نشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی (Mar 2023)
Type shifting and the number system in Persian
Abstract
Abstract:The present article examines the structure of number phrase in Persian. It is also aimed at explaining the apparent lack of agreement between numerals and nouns in this language. In other words, it presents an answer to the question of why nouns appear in singular forms in a noun phrase even if they are premodified by a number bigger than one. To put it differently, it is to put forth the inquiry that why numbers and the plural markers "ha"/"an" in Persian are in complementary distribution in noun phrases. If we assume that some sorts of formal (morpho-syntactic) agreement must hold between numerals and the nouns they modify cross-linguistically, as in the Germanic and Romance languages, then, what is to be answered is how this agreement is established between the two elements in question in the number system of Persian. In this study, we adopt a lexico-semantic approach inspired by formal semanticist within the Minimalist Program to investigate the syntax of number phrase in Persian that involves numbers, classifiers and the head nouns. As we proceed, we introduce type shifting and three functional categories within the determiner phrase as Measure Phrase, Numeral Quantifier Phrase, and Agreement Phrase (AgrP). We shall also show that the agreement between the numeral and the head noun is also held in Persian both syntactically and semantically, the same as other languages. Finally, treating the Persian plural markers as adjuncts in construction where this marker accompanies a numeral and a classifier, we argue that in such contexts, the plural markers "ha"/"an" are adjoined to the noun.Keywords: Formal Semantics; Type Shifting; Number Phrase; Classifier Phrase; Measure Phrase; Numeral Quantifier Phrase; Agreement Phrase IntroductionThere is no overt formal and semantic agreement between nouns and numerals in Persian, especially when there is a numeral bigger than one. In such a context, the singular form of the noun is used without any plural marker. For instance, "do sib" (two apple) is s well-formed structure, whereas "do sibha" (two apples) is not. This is while in many languages such as English and Spanish, among others, there is necessarily overt agreement between the nouns and numerals. For instance, in English "two apples" is well-formed, but "two apple" is not. Simiarly, in Spanish "dos monzanas" (two apples) in the presence of the plural marker "s" is well-formed, but "dos monzanas" without the plural marker is ill-formed. In this article, we try to investigate different mechanisms that Persian employs to establish such an agreement. In section two, we present some of the projections introduced within the determiner phrase and proceed to discuss exclusively those projections that are directly related to the present discussion, namely number phrase, measure phrase and classifier phrase. The section is concluded with a brief overview of some of the literature on number phrase in Persian. Section three is dedicated to introducing certain ideas of formal semanticists, such as type shifting, to be employed to account for investigating formal and semantic agreement between nouns and numerals in Persian. In section four, we present our analysis of number phrase in Persian and show how the formal (morpho-syntactic) agreement between numerals and nouns is established in this language. The section is concluded with a discussion on the affixal nature of the plural marker in some specific Persian constructions. Section five presents the summary of the article. Materials and MethodsThe materials analyzed in this article are some noun phrases or, more accurately, some determiner phrases in Persian with a particular focus on agreement between the head noun and a premodifier numeral. The data came from standard modern Persian. We adopted the idea of type shifting to explain the overt agreement between the numeral and head noun together with Chierchia's classification of languages according to which nouns in Persian have [+Pred][-Agr] features. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsIn this article, we presented an analysis of numeral system in Persian with particular focus on the question of why in Persian, unlike many other languages, nouns are not marked for plural affix in the presence of a numeral. Put differently, nouns do not display agreement with numerals bigger than one. In this study, we argued that such an agreement is semantically and formally necessary. To resolve the semantic agreement problem, we employed Chierchia's classification of languages according to which Persian belongs to the family of languages that have nouns with Inherent Plurality feature. Nouns in this class of languages are subject to type shifting. In this, nouns tend to become count nouns if they are to be interpreted as singular. We also discussed three projections within Persian DPs. The first one was the Numeral Quantifier Phrase which was the result of the fusion of number projection and classifier projection and was also the host for the number plus classifier or the plural suffix. It was also responsible for type shifting. The other projection was measure phrase the head of which was a pseudo-partitive: a measure noun that expresses quantity or physical properties of nouns. The third projection was the Agreement Phrase that was responsible for establishing formal agreement between the head noun and the numeral. This was how we resolved the problem of apparent lack of agreement between these two elements. Finally, we proposed that the plural marker in Persian is adjoined to a noun, at least in constructions where it contributes definiteness to the noun and particularly when it is accompanied with a noun and classifier.
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