This monograph presents a morpho-syntactic investigation on modality, aspect, and negation by concentrating on Persian, and is designed to contribute to theoretical linguistics and the study of Iranian languages. The analysis is based on the Minimalist program. This research challenges the idea that the syntactic structure maps on the semantic interpretation or vice versa. The discussion presented in this monograph shows that the syntactic structure of Persian modals is uniform no matter if the modals are interpreted as having root or epistemic readings. Although it is claimed that modals are raising constructions in different languages, modals in Persian, which does not have subject-raising constructions, show a different syntactic behavior. Furthermore, the structural analysis of the interaction of Persian modals and negation shows that because of the scope interaction of negation and modals, the syntactic structure of modals with respect to negation mostly corresponds to the semantic interpretation of modals.

This book brings together a series of contributions to the study of grammaticalization of tense, aspect, and modality from a functional perspective. All contributions share the aim to uncover the functional motivations behind the processes of grammaticalization under discussion, but they do so from different points of view.

Persian syntax has been analyzed within various theoretical models to explore language specific rules that generate various syntactic structures such as passive, relative clause, interrogative, etc. This book offers a comprehensive, updated delineation of Persian syntax with reference to the P&P approach, which posits that the language faculty incorporates a set of principles of Universal Grammar (UG) that are invariant across languages and their associated parameters that vary from one language to another. In addition to the theoretical dimension of the approach, the book also examines the significant implications of the approach in the realms of first language acquisition, second language learning, translation, and language typology.

Aspects of Iranian Linguistics introduces readers to recent research into various properties of a number of Iranian languages. The volume consists of twenty chapters that cover a full range of Iranian linguistics, including formal theoretical perspectives (from a syntactic and morphological point of view), typological and functional perspectives, and diachronic and areal perspectives. It also contains papers on computational linguistics and neurolinguistics, as well as the modern history of lexicography in Iran. Various Iranian languages are discussed in this volume, including Hawrami and Kermanji, two of the major dialects of Kurdish, Medival, Classical and Modern Persian, Balochi, Taleshi and Pamir. With the exception of Persian, other Iranian languages had not received much attention in the past. Thus this work, as the first volume ever published on various aspects of these languages and their linguistic properties, is a valuable contribution to our understanding of a less commonly studied language family. The theoretical, descriptive, and applied approaches pursued by various authors in this volume, together with the colorful range of languages discussed, provide a unique perspective that is appealing to researchers in different domains of linguistics and language studies.

This volume explores the linguistic expression of modality in natural language from a cross-linguistic perspective. Modal expressions provide the basic tools that allow us to dissociate what we say from what is actually going on, allowing us to talk about what might happen or might have happened, as well as what is required, desirable, or permitted. Chapters in the book demonstrate that modality involves many more syntactic categories and levels of syntactic structure than traditionally assumed. The volume distinguishes between three types of modality: 'low modality', which concerns modal interpretations associated with the verbal and nominal cartographies in syntax; 'middle modality', or modal interpretation associated with the syntactic cartography internal to the clause; and 'high modality', relating to the left periphery. It combines cross-linguistic discussions of the more widely studied sources of modality with analyses of novel or unexpected sources, and shows how the meanings associated with the three types of modality are realized across a wide range of languages.

The papers in this volume investigate the semantics of aspect from both a theoretical and a crosslinguistic point of view, in a wide range of languages from a number of different language families. The papers are all informed by the belief that a thorough exposure to the expression of aspect crosslinguistically is crucial for progress in understanding how the semantics of aspect works and what the semantic basis of aspectual distinctions is. The languages discussed include Russian, English, Dutch, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese and Kalaallisut. The issues discussed in this volume include the centrality of measuring and counting in an understanding of telicity; the importance of the singular/plural distinction in the study of aspect; the importance of homogeneity as a property of event types; the flexibility of lexical classes; and the interaction between expressions of aspect and the particular morphosyntactic structure of a language.

Die Festschrift enthalt insgesamt 30 Beitrage zu verschiedenen Bereichen der Iranistik. Es handelt sich sowohl um Artikel zu Forschungsschwerpunkten von Ph. G. Kreyenbroek, wie dem Zoroastrismus, der kurdischen Literatur und Religion, insbesondere die der Yeziden und Ahl-e Haqq, aber auch um Beitrage zur iranischen Philologie, der Zeit der Achameniden sowie der Geschichte und Kultur Irans in islamischer Zeit. Die Aufsatze umfassen so unterschiedliche Themen wie z.B. Sinn und Zweck von Ritualen aus der Sicht von Parsi-Priestern, eine Gegenuberstellung von Tawusi Melek und dem Pfau in der Mandaischen Tradition, Zeitkonzepte des Yezidismus, einen Uberblick uber die persische Presse der letzten Jahrzehnte, judaische Gesandte im Achamenidenreich, Ohrmazd in der soghdischen Uberlieferung, Modalitatstypologie im Kurdischen und Hawrami oder baktrische Demonstrativpronomina. Ein Uberblick uber das Werk Kreyenbroeks sowie ein Verzeichnis seiner Schriften erganzen den Band.

This book explores the syntactic nature of inner aspect from a minimalist perspective. It begins with the new observation that there are two independent properties at play in English inner aspect: the object-to-event mapping and event structure. From a discussion of English statives and Russian, it is concluded that the former property is variant and the latter universal; a minimalist conception of language variation arises naturally in this context. Additionally, an exploration of a lexical derivational approach to achievements leads to the expectation that there are no accomplishments in the lexicon. A detailed look at idioms suggests that this expectation is met. These results support the division of labor between an operative lexicon and narrow syntax in aspectual composition; this naturally poses a problem for (neo-)constructional approaches to inner aspect. Finally, one conclusion reached about the syntactic nature of inner aspect regards the object-to-event mapping: it is a purely syntactic phenomenon.

This volume brings together selected papers from the first North American Conference in Iranian Linguistics, which was organized by the linguistics department at Stony Brook University. Papers were selected to illustrate the range of frameworks, diverse areas of research and how the boundaries of linguistic analysis of Iranian languages have expanded over the years. The contributions collected in this volume address advancing research and complex methodological explorations in a broad range of topics in Persian syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, typology and classification, as well as historical linguistics. Some of the papers also investigate less-studied and endangered Iranian languages such as Tat, Gilaki and Mazandarani, Sorani and Kurmanji Kurdish, and Zazaki. The volume will be of value to scholars in theoretical frameworks as well as those with typological and diachronic perspectives, and in particular to those working in Iranian linguistics.

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the field of Persian linguistics, discusses its development, and captures critical accounts of cutting edge research within its major subfields, as well as outlining current debates and suggesting productive lines of future research. Leading scholars in the major subfields of Persian linguistics examine a range of topics split into six thematic parts. Following a detailed introduction from the editors, the volume begins by placing Persian in its historical and typological context in Part I. Chapters in Part II examine topics relating to phonetics and phonology, while Part III looks at approaches to and features of Persian syntax. The fourth part of the volume explores morphology and lexicography, as well as the work of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Part V, language and people, covers topics such as language contact and teaching Persian as a foreign language, while the final part examines psycho- neuro-, and computational linguistics. The volume will be an essential resource for all scholars with an interest in Persian language and linguistics.