The description and Analysis of Pronominal Clitics in Behbahani Dialect of Persian

In this Paper we analyze the pronominal Clitics of Behbahani - a Dialect of Persian – their function and their placement in the sentence. It is shown that pronominal Clitics of Behbahani have four functions, namely subject, direct or indirect object and possessive. Here, we show that subject Clitics have 15 functions in the sentence which is fully discussed in the paper. Direct object Clitics select the following elements as their hosts: the prefix of the imperative verb, the verb prefix in prefixed verbs, the non – verbal part of the compound verb, the prefix showing continuity, the verb and the negating prefix. The hosts of indirect object Clitics are the direct object and the continuity prefix. Possessive Clitics can also choose subject, direct object and the complement as their host. In terms of the grammatical category the host can be a verb, noun, adjective, personal pronoun, Demonstrative, ambiguous pronoun, Clitics, preposition, interrogative pronoun, plural suffix, and RA Ezafe marker in Persian. The dominant position of the Clitics in this dialect is the second position; known as wackernagel position – that is after the first word or the first constituent in the clause. The main point of difference and dissociation between Behbahani and Standard Persian is the subject Clitics; Since there are not such elements as subject Clitics in Standard Persian, but as is seen in the paper, Behbahani has a rich collection of these elements.