A contrastive analysis of modal auxiliaries in Persian and English on the basis of an Idealized Cognitive model

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a contrastive analysis of modal auxiliaries in Persian and English in the light of a cognitive linguistic perspective. In this way, Firstly, according to morpho-syntactic criteria, Persian modals are newly classified and the auxiliaries that fall in the category of modal auxiliaries are determined. In the new classification, in addition to TAVĀN, ŠOD-AN and BĀYAD, the auxiliary XĀH is added to the group and ŠĀYAD is excluded from the list because it doesn’t have the characteristics of auxiliaries and behaves like an adverbial modal. Then, with respect to a two-dimensional framework, in which the modals are classified according to the degree and the kind of modality, the semantic functions of modal auxiliaries are investigated and the modals are compared with their English counterparts. Finally, on the basis of an idealized cognitive model called the epistemic model, modal auxiliaries are conceptualized in a cognitive framework and their relative position on the TIME line is determined and it is revealed that in Persian, like English, modality and tense are of the same substance.

Keywords:

Contrastive analysis , Modal auxiliaries , Cognitive framework , Persian , English