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- Historical Linguistics, Etymology, Contact Linguistics, Iranian Linguists, Indo-Iranian Linguistics, Ancient Indo-European Languages, and 28 moreIndo-European Studies, Iranian Languages, Indo-Iranian Languages (Languages And Linguistics), Empirical Linguistics, Kurdish Language, Manichaeism, Old Persian, Persian, Middle Persian literature and language, Ergativity, Case systems, Sound change, Balochi, Parthian, Comparative Linguistics, Turkish Language, Altaistic, Avestan manuscripts and colophons, Linguistics, Syntax, Morphology, Languages, Pakistan, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Endangered Languages, Linguistic Typology, and Indo-European Linguisticsedit
- - Studium der Indogermanistik in Hamburg und Wien (Mag.a phil. 1996),- Promotionsstudium in Vergleichender indogerman... more- Studium der Indogermanistik in Hamburg und Wien (Mag.a phil. 1996),- Promotionsstudium in Vergleichender indogermanischer Sprachwissenschaft in Frankfurt a. M. (Dr. phil. 2003),- Habilitation in Vergleichender Sprachwissenschaft in Frankfurt a.M. (PD 2010).- 1995/96 Lektorin für Deutsch in Banská Bystrica (Slowakei), - 1996-98 Mitarbeiterin an einem Wörterbuchprojekt in Graz (Österreich),- 1998-2015 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin bzw. Assistentin am Institut für Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft usw. (dann Empirische Sprachwissenschaft) in Frankfurt a. M.,- seit Oktober 2015 Forscherin am CNRS (UMR Mondes iranien et indien), Ivry-sur-Seine (Frankreich) ¤ European Award of Iranian Studies (2007) der Societas Iranologica Europaea für die Doktorarbeit ¤ Award for Research Cooperation and High Excellence in Science (2008) der Minerva-Stiftung für ein Forschungsprojekt mit Dr Thamar Gindin ¤ Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall and Visiting Member at Jesus College, University of Cambridge (2015) CV: https://cv.archives-ouvertes.fr/agneskornPublications: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/search/index/q/agnes.korn/edit
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The present volume addresses the linguistic categories of Prospective and Proximative. Prospective refers to an event which is expected, presumed, or will take place while Proximative refers to its pre-stage; its canonical semantics is... more
The present volume addresses the linguistic categories of Prospective and Proximative. Prospective refers to an event which is expected, presumed, or will take place while Proximative refers to its pre-stage; its canonical semantics is ‘be going/about to do something’. Highlighting historical, areal and typological aspects, the contributions in this book investigate the encoding of proximative and prospective semantics in genetically related and non-related languages. While Iranian and Turkic languages are the focal point, several contact languages of historical and typological relevance (and potentially of interest for phylogenetic studies), viz. Aramaic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Uralic, have been included.
A comprehensive introductory section discusses both theoretical and methodological issues; it is followed by in-depth analysis articles and shorter case studies, the latter arranged geographically: Prospective and Proximative in languages spoken in Southern Europe, Iran and the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia and China. For most of these languages, the categories of Prospective and/or Proximative are described here for the first time.
The research presented in this volume enriches our understanding of the Prospective and Proximative by identifying hitherto unknown encoding strategies, among them discourse, modal and aspectual particles, portmanteau morphemes expressing clusters of proximative and aspectual or evidential semantics, etc. Of particular typological significance are advances in the analysis of the semantic structures of proximative and prospective categories as well as of the sources and grammaticalization paths of the individual forms.
This volume will be an inspiration for further research on the categories of Prospective and Proximative in the languages of Eurasia and beyond. It will be not only of interest for scholars dealing with the respective languages and language families, but also of great importance for historical and areal linguistics, language typology and theoretical linguistics.
A comprehensive introductory section discusses both theoretical and methodological issues; it is followed by in-depth analysis articles and shorter case studies, the latter arranged geographically: Prospective and Proximative in languages spoken in Southern Europe, Iran and the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia and China. For most of these languages, the categories of Prospective and/or Proximative are described here for the first time.
The research presented in this volume enriches our understanding of the Prospective and Proximative by identifying hitherto unknown encoding strategies, among them discourse, modal and aspectual particles, portmanteau morphemes expressing clusters of proximative and aspectual or evidential semantics, etc. Of particular typological significance are advances in the analysis of the semantic structures of proximative and prospective categories as well as of the sources and grammaticalization paths of the individual forms.
This volume will be an inspiration for further research on the categories of Prospective and Proximative in the languages of Eurasia and beyond. It will be not only of interest for scholars dealing with the respective languages and language families, but also of great importance for historical and areal linguistics, language typology and theoretical linguistics.
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This volume constitutes a contribution to the cross-linguistic study of ditransitive constructions, arguably the most prominent construction in the domain of trivalent verbs. The ditransitive construction is defined, in accordance with... more
This volume constitutes a contribution to the cross-linguistic study of ditransitive constructions, arguably the most prominent construction in the domain of trivalent verbs. The ditransitive construction is defined, in accordance with typological practice, as a construction formed with verbs like ‘give’, which take Recipient and Theme arguments in addition to an Agent.
The issue of ditransitive constructions has enjoyed increased attention over the last decade and has been addressed in a number of important studies. However, certain questions are yet to be explored. The contributions in this volume touch upon a variety of languages, provide rich new data on the distribution of ditransitive constructions in lesser-researched languages, and substantiate the findings with corpus data.
Iranian languages are prominently represented in the volume. These languages are particularly intriguing not only because of the bewildering diversity in the ditransitive domain, but also because they present a number of challenges for ditransitive typology. This is due to the fact that these languages feature reduced case systems as well as differential object marking, which obscures the distinction between recipients and (prominent) patient and themes. The volume also features studies dealing with a number of other languages and language families, including modern Romance varieties and their ancestor Latin, Ancient Greek, Tocharian, as well as non-Indo-European languages (such as Mansi and Niger-Congo). Most of the studies take a descriptive and/or comparative perspective, as appropriate when dealing with endangered languages, but some contributions make use of other approaches and methodologies, ranging from psycholinguistic-experimental and corpus linguistic techniques to typological and theoretical analyses.
Recurrent themes in the present collection include factors underlying the choice of construction in the ditransitive alternation, the most important of which are lexical choices, information structure and discourse prominence of theme and recipient argument.
The issue of ditransitive constructions has enjoyed increased attention over the last decade and has been addressed in a number of important studies. However, certain questions are yet to be explored. The contributions in this volume touch upon a variety of languages, provide rich new data on the distribution of ditransitive constructions in lesser-researched languages, and substantiate the findings with corpus data.
Iranian languages are prominently represented in the volume. These languages are particularly intriguing not only because of the bewildering diversity in the ditransitive domain, but also because they present a number of challenges for ditransitive typology. This is due to the fact that these languages feature reduced case systems as well as differential object marking, which obscures the distinction between recipients and (prominent) patient and themes. The volume also features studies dealing with a number of other languages and language families, including modern Romance varieties and their ancestor Latin, Ancient Greek, Tocharian, as well as non-Indo-European languages (such as Mansi and Niger-Congo). Most of the studies take a descriptive and/or comparative perspective, as appropriate when dealing with endangered languages, but some contributions make use of other approaches and methodologies, ranging from psycholinguistic-experimental and corpus linguistic techniques to typological and theoretical analyses.
