Interlanguage: Activity 2
Patterns in verbal morphology
Within Persian morphology, the nominal system is relatively simple. There is no case system or gender distinction (except for a few animate Arabic loanwords which take the feminine ending –e(h)). Verbal morphology is slightly more complex but follows a rather simple pattern (Sagot & Walther, 2010).
Looking at the third person singular & plural durative verb “khordan” shows us that there are two different suffixes that can be added to the stem, one formal and one informal. But for some verbs, such as ““ræftæn” there are also formal and informal stem changes that must accord with the respective suffixes.
1) mi-khor-ad
dur(prefix)-stem(eat)-formal 3ps (suffix)2) mi-khor-eh
dur(prefix)-stem(eat)-informal 3ps (suffix)
3) mi-khor-and
dur(prefix)-stem(eat)-formal 3pp (suffix)4) mi-khor-an
dur(prefix)-stem(eat)-informal 3pp (suffix)
Look at some excerpts from Fereshteh’s and Pari’s transcripts in the table below.
- Highlight all their durative utterances. What do you notice?
- What morphological problems do they have in their language?
- Why do you think they made these errors?
Learner |
Task |
Line |
Sentence |
---|---|---|---|
Fereshteh |
Question |
48 |
hum,…,um,….aa…bæche gorbe, koja miræveh? |
Question |
61 |
……sæb kon……um, kho, dokhtær, chera dokhtær birun miræveh? |
|
Retell |
13 |
Bæ'd sina, um…….<laugh> birun pænjareh miræveh, |
|
Comparison |
29 |
aa, mænæm hæmintor fekr mikonæm, um, un næfær-e be shæhr ba atobus miræveh. |
|
Comparison |
77 |
bæleh, mædresæ mirævænd, amma felæn aa, |
|
Comparison |
78 |
(yek, do, seh whisper) , seh bæche,um, doctor,aa olum-e siasi, væ zæban-e farsi dærs mikhunæn. |
|
Pari |
Retell |
6 |
pir zæn-o zan-e dige um hærf mizæne, mizænæn. um ba hæm hærf mizænænd |
Comparison |
72 |
Ah.. ..aa, rævanshenasi dærs khunde. Dærs mikhaneh |
|
Comparison | 76 | væ bæcheh-haye an-ha tu, um, be mædrese um,mirævæn, mirævæn…….. Dorosteh? |
Please type your answers to the questions in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
Learner | Task |
Line |
Sentence |
---|---|---|---|
Fereshteh |
Question |
48 |
hum,…,um,….aa…bæche gorbe, koja miræveh? |
Question |
61 |
……sab kon……um, kho, dokhtær, chera dokhtær birun miræveh? |
|
Retell |
13 |
Bæ?d sina, um…….<laugh> birun pænjareh miræveh, |
|
Comparison |
29 |
aa, mænæm hæmintor fekr mikonæm, um, un næfær-e be shæhr ba atobus miræveh. |
|
Comparison |
77 |
bæleh, mædresæ mirævænd, amma felæn aa, |
|
Comparison |
78 |
(yek, do, se:whisper) , se bæche,um, doctor,aa olum-e siasi, væ zæban-e farsi dærs mikhunæn. |
|
Pari |
Retell |
6 |
pir zan-o zan-e dige um harf mizane, mizanan. um ba ham harf mizanand |
Pari |
Comparison |
72 |
Ah.. ..aa, rævanshenasi dærs khunde. Dærs mikhaneh |
Pari |
Comparison |
76 |
væ bæcheh-haye an-ha tu, um, be mædrese um,mirævæn, mirævæn…….. Doroste? |
- Highlight all their durative utterances. What do you notice?
It seems that Pari and Fereshteh do fairly well attaching formal and informal morpheme suffixes to third person singular and plural durative verbs. But what we notice here is that sometimes they are successful and other times, not. We think there is a pattern whereby formal and informal suffixes are correct more often than the formal and informal stems.
- What morphological problems do they have in their language?
In Persian, “Ræftæn” means “to go” where “ræft” is the stem. In durative forms, the prefix “mi-“ which is a bound morpheme should be added to the stem; the stem “ræft” converts to the “ræv”. So far we have “mi-ræv” and the third person’s singular suffix should be added to it. Then, based on level of formality we can choose either a formal ending “-æd” or informal ending “-eh”. In the latter case, however, we should omit the formal “æv” from the stem “ræv” and add the “-eh” to “mi-r”à “mi-r-eh”.
Both learners are successful in changing the stem from “ræft” to “ræv” but they fail to omit the formal stem “æv” when using the informal suffix “eh”. So they produce something between formal and informal which is not acceptableà “mi-ræv-eh” instead of “mi-r-eh”. Pari makes the same mistake (line 76) for the third person plural, “mi-ræv-æn” instead of “mi-r-æn”.
Similarly, when Pari uses the verb “khandæn” in third person singular she picks the wrong (formal) stem but the correct informal suffix and produces “mi-khan-eh” instead of “mi-khun-eh”.
Surprisingly, Fereshteh produces that verb correctly in line 78. She uses the correct informal stem with the correct informal suffix and says “mi-khun-æn”. “dærs khandæn” means “to study”, “khan” is the formal stem and “khun” is the informal stem; “-ænd” is the formal suffix and “-æn” is the informal suffix which should be added to the informal stem.
- Why do you think they made these errors?