Intl. J. Humanities (200 8) Vol. 1 5 ( 2): (1 – 9 )

Case Assignment in Russian and Persian

Mireyla Ahmadi 1

Received: 23/8/2006 Accept: 10/11/2007

Abstract Russian language, with regard to its gramma r, is a language with its ow n special complexities , hardly found in other languages. Although langua ges are different from each other, they have some similarities as well. The Iranian learner, while learning Russian, analyzes the sentences using patterns similar to his/ her native language patterns. Occasionally, such native patterns cause the learner to make glaring mistakes. Verb, in Russian language, is a word that grammatically conducts a noun and its modifiers ( падеж ). The difficulty , which the learners encounter is the lack of a complete agreement of verb conduction. That is to say, it is possible f or a verb in Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 to conduct its dependent word in a particular manner, which the very same verb, in Russian language , might conduct its defendant word in a different manner . It is even possible that the verb conduction by the same verb in the two language s might occur by means of two totally different prepositions. In other to avoid such errors, it seems necessary to make the learners aware of their occurrences at the very initial steps of language learning.

Keywords: Russian language , Persian language , verb, (manner) , mother tongue, student.

1. Assistant Professor , Department Russian Language, Tarbiat Modares university, E -mail: [email protected]

1 Case Assignment in Russian and Persian

Introduction Russian is one of the languages whose Man has been engaged in t he learning of new teaching / learning have gained momentum in la nguages since the time immemorial , as the the past 15 years in . Th e collapse of Soviet acquisition of a new language implies Union in 1990s and the fall of dividing lines familiarity with a new culture, history, customs, between socialist countries created new traditions and also the possibility of opportunities for more contact between Russia establishing communication with other people. and other nations. Iran as a neighboring Though language learning can be set off by country , was no exception to this rule and after different objectives or motivations, however, the disintegr ation of Soviet Union, the there are still numerous problems in the way of commercial, political and cultural ties and the language learners. Most of thes e problems are exchange of students became very common created by the patterns imposed by the learners’ among newly created Central Asian republics mother tongue. In other words, during L1 and Iran. The new republics enjoyed their own acquisition, each person stores a set of national languages; nonetheless, it seems that information and clichés belonging exclusively Russ ian is going to linger on for quite a long to his/ her mother tongue. As a person sets out time in these countries. to learn a new l anguage, particularly the first Grammatically speaking, Russian language is L2, s/he unconsciously evaluates and regarded as one of the most complex languages of comprehends the L2 in accordance with the the world , a fact which makes its acquisition as a fixed mental clichés and patterns of his/her second language a formidable task. Sad to sa y, mother tongue. Each language possesses unique despite the necessity of comparative works

Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 features of its own , which are different from between Russian and Persian, few studies have other la nguages. The lack of complete semantic been done in this field. concordance, presence of unfamiliar grammatical Russian possesses a very complicated structures, sociolinguistic differences in the and one of the issues which creates a encoding of messages etc are only some of these lot of difficulties for Iranian students is the case differences to name a few. sy stem and case assignment of the following Based on the above assertion, the noun phrases. comparative s tudies seem to be a common mechanism to reveal some of the obstacles on Discussion of the Problem the way of language learners, and manage to The case system (упр авление глагола ) is of produce worthwhile results. great significance in and is

2 Ahmadi M.

one of the issues , which poses a formidable task The verbs “ гoвopит ь - c `азать ” meaning for foreign L2 learners. It should b e noted that “to say and to talk” assign a dative case to its case is not limited to verbs and other categories oblique: such as nouns, , adverbs, and numbers Я говорила Ни cе. should agree with the following structures in “man be Nina goftam” one of the complements , which is generally (I to Nina told) known as Case Assignment. This paper deals “I told Nina” only with ver bal case system which refers to the Here the word “Nina” has become a n assigning of an appropriate case ( па деж ) to the oblique (dative case) , which is indicated by the following NP or PP. For example the verb preposition “be” in Persian. (видеть – увидеть ) “to see” assigns an The difficulty that Iranian learners face in to its oblique . this regard concerns the lack of agreement between the cases in Persian and Russian ; in Вчера я увидела свою старую преподавательницу . Dirooz man ostade ghadimiyam ra didam. other words, a particular verb in Persian may (I saw my former professor yesterday) assign a special case to its oblique whereas in Russian the same verb assigns a different case Here the phrase “свою старую or the verb may require different prepositions преподавательницу ” ( my former professor ) for their oblique. has been a ssigned an accusative case by the As an example, the verbs “поздрав лять – verb (видеть – увидеть ) its counterpart in поздравить ” meaning “T abrik Goftan – To

Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Persian is manifested by the use of accusative congratulate ” require an accusative case as

marker of {ra}. “ви cител ьны й падеж ” The verb “идти ” (to go) assigns a dative Я поздравляю Вас . (man shoma ra tabrik migoyam)٭ case to its oblique : (I you + accusative marker, congratulate) Я y шeл c Виктором . I congratulate you Man ba Victor raftam. This verb requires th e preposition of “be” in (I went with Victor.) Persian to produce a dative case whereas in In this example the word Victor “B иктор” Russian , as we saw , an accusative case is has been assigned a dative case by the verb “to required “man be shoma tabrik migoyam” go” which is manifested by its relevant marker “c” meaning “with”.

3 Case Assignment in Russian and Persian

The verb “ Верить – поверить ” meaning “ nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, to believe in” assigns an accusative case to its instrumental and prepositional cases . One of the complement by th e use of preposition “ B” as cases acts as nominative and the other five “ви cитель ны й падеж ”: cases are oblique. Я веру в вас . There are four cases in modern Persian namely *(man dar shoma eteghad daram) nominative, oblique , genitive and vocative. (man be shoma eteghad daram) The of Persian corresponds I believe in you with the “именительньґй падеж ” in Russian. The verb “eteghad dashtan” in Persian “ to The oblique case is of two types: accusative believe in ” requires a dative case , which is case , which agrees with “ винительный падеж ” indicated by the prepositi on “be”: in Russian and dative case , which based on the

(man be shoma eteghad daram) preposition used in Persian may agree with one of (I believe in you) the following cases in Russian: ( дательный

Therefore, there are certain set of verbs in падеж , творительный падеж , предлож ный Persian and Russian , which require different падеж ” and sometimes even with “ родительный cases or prepositions and consequently the падеж ”. language learners as interference from their The genitive cases of Persian , which are of 5 mother tongue habit s, translate the patterns of different categories (possessi ve , exclusi ve , their L1 into Russian producing ungrammatical simile, metaphoric and expressi ve ) correspond and even unintelligible sentences. with родительный падеж ” in Russian. Due to the same reason, in order to produce What we emphasize here is that though Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 meaningful and grammatical sentences cases are present in both languages, yet they comprehensible to both readers and listeners, cause difficulty for language learners due to the learner not only should be familiar with the their different distributions a fact which creates meaning, spelling, usage, and verbs problems for L2 learners. conjugation, but should also know the case The cases of Persian are indicated by the “ra” assignment of different verbs. marker, vocative marker, the genitive morpheme Based on their role in a sentence , the words “e” and prepositions while case is shown in can have any of the 6 different cases in Russian Russian by the inflectional endings ( с`лон ение ) (all nouns, s, numbers, pronouns and and prepositions. The same issue also cause s participles) these cases are indicated by the grammatical differences between the two addition of certain endings which include: languages leading to linguistic errors by learners.

4 Ahmadi M.

As an example, let us compare and contrast (dokhtar ) the gir l the different cases of the word girl “ dokhtar “ (e dokhtar) the girl of with its Russian counterpart “ девоч`а” : (be dokhtar ) to the girl (Ba dokhtar) with the girl Она девоч `а. (u dokhtar ast) (she girl is ) she is a girl Отец девоч `и об этом с`азал . (pedar e (dar bare dokhtar ) about (of) the girl dokhtar dar in mored goft) But in Russian as can be seen , the word The girl’s father said about this matter. “девоч`а” is represented in 6 different forms, Я отдала `у`лю девочк e . (man arusak ra be in other words, this word takes different dokhtar dadam) I gave the doll to the girl. Я увидела девочку . (man dokhtar ra didam) I endings in different cases / is accompanied with saw the girl or without prepositions: Мама разговаривала с девочкой . . (madar ba dokhtar harf mizad) И.п. девоч`а The mother was talking to the girl . Р. П. девоч`и Мама говорила о девочк е. (madar dar bare Д. П. девочк e dokhtar migoft) The mother was talking about the girl. В. П. девочк у As can be seen , the appearance of the word Т. П. девочк ой “dokhtar ” does not undergo any change for П . п. (о) девочк е different cases , which are shown by means of accusative marker, morpheme or prepositions:

Case assign ment without preposition Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Incorrect case Persian English Verbal case Verb assign ment equivalent equivalent От кого ? От чего? Az che kasi? From what? Р. П. Бояться From whom? Кого ? (tarsidan) Az che chizi? Чего? (To be afraid of) Бояться волка = az gorg tarsidan (to be afraid of wolf) ≠ Бояться от волка