Recurrent themes in the present collection include factors underlying the choice of construction in the ditransitive alternation, the most important of which are lexical choices, information structure and discourse prominence of theme and recipient argument.
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The main part of the book is a new systematic treatment of the historical phonology of Balochi. Comparing important related languages (chiefly Avestan, New Persian and Parthian), the book analyses the development of Old Iranian sounds to... more
The main part of the book is a new systematic treatment of the historical phonology of Balochi. Comparing important related languages (chiefly Avestan, New Persian and Parthian), the book analyses the development of Old Iranian sounds to the stage of Common Balochi and the changes leading from that stage to the variants spoken today in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and some other countries. The diversity and intensity of contacts with neighbouring languages are reflected in the Balochi lexicon of which selected fields are presented and discussed.
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Throughout history Balochistan has been an important contact zone between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau. Today Balochistan is a land divided among several states. It is a region where a variety of languages intermingle,... more
Throughout history Balochistan has been an important contact zone between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau. Today Balochistan is a land divided among several states. It is a region where a variety of languages intermingle, different religions jostle for attention, and traditional ways of living are challenged by modernity. The papers in this volume explore Balochistan's linguistic, socio-political and cultural diversity. Some take a historical perspective, and others examine the dramatic developments now shaping the region.
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Metrische und linguistische Fragen zum Rgveda, der ältesten aus Indien überlieferten Dichtung, sind Inhalt dieses Bandes. Dichter des Rgveda verwendeten beim Verfassen einer neuen Hymne Material aus bereits vorhandenen eigenen oder... more
Metrische und linguistische Fragen zum Rgveda, der ältesten aus Indien überlieferten Dichtung, sind Inhalt dieses Bandes. Dichter des Rgveda verwendeten beim Verfassen einer neuen Hymne Material aus bereits vorhandenen eigenen oder fremden Hymnen, deren Versmaß dem der neuen Hymne angepasst wurde. Es werden nun Mittel untersucht, die diesem Zweck gedient haben können.
Beigegeben sind eine Einleitung über die Forschungsgeschichte der indogermanischen Metrik, ein Appendix über die im Rgveda vorkommenden "Ableitungskomposita" und ein Index.
Beigegeben sind eine Einleitung über die Forschungsgeschichte der indogermanischen Metrik, ein Appendix über die im Rgveda vorkommenden "Ableitungskomposita" und ein Index.
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"This volume is the first attempt to present omen and taboo texts from Georgia in a structured form, and to make this type of traditional culture accessible for systematic research. The texts, most of which were collected in the 19th and... more
"This volume is the first attempt to present omen and taboo texts from Georgia in a structured form, and to make this type of traditional culture accessible for systematic research. The texts, most of which were collected in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, are given in German translation of the Georgian, Russian and French originals. A sizeable portion of the material is from archive material, which is published here for the first time.
Dieser Band ist der erste Versuch, den verstreut aufgezeichneten Omina, Verhaltensratschlägen und Tabuvorschriften aus Georgien eine strukturierte Form zu geben und diese Gattung der traditionellen Kultur damit für die systematische Forschung zugänglich zu machen. Die meisten der in der vorliegenden Sammlung in Übersetzung präsentierten Materialien sind im 19. und in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts aufgezeichnet worden. Viele der Texte stammen aus Archivmaterialien und werden hier erstmals veröffentlicht."
Dieser Band ist der erste Versuch, den verstreut aufgezeichneten Omina, Verhaltensratschlägen und Tabuvorschriften aus Georgien eine strukturierte Form zu geben und diese Gattung der traditionellen Kultur damit für die systematische Forschung zugänglich zu machen. Die meisten der in der vorliegenden Sammlung in Übersetzung präsentierten Materialien sind im 19. und in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts aufgezeichnet worden. Viele der Texte stammen aus Archivmaterialien und werden hier erstmals veröffentlicht."
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Through the passage of time, changes take place in any language. Balochi has experienced historical changes in different layers of its structure. The aim of this article is to describe cases of /n/ in a specific Balochi dialect that are... more
Through the passage of time, changes take place in any language. Balochi has experienced historical changes in different layers of its structure. The aim of this article is to describe cases of /n/ in a specific Balochi dialect that are unexpected because, for instance, the equivalent word in Persian or in other Balochi dialects does not have an /n/, or there are certain forms in the paradigm of a lexeme that do not contain /n/.The focus is on the dialect spoken in and around the regions of Bompur and Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. The insertion of unetymological /n/ in words with more than one syllable often causes a change of syllable structure from an open to a closed syllable. It is possible that a preference for closed syllables has got the process of /n/ insertion underway. The reason why /n/ is chosen could be that /n/ is available for nasalization of a vowel. This nasal vowel can then be re-interpreted as VC.
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The aim of this paper is to look at some of the problems with the traditional subdivisions of Iranian and at possible new approaches. It builds on an argument made in an earlier article, adding discussion and further illustrating problems... more
The aim of this paper is to look at some of the problems with the traditional subdivisions of Iranian and at possible new approaches. It builds on an argument made in an earlier article, adding discussion and further illustrating problems in the data and methods involved in the traditional model of relations among the Iranian languages. It specifically points out that the traditional family tree is based on a set of isoglosses that is an artefact of the data that happened to be available at the time. In addition, the question arises whether the wave model or the concept of linguistic areas would be more adequate to account for the data. The discovery of a corpus of Bactrian manuscripts encourages a new approach. I argue that a sub-branch including Bactrian, Parthian and some other languages is a hypothesis that deserves to be tested; at the same time, the comparison with other Iranian languages as well as typological considerations permit to assess the role of language contact.
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The aim of the present article is to describe the morphosyntactic properties of Iranian Coastal Balochi as spoken by the Afro-Balochi community. The Afro-Baloch have completely switched to Balochi and there are no traces of African... more
The aim of the present article is to describe the morphosyntactic properties of Iranian Coastal Balochi as spoken by the Afro-Balochi community. The Afro-Baloch have completely switched to Balochi and there are no traces of African languages in their speech. In comparison with other Balochi dialects of Iran on the one hand and Coastal Balochi dialects of Pakistan on the other, Coastal Balochi as spoken in Iran shows archaic characteristics, particularly in its case system, in the demonstrative pronouns and in the alignment features. This particularly applies to the speech of the Afro-Baloch, who due to persisting social segregation have limited access to education and media.
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The aim of the present paper is to describe the morphosyntactic properties of Iranian Coastal Balochi as spoken by the Afro-Balochi community. The Afro-Baloch have completely switched to Balochi and there are no traces of African... more
The aim of the present paper is to describe the morphosyntactic properties of Iranian Coastal Balochi as spoken by the Afro-Balochi community. The Afro-Baloch have completely switched to Balochi and there are no traces of African languages in their speech. In comparison with other Balochi dialects of Iran on the one hand and Coastal Balochi dialects of Pakistan on other, Coastal Balochi as spoken in Iran shows archaic characteristics, particularly in its case system, in the demonstrative pronouns and in the alignment features. This particularly applies to the speech of the Afro-Baloch, who due to persisting social segregation have limited access to education and media.
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This article studies the nominal system and noun phrase of Bashkardi, a language of the Iranian family spoken in Southern Iran in the region of Bashakerd. Bashkardi is a very little studied language, and is in particular need of being... more
This article studies the nominal system and noun phrase of Bashkardi, a language of the Iranian family spoken in Southern Iran in the region of Bashakerd. Bashkardi is a very little studied language, and is in particular need of being documented because it is a minority language endangered by heavy influence from Persian. The article is based on recordings made by Ilya Gershevitch in 1956. In discussing the Bashkardi nominal system, I compare it to that of geographically or historically neighbouring languages such as Balochi, spoken nearby in the province (and also in the form of the Koroshi dialect spoken in Fars province to the west). From a historical perspective, Middle Persian and Parthian, the only two Western Iranian languages attested from Middle Iranian times, are adduced to elucidate the development of the Bashkardi nominal system. I argue that the nominal system of Bashkardi agrees with Persian and other Western Ir. languages in having lost the distinction between direct and oblique case (preserved in Kurmanji, Balochi etc.), but that a trace of the oblique case might be present in the possessive marker -ī. Like Middle Persian, Bashkardi employs adpositions to mark syntactic relations, but none of these is used in a systematic way as of yet.
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Relations within the Iranian branch of Indo-European have traditionally been modelled by a tree that is essentially composed of binary splits into sub-and sub-subbranches. The present article will argue that this tree is rendered outdated... more
Relations within the Iranian branch of Indo-European have traditionally been modelled by a tree that is essentially composed of binary splits into sub-and sub-subbranches. The present article will argue that this tree is rendered outdated by new data that have come to light from contemporary and ancient languages, and that it was methodologically problematic from the outset, both for reasons of the isoglosses on which it is based and for not taking into account distinctions such as shared innovations vs. shared archaisms and marked vs. unmarked language changes. Conversely, a set of non-trivial morphological innovations, particularly in the verbal system, shared by Bactrian, Parthian and some neighbouring languages appears to suggest a subbranch which I will call "Central Iranian". The second part of the paper will present a tentative reconstruction of the nominal system of Central Iranian. This reconstruction wishes to show the result one arrives at when trying to reconstruct a subbranch as strictly bottom-up as possible, i.e. using only the data from the languages under study, and avoiding to profit from Old Iranian data and from our knowledge about the protolanguages. " Central Iranian " would be closely related to Sogdian, and would share, by language contact, a number of features with Middle Persian; at the same time, Bactrian and Sogdian also share features with individual Eastern Ir. languages.
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This paper looks at three terms denoting the colour “red”, viz. Armenian karmir, the obviously corresponding Sogdian word karmīr, and karmīl “scarlet” found in the Hebrew Bible. It will first briefly discuss the etymology of these words... more
This paper looks at three terms denoting the colour “red”, viz. Armenian karmir, the obviously corresponding Sogdian word karmīr, and karmīl “scarlet” found in the Hebrew Bible. It will first briefly discuss the etymology of these words (summarising an argument made elsewhere) and argue that the words in question are a technical term for a red dye from Armenia produced from scale insects. We will then attempt to show that historical data and chemical analysis of extant historical textiles confirm the Armenian red as the relevant dye.
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Ancient Indo-European verbal nouns and adjectives are integrated into the verbal system in many later Indo-European languages. This paper looks at the forms and uses of verbal nouns in a variety of Balochi dialects.
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Abstract Armenian karmir “red” has often been considered as deriving from East Iranian, thus speaking in favour of relations between Armenian and Sogdian, a Middle Iranian language spoken at considerable distance from Armenia. For the... more
Abstract
Armenian karmir “red” has often been considered as deriving from East Iranian, thus speaking in favour of relations between Armenian and Sogdian, a Middle Iranian language spoken at considerable distance from Armenia. For the origin of Hebrew karmīl, on the other hand, a Middle Persian “karmīr” has been suggested. In either case, the etymology would be Proto-Indo-European *ku̯ṛ́mi- “worm” (be it directly or as a borrowing from Sanskrit kṛ́mi-) from which the colour term would be derived in a way parallel to French vermeil “scarlet” from ver “worm”, thus a term referring to a red dye obtained from scale insects (cochineals). I argue that karmīr is not a Middle Persian word for “red”, that Sogdian is unlikely to be the source of the Armenian and Hebrew words, and that an Indian origin is not probable either because of the specific features of the Indian scale insect dye. Conversely, Armenian scarlet was widely known and appreciated already in antiquity, so that, for historical as well as linguistic reasons, the origin of the word is likely to be an Iranian language within the region where Armenian was spoken.
Résumé
L'arménien karmir « rouge » est généralement considéré comme un des mots qui démontrent l'existence d'une relation entre l'arménien et le sogdien, langue moyen-iranienne orientale parlée à une distance considérable de l'arménien. Pour l'origine de l'hébreu karmīl on a cependant évoqué un mot moyen perse « karmīr ». En tout cas, l’étymologie de ces termes serait l'indo-européen *ku̯ṛ́mi- « ver » (soit directement, soit par emprunt au sanskrit), et la désignation de la couleur en serait dérivée d'une façon parallèle au français « vermeil », renvoyant donc à un colorant produit par des cochenilles. Je propose que le mot karmīr n'est pas un mot régulier pour le « rouge » en moyen perse, que le sogdien n'est probablement pas la source des mots arménien et hébreu, et qu'une origine indienne n'est pas probable non plus à cause de la spécificité du colorant rouge utilisé en Inde. En revanche, le vermeil d'Arménie était célèbre dans l'Antiquité. Pour l'origine de karmir, les données historiques en combinaison avec celles de la linguistique suggèrent donc une langue iranienne parlée dans la région qui était l'Arménie dans l'Antiquité.
Armenian karmir “red” has often been considered as deriving from East Iranian, thus speaking in favour of relations between Armenian and Sogdian, a Middle Iranian language spoken at considerable distance from Armenia. For the origin of Hebrew karmīl, on the other hand, a Middle Persian “karmīr” has been suggested. In either case, the etymology would be Proto-Indo-European *ku̯ṛ́mi- “worm” (be it directly or as a borrowing from Sanskrit kṛ́mi-) from which the colour term would be derived in a way parallel to French vermeil “scarlet” from ver “worm”, thus a term referring to a red dye obtained from scale insects (cochineals). I argue that karmīr is not a Middle Persian word for “red”, that Sogdian is unlikely to be the source of the Armenian and Hebrew words, and that an Indian origin is not probable either because of the specific features of the Indian scale insect dye. Conversely, Armenian scarlet was widely known and appreciated already in antiquity, so that, for historical as well as linguistic reasons, the origin of the word is likely to be an Iranian language within the region where Armenian was spoken.
