Verb in Katouli Dialect

Katouli is regarded as the most eastern dialect of the Mazandarani language that in addition to some differences in words, is different from Mazandarani to some extent in verbal constructions such as continuous preterit construction and the infinitives used in past and present verbs. In the present study, verbal stem, personal ending and constructions, infinitive, subject and object adjectives as well as active and passive forms have been investigated in Katouli dialect. In this dialect, verb is based on the past and present stems. The present verb has indicative, subjunctive and continuous constructions, and the preterit verb also has simple, continuous, progressive, present perfect, subjunctive and past perfect constructions. In Katouli dialect, the passive form also is not common as it exists in Persian language and the informants prefer using the active structure. The main characteristics of the verb in Katouli dialect which is important in language studies include: lack of present perfect tense as it is common in Persian and using simple past instead of it, not using prefix in present indicative verb construction, using the past stem of kœrd in past continuous construction and some other characteristics which are mentioned in this paper.  
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Aliabad-e-Katul is a city of the Golestan Province located in the range of Hyrcanian forests and Alborz mountains, with the height of 140 m above the Caspian Sea level. This city is restricted to Turkmen plain from the north, Fenderesk from the east, Malek from the west and the mountains covered with Alborz forest from the south. Katuli, as a dialect of Mazandarani language is of great antiquity and many expressions, words and verbs are still alive in this dialect. Despite the importance of Katuli as a dialect of Mazandarani language with high archaism, little is known about its different aspects of phonetics, morphophonemics and grammar. Therefore, considering the role of this dialect in preserving the old culture of Katul’s people, the study of verb in Katuli dialect was conducted in the present study.    
 
2. Theoretical framework
New Iranian languages that appeared in different parts after Islamic conquest of Iran, are categorized as east, west, and central groups. The west Iranian languages and dialects are divided into two categories of northwest and southwest Iranian languages. The languages and dialects which are similar to the middle Persian and Parthian languages in historical changes, are located in southwest group and northwest groups, respectively. The Caspian language and dialects are categorized in northwest group, and include Mazandarani, Gilaki and Taleshi. The geographical range of Mazandarani language is not in accordance with the current border of Mazandaran Province in the country so that it is extended to the Gorgan plain in the east and continues to the Chalous River in the west. The interesting point is that Mazandarani language continues to around Gorgan, is stopped in Gorgan and the villages in its west parts and then is spoken in Aliabad-e-Katul and its villages. Therefore, Katuli could be considered as the most eastern dialect of the Mazandarani language. In addition to some differences in words, the Katuli dialect is different from Mazandarani to some extent in verbal constructions such as continuous preterit and the infinitives used in past and present verbs.
 
3. Methodology
In the present study, construction and some characteristics of verb was investigated in Katuli dialect. The data were collected based on field and intuitive research. For this, interview was conducted with more than 30 speakers in the age groups of 25 to 80 years old (man and woman, educated and uneducated) from Aliabad-e-Katul and surrounding villages, and the information were recorded. Moreover, the available resources, including articles and books, about Mazandarani and its dialects, were also studied. 
 
4. Results & discussion
In Katuli dialect, past and present stem is derived from the old Iranian language and differentiated via especial phonetic processes. In this dialect, infinitive suffix are /-en/and /-an/ that added at the end of past stem. Personal endings used in present indicative and subjunctive are various based on present stem. Present continuous also derived from the new Persian and is constructed by present stem for auxiliary verb of (dār) and present stem for main verb with personal ending of present indicative. Like Persian, there is no personal ending for the third-person singular of past verb in Katuli dialect. In a special case in first person of negative form for simple past of the verb “going”, older people especially in rural places use the verb “našīm” (the stem /-šī/) while the youngers use the verb nōardēm (the stem /-ar/). The past continuous is also formed by past stem of the related verb with the past form of the auxiliary verb (kœrd). In Katuli, there is no past perfect form as it is usual in Persian, but instead, the speakers use simple past like informal Persian. The past subjunctive is also formed by object adjective of main verb with present subjunctive of the auxiliary verb (būdan). The present indicative for the auxiliary verb (xāstan) with the present subjunctive of main verb are used for future construction. 
In Katuli dialect, the passive form of the verb is not common as it is in Persian, and speakers usually tend to use active verb. However, passive structure could be used for different verb tenses in this dialect but it is not common for past subjunctive. In the case of transitive and intransitive constructions, four cases could be considered: 1) inchoative verb is the base and causative is derived from it; 2) both verbs are not derived from each other but differentiated through auxiliary verb; 3) the verbal stems are different; 4) both verbs have the same form. The enclitics of /-em/, /-i/, /-e/, /-im/, /-in/ and /-en/ are used for enclitic construction. [va-], [dar-] and [var-] are also the main and mostly used verbal prefixes in this dialect.  
 
5. Conclusions & suggestions
In the present study, verb construction and some verbal attributes were investigated in Katuli as the most eastern dialect of the Mazandarani language. In this dialect, both past and present stems are used in construction of all verbal groups, have the same root.  In Katuli dialect, simple past is used instead of past perfect in verbal construction which could be distinguished through the application and emphasis. Unlike Persian, no prefix is used to present indicative construction in Katuli dialect. Another interesting point in Katuli dialect is that the speakers tend to use active form of the verb. Overall, the results from this study indicates that Katuli has some differences with other dialects of Mazandarani in some aspects of verb construction including infinitive suffix and past continuous. With respect to the limit number of Katuli speakers and increasing trend to the new Persian, Katuli is in threat of being forgotten like many other Iranian dialects. Therefore, such studies could be useful to preserve and maintain Iranian endangered dialects.         
 
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