Abstract:
The present research deals with the investigation of subject-intransitive verb agreement in Persian. The corpus of this research is consisted of spoken and written utterances. The data are analyzed based on Minimality and Optimality approaches which are both generative in nature, though they have fundamental differences. In this survey, the exception cases of agreement in traditional grammar are analyzed according to Chomsky's recent Minimalist approach which is syntactic based and Optimal theory which is constraint based. In Minimality, subject-verb agreement involves a relationship between a probe and a local goal in order to determine the unvalued features. But in Optimality, the interaction of constraints determines the optimal candidate of agreement. The findings demonstrate that all the exception cases of agreement are explained based on Minimal approach; In honorific or polite use, the presence of the feature [+HON] causes plural agreement on verb; In subject-less verbs, the probe agrees with null PRO. Moreover, in optimality, the optimal candidate is determined based on extended animacy hierarchy. The results showed that minimal approach is much more efficient than optimality theory in explaining agreement.
Machine summary:
Investigating the efficiency of Minimality and Optimality approaches in explaining subject-verb agreement in the Persian language Vali Rezai 1*, Mahnaz Azadmanesh 2 1.
In this study, we aim to demonstrate the exceptional cases of agreement in traditional Persian grammar based on the Minimality approach, which is syntax-oriented, and the Optimality theory, which is based on argument constraints.
All exceptional cases of agreement in Minimality theory are explained based on the relationship between the seeker and the target; in respectful usage, with the presence of the [HON+] feature, the number is considered plural, and in null-subject verbs, the seeker (tense marker) agrees with the null pronoun PRO (target).
The goal of the article is to describe the exceptions of subject-verb agreement based on constraints and the relationship between the seeker and the target, and in this regard, we examined different types of intransitive sentences in the Persian language based on the relationship between the seeker and the target and the hierarchy of universal constraints.
Vahidian Kamyar (1384) has investigated verb-subject agreement in the Persian language and has mentioned many cases of subject-verb disagreement, all of which we examine in this research within the framework of Optimality and Minimality.
Given the data and research results, Minimalism, based on the probe-head relation, can well explain all cases of agreement and its exceptions in traditional grammar, while Optimality theory, by following the hierarchy of universal constraints of person, extended animacy, number, and faithfulness, can determine the optimal candidate in agreement.
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