det:
Determiner relations usually holds between a nominal head and a demonstrative, quantifier or possessive pronoun (det:poss).
The enclitic numeral =ēw ‘one’ also appears to be used as a marker for indefiniteness (‘(some)one’) or specificity (‘a certain’) as with New Persian. It is not fully clear whether this relation is a result of interference of New Persian copyists of Middle Persian texts or simple writing errors in the manuscripts (often written by a small hook only).
Determiners always precede their head with the except of the enclitic numeral =ēw.
- “that way, the way”
ān rāh \n that way det(rāh, ān) - “all ways”
hamāg rāh \n all way det(rāh, hamāg) - “my father”
man pid \n I father det:poss(pid, man) - “one way, a single way, a way, a certain way”
rāh =ēw \n way one det(rāh, =ēw)
The Ezāfe particle
The so-called ezāfe particle ī derives from a relative pronoun and can still be used as such in Middle Persian. It links whatever kind of attribute to its head. With nominal modifiers, ī corresponds to English of (as in ‘the house of Henry’) or possessive ’s (as in ‘Henry ’s house’), but as it also links adjectives, adverbs, adpositional phrases, appositions, and non-finite attributive clauses the prepositional relation case does not fit.
Note that the ezāfe particle can be repeated if a noun has several modifiers, a so-called ezāfe chain.
Since the ezāfe particle determines the syntactic relation of what follows as attributive, we consider it a determiner of the attribute. Like that, the relation continues the relative clause relation it originates from, and it is at times difficult to distinguish them.
When ī is used as a relativizer or general subordinator, it is in mark relation.
- “in the name of the gods”
pad nām ī yazdān \n in name Ezafe gods case(nām, pad) det(yazdān, ī) nmod(nām, yazdān) - “the path of righteousness”
ān ī ahlāyīh rāh \n that EZ righteousness way det(rāh, ān) det(ahlāyīh, ī) nmod(rāh, ahlāyīh) - “in evil times”
andar āwām ī wad \n in period EZ bad case(āwām, andar) det(wad, ī) amod(āwām, wad) - “running backwards”
dwārišn ī ō pas \n running EZ to behind det(pas, ī) case(pas, ō) advmod:lmod(dwārišn, pas) - “salvation in the afterlife”
bōzišn ī ānōh \n salvation EZ there det(ānōh, ī) advmod(bōzišn, ānōh) - “Ohrmazd, the Lord”
ohrmazd ī xwadāy \n Ohrmazd EZ lord det(xwadāy, ī) appos(ohrmazd, xwadāy) - “the path to paradise”
rāh ī ō wahišt \n way EZ to paradise det(wahišt, ī) case(wahišt, ō) nmod(rāh, wahišt)
Adjectives pro nomen in case of head omission
Adjectives and nouns are not clearly distinguished in Middle Persian. Still, there is a specific construction, which is used when the nominal head is omitted.
- “of the spiritual creation and also of the material (one)”
az dahišn mēnōyīg az =iz ān ī gētīyīg \n from creation spiritual from also that EZ material case(dahišn, az-1) amod(dahišn, mēnōyīg) case(gētīyīg, az-4) advmod(gētīyīg, =iz) det(gētīyīg, ān) det(gētīyīg, ī) conj(dahišn, gētīyīg)
det in other languages: [axm] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fi] [fr] [fro] [ga] [gsw] [gub] [hbo] [hy] [it] [ja] [kk] [ky] [lt] [naq] [no] [pal] [pcm] [pt] [ro] [ru] [sl] [ssp] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [vi] [xcl] [yue] [zh]