A Syntactic and Semantic Analysis of Compound Nouns in Persian.

Abstract

This study is conducted with two important goals in mind. First, we present a descriptive analysis of compound nouns to demonstrate how, in principle, this creative naming device functions in Persian. Secondly, we examine the application of linguistic theory to this particular area of word formation to produce a grammar theoretically and empirically adequate to generate a wide range of compound nouns in Persian. Toward this end, we create a rich data base and classify the date in computerized files in order to provide efficiency and precision of access. Furthermore, this method of data analysis not only adds to the systematicity of the present investigation; it also can be utilized for further linguistic research in Persian grammar. The data analysis results in five different compound noun types. We examine the syntactic and semantic properties of each type individually. We observe that to present an adequate and consistent analysis of compound nouns, it is necessary to investigate other grammatical issues such as e-phrases. Thus, we discuss the syn- tactic and semantic properties of e-phrases within (')X theory only to the extent necessary for the primary purpose of our analysis. Theoretically, we argue that positing an underlying e-phrase struc- ture for compound nouns, and deriving them by the operation of syntactic transformations will result in an inadequate account of compound nouns. Compelling evidence is presented to establish that the head constituent and its syntactic and semantic properties play a crucial role in characterizing the semantic properties of endocentric compound nouns as well as determining the syntactic category of the compound noun as a whole through the Percolation Principle. However, we argue that in exocentric compound nouns the semantic exocentricity and the interpretation of the compound must be accounted for by the semantic contribution of both the head and the nonhead constituents underlying the compound noun. It is further argued that the syntactic category of the compound as a whole is not determined by the syntactic category of any of the constituents involved in the compound noun structure through the Percolation Principle. Thus, the syntactic exocentricity must be accounted for by principles other than Percolation.