. (1998). A contrastive analysis of English and Arabic in relativization. Papers and studies in contrastive linguistics, 34, 141-152.
Riemsdijk, H., & Edwin, W. (1986). Introduction to the theory of grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Safavi, K., (1994). Some Properties of Persian Relative Clause. Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Persian Linguistics. Allameh Tabatabaie University, Tehran.
Taghvaipour, M. A. (2005). Persian Relative Clause in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar. Ph.D. Desertation. University of Essex.
Trask, R. L. (1993). A dictionary of grammatical terms in linguistics. London and New York: Routledge.
Windfuhr, G. L. (1978). Persian Grammar: History and State of its Study. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
Youhanaee, M. (1997). The Acquisition of the English Complementizer Phrase by Adult Persian Speakers. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Essex.
Copyright (c) 2019 Mahmoud MOBARAKI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitting article, which will be published online in journal Acta Linguistica Asiatica by Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). Author’s name will be evident in the article in journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in hands of the publisher.
- Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