Résumé
L'arménien karmir « rouge » est généralement considéré comme un des mots qui démontrent l'existence d'une relation entre l'arménien et le sogdien, langue moyen-iranienne orientale parlée à une distance considérable de l'arménien. Pour l'origine de l'hébreu karmīl on a cependant évoqué un mot moyen perse « karmīr ». En tout cas, l’étymologie de ces termes serait l'indo-européen *ku̯ṛ́mi- « ver » (soit directement, soit par emprunt au sanskrit), et la désignation de la couleur en serait dérivée d'une façon parallèle au français « vermeil », renvoyant donc à un colorant produit par des cochenilles. Je propose que le mot karmīr n'est pas un mot régulier pour le « rouge » en moyen perse, que le sogdien n'est probablement pas la source des mots arménien et hébreu, et qu'une origine indienne n'est pas probable non plus à cause de la spécificité du colorant rouge utilisé en Inde. En revanche, le vermeil d'Arménie était célèbre dans l'Antiquité. Pour l'origine de karmir, les données historiques en combinaison avec celles de la linguistique suggèrent donc une langue iranienne parlée dans la région qui était l'Arménie dans l'Antiquité.
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In this paper, I look at the relation of Armenian and Iranian word-finals. Agreeing with Olsen 2005, I argue that the Arm. stem-classes to which the Ir. loanwords are assigned reflect stem- and word-final vowels in the Ir. source... more
In this paper, I look at the relation of Armenian and Iranian word-finals. Agreeing with Olsen 2005, I argue that the Arm. stem-classes to which the Ir. loanwords are assigned reflect stem- and word-final vowels in the Ir. source languages, and the differing treatment of some Ir. stem classes is due to dialectal diversity of the sources.
The divergence to be explained chiefly concerns Ir. a-stems, some of which yield Arm. a-stems while others are reflected by Arm. u- and o-stems. Evidence from Manichean Middle Persian suggests that -am yielded a labial vowel in some dialects of Proto-Western Middle Iranian. I argue that this also applied to the dialect that furnished the unexpected Arm. u/o-stems, and that this dialect is further characterised by a development of Proto-Ir. vocalic *r to ar, thus differing from both Middle Persian and Parthian.
The divergence to be explained chiefly concerns Ir. a-stems, some of which yield Arm. a-stems while others are reflected by Arm. u- and o-stems. Evidence from Manichean Middle Persian suggests that -am yielded a labial vowel in some dialects of Proto-Western Middle Iranian. I argue that this also applied to the dialect that furnished the unexpected Arm. u/o-stems, and that this dialect is further characterised by a development of Proto-Ir. vocalic *r to ar, thus differing from both Middle Persian and Parthian.
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This article explores the emergence of complex predicates in Persian with a focus on voice and transitivity. It argues that the rise of CPs is linked to the development of the verb pair ‘‘do’’ and ‘‘become’’, which encode the features... more
This article explores the emergence of complex predicates in Persian with a focus on voice and transitivity. It argues that the rise of CPs is linked to the development of the verb pair ‘‘do’’ and ‘‘become’’, which encode the features called Instigation [+INST] and Affectedness [+AFF], respectively, by Næss (2007). While these features are characteristic for prototypical agents and patients, respectively, taken alone they are more general than that, making the two verbs ‘‘underspecified’’, a typical characteristic of light verbs as noted by Megerdoomian (2012) and others. The distribution of the verbs ‘‘do’’ and ‘‘become’’ is parallel to the domains of the Old Iranian active and middle (mediopassive) voice; it thus mirrors the voice opposition whose morphological marking is lost within Middle Iranian.
With ‘‘do’’ and ‘‘become’’ as its centre, the system integrates additional verbs such as ‘‘hold’’ and ‘‘give; put’’ on the [+INST] side and verbs of movement on the [+AFF] one. The same verbs are also used as auxiliaries for periphrastic formations such as the potential construction, the transitive preterite and the analytic passive, suggesting that grammaticalisation of auxiliaries and the development of light verbs are parallel processes the precise similarities and differences of which remain to be investigated. Here as elsewhere, the somewhat fragmentary evidence of early stages of Iranian is supplemented by data from languages that have found themselves under Iranian influence, providing details which are crucial to complete the picture.
With ‘‘do’’ and ‘‘become’’ as its centre, the system integrates additional verbs such as ‘‘hold’’ and ‘‘give; put’’ on the [+INST] side and verbs of movement on the [+AFF] one. The same verbs are also used as auxiliaries for periphrastic formations such as the potential construction, the transitive preterite and the analytic passive, suggesting that grammaticalisation of auxiliaries and the development of light verbs are parallel processes the precise similarities and differences of which remain to be investigated. Here as elsewhere, the somewhat fragmentary evidence of early stages of Iranian is supplemented by data from languages that have found themselves under Iranian influence, providing details which are crucial to complete the picture.
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The treatment of Proto-Iranian *θw (PIE *tw) is one of the isoglosses distinguishing Middle Persian from Parthian and thus important for Western Iranian dialectology. Its re-discussion of the Parthian development of this consonant... more
The treatment of Proto-Iranian *θw (PIE *tw) is one of the isoglosses distinguishing Middle Persian from Parthian and thus important for Western Iranian dialectology. Its re-discussion
of the Parthian development of this consonant cluster by Nicholas Sims-Williams presents a welcome occasion for some notes on the matter. I argue that there is some additional evidence in favour of his suggestion that the Parthian result is not -f- as previously assumed, but a consonant cluster. I also suggest a modification of the steps that the development takes. The Middle Persian development of *θw as well as some related issues of historical phonology and Pth. orthography and Western Ir. are likewise discussed.
of the Parthian development of this consonant cluster by Nicholas Sims-Williams presents a welcome occasion for some notes on the matter. I argue that there is some additional evidence in favour of his suggestion that the Parthian result is not -f- as previously assumed, but a consonant cluster. I also suggest a modification of the steps that the development takes. The Middle Persian development of *θw as well as some related issues of historical phonology and Pth. orthography and Western Ir. are likewise discussed.
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"The conversion of pronominals to copula forms is rather common cross-linguistically, and has also received a certain amount of attention in the literature, starting with LI & THOMPSON's article "A mechanism for the development of copula... more
"The conversion of pronominals to copula forms is rather common cross-linguistically, and has also received a certain amount of attention in the literature, starting with LI & THOMPSON's article "A mechanism for the development of copula morphemes" (1977). The use of pronouns as copula forms has also been described for Eastern Iranian, but these data have not yet been compared to parallel patterns of other languages in the typological or general linguistic literature.
The first part of the article thus links Iranian data investigated several decades ago with the research carried out more recently in linguistics on a great variety of languages other than Iranian. A presentation of the Eastern Ir. data is followed by a comparison with parallel structures in other languages with view to the questions how such constructions emerge, and why languages recruit a new copula at all. The second part argues that some Western Ir. pronominal clitics might derive from copula forms or verbal endings. Here as well, the motivation of this process are discussed."
The first part of the article thus links Iranian data investigated several decades ago with the research carried out more recently in linguistics on a great variety of languages other than Iranian. A presentation of the Eastern Ir. data is followed by a comparison with parallel structures in other languages with view to the questions how such constructions emerge, and why languages recruit a new copula at all. The second part argues that some Western Ir. pronominal clitics might derive from copula forms or verbal endings. Here as well, the motivation of this process are discussed."
