Third -person singular pronoun “ای/ ـی ” in some Iranian texts and dialects

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor of Department of Persian Language and Literature, Payame- Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In the Tabaqat Al- Soufiye , Shirzad, and Golshad, the letter “ای/ ـی ” is sometimes seen in the position of the third- person singular pronoun. The research is to identify this linguistic element with the help of Iranian dialects and oral stories recorded from Herat in Afghanistan and South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan provinces in Iran. For this purpose, by studying the two mentioned books, examining the written sources of the dialect, different angles of this pronoun have been discussed and investigated. For this basis,  “ای/ ـی ” with the suggested  subjective pronoun of ē, in Tabaqat Al- Soufiye is a pronoun  with the role of  subject and noun Modifier, and in Shirzad and Golshad, it is a pronoun with the role of  noun Modifier. This pronoun, with phonetic forms -ē˃-e, id, it, ay, hi and in Herat, Yaghnob in Tajikistan, Republic of Azerbaijan and the provinces of South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Isfahan, Fars and Hormozgan in different grammatical roles  has been used. Grammatically, except for a few exceptions, -ē˃-e and i are not placed in the noun modifier position if they are co-referent with the subject of the sentence.
 
Keywords:Tabaqat Al- Soufiye , Shirzad and Golshad, third person singular  pronoun, dialect, Iranian dialects.
 

Introduction:

In recent decades, the necessary fields for research on the Persian language have been prepared more and more. At this time, on one hand, some valuable Persian texts were corrected according to scientific principles and critical and authoritative editions of these works were made available. On the other hand, a number of Iranian dialects were also collected, compiled and documented, and new horizons were opened for conducting useful researches. In Tabaqat al-Sufiya by Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (2007) and Shirzad va Golshad and forty-seven other stories (2021) by an unknown author, the letter “ای/ ـی ” is sometimes seen in the position of the third -person singular pronoun. In none of the history of the Persian language and grammar books, there is no explanation for this pronoun. Therefore, in the present study, the utility of this pronoun in the two mentioned texts and some Persian dialects has been carefully discussed and investigated. It is also necessary to state that in today's Iranian Persian, personal pronouns are divided into two groups: attached personal pronouns and detached personal pronouns. Each group also has first person, second person and third person singular and plural. In this period of Persian language, the third person detached pronouns are:'u', 'uy', 'vey', and the third person attached singular pronoun is "-sh" (Abul Ghasemi 2006:116-134)
 

Materials & Methods:

This study has been done in a descriptive-analytical manner.  In this regard, first of all, the observer witnesses on the use of the pronoun “ای/ ـی ”have been extracted in Tabaqat Al- Soufiye, Shirzad va Golshad. Then, the phonetic forms and their grammatical roles in some Iranian dialects are explained by citing many evidences. The dialectal data used in this article was provided through the investigation of dialectal written sources and listening to 1300 oral stories recorded from the cities and villages of Herat province in Afghanistan, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan provinces. As Sadeghi (2020: 12) points out, there are more ancient and dialectal features in Folklore ( tales, myths, legends)compared to everyday speech.

Discussion & Result:

According to the results of this study, the pronoun under investigation is seen with the suggested pronunciation of ē in Tabaqat Al- Soufiye, with the role of   Modifier noun and subject, and in the book of Shirzad va Golshad with the role of Modifier noun. From a dialectal point of view, this pronoun is used with different grammatical roles in a wide geographical area with the phonetic forms -ē˃-e, id, it, ay, hi and i. However, i is definitely the most used and frequent phonetic form. This pronunciation is not seen in the Amsal o Hekam ( Proverbs and Sayings )  of the city of Herat in Afghanistan, but in the oral tales recorded from around this city, the dialect of all the cities of South Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan, the dialect of Bojnord and Jajarm cities in North Khorasan, and the dialect of some areas of Isfahan provinces, Fars, Hormozgan and Tati( Native language in Western Iran) are commonly used in the northeast of the Republic of Azerbaijan.  In addition to what was said, except for a few exceptions, the phonetic forms -ē˃-e and i are not placed in the modifier noun position if they are coreference with the subject of the sentence.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Classical Persian Literature

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 14 February 2024

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