Document Type : Research

Author

• jalal Rahimian

Department of foreign languages and linguistics, college of Humanities, Shiraz University

Abstract

1. Introduction
During recent decades Persian noun phrases have been analyzed in details by many linguists within different theoretical frameworks. However, some dimensions of this syntactic category, including internal and external dependents as well as their relative positions to the head noun, and direct dependents vs indirect ones still remain to be discussed and reanalyzed. While direct dependents function directly in the structure of the NP, indirect ones function in the structure of dependents of the NP. Flexibility of dependents in terms of their positions relative to the head noun as well as possible repetition of dependents in the structure of the NP are among topics discussed in this piece of research. Taking Payne and Huddleston (2002) as a model, the writer presented proper answers to the above issues.
Based on the above, the present article seeks to answer the following questions:
1- What is the representation of head-dependents in noun phrases in Persian language?
2. How is reproducibility manifested in head-dependents in noun phrases?
The importance of previous research in the field of noun phrases is undeniable and each of them has contributed to the deepening of syntactic studies. However, with a brief look at the existing research, it can be said that some aspects of the Persian noun phrases still require new research and analysis. The purpose of this study is to introduce external dependencies in the noun phrases and distinguish them from internal dependencies, as well as to distinguish between direct and indirect dependencies. Details on the flexibility of some dependencies in terms of their position relative to the head of the noun phrases will also be discussed. Finally, the reproducibility of some dependents will be examined and analyzed in detail.
2. Materials and methods
In the present study, we will use a descriptive-analytical method to examine the data. The research data are also based on the author's intuition and the approval of other speakers’ intuition.
3. Results and discussion
During this research, after a critical look at the most important works in the field of noun phrase, aspects of this category that were not considered before were addressed. Regarding the pre-head dependents, it was shown that the rightmost dependents of the noun phrase belong to three different categories, including the demonstrative pronoun, ambiguous devices, and question phrases. Then it was determined what elements these dependents have the capacity to accompany.
The second group of pre-head dependents consists of three elements: cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, and superlative adjectives, of which only cardinal numbers have the capacity to accept dependent. The third category of pre-head dependents consists of titles and descriptors. In this context, indefinite article/ -y/, was also discussed as a flexible morpheme that can appear before and after the head. In this study, I proposed three types of external pre-dependents. The first category consisted of adverbs such as "zaheran, taqriban" and the like, which appear before the rightmost internal pre-dependent. The second category includes dependents such as "be estelah, be zaher" and the like, which immediately follow the rightmost internal pre-dependent. The internal post-head dependents also included six different categories on which three important issues were discussed: a) their relative order to the head, flexible dependencies, and the reproducibility or non-reproducibility of the dependents. Finally, I discussed four types of external post-dependents. The first category of these dependents are direct complements in the form of propositional phrases which their role is fundamentally different from that of the head dependents. The second group of external dependents consists of direct clauses, the role of which is inherently different from that of the nuclear dependents. The third category of external dependents are indirect complements of the head, the details of which are stated in the research text. The fourth category external post-dependents are elements known as ‘appositive’.

4. Conclusion
Besides, classical division of dependents into pre-head and post-head ones, we analyzed them from two more perspectives: direct vs indirect dependents as well as internal vs external ones. Direct dependents function immediately in the structure of the NP whereas indirect ones are linked to the head noun through direct dependents. For instance, ‘number’, as a direct dependent of the head noun, takes a dependent in its turn. Post-head dependent 3 as a dependent of the head noun takes another NP as its dependent, and this process, theoretically, continues unlimitedly. Also, three external pre-head dependents and four external post-head dependents which were discussed in details. It was shown that post-head dependents 1 and 2 as well as indefinite marker ‘yǎ’ are flexible in terms of their positions relative to the head noun. Finally, it was shown that some of the post-head dependents, including nominals, and ‘rǎ’ are not repeatable in the structure of the NP whereas post-head dependents such as NPs, PPs and clauses are repeatable. There are three types of repetition: recursive, staking and separable dependents.

Key words: head, internal and external dependents, pre-head and post-head dependents, flexibility, repeatability.

Keywords

• head internal and external dependents
• pre-head and post-head dependents
• flexibility
• repeatability