Research Interests: Hebrew Language, Chinese linguistics, Pronouns, Indo-Iranian Linguistics, Turkish Linguistics, and 13 moreCopulas, Old Turkic, Iranian Languages, Sogdian, Old Iranian Languages, Copula functions, Copular Sentences, Old and Middle Iranian Languages, Ossetic, Balochi, Talyshi / Taleshi, Wakhi, and Demonstrative Pronouns
This article attempts to account for the derivation of pronominal clitics in contemporary Western Iranian languages. It argues against the common assumption (detailed in Section I) that all clitics derive from the genitive/dative ones of... more
This article attempts to account for the derivation of pronominal clitics in contemporary Western Iranian languages. It argues against the common assumption (detailed in Section I) that all clitics derive from the genitive/dative ones of Old Iranian and explores the alternative possibility that some clitics in Western
Iranian languages may derive from the OIr. accusative forms, or may represent a general oblique form resulting from a coalescence of the OIr. gen./dat. and acc. clitics (Section II). A derivation from such a general oblique is specifically plausible for the plural clitics in those Western Ir. varieties (discussed in
Section III) whose pl. clitics are not derived from the sg. ones. This implies a revision of a morphological isogloss which has posited a certain grouping of the Western Iranian languages on the basis of the distribution of two variants of the 3rd sg. clitic, and suggests a more complex picture (Section IV). Although they do not belong to the Western Iranian group, data from Avestan and Sogdian will be used to broaden the basis for comparison with contemporary Ir. languages.
Iranian languages may derive from the OIr. accusative forms, or may represent a general oblique form resulting from a coalescence of the OIr. gen./dat. and acc. clitics (Section II). A derivation from such a general oblique is specifically plausible for the plural clitics in those Western Ir. varieties (discussed in
Section III) whose pl. clitics are not derived from the sg. ones. This implies a revision of a morphological isogloss which has posited a certain grouping of the Western Iranian languages on the basis of the distribution of two variants of the 3rd sg. clitic, and suggests a more complex picture (Section IV). Although they do not belong to the Western Iranian group, data from Avestan and Sogdian will be used to broaden the basis for comparison with contemporary Ir. languages.
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Im Standardneupersischen2 gibt es neben der (umgangssprachlich eher üblichen) Intonationsfrage die Möglichkeit, Fragesätze mit der Partikel āyā zu markieren, die in der Regel satzinitial positioniert ist. Die Herkunft der Fragepartikel im... more
Im Standardneupersischen2 gibt es neben der (umgangssprachlich eher üblichen) Intonationsfrage die Möglichkeit, Fragesätze mit der Partikel āyā zu markieren, die in der Regel satzinitial positioniert ist. Die Herkunft der Fragepartikel im Persischen ist bislang ungeklärt. Außerdem existiert eine Partikel ke, die abhängige Sätze aller Art einleitet. ke kann zusammen mit der Fragepartikel āyā auch in indirekten Fragesätzen verwendet werden kann. In diesem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie dieses System der Satzmodusmarkierung und Subordination im Persischen entstanden ist. Hierzu werden mittel- und (früh-)neupersische Daten herangezogen. Sie legen die Annahme nahe, dass beide Partikeln sich durch strukturelle bzw. kategoriale Reanalyse und funktionelle Reinterpretation verschiedener lexikalischer Elemente entwickelt haben; dies kann insgesamt als Grammatikalisierungsprozeß beschrieben werden.
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This paper discusses instances of unetymologically long i and u in word-final syllables of Middle and New Persian. It will suggest that the relevant cases of ī and ū are due to a regular sound change of Middle Persian, and will attempt to... more
This paper discusses instances of unetymologically long i and u in word-final syllables of Middle and New Persian. It will suggest that the relevant cases of ī and ū are due to a regular sound change of Middle Persian, and will attempt to define the conditions of this change.
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"Although the Parthians were speakers of an Iranian language, administrative and official documents from the time of their reign (the Arsacid period) are in the vast majority in other languages, e.g. in Greek and Babylonian, and... more
"Although the Parthians were speakers of an Iranian language, administrative and official documents from the time of their reign (the Arsacid period) are in the vast majority in other languages, e.g. in Greek and Babylonian, and accordingly use the Macedonian and Babylonian calendars.
A certain number of texts in the Parthian language are also preserved. Calendrical terms found in these documents are taken from the so-called ‘Zoroastrian calendar’. Many varieties
of this calendar, which names the months and days after deities of the Zoroastrian religion, have been used throughout the millenia and in various Iranian languages, ranging from Old Persian of the Achaemenid period to the Persian calendar of present-day Iran. The systems according to which dates of the Zoroastrian calendar are calculated has varied considerably, depending on the cultural context. For instance, the Zoroastrian calendar patterned on the Babylonian lunisolar year in the Achaemenid period at least for administrative purposes, while in Sasanian times, it referred to a year of 365 days.
The origin of the ‘Zoroastrian calendar’ and its use in Sasanian and later times (involving a number of complex calendar reforms) has received a considerable amount of attention while
it is not quite clear yet how it was used in the « ill-documented Seleucid and Parthian periods » (Boyce 1983, 792). The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of the Zoroastrian calendar in Arsacid times, and to try to fi nd out whether it patterned on one of the other calendars used at that time, or followed a diff erent system. It will specifi cally discuss the hypothesis that, at least
for administrative purposes, the Parthian Zoroastrian calendar might have patterned on the Macedonian one, which was used by the same administration for the same purposes, including dates on the Arsacid coins.
The discussion limits itself to a discussion of the relevant Parthian texts, and to exploring which conclusions they permit, or do not permit, about the calendar involved."
A certain number of texts in the Parthian language are also preserved. Calendrical terms found in these documents are taken from the so-called ‘Zoroastrian calendar’. Many varieties
of this calendar, which names the months and days after deities of the Zoroastrian religion, have been used throughout the millenia and in various Iranian languages, ranging from Old Persian of the Achaemenid period to the Persian calendar of present-day Iran. The systems according to which dates of the Zoroastrian calendar are calculated has varied considerably, depending on the cultural context. For instance, the Zoroastrian calendar patterned on the Babylonian lunisolar year in the Achaemenid period at least for administrative purposes, while in Sasanian times, it referred to a year of 365 days.
The origin of the ‘Zoroastrian calendar’ and its use in Sasanian and later times (involving a number of complex calendar reforms) has received a considerable amount of attention while
it is not quite clear yet how it was used in the « ill-documented Seleucid and Parthian periods » (Boyce 1983, 792). The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of the Zoroastrian calendar in Arsacid times, and to try to fi nd out whether it patterned on one of the other calendars used at that time, or followed a diff erent system. It will specifi cally discuss the hypothesis that, at least
for administrative purposes, the Parthian Zoroastrian calendar might have patterned on the Macedonian one, which was used by the same administration for the same purposes, including dates on the Arsacid coins.
The discussion limits itself to a discussion of the relevant Parthian texts, and to exploring which conclusions they permit, or do not permit, about the calendar involved."