Кто ? Что ? Che kasi ? What? Т. П. Быт ь Che chizi? Who? Чем ? Кем ? (budan ) (to be) Быть студентом = daneshju budan (to be a student) ≠ Быть студент

Чему ? Be che chizi? To what? Т. П. Зани маться Чем ? Mashghul budan / eshteghal dashtan (to be busy or engaged)

5 Case Assignment in Russian and Persian

Зан им аться торговлей = be tejarat eshteghal dashtan (to be engaged in trade) ≠Зани маться торговле

От кого ? От чего? Az che kasi? Against what? Р. П. Защищать Az che chizi? From whom? Кого ? Defa kardan Чего? (to defend) Защищать родину =az mihan defa kardan (to defend one’s home country) ≠ Защищать от родины Кто ? Что ? Che kasi? What? Т. П. Казаться Che chizi? Who? Кем ? Ч ем ? Be nazar amadan (to seem/ look) Он каза лся недо вольным = u narazi be nazar miamad (he looked dissatisfied ) ≠ Он каза лся недовольный

Кто ? Что ? кого ? Che kasi?che What? Д. П. Мешать чего ? chizi? Who? Кому ? Mozahem shodan / Чему ? Mane shodan (to prevent / to stand in the way of ) Он Мешает отџу = u mozaheme pedarash ast (he stands in the way of his father) ≠ Он Мешает отеџ . Он Мешает отџа .

Кто ? Che kasi? Who? Д. П. Нравит ься Кому ? Khosh amadan Чему ? (to like) Мне нравится эта книг а=man az in ketab khosham miayad (I like this book) ≠ я нра вится эта книга Кого ? Чего ? Az che chizi? What? Р. П. Руков одить Whom? Кем ? Rahbari kardan / hedayat kardan Чем ? (to lead / manage) Руков одить движением = jonbesh ra rahbari kardan (to lead the movement ) ≠ Р уков одить движение От кого ? Az che kas i? From whom? Р. П. Спрашивать Кого ? Soal kardan У кого ? (to ask) Спрашивать (y) друга о поездке = az dost dar bare safar soal kardan (to ask a friend about his trip) ≠Спрашивать от друга о поездк e Кого ? Что ? Ke? What? Р. П. Считать Che? Who? Кем ? Be hesab avardan Чем ? (to consider) Я считаю его своим учителем = man u ra moaleme khod midanam (I consider him as my teacher) ≠ Я считаю его сво й учител ь Кому ? Be che kasi? To whom? Р. П. Увлекаться Чему ? Be che chizi? To what? Кем ? Sar garm budan (shodan) Кого ? Che kasi? Who? Чем ? Alaghemand budan (shodan) Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Что ? Che chizi? What? (to be / get engaged or to be / get interested in ) Увлекаться бес седой = be sohbat sar garm budan (sar garm sohbat budan) (to be busy talking) ≠ У влекаться бес сед e; Увле каться бес сед y

От чего ? Az che chizi? From what? Д. П. Удив ляться От кого ? Az che kasi? From whom? Кому ? Taajob kardan Чему ? (to be surprised)

Он удивился моим словам =u az harfhaye man taajob kard, He was surprised by my words ≠ Он удивился от моих слов Кто ? Что ? Che kasi ? What? Р. П. Является Che chizi Who? Кем ? Budan Чем ? Be manzele ….budan Mahsub shodan (to be, to be regarded as) Это является нашим долгом = in vazife ma ast (this is our duty ) ≠ Э то является наш долг

6 Ahmadi M.

Case assignment by pre position Incorrect case Persian equivalent English Verbal case Verb assigning Equivalent Кому ? Be che kasi? To what? Р. П. Верить Чему ? Be che chizi? To whom? В кого ? Bо Eteghad dashtan что ? Iman dashtan (to believe in / to have faith in) Верить в Бо га = be khoda eteghad dashtan (to believe in God) ≠ Верить Богу Note: The case assignment of the verb берυ мь ( Кому ? Чему ? ) meaning “to trust or believe in” are equal with their Persian counterparts:

На Ког о? Zane che kasi shodan? To marry wh om? To Т. П. Выйти замуж С кем ? Ba ch e kasi ezdevaj become the wife of ….? За Кого ? Shohar kardan (ezdevaj За кем ? kardan kardan) (to marry / take a woman in marriage) Выйти замуж за Сашу = ba Sasha ezdevaj kardan (zane Sasha shodan) (to marry Sasha) ≠ выйти за муж на Сашу ; выйти замуж c Саш eй; выйти замуж за Саш eй На Кого ? Che kasi ra gereftan? To marry П. П. Жениться С кем ? Ba che kasi ejdevaj To take as one’s wife На Ком? Zan gereftan (ezdevaj kardan? kardan) To marry (take a woman in marriage )

Женит ься на Кате = ba Katia ezdevaj kardan (Katia ra gereftan) (marry Katia) ≠Жениться на Катю ; Жениться c Кат eй Во что? Dar che chizi? Dar About what? П. П. Ошибаться О чём ? morede che chizi? в чём ? Eshtebah kardan О ком ? Dar morede che chizi? в ком ? (to err / make a mistake) Ошибаться в рас счетах =dar mohasebat eshtebah kardan (to miscalculate) ≠ О шибаться в рас cчеты ; Ошибаться o рас счетах

Ошибаться в человеке = dar morede shakhsi eshtebah kardan (to be wrong about someone) ≠Ошибаться в человек ; Ошибаться o человек e Кому ? Che kasi? What? B. П. Быть похожим Чему ? Che chizi? Who? На кого ? Shabih budan Be che kasi? To what? На что ? (to look like someone)

Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Be che chizi? To whom? Он похож на отца = u shabihe pedarash ast (he looks like his father) ≠ Он похож отц y Note: The word “ похож ” is used as an adjective in Russian while its Persian equivalent is a verb.

O кого ? O чего ? Az che kasi? From w hat? B. П. Сердиться Az che chizi? From w ho m? Ha кого ? Asabani shudan/ Ha что ? khashmgin shudan (to get angry/ mad at) Сердиться на детей = az bacheha asabani shudan (to get mad at kids) ≠ С ердиться от детей

Для кого ? Дл я Baraye che kasi? For whom? Д. П. Скучать чего ? За кого ? Baraye che chizi? For what? По Кому ? Deltangi kardan/ За что ? Кого ? Che kasi? What? По Deltang shudan (budan) Что ? Che chizi? Who? чему ? To feel homesick/ to be nostalgic Скучать по родине = deltang mihan budan ( to feel homesick ) ≠ С кучать для родины ; Скучать за родин y; С кучать родин y Во что? Dar che? (koja)? In w hat? П. П. Участвовать Wh ere? В чeм? Sherkat kardan (to participate / take part in) Участвовать в переговорах = dar mozakerat sherkat kardan (to take part in negotiations) ≠ Участвовать в переговоры

7 Case Assignment in Russian and Persian

This issue is regarded as one of the fundamental foreign languages a fact which not only does obstacles in the way of learning Russian by Iranian not facilitate language learning but cause s students. The mastery of inflectional endings and difficulties for learners as well . Therefore , the their proper use require attention and a lot of time publication of especially prepared textbooks for along with constant practice. students whose MT is Persian , is of paramount significance. Conclusion One of the structures in which the Considering the fact that words lack inflectional comparative studies can be of great help endings in Persian , little attention is paid to the concerns the case assignment. While t eaching a case system in this language and case particu lar verb, the instructor should draw the assignment by verbs is not considered an attention of the learners to the case assignment important issue either . This issue makes Iranian particularly when it is different in each learners unaware of the presence of case language. assignment in their Mother Tongue whereas this structure enjo ys its unique position in References Persian and this language only lacks the [1] Theovan Als etc (1994) , translated by inflectional endings as a case assigner while Mahmood Elyasee, Applied Linguistics, other categories are used to show the case. Learning and Teaching of Foreign Languages, One of the best methods for teaching this Mashad : Astan Quds -e- Razavi Publication . structure is through comparative studies and [2] Hafeznia , Moham mad Reza (2001), An particularly the publication of comparative introduction to Research in Humanities ,

Downloaded from eijh.modares.ac.ir at 10:46 IRST on Tuesday September 28th 2021 books emphasizing problematic structures. Tehran : Samt Publication . Unfortunately, the books used for the teaching [3] Gharib, Abdolazim, et al (1999) , Persian of Russian and even other languages in Iran are Grammar (Panj Ostad), Tehran : Naheed not based on a systematic between Publ ication . the learners’ MT and the FL. The contents of [4] Homayun Farokh, Abdolrahim (1986), the textbooks and the arrangement of their Comprehensive Persian Grammar, Tehran : materials, gradation and exercises are often Elmi Publication based on the needs analyses made for other

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