Investigation of the Postposition /dæri/ in the Western Variety of Mazandarani Language

In this study, we intend to investigate and determine the semantic role and grammatical function of the postposition /dæri/ in the western variety of Mazandarani language. The data of this research is collected from the natural speech of western Mazandarani speakers. Moreover, the linguistic intuition of one of the writers of this research, as a native speaker is used. The number of native speakers is 15 (males & females). The speakers are from 40 to 70 years old and have proficiency in standard Persian language as a second language. The necessary historical data is also collected by library method and by searching in dictionaries. Then, the semantic role and grammatical function of the mentioned postposition is examined in natural sentences, based on the sub-theories "Case" & "Theta" from Chomsky's Principles and Parameters Theory. The results of this study show that /dæri/ existed only in the western variety of Mazandarani language and it just indicates the semantic role of “origin” or “source”. The postposition /dæri/ stands as the head of prepositional phrases and it cannot be omitted. This prepositional phrase can be the complement of the verb of the sentence. The noun phrase which is the complement of this adposition, must be semantically inanimate; Unless, this postposition (Dari) participates in a combination.
 
Extended Abstract
1.Introduction
Mazandarani, also known as Mazani or Tabari, is one of the oldest Iranian languages. It is classified as one of the north-western Iranian languages and it is a part of the group of languages related to the Caspian Sea coast languages. Historically, it is also connected to the Parthian language. Mazandarani has numerous dialects and varieties. The goal of this research is to answer the question of the semantic role and syntactic function of the postposition /dæri/, which is specific to the Western variety of Mazandarani, based on the two sub-theories of Case and Theta theories from Chomsky's Principles and Parameters Theory. Numerous studies have been conducted both inside and outside of Iran regarding other adpositions in this language, and other authors have published significant information about these adpositions. Therefore, in this study, we focus solely on the postposition /dæri/.
2.Theoretical framework
An adposition is a grammatical term which includes two categories: prepositions (such as 'from', 'in', 'to', etc.) and postpositions (such as the particle /rɑ/ in Persian). Adpositions are considered as   a kind of parts of speech and are non-declension. Historically, these elements have usually evolved from adverbs of place. The analysis of the postposition /dæri/ in the natural sentences in the text is done based on the two sub-theories Case and Theta from Chomsky’s Principles and Parameters theory.
3.Methodology
The data of this research was collected from the natural speech of 15 speakers of the Western variety of Mazandarani, and also based on one of the researcher's linguistic intuition. These individuals, aged between 40 and 70, engaged in conversations in a completely natural environment without being aware that their speech was being recorded. After recording the conversations, a number of sentences were selected for analysis (with the participants' permission to use the audio recorded). In addition to linguistic data, relevant historical information was gathered from various sources using the library method. Finally, the selected sentences were analyzed to determine the syntactic function and semantic role of the postposition /dæri/ within them.
4.Results & Discussion
Adpositions, like case markers, convey various semantic roles. From a historical perspective, one of these roles is considered primary, and the other functions have developed over time through language changes. The semantic roles of adpositions can be divided into two categories: spatial semantic roles and non-spatial semantic roles. Non-spatial roles include accompaniment, manner, instrument, and cause. In this classification, 'accompaniment' is usually considered the primary semantic role. In Indo-European languages, the adposition used to express the semantic role of accompaniment can also convey the meaning of an instrument. The instrumental role is, in a sense, a semantic extension of 'accompaniment', and these two meanings often co-occur. If an animate noun is combined with an adposition that indicates accompaniment, it implies a meaning of companionship, but if an inanimate noun is combined with the same adposition, it indicates the semantic role of 'instrument'.
Most adpositions in Mazandarani language, unlike most live languages in Iran, are postpositions, i.e., they come after the noun or complement. For example, in standard Persian we say:

a) گربه روی دیوار نشسسته بود. (preposition)

        [goɾbe    ruːje      diːvɒːɾ     neʃæste        buːd]
        The cat    on       the wall      sitting         was 
         The cat was sitting on the the wall.
 
In Mazandarani, we say:

b) پیچا دیوار سر بنیشته بیَه. (postposition)

        [piːt͡ʃɒ   divɒːre   sær  bæniʃte bijæ]
        the cat the wall   on    sitting   was
          The cat was sitting on the the wall.
The noun phrase “the wall” in sentence 1. b) is the complement of the prepositional phrase and as it is observed, it is placed before the postposition /sær/ (on) in Mazandarani.
We will now discuss the postposition under investigation in this research. /dæri/ is a postposition in Western varieties of Mazandarani and it means 'from'. This postposition is the head of the prepositional phrase and always it follows its complement. Today, the use of this postposition in Mazandarani has decreased slightly, and Mazandarani speakers, following Persian, sometimes use the preposition /æz/, but /dæri/ is still prevalent in this language variety. Consider the following example:

سمنان دَری بیمای؟

      [semnɑn dæri bimɑj?] 
     Semnan  from  you came
     You came from Semnan?
It should be noted that when this postposition is used, unlike using other adpositions, genitive marker is not used any more (similar to /æz/ in Persian which  is not followed by Persian genitive marker, i.e., kasre ezafe).
Like the preposition /æz/ in Standard Persian, '/dæri/' is also indispensable. As the head of the prepositional phrase, its omission can alter the sentence's meaning or render it ungrammatical. For instance, in Persian, removing “from”/æz/, from the sentence“I came from school”, changes the  meaning of the sentence. Similarly, in Mazandarani, the postposition /dæri/ cannot be omitted.
 5.Conclusions
After conducting a thorough investigation of semantic and syntactic functions of the postposition /dæri/, we concluded that its form and semantic role are equivalent to the preposition /æz/ in modern Persian. However, its semantic role differs from the postposition /d͡ʒɑ/ in the Baboli variety of Mazandarani. Unlike /d͡ʒɑ/, which conveys the semantic roles of accompaniment, manner, cause, and origin, the semantic role of /dæri/ is limited to 'origin'. This postposition, as its name suggests, is postpositional and always follows the noun or complement. Moreover, it can combine with other adpositions to form compound postpositions.
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