Corpus-Based Analysis of Adjectival Pre-Modifiers in Persian: Semantic Classification and Functional Behavior in the Noun Phrase

This study examines adjectival adjuncts in Persian and investigates how adjectival pre-modifiers affect the descriptive capacity of adjectives within the noun phrase. Since these elements are not necessarily restricted to the category of adverbs in Persian, the broader term adjectival adjunct is adopted. The analysis is based on data extracted from the Persian Dependency Treebank. It adopts a descriptive-analytical approach that integrates existing classifications in the literature while taking into account the evidence available in the Persian data. The results indicate that adjectival pre-modifiers in Persian exhibit a range of semantic functions and can be grouped into several categories, including degree and quantity, intensification, speaker-related evaluation, focusing, domain specification, temporal reference, frequency, and distancing. In addition to degree modification, the data also reveal a subset of adjuncts with circumstantial properties that contribute information about the manner, quality, or state associated with the adjective. The analysis further shows that certain adjectival pre-modifiers are restricted to predicative adjectives. It is also found that some adjectival pre-modifiers, while functioning on the surface as modifiers of adjectives, appear to contribute semantically to the restriction of the noun’s reference.