DET:
Definition
Determiners are words that modify nouns or noun phrases and express the reference of the noun phrase in context. That is, a determiner may indicate whether the noun is referring to a definite or indefinite element of a class, to a closer or more distant element, to an element belonging to a specified person or thing, to a particular number or quantity, etc.
Middle Persian does not have a grammaticalized article, but demonstratives are frequently used to specify the referents of the discourse (notably the demonstrative of far deixis ān “that”).
- ka gōwēd kū=m ēn dastgird ō tō dād ān dastgird ud harw čē pad ān dastgird dāšt ēstēd dād bawēd
“If (someone) says: I hereby give you this property!, (then) that property and whatever is contained in that property are considered to have been given.”
Middle Persian exhibits a particle that links any kind of attribute to the headword, the so-called ezāfe particle ī. It derives from a relative pronoun and can still be used as such. We analyse the ezāfe particle as a determiner as it links the determinans to the determinatum and thereby indicates a modification of the reference (see det). The attributive phrase can be dislocated together with the ezāfe particle, and if more than one attribute is linked, the ezāfe particle can be repeated.
- adjectival modifiers: dēn ī rāst ī abēzag
- adjectival modifier preposed: pad ōy ī dagr wurrōyišnīh “regarding the steady faith”
- adjectival modifier and relative clause: az kunišnīh ī nēk ī=t xwad warzīd “about the good activities that you committed yourself”
- apposition and nominal modifier: sudābī ī zan ī kayus “Sudābī, the wife of Kayus”
- prepositional nominal modifier: az druzbēkirdan ī az gēhān “by driving the Druz out of the world (lit. from the druz-out-making ezāfe from the world)”
NB:
The ezāfe particle was described as a genitive case marker by some scholars. This is not a suitable analysis because the ezāfe particle can be separated from the headword by the enclitic numeral “one”; the ezāfe phrase is mobile and can appear before the headword or be dislocated; the ezāfe particle can be repeated and is then attached to the modifier.
The ezāfe particle has also been analysed as a preposition, which is challenged by the syntax of the dependents, which can be adjectival phrases, nominal phrases including appositions and adpositional phrases, adverbial phrases, and clauses.
Examples
- article-like numeral ēw “one” (e.g., ‘a certain’)
- possessive determiners (if preposed): man “my”, xwēš (possessive pronoun of whatever person number features of the subject or topic)
- demonstrative determiners: ēn “this”, ān “that”
- interrogative determiners: kadām “which”
- quantity determiners: ēč “any”, hamāg “all”
- attributive linker: ī
Border cases
The numeral ēw “one” has an enclitic variant, which can also be interpreted as “one specific” or “any one”, as such developing to a determiner. Its use is apparent with the antecedent of relative clauses, where its use becomes regular in New Persian.
- band=ē ī az band=ē saxttar waran “a chain, which (is) stronger than whatever chain, (is) desire”
DET in other languages: [axm] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [cy] [da] [de] [el] [en] [es] [ess] [et] [fi] [fr] [fro] [ga] [grc] [hbo] [hu] [hy] [hyw] [it] [ja] [kk] [kpv] [ky] [myv] [naq] [nmf] [no] [pal] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sla] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]