چکیده:
This paper is an attempt to explore the prepositions used to encode the agent
in Persian passive constructions. According to Givón (1983) the main function
of the passive constructions is to defocus the agent. As the general trend in
Persian is to omit this defocused agent, we will stylistically divide the passive
constructions into two main sub branches, namely unmarked and marked
passives according to whether or not the agent is included. Having analyzed
the prepositions using in the passive construction (e.g. tvssot-e, be dst-e,
b, z suy-e, z trf-e, and be vsile-y-e) a complete semantic
characterization of the type of agent that normally occurs with these
prepositions will be provided. The results indicate that, in contrast to some
linguists who treated the prepositions in the passive construction as stylistic
forms, they are not always interchangeable; in fact they are meaningful which
have a prototype for the type of agent that co-occurs with them.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The results indicate that, in contrast to some linguists who treated the prepositions in the passive construction as stylistic forms, they are not always interchangeable; in fact they are meaningful which have a prototype for the type of agent that co-occurs with them .
On the basis of the principles of Cognitive Grammar in which all the constituents are meaningful, it is assumed that in Persian the passive construction is an independent phenomenon consisted of three basic meaningful components: 1) non-verbal element (X in general), 2) the verbal element (šod- n), and 3) a preposition phrase encoding the agent.
Moreover, it is not actually possible to encode a real instrument with the preposition ‘be dast-e’, as illustrated in (3): {مراجعه شود به فایل جدول الحاقی} adapted from Naderi (2010: 30) Keeping these points in mind, we would like to demonstrate that: the prepositional phrase that encodes the agent is integral, but not required, part of the passive construction in Persian, the prepositions used to encode the agent are meaningful and not purely stylistic forms (against what Golfam 82 Bahrami-Khorshid S.
In Turkish the preposition t r find n (from the side of) encodes the agent into the passive construction as exemplified in (4): (4) mektubh s nt r find n {مراجعه شود به فایل جدول الحاقی} The letter was written by Hassan.
This claim is on the basis of Langacker's (1982) analysis of the English preposition 'by' that establishes the link between the use of 'by' with an originator in the abstract domain of responsibility and the use of 'by' to encode the agent in the passive.