Persian Complex Predicates: How Compositional Are They?

Pollet Samvelian (1) , Pegah Faghiri (1, 2)

1 Mondes Iranien et Indien - UMR 7528
2 LLF UMR7110 - Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle

In this paper, we address the issue of compositionality of Persian complex predicates. We argue against the " radical " or " fully " compositional views prevailing in the studies within the generative framework. We further show that any a priori compositional account of Persian complex predicates is doomed to failure, since the respective contribution of the verb and the preverbal element cannot be determined a priori and irrespective of the other member. We claim, nevertheless, that a compositional account of these combinations is possible, provided compositionality is defined a posteriori as in idiomatically combining expressions. We then present a Construction‐based account that allows to account for the productivity of Persian complex predicates in a way which does justice to their compositionality without overlooking their idiomaticity.

Mots clés: Persian complex predicates; compositionality; idiomaticity; Construction Grammar

Domaines: Linguistique

Pollet Samvelian, Pegah Faghiri. Persian Complex Predicates: How Compositional Are They?. Semantics‐Syntax Interface, 2014, 1 (1), pp.43-74. ⟨halshs-01136825⟩