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ELT Voices – India Volume 2 Issue 5 | October 2012
ISSN 2230-9136
© Ignite (India) Publishing, Bhavnagar, Gujarat – India
www.eltvoices.in
ELT Research Paper 9
An Investigation into Some Similarities and Differences of Persian and English Head Parameters Based on X-bar Syntax
Zeinolabedin Rahmani, M.A., Islamic Azad University, Sama Branch, Qa’emshahr, Iran Ali Alizadeh, Associate Professor, Birjand University, South Khorasan, Iran
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Zeinolabedin Rahmani & Ali Alizadeh: An Investigation into Some Similarities and Differences of Persian and English
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Abstract
There is a set of absolute universals, notions and principles existing in UG which
do not vary from one language to another. While certain grammatical principles
and rules may be universal, it is also true that languages differ from one another
in some important ways such as head parameters. This investigation has been
performed descriptively and analytically to see the parametric similarity and
differences of Persian and English in which we came to this conclusion that
English is head-initial in its all lexical phrases of NPs. VPs, PPs and Adj Phrases
and on the other hand Persian is mostly a head-final language because its NPs
are considered as head-initial (like English NPs) due to the fact that more
complements follow their head nouns than those which precede, hence it is
considered head-initial in its NPs; in other words, more NPs are ordered on the
basis of the phrase structure rule of X' → X complement than that of X' →
Complement X.
Key words: parametric directionality- English and Persian-parameters and
principles
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Introduction
Persian is a mostly head-final language and English a head-initial language (Radford,
2006; Maleki, 2006; Soheili, 1989; Rahmani, 2010)
“An important aspect of language variation concerns the location of the head in
relationship to other elements of the phrase called dependents. The head of the phrase
can occur on the left of a dependent or on its right. Therefore, Languages differ in
many ways, if knowledge of language consisted solely of invariant parameters, all
languages would be identical, taking the example of the head parameter, it is shown
that different languages have different order of certain elements; so they are either
head-initial or head-final. (Cook & Newson, 2007, p. 41)
Since UG which is stored somewhere within the speakers’ brain, contains a set of
absolute Universals, notions and Principles which do not vary from one language to
the next, languages, then they differ from each other in some Parameters like head
parameters and their analyses can be beneficial for applied linguistics. (Haegeman,
2008; Chomsky, 2005; Cook & Newson, 2007)
“A crucial innovation to the concept of phrase structure that emerged in the early
1970s (Chomsky, 1995) was the claim that all phrases have a central element, known
as a head, around which other elements of the phrase revolve and can minimally stand
for the whole phrases. … An important aspect of language variation concerns the
location of the head in relationship to the other elements of the phrase called
complements. The head of the phrase can occur on the left of a complement or on its
right.” (Cook & Newson, 2007, p. 41)
In head-initial languages like English, the head of a phrase occurs on the left of the
other elements in the phrase. In contrast, in head-final language like Persian, the head
occurs on the right side of the other elements or its complements.
When differences among the parametric directionality of languages increase, it not
only can increase the difficulty of learning the foreign languages, but also can increase
the difficulty of understanding for a machine translation. Hence, when applied
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linguistics especially computational linguistics is concerned, it is needed to analyze
the lexical phrases in the languages, so that the machines have the best translations.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the parametric directionality in head
parameters of English and Persian to see their common and different characteristics.
Specifying the position of different heads in NPs, VPs, APs and PPs of different
languages along with their complements and distinguishing the rules among the
phrases may be useful for computational linguistics. (Chomsky, 1995; Jackendoff,
1977 & 1987)
Comparison of the grammatical structure of the foreign language with that of the
native language will have the advantage of discovering the problems of the students in
learning foreign language(s) too, for example the results of such a comparison tell
them that what should and what should not be tested. (Lado, 1957)
This paper wants an attempt to answer the following questions:
1- Is English head-initial in all its lexical phrases of NPs, VPs, PPS and
Adj phrases?
2- Is Persian head-final in all its lexical phrases of NPs, VPs, PPS and
Adj phrases?
3- What's the parametric directionality difference between English and Persian?
Analyses
There are four different syntactic relationships between a head and its dependents
which are shown with examples from English and Persian. (The relevant heads are
given in both bold and italic).