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This article argues that the opposition between Old Iranian *č and *ǰ was preserved in Manichaean Parthian not only word-initially, but also in postvocalic position, at least at the time of the introduction of the Manichaean script. The... more
This article argues that the opposition between Old Iranian *č and *ǰ was preserved in Manichaean Parthian not only word-initially, but also in postvocalic position, at least at the time of the introduction of the Manichaean script. The approach is phonological, and attempts to show that Pth. /č/ (< OIr. *č), written <c> and <z̈>, and Pth. /ž/ (< OIr. *ǰ and *ž), written
<j>, are consistently distinguished in the Manichaean script. Pth. /č/ may have developed a postvocalic allophone [ ǰ] (not affecting the phonematic opposition), which might have been a motivation for the use of the letter <z̈>. Transcriptions into Sogdian script and the cantillations suggest a coalescence of the Pth. phonemes, but it is not clear whether this is a later development of the Pth. language itself or a peculiarity of the liturgical pronunciation of Parthian as practised by Manichaeans in Central Asia.
<j>, are consistently distinguished in the Manichaean script. Pth. /č/ may have developed a postvocalic allophone [ ǰ] (not affecting the phonematic opposition), which might have been a motivation for the use of the letter <z̈>. Transcriptions into Sogdian script and the cantillations suggest a coalescence of the Pth. phonemes, but it is not clear whether this is a later development of the Pth. language itself or a peculiarity of the liturgical pronunciation of Parthian as practised by Manichaeans in Central Asia.
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This paper argues that the interpretation of Parthian material can profit from the comparison with contemporary North Western Iranian languages. As an example, it contrasts the phonology and etymology of some Parthian words with evidence... more
This paper argues that the interpretation of Parthian material can profit from the comparison with contemporary North Western Iranian languages. As an example, it contrasts the phonology and etymology of some Parthian words with evidence from Balochi, which leads to transcriptions and sound changes not previously assumed for Parthian.
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For the Western Iranian languages the transition from the Old Iranian to the Middle-Iranian period is characterised by – among other things – the loss of word-final syllables. This loss had a far-reaching impact on the nominal and verbal... more
For the Western Iranian languages the transition from the Old Iranian to the Middle-Iranian period is characterised by – among other things – the loss of word-final syllables. This loss had a far-reaching impact on the nominal and verbal systems since it caused the loss of categories which had been expressed by suffixes. The consequences include the emergence of the so-called ergative system. Although descriptions of the ergative construction in Balochi do exist, there is no treatment yet which takes into account the material of the different dialects. Furthermore, the ergative construction in Balochi has been compared with data from Old Iranian, but not with data from Middle Iranian languages, and the development from the Middle Iranian stage to the different types found in present-day Balochi has also not yet been studied. The aim of this paper is therefore to present the data from the Balochi dialects as far as they are known today and to update, complete (and in some points, correct) previous descriptions of the matter.
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Balochi, a contemporary language of the Iranian (Ir.) branch of Indo-European languages, is spoken in Western Pakistan, South Western Afghanistan, South Eastern Iran and some other countries by several millions of people. While many... more
Balochi, a contemporary language of the Iranian (Ir.) branch of Indo-European languages, is spoken in Western Pakistan, South Western Afghanistan, South Eastern Iran and some other countries by several millions of people. While many Balochi dialects pattern ergatively in the PAST domain, many sentences show deviant constructions. These patterns and their combination in one and the same language are interesting from a typological point of view; they are the topic of this paper.
The approach is comparative one, contrasting Balochi dialects with each other, and with data from earlier Iranian languages.
The approach is comparative one, contrasting Balochi dialects with each other, and with data from earlier Iranian languages.
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This article examines the historical layering of the Balochi verbal system. On the lexical level, there are numerous verbs which have been borrowed from Persian and Indic languages at various time points; these are not limited to terms... more
This article examines the historical layering of the Balochi verbal system. On the lexical level, there are numerous verbs which have been borrowed from Persian and Indic languages at various time points; these are not limited to terms for certain cultural techniques. The encoding of modal and aktionsart categories likewise reflects the influence of neighbouring Iranian and Indic languages. These may be classified as innovations while the
ergative patterns can be classified as archaisms. The Balochi consonantal system is also very archaic so far as the stops and affricates are concerned, but on the other hand it has acquired a series of retroflex consonants.
در این مقاله، ساختار فعلی زبان بلوچی با توجه به جایگاه تاریخیش بررسی می شود. در سطح "واژگانی"، شمار زیادی از افعال وجود دارند که اززبانهای فارسی و هندی در زمانهای گوناگون قرض گرفته شده اند و تنها محدود به اصطلاحات فنی خاص نمی شوند.
ساختار افعال کمکی و نوع کنش آنها، تاثیر زبانهای ایرانی و هندی را منعکس می کند و می توان آن را به عنوان یک نو آوری طبقه بندی کرد. در مقابل ساختارهای ارگتیو از ویژگیهای کهن به شمار می آیند. ساختار صامتهای زبان بلوچی نیز با توجه به ادغام ها و مکث ها بسیار قدیمی هستند. در حالی که مجموعۀ برگشته ها ویژگیهای نو در این زبان را نشان می دهد"
ergative patterns can be classified as archaisms. The Balochi consonantal system is also very archaic so far as the stops and affricates are concerned, but on the other hand it has acquired a series of retroflex consonants.
در این مقاله، ساختار فعلی زبان بلوچی با توجه به جایگاه تاریخیش بررسی می شود. در سطح "واژگانی"، شمار زیادی از افعال وجود دارند که اززبانهای فارسی و هندی در زمانهای گوناگون قرض گرفته شده اند و تنها محدود به اصطلاحات فنی خاص نمی شوند.
ساختار افعال کمکی و نوع کنش آنها، تاثیر زبانهای ایرانی و هندی را منعکس می کند و می توان آن را به عنوان یک نو آوری طبقه بندی کرد. در مقابل ساختارهای ارگتیو از ویژگیهای کهن به شمار می آیند. ساختار صامتهای زبان بلوچی نیز با توجه به ادغام ها و مکث ها بسیار قدیمی هستند. در حالی که مجموعۀ برگشته ها ویژگیهای نو در این زبان را نشان می دهد"
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The topic of this paper is the numeric system of Balochi. It will discuss the characteristics which indicate that the numbers have been borrowed from Persian, and will identify a context in which this borrowing may have taken place. This... more
The topic of this paper is the numeric system of Balochi. It will discuss the characteristics which indicate that the numbers have been borrowed from Persian, and will identify a context in which this borrowing may have taken place. This context is likely to be the bazar situation. Evidence for this comes from the Balochi terms for some animals which may have been borrowed from Kurdish, while another animal term might have been borrowed from Balochi into Kurdish. As the numerical system of Kurmanji has likewise been borrowed from Persian, the picture of a multilingual situation of language contact involving at least Persian, Balochi and Kurdish emerges.
