Word order typology in western and eastern varieties of Gilaki

Gilaki is a northwestern Iranian language, which is divided into two main different varieties, belonging to the east and to the west of Gilan province. These two varieties are significantly different which in turn may partially cause substantial difficulties in mutual understanding. This paper aims to study and compare the differences and similarities between the two varieties from the word order typology point of view. For this reason, word order typology in Rasht dialect as the western and Lahijan dialect as the eastern dialectal representatives are chosen to be compared based on Greenberg’s theoretical framework (1966), Dryer’s 24 word order criteria (1992) and Dabir-Moghaddam`s typological survey on Iranian languages (2001;2013).
The data are gathered through direct interviews with native speakers. The findings show that the two Gilaki varieties represent the same typological behavior with respect to word order, however some minus differences in three criteria were documented as follows: In the adposition type, in the order of standard of comparison, the marker of comparison and the adjective, and in the order of main verb and tense-aspect auxiliary.
 
Extended Abstract 
1. Introduction
Gilaki is a member of the northwestern Iranian language branch. The language is divided into two varieties which belong to the east and to the west of Gilan and are separated by Sefid-rud river. The western variety called “Biye-pas” (over the river) is spoken in Anzali, Somesara, Fouman and Rasht while the eastern variety called “Biye-pish  (before the river) is spoken in Lahijan, Langerud and Rudsar. The two varieties differ enormously which in turn may partially cause substantial difficulties in mutual understanding.This paper aims to study and compare the differences and similarities between the two varieties from the word order typology point of view. For this reason, word order typology in Rasht dialect as the western and Lahijan dialect as the eastern dialectal representatives are chosen to be compared.
 
2. Theoretical framework
Word order as a typological factor which affects language variations has been widely studied in recent decades. Word order in linguistics is typically referred to the order of Subject, Object and Verb, but in today’s typology the order of any set of elements within phrases is studied under this title (Dryer, 2007:61-62)
The present study has been conducted based on the 24 criteria in word order typology which, hinge upon Greenberg’s theoretical framework (1966), have been introduced by Dryer (1992) and also mentioned in Dabir-Moghaddam (2001; 2013).
Notwithstanding the fact that Dryer has represented 24 word order criteria in the world languages, the present extended abstract will only mention part of the criteria collection due to space constraints. The first criterion relates to the adposition types namely preposition and postposition and to the order of adposition and noun phrase. If the adposition is located before the noun phrase it is called preposition while being located after the noun phrase, it is called postposition. Another criterion is the order of noun phrase and the relative clause so that the relative clause may precede or follow the noun phrase. In this regard, the order of noun phrase and genitive i.e. GN or NG is considered as the third word order criterion while the order of adjective and the standard of comparison is introduced as the forth criterion in the world languages standing for this linguistic fact that  the standard of comparison may precede or follow the adjective. The fifth criterion refers to the order of verb and prepositional phrase and portrays the position of prepositional phrase which may come before or after the verb. Finally, the last word order criterion alluded here is related to the order of verb and adverb of manner illustrating that the adverb of manner may occupy the position before or after the verb, however, in some languages, both orders are possible.
 
3. Methodology
The data from both eastern and western varieties of Gilaki were collected through direct recorded interviews with native speakers using a compiled questionnaire which contained 151 sentences and clauses. The collected data were attentively transcribed and subsequently were carefully analyzed based upon 24 criteria of word order typology for the two varieties separately.
 
4. Discussion & Results
In the present contribution, all the 24 criteria mentioned in Dabir-Moghaddam (2013) have been studied for the two varieties of Gilaki. The findings show that both Gilaki varieties represent the same typological behavior regarding word order, however some minor differences in three criteria were discovered which are as follows: In the case of adposition meaning “from”, the two varieties behave differently. In Lahijan variety, and in most cases, the preposition /Ɂæz/ has been used   while only one case of postposition /ʤæ/ was reported. This comes among the reports from Rasht variety in which the dominant form is the postposition /ʤæ/, with only one case of preposition /Ɂæz/. In the case of the adposition meaning “with”, the same above-mentioned pattern can be observed. The Lahijan variety mostly used the preposition /bɑ/ and rarely the postposition /hæmræ/, but the Rasht variety applied only the postposition /hæmræ/.
The difference between the two varieties according to the order of standard of comparison showed  that the order of marker of comparison and the adjective reflects the difference in usage which was mentioned above in regards with the preposition /Ɂæz/ or the postposition /ʤæ/  which in turn caused different word orders considering the order of the standard of comparison, the marker of comparison and the adjective.
In the case of the order of the main verb and tense-aspect auxiliary, Lahijan and Rasht varieties represented the same behavior regarding the tense auxiliary /xɑstæn/ but with respect to the usage of imperfect aspect auxiliary, they acted differently. Rasht variety, in addition to the order of main verb + auxiliary verb (/d«r«/), can apply two auxiliaries before and after the main verb simultaneously (/kQr«…d«r«/).
 
5. Conclusions & Suggestions
 The findings indicate that the eastern and the western varieties of Gilaki represent the same typological behavior. It has been observed that regarding word order, the two varieties share the same typological behavior with some minus differences in three criteria: adposition type, the order of standard of comparison, marker of comparison, and adjective and also the order of main verb and tense-aspect auxiliary.
Therefore, it seems that the mentioned difference between the two varieties, lies basically in morphology and the choice of words, and that there is no significant difference in their word order typology