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Table 1. Syntactic relationship between heads and dependents (Based on the
definitions and illustration of Tallerman, 1998, p.103)
Example
Language
complement
Head
On the table (preposition)
English
Object NP
Postposition
/preposition
1
Roye miz (preposition)
On table
Persian
Ali loves the girl
English
Arguments of the
verb
verb
2
Ali dokhtare ra dost darad
Ali girl -- loves
Persian
Ali's car
English
Possessor NP
(possessed)
3
Mashine Ali
Car Ali
Persian
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English as a head-initial and Persian as a head-final language
In the head-initial languages like English, the head of a phrase occurs on the left of the
other elements in the phrase. In contrast, in the head-final languages like Persian the
head occurs on the right side of its complements. For example the four different
syntactic relationships which exist between heads and their dependents (Tallerman,
1998, p.103) are shown for the languages to see the clear-cut difference between their
heads and complements.
noun
Big house
English
adjective
noun
4
Khaneye bozorg
House big
Persian
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Table 2. X-bar structure of heads and dependents
X-bar structure
Example
Language
Complements
&
heads
On the table (preposition)
English
Postposition/pre
position
+
Object NP
Roye miz (preposition)
On table
Persian
P"
Spec P'
P NP
on the table
P"
Spec P'
P NP
roye miz
miz
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Ali loves the girl
English
Verb
+
Arguments of
the verb
Ali dokhtare ra dost darad
Ali girl -- loves
Persian
Ali's car
English
(possessed) noun
+
N"
Spec N'
complement N
Ali’s car
V"
V'
V NP
loves the girl
NP
Ali NP
V"
NP V'
NP
dokhtare ra Ali
dost
darad
V
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Mashine Ali
Car Ali
Persian
Possessor NP
Big house
English
adjective
+
noun
Khâneye bozorg
House big
Persian
N'
Spec N'
N
khaneye bozorg
N'
Spec N'
Adj N
big house
N"
Spec N'
N complement
mashine Ali
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As shown in the above chart, the X-bar structure rule of English and Persian is as
follows which means that their parametric directionality differs:
1- They are common in: X" → specifier X'
2- But different in X' → X complement
English is different in VPs from Persian. In English, the head verb precedes some of
its dependent(s) and follows some others, but it is vise versa in Persian. As far as
internal and external arguments of the verbs are concerned, both internal and external
arguments are positioned before their head verbs in Persian and conversely in English,
the NP of nominative case is positioned before its head verb and the NP of accusative
case is positioned after its head verb. The VP rule which is common in English and
Persian is:
V" → specifier V', and the Spec is filled by the NP in both of them (because the
mentioned languages have at least one external argument), hence the rule is changed
into: V" → NP V'; but they are different in their internal NP argument for example
while in English we can have V' → V NP, in Persian it will be V' → NP V.
Regarding the NPs, a possessed noun can be followed or preceded by a possessor NP
as one of the options of NPs structures in the languages; while in English the
possessor NP precede the possessed noun like Ali’s car but in Persian the possessed
noun precedes its possessor NP, like mashine Ali (Car of Ali). Another option of NPs
structure in the languages can be a noun following or preceding an adjective. While in
English adjectives (attributive adjectives), the most head adjectives precede their head
nouns, it is vise versa in Persian.
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Analysis of head parameter directionality in English and Persian
Phrase structure of NPs
NPs in different languages can be followed or preceded by different number(s) of
dependents; these phrases are analyzed in the following paragraphs in order to
recognizing the position(s) of their heads and complements.
Is English head-initial in its NPs?
A phrase in X-bar theory always contains at least a head as well as other constituents.
In NPs, N is the head plus some specifiers and complements as well as adjuncts.
(Haegeman, 2008, p. 99)
There are three complements which precede their head nouns in English NPs such as
Attributive adjectives, Nominal dependents and Specifiers. They are positioned before
head nouns in English and are ordered based on the phrase structure rules of: 1- X" →
Spec X’, 2- X' → Complement X and shown illustratively in the following chart.
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Table 3. Complements preceding their head nouns in English
X-bar structure of NPs Head noun complement The complements which precede
their head noun in English:
Politicians
The
specifiers
e.g., The politicians are talking with
each other.
soldiers
careless
attributive adjectives
e.g., The careless soldiers have been
fined.
S
NP VP
Spec N'
N
The politicians
are talking with
each other
NP VP
Spec N'
The
AP
A'
careless
N
soldiers
have been fined
S
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Table 4. Complements following their head nouns in English (Based on Marcella,
1972, chapters 3, 5, 6 & 10)
complement Head
noun
The complements which follow their head noun in
English
in a hurry to get
home
Mr. Harris 1- appositive phrases
e.g., Mr. Harris, in a hurry to get home, took a taxi from
the airport.
talking to the
teacher
The girl 2- participial phrases
e.g., The girl talking to the teacher is very intelligent.
the house
everyday
cleaning 3- gerund phrases
e.g., Her cleaning the house everyday is not necessary.
which describes
animals
book 4- adjective clauses
e.g., Here is a book which describes animals.
house
grandmother's
nominal dependents
e.g., My grandmother's house is being
repaired.