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The Balochi dialect spoken in Turkmenistan possesses a case which is not seen in most other Balochi dialects. It has local/directive function, and its marker is a suffix that shows the oblique case marker suffixed to the genitive ending.... more
The Balochi dialect spoken in Turkmenistan possesses a case which is not seen in most other Balochi dialects. It has local/directive function, and its marker is a suffix that shows the oblique case marker suffixed to the genitive ending. The “locative” is also found in the Balochi dialect of Afghanistan, but here, the local deixis appears to always refer to a person. I argue that the locative may be interpreted within a typological framework implying that local deixis referring to persons is blocked in some languages. Instead, these languages use periphrastic constructions of the type “at a person's [place]”, as do English (e.g. at the baker's) and Old Georgian, among others. In Turkmenistan Balochi, areal influence from Russian and Turkmen, which have a separate locative case, may have played a role in the generalisation of the locative to include inanimates as well.
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Gegenstand dieses Beitrags ist die Entwicklung des Nominalsystems des Balochi. Durch einen Vergleich mit dem Parthischen und Mittelpersischen wird das Nominalsystem des (nicht belegten) mitteliranischen Dialektes rekonstruiert, aus dem... more
Gegenstand dieses Beitrags ist die Entwicklung des Nominalsystems des Balochi. Durch einen Vergleich mit dem Parthischen und Mittelpersischen wird das Nominalsystem des (nicht belegten) mitteliranischen Dialektes rekonstruiert, aus dem das Balochi hervorgegangen ist – d. h. das System, das von den Balochi-Dialekten für mitteliranische Zeit vorausgesetzt wird (Mittel-Balochi). Im zweiten Teil wird ein mögliches Szenario für die Entwicklung des Nominalsystems des Mittel-Balochi zum gegenwärtigen System vorgeschlagen. Die Vorgeschichte der Nominalflexion des Balochi ist von dem der Personalpronomina nicht zu trennen, daher werden diese ebenfalls betrachtet.
Wie sich zeigen wird, kann die Rekonstruktion des mitteliranischen Vorgängers des heutigen Balochi (oder anderer heute gesprochener nordwestiran. Sprachen) auch zur genaueren Kenntnis anderer westmitteliranischen Sprachen und ihrer Entwicklungsgeschichte beitragen.
Wie sich zeigen wird, kann die Rekonstruktion des mitteliranischen Vorgängers des heutigen Balochi (oder anderer heute gesprochener nordwestiran. Sprachen) auch zur genaueren Kenntnis anderer westmitteliranischen Sprachen und ihrer Entwicklungsgeschichte beitragen.
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"Although research on Balochi has been done for about one hundred years, there is no agreement yet on the number of cases in Balochi.2 Opinions have varied from two cases, three, four and five, to six and up to eight cases (GILBERTSON... more
"Although research on Balochi has been done for about one hundred years, there is no agreement yet on the number of cases in Balochi.2 Opinions have varied from two cases, three, four and five, to six and up to eight cases (GILBERTSON 1923:18). The terminology and the function of cases assumed has differed accordingly.
Given the variation among Balochi dialects, it is possible a priori that the nominal system differs according to the dialect involved. So the discussion presents a conspectus of the data hitherto gathered on the cases in the individual dialects, also addressing the various views expressed on these. The focus is an analysis of the synchronic function of the cases by specifically looking at the marking of the agent in ergative constructions (if any), the (intransitive) subject, the direct and indirect objects, and at the case used with prepositions and for adverbial functions.
The conclusion investigates whether or not the nominal systems of the dialects can be interpreted as one system, i.e. whether we can speak of one grammar applying to all Balochi dialects in the field of the nominal system."
Given the variation among Balochi dialects, it is possible a priori that the nominal system differs according to the dialect involved. So the discussion presents a conspectus of the data hitherto gathered on the cases in the individual dialects, also addressing the various views expressed on these. The focus is an analysis of the synchronic function of the cases by specifically looking at the marking of the agent in ergative constructions (if any), the (intransitive) subject, the direct and indirect objects, and at the case used with prepositions and for adverbial functions.
The conclusion investigates whether or not the nominal systems of the dialects can be interpreted as one system, i.e. whether we can speak of one grammar applying to all Balochi dialects in the field of the nominal system."
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The aim of this paper is to examine the position of Balochi among the Western Iranian languages by looking at certain features of its historical phonology. These features will be examined for their validity, and the Balochi data will be... more
The aim of this paper is to examine the position of Balochi among the Western Iranian languages by looking at certain features of its historical phonology. These features will be examined for their validity, and the Balochi data will be assessed to determine its relationship to the traditional notion of North-Western Iranian languages.
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Das Balochi im Kontakt mit den anderen iranischen Sprachen Agnes Korn In diesem Beitrag sollen die in der historischen Lautlehre des Balochi1 faßbaren Kontakte ... Page 2. Agnes Korn südwestiranische Sprachen erwartete lautliche... more
Das Balochi im Kontakt mit den anderen iranischen Sprachen Agnes Korn In diesem Beitrag sollen die in der historischen Lautlehre des Balochi1 faßbaren Kontakte ... Page 2. Agnes Korn südwestiranische Sprachen erwartete lautliche Entwicklung, die angesichts der enormen ...
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In diesem Artikel werden r.gvedische Bahuvrîhis behandelt, die entgegen den Bilderegeln für diese Klasse von Komposita mit dem Suffix -(i)ya- versehen sind und mithin eine Silbe länger sind als normal gebildete Gegenstücke. Einige der so... more
In diesem Artikel werden r.gvedische Bahuvrîhis behandelt, die entgegen den Bilderegeln für diese Klasse von Komposita mit dem Suffix -(i)ya- versehen sind und mithin eine Silbe länger sind als normal gebildete Gegenstücke. Einige der so "verlängerten" Lemmata scheinen dichterische Kunstbildungen zu sein, die aus metrischen Gründen gebildet wurden, um ein Wort um eine Silbe zu verlängern und damit die Kadenz von acht- und zwölfsilbigen Verszeilen zu füllen. Dieser Kunstgriff vergleicht sich entsprechenden dichterischen Strategien, die aus der Forschung zu Homer bekannt sind.
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review of: Nicholas Sims-Williams 2012: Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan I: Legal and Ecomomic Documents, revised edition. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan III: Plates [Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum II, VI], [Studies in the Khalili collection 8]. London: Nour Foundation more
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The book under review is a tribute to D. Neil MacKenzie, late professor emeritus of Iranian studies at GoÈttingen University and author of numerous important works on a large number of Iranian languages. Appropriately, the present volume... more
The book under review is a tribute to D. Neil MacKenzie, late professor emeritus of Iranian studies at GoÈttingen University and author of numerous important works on a large number of Iranian languages. Appropriately, the present volume assembles a fine collection of articles by ...
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Poster for the Deutsche Orientalistentag 2010 in Marburg
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The Workshop will address the relation of phonology and phonetics in Avestan and neighbouring languages such as Old Indic, Old Persian and Middle Iranian. Being limited to written sources, the study of these languages necessarily starts... more
The Workshop will address the relation of phonology and phonetics in Avestan and neighbouring languages such as Old Indic, Old Persian and Middle Iranian. Being limited to written sources, the study of these languages necessarily starts from the graphemic representation that the scripts offer, which vary considerably as to their approach to phonetics and phonology. Accordingly, many academic works (including text editions) on Avestan and neighbouring languages show either a mixture of phonological and phonetic rendering of the language or a more transliteration-based approach. For a better view on the Avestan data, the workshop will take a broader view and include also discussion of neighbouring languages to shed light on differences and shared features of representation of phonetics and phonology of these languages in their orthographies. Additional information can be gained from loanwords which could shed light on the pronunciation of the donor language (for instance, Avestan words found in Middle Persian such as the various renderings of Av. aṣ̌a-). The issue is of central importance for Avestan philology and text edition.
