Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
PhD student of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
2
Assistant professor, Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
“Number” has been extensively studied in linguistics from morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and typological perspectives. This study examines the conceptualization of plurality in Persian based on Moravcsik’s typological approach to Number. In this approach, the conceptualization of plurality is analyzed in terms of three parameters: individuation, numeration, and participation, with partonomy and taxonomy serving as important foundations for the analysis. The data consist of Persian examples collected primarily on the basis of the authors’ linguistic judgments and are analyzed according to these three parameters. In the domain of individuation, both full and incomplete listing, as well as lumping, are found in Persian and can be expressed through syntactic, morphological, and lexical devices. The data also suggest that plural markers such as -hā and -āt may, in specific contexts, refer not only to sets of individuals but also to sets of kinds or types. In the domain of numeration, the expression of number interacts with the structure of the noun phrase, animacy, agreement, and definiteness. Moreover, colloquial uses of numerals indicate that numerical expressions may have approximate or exaggerative interpretations in discourse rather than always specifying an exact cardinality. In the domain of participation, collective and distributive interpretations are influenced by syntactic structure, verb semantics, adverbial modifiers, and discourse context. Overall, the findings suggest that Moravcsik’s three-parameter framework provides a useful basis for analyzing the conceptualization of plurality in Persian, but a more comprehensive account requires consideration of its interaction with the morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of Persian
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