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Projection and Inflection: a Study of Persian Phrase Structure

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PROJECTION AND INFLECTION: A STUDY OF PERSIAN PHRASE STRUCTURE by Jila Ghomeshi A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Linguistics University of Toronto © Copyright by Jila Ghomeshi 1996 Projection and Inflection: A Study of Persian Phrase Structure Doctor of Philosophy, 1996 Jila Ghomeshi Department of Linguistics University of Toronto This thesis is based on the following pivotal assumptions about morphology and syntax: (a) that monosemy is desirable in grammar; (b) only inflectional and not derivational affixes can correspond to syntactic projections; (c) projection is driven by the features borne by lexical and functional categories; and (d) base-generated X0-adjunction is possible in the syntax. Starting with the distinction between inflectional and derivational affixes, the thesis is organized around the inflectional affixes of Persian and the range of constructions they occur in. First, in looking at the Ezafe vowel -e, it is argued that the distribution of this vowel is best accounted for if nouns do not project structure in Persian. This explains why no phrasal material occurs below the DP (Determiner Phrase). It is proposed that modifiers to the head noun occur in an X0-adjoined structure and that the Ezafe vowel is inserted at PF to identify potentially non-projecting heads as belonging to a single constituent. Turning to agreement in Persian, it is shown that the differences in the distribution of the pronominal enclitics and the agreement suffixes follow from morphological properties of these affixes. For example, the fact that the enclitics can only cooccur with null, definite, arguments while the subject agreement affixes can appear with any noun phrase is accounted for by subcategorization and case requirements of the affixes themselves. This analysis also explains the fact that the enclitics must occur outside subject agreement, even though they refer to the direct object. Further, the proposal that the pronominal enclitics identify pro in an argument position is shown to explain binding facts in Persian. Among the other inflectional morphemes considered in the thesis is the marker -râ which is shown to case-mark presupposed DPs in VP-adjoined position. It is argued that these DPs are construed as VP-level topics and a licensing condition is given to account for their occurrence. In general each of the language-particular constructions in Persian are shown to ii be accounted for by the morphological properties of the lexical items and inflectional morphemes involved. iii Acknowledgements I thought this would be the easiest and most pleasurable task involved in completing a dissertation. It is not. It's easy to think of people to thank, but it is hard to come up with the words to thank them. Difficulties aside, it gives me much pleasure to acknowledge many of the people who have had a positive influence on my life both academically and personally during the time that I have become a linguist. First, I would like to thank the two women who have had the most influence on my work, and on my life, during my graduate years. Elizabeth Cowper supervised my MA thesis and Diane Massam my PhD thesis. They have both generously given of their time and resources as my work has developed. It is hard to determine when and where the supervisory role of one stopped and the other began. Liz kept pushing me to believe in my ideas. Diane challenged me to think differently. I thank them for their rigour, for their integrity, for their willingness to let their students pursue their own interests and ideas, and for the positive example they set as women who teach and pursue research and at the same time have families and non-linguistic interests. My interest in linguistics started during my undergraduate years at York University. I would like to thank my first linguistics professors Sheila Embleton, Rob Fink, Ruth King, Ian Smith and Susan Ehrlich who all (in different ways) taught me much about linguistics and encouraged me to pursue graduate work. I would like to thank my fellow guinea pig (and sole classmate) in the rebuilding of U of T's PhD program, Carrie Dyck. I learned so much by simply observing her over the years. Tom Wilson, in addition to being a friend, was a valuable source of advice during the (more difficult) early years. Mirco Ghini's razor-sharp mind and wonderful laugh and Päivi Koskinen's steady flow of e-mail stories are treasured aspects of my PhD years. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work on several SSHRC-funded syntax projects at the University of Toronto. The project meetings were an incredible forum for testing new ideas and for carrying out debates. My fellow students on these projects were as much my classmates as anyone else. I would like to thank Barb Brunson, Sarah Cummins, Elaine Gold, Regina Moorcroft, Zhang Ning and Hitay Yukseker for suffering through hours and hours of Persian data and for piquing my interest in many other phenomena as they pursued their own research. I would like to thank Michael Rochemont for showing confidence in my abilities as a linguist at a most critical time. The struggle to try and convince him of my ideas has undoubtedy made my work stronger. He is also responsible for three of the best months of my linguistic life, the months I spent at UBC. There I benefitted greatly from talking with Strang Burton, Guy Carden, Henry Davis (thanks for the lecture on the Binding Theory), Hamida Demirdache and especially Rose-Marie Déchaine. iv I would like to thank the other members of my thesis committee: Yves Roberge, who has enriched my view of morphology, Elan Dresher, who has enriched my view of linguistics, Anne-Marie Brousseau, and Maria Subtelny. In addition, it was a pleasure to finally meet Simin Karimi who served as the external examiner. For many useful discussions and/or encouragement I would like to thank Ed Burstynsky, Andrew Carnie, Alana Johns, Keren Rice, Betsy Ritter, Carson Schütze, Ron Smyth, Michael Szamosi, and Arnold Zwicky. Additionally, though I had not met either during the writing of my dissertation I would like to acknowledge Simin Karimi and Vida Samiian. They were a constant source of inspiration to me by virtue of being Persian women who have written valuable dissertations on the Persian language. I gratefully acknowledge SSHRC doctoral fellowships 452-90-2534 and 753-91-0149, as well as the funding I received from being employed on SSHRC grants to Elizabeth Cowper, Diane Massam, and Michael Rochemont. The work carried out in completing this thesis was made possible by this support. Finally for the personal side, I would like to thank my dear friend Mary Daniel for first telling me to take a linguistics course and for many discussions we have had about linguistics (and other things) since then. Thanks to my brother Jean for, among other things, making me laugh. Thanks to Laurent Guardo for support and love this past year. Last but not least, thanks to my parents Farhang and Azar Ghomeshi. They are ultimately responsible for providing me with the desire and the means to indulge my intellectual curiousity to my heart's content. This thesis is dedicated to them. v Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................1 1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................1 1.1 Word Order in Modern Persian ...........................................................................3 1.2 Theoretical Assumptions .....................................................................................5 1.2.1 Monosemy................................................................................................5 1.2.2 Inflection vs. Derivation ..........................................................................6 1.2.3 Inflection and Syntax ...............................................................................8 1.2.4 Feature-Driven Projection........................................................................9 1.2.5 Constraints on Syntactic Configuration...................................................11 1.2.6 Referentiality, (In)definiteness, and Specificity ......................................14 1.3 Inflection vs. Derivation in Persian .....................................................................17 1.3.1 The Stress System in Persian and Stress-affecting Affixes .....................17 1.3.1.1 Nouns and Adjectives ...............................................................18 1.3.1.2 Verbs.........................................................................................19 1.3.2 Non Stress-affecting Affixes....................................................................21 1.3.3 Section Summary.....................................................................................22 1.4 Outline of the Thesis............................................................................................24 Chapter 2 The Ezafe Construction and Non-Projecting Nouns................................26 2.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................26 2.1 Descriptions of the Ezafe Construction ...............................................................29 2.2 Samiian's Analysis of the Ezafe Construction .....................................................35 2.3 Properties of the Ezafe Domain Within the Noun Phrase....................................38
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