S
NP VP
The
Spec N'
complement N
grandmother’s house
is being
repaired
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Of the war reason 5- Prepositional phrases
e.g., reason of the war
We see that in English, more NPs, are ordered based on the phrase structure rule of X'
→ X complement and hence, their NPs are considered head-initial.
Is Persian head-initial in its noun phrases?
Complements preceding their head nouns
There are four dependents in Persian which precede their head nouns such as
specifiers, interrogative dependents, numeral dependents, and exclamatory dependents
which are ordered on the basis of the phrase structure rules of: 1- X" → Spec X & 2- X'
→ Complement X shown in the following chart.
Table 5. Complements preceding their head nouns in Persian
Head noun complement The complements which precede their
head noun in Persian:
márd
In
specifiers (determiners):
e.g., In márd doste mán ást.
This man friend my is
ketab
kodam
interrogative dependents:
e.g., kodam ketab mâle tost?
Which book is yours?
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márd
se
numeral dependents:
e.g., se márd zakhmi shodand.
Three men injured were
havaee
ájab
exclamatory dependents:
e.g., ájab havaye khobi!
What a weather nice
Complements following their head nouns in Persian (Based on Bateni, 2008, chapter
7 & Gholamalizade, 2007, chapter 4)
There are also five complements which follow their head nouns, such as Attributive
adjectives, nominal dependents, appositive phrases, prepositional phrases, and
adjective clauses (sentential clauses), they are ordered on the basis of X" → Spec X' &
2- X' → X complement.
Table 6. The complements which follow their head noun in Persian
complement Head noun The complements which follow their head
noun in Persian:
khob va sodmand
ketabhaye
1- attributive adjectives:
e.g. ketabhaye khob va sodmand …
books good and fruitful
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eslam
payambare
2- nominal dependents:
e.g., payambare eslam farmodand ke …
Prophet Islam said that …
neveshteye Saady
Golestan
3- appositive phrases:
e.g., Golestan, neveshteye saady, ….
Golestan written by Saady …
darbareye naghde tarikh
ketab
4- prepositional phrases:
e.g., ketab darbareye naghde tarikh, ….
Book about critique history
ke Ali nevesht
ketabi
5- adjective clauses (sentential clauses)
e.g., ketabi ke Ali nevesht, …
book which Ali wrote
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As we have investigated in Persian, more NPs are ordered on the basis of the phrase
structure rule of X' → X complement than that of X' → Complement X, hence, Persian
NPs is considered head-initial.
The characteristic(s) of the complements of NPs for the languages under study
1- Specifier: As far as specifier is concerned, there is just one option for the
languages under study, the Specifiers precede their head noun in both languages on
the basis of the following formula and diagram: N"→ Spec N'
Attributive adjectives and nominal dependents
As far as attributive adjectives and nominal dependents in English are concerned, the
complement(s) precede their heads as presented in the following diagram:
N"
Spec N'
complement N
(head)
Y
NP
Spec N'
N
head
is being
repaired
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The phrase order of attributive adjectives and nominal dependents are different in
Persian, in which their complements do not precede but follow their heads.
Comparison between the specifiers, attributive adjectives and nominal dependents of
the languages shows that in English, not only specifiers but also attributive adjectives
and nominal dependents precede their head nouns but in Persian just Specifiers
precede their head noun.
Appositive phrases and adjective clauses
The dependents of the appositive phrases and adjective clauses in both English and
Persian follow their head nouns.
English: A book which describes animals,…
Persian: Ketabi ke Ali nevesht,…
book which he wrote
For example the X-bar diagram of all the above sentences is the same in which the
complementizer along with the IP, follow their head nouns A book, Ketabi and
mashini.
IP
NP I'
I CP
[ ]
Spec C'
C IP
which (in English)
ke (in Persian)
----
-
-------
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Participal phrases and gerund phrases
The complements in the Participal phrases and gerund phrases of English follow their
head nouns as presented in the following diagram. These phrases don’t exist in Persian
which can be considerable.
The characteristics of the complements of VPs
The complements which follow and precede their head verb in English and Persian are
analyzed and compared in the following sections:
In the VPs of English, the head verb appears on the left of the complement but it
seems to be vise versa in Persian.
