An Analysis of Pronominal clitics in the Iranshahri Balochi Dialect

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of foreign languages and linguistics. College of Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

2 Department of Linguistics and Philology. Uppsala University. Uppsala. Sweden Box 635

Abstract

The system of personal pronouns in the Iranshahri dialect, like that of Standard Persian, has both attached and free forms that express grammatical person and number. The present study examines pronominal clitics in the Iranshahri dialect, one of the dialects spoken in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. In this dialect, attached pronouns always constitute a subtype of clitics, and their distribution differs from that of Standard Persian. The theoretical framework adopted in this study is based on Zwicky (1994), and Zwicky and Pullum (1983). The research was conducted using a descriptive-analytical approach through interviews with native speakers residing in the village of Mohammadan, located in Iranshahr County. This study aims to investigate the various types of clitics with respect to their distributional properties and the types of hosts to which they attach. The findings indicate that pronominal clitics in this dialect function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, and genitive markers. The principal uses of these clitics, and their functional differences from those of Standard Persian, are particularly evident in the marking of subjects in the past tense and in preverbal positions.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Persian Language and Iranian Dialects

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 15 September 2026

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