Semantic and Syntactic Aspects of “Bāyestan” in Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Persian Language and literature, Letters and Human Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Syntactic and semantic analysis of modal verbs, particularly “bāyestan”, has been a challenging topic in Persian language studies due to its special inflectional, syntactic, and semantic states. These studies are mainly focused on the uses of this verb in contemporary Persian, ignoring the historical texts. The current study, relying on data derived from Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī (1,114 cases), aims to review the challenging semantic and syntactic aspects of this verb. First, by referring to some of the morphosyntactic features of this verb, we have identified its status in terms of tense, time implications, and differentiation between different forms of past and present tenses. Next, we have shown that in the valency of this verb there is either a noun phrase (subject) or a complement clause. Subsequently, we have introduced and discussed two assumptions about the verb bāyestan: either considering the complement clause as the subject and the expletive pro. We have thus shown that the impersonality of this verb is due to the syntactic and semantic nature of the subject and has nothing to do with the changes of the verb during the grammaticalization. Afterward, it was found that non-finite clauses have no syntactic subject, and what has been suggested in some research as the 'subject' of “Ra” is in fact a noun phrase whose syntactic role is the optional complement of the verb bāyestan and its semantic role is the beneficiary. This noun phrase is essentially independent of the complement clause. In this regard, it was found that unlike Davari's analysis (1394), modality in non-finite clauses may also be agent-oriented, and at least based on Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī data, it is not possible to consider moving from action-oriented modality to agent-oriented modality as a grammaticalization process. Finally, the semantic examination of the verb bāyestan supported the previous analyses in this field and revealed that all uses of the verb in the Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī are non-epistemic modality.

Keywords

References

-Ahmadi Givi, Hasan (2005/1384SH), Persian Grammar: verb (Dastūr-e Zabān-e Farsi: Fe’l). Tehran: Ghatre.
-Akhlaghi, Faryar. (2008/1386SH), “Bāyestan, šodan and tavānestæn: Three modal verbs in contemporary Persian” (Bāyestæn, šodan and tavānestan: se fe’l-e vajhi dar Farsi-ye emruz), Grammar (Dastūr). Vol. 3, pp. 82-132.

-Amouzadeh, Mohammad and Hadaegh Rezaei, (2010/1389SH), “Semantic aspects of bāyad in Persian” (Ab’ād-e ma’nišenāxti-ey bāyad), Journal of Language Research (pažuhešhāye zabāni), Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 57-78.

-Anoushe, Mazdak (2014/1393SH). “Null expletive pronoun: a minimalist approach” (Zamir-e puĉvažei-ye penhân dar zaban-e Fârsi: rūykardi kaminegarā), Journal of Linguistics & Khorasan Dialects (zabānšenāsi va gūyešhāye xorāsān), Vol. 11, pp. 29-53.
-Anoushe, Mazdak (2015/1394SH), “Passive structure in Persian: a minimalist approach” (Mas’aleye majhūl dar zaban-e Fārsi: rūykardi kaminegara), Journal of Language Research (Pažuhešhâye Zabâni), Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 1-20.
-Bāteni, Mohammadreza (1974/1353SH), “The use of Bāyad in today's Persian” (Este’māle bāyad dar Fārsi-ye emrūz), Faculty of Literature and Humanities University of Tehran (dāneškade-ye adabiyāt va olūm-e ensāni dānešgāh-e Tehran), Vol. 20, Issue 3&4, pp. 125-130.
-Bayhaqi, Abol-fazl (1996/1375SH) Tārīx-i Bayhaqī, Ed. By Aliakbar Fayyaz, Mashhad: Ferdowsi University
-Dabirmoqaddam, Mohammad (1990/1369SH), “Rā in Persian” (Rā dar zabān-e Fārsi), Iranian Journal of Linguistics (Zabānšenāsi), Vol. 7, Issue 1, pp. 2-60.
-Darzi, Ali (2010/1389SH), Syntactic Argumentation (Ŝive-ye Estedlāl-e Nahvi), 2nd ed. Tehran: Samt.
-Davari, Shadi (2015/1394SH), “From compulsion to certainty: the development and evolution of the semantic meanings of Bāyad based on the auxiliation” (Az ejbār tā yagqin: takvin va tahavvol-e ma’āni-ye vajhi-ye bāyad bar asās-e farāyand-e mo’inšodegi). Festschrift of Kourosh Safavi (Jašnāme-ye Kourosh Safavi), With the Effort of Mehrdad Naghzguy-Kohan & Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand, Tehran: Siahrūd, pp. 111-149.
-Dehkhoda, Aliakbar (1998/1377SH), Encyclopedic Dictionary (Loqatname), 2nd ed., Vol. 8, Tehran: University of Tehran.
-Farshidvard, Khosrow (1996/1375SH), Sentence and Evolution of it in Persian language (Jomle va tahavvol-e ān dar zabān-e Fārsi), Tehran: Amirkabir.
-Farshidvard, Khosrow (2003/1382SH), Detailed Grammar of Today (Dastūr-e Mofassal-e Emruz). Tehran: Soxan.
-Farshidvard, Khosrow. (1971/1350SH), “Some grammatical rules of Tārīx-i Bayhaqī” (Ba’zi qavā’ed-e dastūri-ye tārix-e bayhaqi), Festschrift of Abol-fazl Bayhaqi (Yādnāme-ye Abol-fazl-e Bayhaqi), PP. 468-515.
-Farshidvard, Khosrow (2004/1383SH), Verb and Verb Phrase and Evolution of them in Persian language (Fe’l va gorūh-e fe’li va tahavvol-e ān dar zabān-e Fārsi), Tehran: sorūš.
-Labbafan Xosh, Zahra & Ali Darzi (2015/1393SH), “On the syntactic analysis of Persian modals: šâyad  and bâyad” (Negāhi be jāygāh-e nahvi-ye bāyad va šāyad), Journal of Language Research (pažuhešhāye zabāni), Vol. 5, Issue 2, pp. 97-112.
-Lazard, Gilbert. (2005), A Grammar of Contemporary Persian (dastūr-e zabān-e Fārsi-ye mo’āser), Tr. by Mahasti Bahraini, Tehran: Hermes.
-Mohammad Ebrahimi, Zeinab & Shabnam Majidi (2019/1398SH), “The identification of the Persian grammatical verbs for teaching to non-native speakers” (Bāzšenāsi fe’lhā-ye dasturi dar zabān-e Farsi va āmuzeš-e ānhā be qeyr-e farsizabānān), Journal of linguistic and Rhetorical Studies (Motāle’āt-e zabāni va belāqi), Vol. 10, Issue 19, pp. 293-322.
-Motavallian, Rezvan (2016/1395SH), “Representation of modal verbs bāyestæn and šodæn in Persian” (Bāznamā’i-ye nahvi-ye af’āl-e vajhi-ye bāyestan and šodan dar zabān-e Farsi), Language Related Research (jostārhā-ey zabāni), Vol. 7, Issue 7, pp. 125-150.