IP
NP I'
N' Spec
the
Participal P N
girl talking to the boy
I
[ - ]
VP
Spec V'
V AP
is
very smart
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According to the above diagram, the head watched precedes one NP, which is an
obligatory part of the verb watched and one PP, adjunct, which is an optional part of
the head, watched.
The head verb in Persian VPs in contrast to the head verb in English VPs follow its
complements, while English NP and PP followed their verb head in the above
example, in Persian they preceded their head verb.
The characteristics of the complements of PPs
The complements which follow or precede their head prepositions are analyzed and
compared in the following sections:
V"
Spec V '
NP V
ást yek naghashe marof
V"
Spec V'
PP V'
V NP
watched TV
with Helen
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The head preposition appears on the left of the complement in both English and
Persian.
Regarding the following diagram, In the phrase "in the winter", the word "in" acts as a
preposition which dominates an NP as a complement and precedes the NP of "the
winter". Similarly in Persian, the preposition "az" has preceded its complement "
kohántárin bánâhâye sháhr" like the English preposition.
The characteristics of the complements of APs
In most of the English APs, the head adjectives precede their complements. In other
words, the number of the following complements is more than the preceding ones and
that’s why English adjective phrases are considered as head-initial.
P"
Spec P'
P
az
NP
kohántárin bánâhâye sháhr
P"
Spec P'
P
in
NP
the winter
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Some complements which follow or precede the head adjectives in English are: 1-
Prepositional phrases (e.g., envious of someone), 2- enough as an adverb (e.g., warm
enough) and 3- that clauses (e.g., so beautiful that…) which these three complements
follow their head adjectives in English and on the other hand the determiners (e.g.,
rather cold) are the complements which precede their head adjectives in English as in
the following diagram:
Adjective phrases can be followed and preceded by one complement in Persian
language. Quantitative adverbs can precede head adjectives and prepositional phrases
can follow them.
The quantitative adverb kheili in the above diagram precedes the head adjective
dostdashtani and the prepositional phrase as shown in the following diagram namely
az borje Milad follows the head adjective bolandtar.
A"
Spec A'
A PP
bolandtar áz borje Milad
A"
Spec A'
A
kheili dostdashtani
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On the basis of the two above diagrams, Persian head adjectives can be followed and
preceded by PP and quantitative adverbs.
Conclusion
English is a head-initial language in all its phrases because of the following reasons:
A) More complements follow its head noun (NP) and head adjective (AdjP) than the
complements which precede the head noun and head adjective, so English is head-
initial in NPs and APs based on the X-bar formula of X' → X Complement.
B) Since there is just one option for English VPs and PPs order based on the formula
of X' → X Complement, English is considered normally head-initial in these two
phrases too.
Persian is a mostly head-final language and is not head-final in its all phrases because
of the following reasons:
A) Persian like English is head-initial in NPs, because more complements follow its
head nouns.
B) Persian is head-final in VPs because there is one option for its order based on the
formula of X' → Complement X.
C) Persian is head-initial in PPs because there is one option which the head
prepositions precede their complements.
D) Regarding Persian APs, the numbers of complements which follow and precede
the head adjectives are equal; one complement precedes the head adjective named
quantity adverb complement and one follow it named prepositional phrase
complement, the reason that Persian is still considered head-final in this regard as
writers think can be due to the frequency of the complements which precede the head
adjectives and are higher than those which follow the head adjectives.
Accordingly Persian is not considered head-final in all its lexical phrases because it is
head initial in NPs and PPs but not in APs and VPs and as far as adverb phrases are
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taken into account, Persian is considered as mostly head-final language but English
has been head-initial in all its lexical phrases of NPs, PPs, APs and VPs. These
differences can be considerable as far as teaching or translation is concerned.
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References
Bateni, M. (2008). The description of syntactic structure of Persian language, 21st ed.
Tehran: Amir-kabir Press.
Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). Teaching as a second or foreign language, 3rd
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Zeinolabedin Rahmani received his B.A. in ELT from Mazandaran University and
his M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Birjand University. He has published many
articles on different aspects of linguistics. His interested areas of research are Syntax,
Language Teaching, Language Learning and Discourse Analysis. He is a Part-Time
teacher of Payamnour and Sama Universities in Qaemshahr, Iran and he is also the
director of Zabanpazhouhan English Language Institute.
Dr. Ali Alizadeh is an associate professor of linguistics from the University of
Birjand, South Khorasan, Iran. He has carried out numerous researches, and has
presented numerous papers in different conferences and seminars inside and outside of
the country.