Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

Examining the Corpus-Based Positions of Object Phrases in Persian Considering the Factor of Weight

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Shokouh Niroobakhsh
Master's degree in Linguistics, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/nf.2024.432843.1293
Abstract
This study investigates the positioning of object phrases in simple Persian sentences, with a focus on the influence of phrasal weight. In the absence of marked word order, previous research has shown that the direct object is placed at a distance from the verb. However, some studies propose dual syntactic positions for the direct object. Moreover, linguistic evidence underscores the role of phrase length in syntactic word order. Leveraging data from the Persian Dependency Treebank, this study combines descriptive and inferential approaches. Findings reveal that direct objects, (definite, indefinite, and mass nouns,) consistently precede the indirect/prepositional object, often in distance from the verb. The study shows how Persian's inclination toward forming compound verbs influences the adjacency of the direct object to the verb to form a single eventuality. Additionally, structural weight significantly influences marked order, with heavier structures tending to be positioned away from the verb or to be post-positioned.
Keywords
Phrasal weight
phrasal length positioning of object phrases
mass nouns
specificity
Subjects
References
Sources are in Persian unless otherwise specified.
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Namaeh Farhangistan
Volume 25, Issue 1 - Serial Number 101
Nameh Farhangestan (Grammar)
March and April 2026
Pages 159-180

  • Receive Date 28 December 2023
  • Revise Date 08 January 2024