Minimalist Machine Derivations

Files: persian_grammar.pl / m12.pl / Back to homepage

Examples: Persian examples (Trevor Sullivan and Sandiway Fong) collapse

Example Instruction stream (clickable) Notes
(1a) Man mehmun davat kard-am
I guest invitation do-1.sg
I invited a guest
[mehmun,d,[davat,'V'],'v*',[man,d],kard,'Tpast',c] Assume an empty verbalizer 'V' merges with nominal 'davat' (invitation) in morphology space. In narrow syntax, [V[V][N davat]] will be treated as an atomic head.
Assume required 'kard' (do + PST) heads its own projection and is a 'v'.
T's uPhi will be valued by the subject and surfaces as '-am' [1.sg].
(1b) U mehmun davat kard-∅
He/she guest invitation do-3.sg
He/she invited a guest
[mehmun,d,[davat,'V'],'v*',[u,d],kard,'Tpast',c] ∅ = zero affix for [3.sg].
(1c) Anha mehmun davat kard-and
They guest invitation do-3.pl
They invited a guest
[mehmun,d,[davat,'V'],'v*',[anha,d],kard,'Tpast',c]
(2) Man mehmun davat mi-kon-am
I guest invitation DUR-do-1.sg
I invite a guest
[mehmun,d,[davat,'V'],'v*',[man,d],kard,dur,'T',c] DUR = durative. DUR spells out as the prefix 'mi-'.
'kard' (do) + PRES = 'kon'.
(3) Man dar khorshild-am mehmun davat mi-kon-am
I to house-my guest invitation DUR-do-1.sg
I invite a guest to my house
[mehmun,d,[davat,'V'],[khorshid,poss1sg,dar],'v*',[man,d],kard,dur,'T',c] Pair-merge adjunct PP 'dar khorshid-am'.
(4) Man dar khorshild-am mehmun ro davat mi-kon-am
I to house-my guest SPF invitation DUR-do-1.sg
I invite a (specific) guest to my house
[mehmun,d,ro,[davat,'V'],[khorshid,poss1sg,dar],spf,'v*',[man,d],kard,dur,'T',c] Determiner "ro" indicates specificity.
Specific-marked objects must raise outside of vP.
Head SPF hosts the final position of specific-marked objects in its edge.
Pair-merge adjunct PP 'dar khorshid-am'.