A Comparative Study of Compound Verbs in the Varieties of Afghan Persian and Standard Iranian Persian

Abstract

As with many structures in the Persian language, providing a single, unified definition of the “compound verb” has also been a matter of debate among scholars and linguists. Evidence for this claim can be seen in the publication of articles over recent decades that argue for or against the existence of compound verbs in Persian from morphological, syntactic, and semantic perspectives. What is examined in the present study is a comparison of samples of compound verbs in the varieties of Afghan Persian with those of Standard Iranian Persian. Despite the close affinity between these two language varieties in many grammatical structures, they sometimes differ in the structure of compound verbs, the study of which can lead to a deeper understanding of the issue. To collect data, the researchers drew on the linguistic competence of Afghan students studying at the International Campus of the University of Birjand through interviews. The results indicate that, in some cases, the equivalent of a compound verb commonly used in Afghan Persian corresponds to a different compound verb in Standard Persian, while in other cases it can be matched with a simple verb, or conversely.