The study of agreement/case parameters in Tati, Taleshi and Vafsi languages

Document Type : مقالات علمی پژوهشی

Author
]Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies
Abstract
This article investigates the syntactic parameters of the agreement/case system in three northwest Iranian languages, including Tati, Talshi, and Vafsi. Baker (2008) shows that the close relationship between agreement and case that Chomsky (2000) formalized it as the Operation Agree is a parametric matter and in all languages, the agreement does not depend on the structural case of the noun phrase. In this regard, he considers the existence of two parameters: parameter (1) Direction of agreement parameter (DAP) which is based on the c-commanding condition and The Case Dependency of Agreement Parameter (CDAP) or Operation Agree and he believes that the Operation Agree or parameter (2) is only one the agreement parameters in universal grammar, not a principle ones. Also, in a language, all functional heads, if they agree with a noun phrase, are homogeneously subject to the fixed agreement parameter in that language. In this regard, we evaluate how the two parameters of Direction of agreement parameter (DAP) and The Case Dependency of Agreement Parameter (CDAP) are fixed in the functional head (T) and moreover we deal with other functional heads including determiners (D), prepositions (P) and auxiliary verbs (AUX). The results show that in these three Iranian languages, the functional head (T) is subject to the CDAP parameter, not the DAP one and the c-commanding condition is not necessary for agreement. Moreover, in par with the functional head (T), other functional heads are homogenously subject to CDAP. The method of data collection was the library method and interview.

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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 July 2025