What is it about?
A theoretical framework for the transmission of the three basic aspectual categories (Imperfective, Perfective, and Perfect/ Retrospective) in terms of 'Event Time' is provided. The rise of the Early New Persian aspectual type is explicated as a consequence of the loss of the ergative typology. The rise of continuous and progressive aspects and further developements in the Perfect/Retrospective aspect (the appearance of the Perfect continuous and the Perfect progressive) is documented. A special section is devoted to the study of the innovative 'go'-Passive (replacing the Middle Persian 'stand'-Passive). The New Persian aspectual system is contrasted with that of the Sabzevari dialect , one of the more archaic New Persian dialects (spoken to the west of Nishapur in Khorasan).
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Why is it important?
This paper contributes to our deeper understanding of the mechamisms by which tense/aspect systems are maintained and restructured over long periods of time. In Middle Persian the Aorist (the Perfective category) and the monolectal Perfect were replaced by a new system of analytic constructions based on the copula in combination with the past perfective form (PP) kard 'done'. In Early New Persian the use of the plain PP form was discontinued and the Perfect was based on the PP enlarged by the suffix -ag of adjectival origin: kard-ag > kard-a > New Persian kard-e 'done'. The innovative analytic Perfect xord-e ast 'he has eaten' became a base for the inferential (evidential) subsystem > 'he is said to have eaten' which was developed in all the three aspectual categories (Imperfective, Progressive and Perfect) 'probably' on the model of Turkish (Osmanli).
Perspectives
One of the contentious issues is the paradigmatization of the New Persian inferential (evidential) subsystem which 'closely' parallels that of Osmanli. The 'surcompose' Perfect forms forms xord-e bud-e ast 'il a eu mange' (*he has had eaten') and the Perfect progressive dasht-e mi-xord-e ast 'he has been eating' can be interpreted as inferential/evidential categories: 'he is/was said to have eaten'. Here the Osmanli inferential subsystem provides close parallels in its exploitation of the inferential form of the copula. We surveyed a number of surcompose forms from other IE languages (Occitan, Yiddish, South German dialects) where the surcompose forms are used to express distant past. On the other hand, the inferential subsystem of the South Slavic languages is explicated in terms of 'convincing' structural influence of Turkish. These matters of langauge contact are in need of further investigation.
Dr Vit M. Bubenik
Memorial University of Newfoundland
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This page is a summary of: On the development of the tense/aspect system in Early New and New Persian, Diachronica, June 2007, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/dia.24.1.03est.
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