The Monostemmatic Inflectional System in the Talysh Language

As a modern Northwestern Iranian language, Talysh spreads along the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea, from the Sefid-rud river in Guilan to the Kor River in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The present article addresses some of the unique verbal features of this language, including the incorporation of the past stem in the formation of the imperative verb and the present indicative, especially the usage of single and shared stems in verb conjugation. Informed by an ancient Persian translation of the Quran, called The Shonqoshi Exegesis, the study at hand formulates a “monostemmatic” feature to investigate the etymology and history of the so-called “Bon-Basend” compound. It also explains the ambiguities regarding the second part of this compound, namely the verb stem “Basend,” in terms of stem type and usage in the Talysh language. The etymological analysis shows that “Basend” is a present stem, which, in combination, attains an objective meaning and functions as a shared stem (monostemic) in the conjugation of all verbal structures in the Talysh language.
 
Extended abstract

Introduction

Usually evolving at a slow pace, the verbal system is an important area of language in linguistics. However, from ancient times to the present day, we have witnessed major developments in this field. The imperfect, indefinite, and future tense systems of Old Iranian verb tenses, as well as others, were lost in the transition from ancient to medieval times, and only the present tense system, with some changes, has reached Persian and other modern Iranian languages.
    The past stem of verbs is also a modified form of Old Iranian past participle adjectives. in most modern Iranian languages ​​and dialects, the present tense has been reduced to the present and past stems. In the Talysh language, we come across verbs whose verb stems are the same, and all the verb forms and structures are in accordance with the same single stem. Informed by the various types of the Talysh language, the present article coins the term “monostemmic” to show the conjugation system and the extent of its use in past, present, and imperative verbs.
2. Methodology
This research is in accordance with field and library studies. Talysh materials and evidence are organised around studies of three varieties of the three main Talysh dialects: From the Northern Dialect, the Anbarani, which is common in Namin County, Ardabil Province; from the Central Dialect, the Paresari variety in Rezvanshahr County; and from the Southern Dialect, the Siahmezgi variety common in Shaft County. The collection of evidence, especially in Northern and Southern Talyshi, was made possible with the help and assistance of several native speakers, who are introduced in the “Notes” section of the article. The library studies are informed by historical texts from Dari, Middle Persian, and Old Iranian texts.
3. Theoretical Framework
Adopting a historical-descriptive linguistic approach, this research studies the monostemmatic inflectional system in the Talysh language. Moving beyond the restraints of a singular theoretical framework, this study identifies and explains linguistic changes and their dynamics by focusing on the structural evolution of language over time. In this regard, informed by etymological studies and the Talysh language, the present article identifies the verb stem “Basend,” which appears in ancient Dari text, the inflectional structures of monostemmatic verbs, and the historical background of some of the verbal features of the Talysh language in Dari, Middle Persian, and Old Iranian languages. This analysis is in accordance with historical and field data, and highlights the connection between contemporary structures and their historical roots.
4. Discussion and Analysis
 Informed by etymological studies and findings of the Talysh language, “Basend,” in the compound “Bon-Basend,” which was used as a translation for “Qatta’na” in The Shonqoshi Exegesis, is a present stem in the sense of a past participle adjective. Of note here is that its /d/ is not a replacement for /-ta/ or the result of the transformation of the second /n/ in /visinn/, but is part of the root. This verb stem has not reached Dari or modern Persian, but it is used in some modern Iranian languages, including Talysh, Tabari, Balochi, and so on.
The incorporation of the past stem in the construction of present and imperative verbs, as well as the present stem in the construction of the imperfect past, has precedents in Old, Middle, and Modern Iranian languages, but there is no documented report of the monostemmatic inflectional system in Iranian languages. This phenomenon seems to be a late and intralinguistic development in the Talysh language, an attempt at linguistic simplification or facilitation.
5. Conclusion
The inflectional system of Talysh verbs, like most Iranian languages ​​today, is double-stemmed; however, there are many cases of a monostemmatic inflectional system. The conjugation of some verbs is in accordance with the present stem, and others are based on the past stem. The verbal system of Northern Talysh is monostemmatic, but in Central and Southern Talysh, both conjugation possibilities, i.e., monostemmatic and double-stemmed, are used in parallel. Of note here is that present-stem infinitives are monostemmatic, and past-stem infinitives are double-stemmed. In Central Talysh, however, the monostemmatic inflectional system is less commonly used, and the reported cases are very few in number.
The incorporation of the present stem in the construction of the imperfect past, and the past stem in the construction of present and imperative verbs in Iranian languages, from Old to Medieval and Modern times, has more or less precedents, some of which has been explored in this article, but there is no documented report of the monostemmatic inflectional system in Iranian languages ​​to indicate the precedents of this linguistic feature. It seems that this phenomenon is a recent intralinguistic development in Northern and Southern Talysh in the process of linguistic simplification or facilitation, which has also affected Central Talysh..
Select Bibliography
Hassandoost, M. Farhang-e Risheh-Shenākhti-e Zabān-e Fārsi, Vol. 4. Tehran: Farhangestan-e Zaban va Adab-e Farsi; 2014. [In Persian].
Humbach, H. The Heritage of the Zarathushtra. Heidelberg; 1994.
Jackson, A. V. W. An Avesta Grammar in Comparison with Sanskrit. Stuttgart; 1892. 
Kellens, J. Le Verb Avestique. Wiesbaden; 1984.
Kent, R. G. Old Persian, Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon. New Haven; 1950.
Nyberg, H. S. A Manual of Pahlavi, Vol. 2. Wiesbaden; 1974.
Rezayati Kisheh-Khaleh, M. Masdar va Sākht-e ān dar Gooyesh-e Tāleshi. Gooyesh Shenāsi; 2006; 5 (1): 7-30. [In Persian].
Rezayati Kisheh-Khaleh, M. Zabān-e Tāleshi: Toosif-e Gooyesh-e Markazi. Rasht: Farhang-e Iliya, 2007. [In Persian].
Sadeghi, A. Bon-Basend. Jostārha-ye Novin-e Adabi; 2018; 51(1): 133-136. [In Persian].
Shonqoshi. Tafsir-e Shonqoshi: Gozāreh-ei az Bakhshi az Qurān-e Karim. Mohammad Jafar, Y (comp.). Tehran: Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran; 1976. [The Shonqoshi Exegesis] [In Persian].