Transitivity in Persian based on the Minimalist Approach

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

In this article, it is argued that there is a functional category Tr (Transitivity) located between Pr (Predicate) and V (Verb) which is present in all transitive sentences in the Persian language, regardless of whether they are transitive active, passive or middle. Tr may contain a probe with (object) -features and assign accusative Case. In Persian, like other languages, as Bowers (2002) claims, in contrast to Pr, Tr does not assign a theta-role in its specifier position. Hence, the functions of the traditional light verb category "v" are split between Pr and Tr in Persian, like other languages studied by bowers (2002). Empirical evidence from Persian supports this claim as those from other languages studied by Bowers (2002), such as English, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Icelandic, Ukrainian, and German. It seems that this approach can analyze the Persian data in an appropriate way.

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References

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Persian Language and Iranian Dialects
Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
Serial 1
July 2016
Pages 133-149

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