-Naghizadeh, Mahmood & Manuchehr Tavangar & Mohammad Amoozadeh, (2011/1390SH), “An Inquiry into the concept of subjectivity involving modal verbs in Persian” (Barresi-ye mafhum-e zehniyat dar af’āl-e vajhi dar zabān-e Farsi), Journal of Researches in Linguistics (pažuhešhāye zabānšenāsi),No. 4, pp. 1-20.

Najafi, Isā & Mohammad Arta (2011/1390SH), “Investigating the evolution of the functions of ra in  periods of Persian prose” (Barresi-ye tahavvol-e kārkardhā-ye harf-e ra dar advār-e nasr-e Farsi), Poetry and prose stylistics (Sabkšenāsi-ye nazm-o-nasr), No. 12, pp. 229-247.
-Natel-Khanlari, Parviz (1986/1365SH), History of Persian language (Tarix-e zabān-e Farsi), Vol. 2, Tehran: Našr-e no.
-Natel-Khanlari, Parviz (1998/1377SH), Persian Grammar (Dastūr-e zabān-e Farsi), Tehran: Tus.
-Sadeghi, Aliashraf and Gholamreza Arjang, (1979), Grammar (Second year) (Dastur / Sāl-e Dovom), Tehran: Sazman Ketabhāye Darsi.
-Tabibzadeh, Omid (2007/1386SH), “The study of complement clauses in Persian and the ways to include them in monolingual dictionaries” (Barresi-ye anvā’-e bandhā-ye motammemi dar zabān-e Farsi va šive-ye namāyeš-e ānhā dar farhanghā). Lexicography (Farhangnevisi), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp 211-235.
-Tabibzadeh, Omid (2012/1391SH), Persian Grammar: a Theory of Autonomous Phrases Based on Dependency Grammar (Dastūr-e Zabān-e Farsi bar Asās-e Nazariye-ye Grūhhā-ye Xodgardān dar Dastūr-e vābastegi), Tehran: Markaz.

-Vahedi Langerudi, Mohammad-Mahdi & Arezoo Najafian (2003/1382SH), “Classification of impersonal constructions in Persian” (Dastebandi-ye sāxthā-ye qeyrešaxsi dar zabān-e Farsi), Journal of the Growth of Persian Language and Literature Education (Rošd-e Amuzeš-e Zabān va Adab-e Farsi), No. 67, pp. 18-24.

The Journal Of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 12, Issue 24
July 2021
Pages 265-292

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics