A Construction Grammar Account of Left Dislocation in Persian

Abstract

Left dislocation (ld) is a very productive syntactic construction in persian, especially, in spoken language (dabir-moghaddam, 1992). Goldbergian construction grammar as a cognitive theory which gives the same weight to form and function is used, here, to analyze ld in persian. This theory by exploring some formal and functional elements such as argument structure, information structure and so on, could present a comprehensive analysis of the studied construction. The obtaining results showed that ldc, regardless of the words used in it, has its specific functions. It’s a topic-promoting construction and its left-dislocated constituent, depending on the previous discourse, could be ‘aboutness secondary topic’ or ‘contrastive focus’ which is normally marked with postpositon ‘-ra’. Ld as an abstract construction is inherited by less abstract constructions and also inherits some properties from more abstract ones (or is motivated). Consequently, the theory could locate the position of ldc in the hierarchical network of constructions in the mind of persian speakers.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p98