Persian Verb Stems Analysis

In this research paper, 229 Persian infinitives and their verb stems are classified and analyzed. If we consider three kinds of simple, derived and compound verbs, only simple verbs are analysed in this paper based on lexico-phonological analysis. To do so, first all infinitives transcribed phonetically and then divided into two main categories of infinitives ended to /dan/ or /tan/. In Persian to make past tense stem, the final /an/ cluster is omitted and then it is inflected for persons and different tenses, but to make present tense stem the whole infinitive making suffix /dan/ or /tan/ is omitted and the remained root shows different behavior according to its final sound. It indicates that general rule is the vowel omission and if it does not apply, we have sub-general rules of a) if the vowel is /i/, the intervening consonant /n/ is added in inflection, b) if the vowel is /â/, the intervening consonant /y/ is added in inflection, c) if the vowel is /u/, it changes to /â/ and then the intervening consonant /y/ is added in inflection, d) if the vowel is /o/ or /a/, the intervening consonant /v/ is added in inflection, and e) if the vowel is /e/, the intervening consonant /h/ is added in inflection. For the stems ended to consonants, for the stems ended into /r/ or /n/ , only the final /dan/ or /tan/ is omitted, but for the stems ended to /x/ ، /s/ ، / / ، /f/ , after /dan/ or /tan/ deletion, there is a conversion in final consonant. Thesefindings can be very conducive for learners who learn Persian as their second language

Keywords:

: lexical phonology , verb stem , Persian verb stems , general rule , sub-general rule.