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Up until quite recently, research on Iranian languages tended to be conducted in rather distinct disciplines, often with little interaction among them. A major turning point in bringing scholars from all theoretical persuasions together... more
Up until quite recently, research on Iranian languages tended to be conducted in rather distinct disciplines, often with little interaction among them. A major turning point in bringing scholars from all theoretical persuasions together was the “First International Conference on Iranian Linguistics”, held in June 2005 at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. It inaugurated a tradition of interdisciplinary linguistic research on Iranian languages that we are proud to continue with the present volume. The 13 chapters of this volume represent a selection of the papers presented at the “Third International Conference on Iranian Linguistics”, held in September 2009 at the Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Part one, historical and comparative Iranian syntax, contains chapters by Saloumeh Gholami, Nicholas Sims-Williams, Antje Wendtland, Agnes Korn, and Arseniy Vydrin. The first three contributions treat the morpho-syntax of two extinct East Iranian languages, revealing a fruitful and innovative synthesis of philological investigations with insights from syntactic typology. Korn’s chapter covers both synchronic and diachronic aspects of a typologically unusual development in a broad range of Iranian languages, while Vydrin’s chapter surveys the expression of counterfactuality within Iranian from a largely synchronic perspective, but informed with areal-typological explanations. Part two, the morpho-syntax of lesser-know Iranian languages, contains contributions by Daniel Paul, Gregory Stump and Andrew Hippisley, and two joint contributions, Oleg Belaev and Arseniy Vydrin, and David Erschler and Vitaly Volk. They reflect a growing interest in the “smaller” Iranian languages, not only as a source for comparative and historical Iranian philology, but also for the insights they offer for general linguistic theory. Part three, the linguistics of Modern Persian, presents new insights on aspects of Modern Persian. Naderi and Oostendorp’s contribution presents an OT-based re-assessment of epenthetic consonants, while Ganjavi revisits the issue of marking vs. non-marking of direct objects. Pirooz looks at control in finite subordinate clauses, while Deravi and Dommergues present the results of an empirical investigation of code-switching by highly proficient Persian-French bilinguals. Taken together, these contributions represent the dynamic and rapidly growing nature of Iranian linguistics, a field which has united linguists of all persuasions who share a strong commitment to the scientific investigation of Iranian languages, their structure, history and use.
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Besides noteworthy instances of inherited verbal inflexion such as the optative in -ā- in Balochi and Judaeo-Tat, marking of TAM categories in New Western Iranian is mostly achieved by way of particles / verbal prefixes. Of central... more
Besides noteworthy instances of inherited verbal inflexion such as the optative in -ā- in Balochi and Judaeo-Tat, marking of TAM categories in New Western Iranian is mostly achieved by way of particles / verbal prefixes. Of central importance is the prefix bi- / be-, which is grammaticalised in New Persian as a marker of the subjunctive and the imperative. These forms differ from the indicative in that the latter is marked with mī-, but the inflexion is essentially identical. We argue that the influence of Persian has had a multiple effect on the TAM system of other Ir. languages. First insofar as prefixes have been borrowed, second insofar as the use of preexisting prefixes has been adjusted to fit the usage of Persian prefixes, and thirdly insofar as different prefixes have coalesced into one under the influence of Persian (such as be-, ba- etc. yielding be- in Bashkardi and other languages). Dialectal variations such as seen in Tat thus carry valuable diachronic information.
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The progressive manifests itself in various ways across Iranian languages. The evolution of this category, influenced to some extent by internal factors and sometimes by language contact, presents an interesting case of parallel... more
The progressive manifests itself in various ways across Iranian languages. The evolution of this category, influenced to some extent by internal factors and sometimes by language contact, presents an interesting case of parallel development in related languages that are geographically very distant from each other. This presentation will demonstrate a parallel development of a specific type of synthetic progressive in two allegedly Southwestern Iranian languages: Muslim Tat (MT), spoken in northeastern Azerbaijan, and Bashkardi (Bs), spoken in southern Iran.
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This article, which is based on fieldwork carried out 2007–2009 in various regions of Georgia, studies the Islamic circumcision ritual (Turkish sünnet, Azeri sünnǝt, Georgian ts‘inadatsveta) in the Caucasus and neighbouring regions. It... more
This article, which is based on fieldwork carried out 2007–2009 in various regions of Georgia, studies the Islamic circumcision ritual (Turkish sünnet, Azeri sünnǝt, Georgian ts‘inadatsveta) in the Caucasus and neighbouring regions. It specifically focusses on the tradition called Kirvalıq as practised by Azeri Turks in Georgia. This tradition establishes a relation between the boy and a kirva (“godfather”), who holds the boy during the ritual; the relation is understood as being a very close blood relation although the kirva and the boy are technically not related. In fact, the person chosen as kirva by the boy’s parents is often a member of another ethnic and/or religious group. This specific type of Kirvalıq is also found in Eastern Anatolia. We argue that the Kirvalıq serves the purpose of increasing the family’s network ties and thus contributes to the coherence of multiethnic and multireligious communities.
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This collection of articles is based on a selection of papers presented at a panel entitled “Iranian minority languages” which was held at the 30th German Congress of Orientalists at Freiburg i.Br. University in September 2007. For the... more
This collection of articles is based on a selection of papers presented at a panel entitled “Iranian minority languages” which was held at the 30th German Congress of Orientalists at Freiburg i.Br. University in September 2007. For the present collection, the selected papers have been substantially enlarged and/or revised. Also included is an article whose authors could not attend the 2007 panel. The title “Iranian minority languages” is here interpreted rather broadly to refer to Iranian minority languages and dialects spoken in Iran today, and to Iranian varieties which are, or were, spoken in other countries. (The term “Iranian varieties” will occasionally be used in this collection to include the notions of “language” and “dialect”.) In spite of the geographical distance between the languages encompassed by this term – reaching from Iraqi Kurdistan, Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus via Iran and Afghanistan to the Pamir – most of them share a number of features. For instance, th...
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Ce recueil d’articles de Bo Utas (professeur emerite d’iranologie de l’Universite d’Uppsala), publie a l’occasion de son 75e anniversaire, fait suite a un volume parallele paru cinq ans auparavant (Manuscript, Text and Literature.... more
Ce recueil d’articles de Bo Utas (professeur emerite d’iranologie de l’Universite d’Uppsala), publie a l’occasion de son 75e anniversaire, fait suite a un volume parallele paru cinq ans auparavant (Manuscript, Text and Literature. Collected Essays on Middle and New Persian Texts, ed. par Carina Jahani et Dariush Kargar. Wiesbaden, Reichert 2008, Beitrage zur Iranistik 29 [voir les details sur le site de l’editeur]) qui regroupait des travaux de Bo Utas sur la litterature iranienne. Le presen...
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