issues of linguistics - Tbilisi State University

“when”, ofdâ- “fall”, dâšd “it had”, megzešd “it was passing”, bakošdian “they
killed”, dakâšde “sowed”, xošg “dry”, gusband “sheep”; Niā. raxd “clothes”,
esdekân “cup”; PQ gofdeš “he said”; Ren. xofdan “they slept”, zemesdon “winter”,
gusband “sheep”; Sul. bagofd “he said”; Taj. mefde “it is falling”, dâšd- “have”,
begzešd “it passed”; Tar. Darašd “Ṭarasht”, damkâšdim “we would sow”.
§2. NOUN PHRASE
§2.1. The use of the eżāfa marker -e shows a substantial variation depending on the
speaker and the subject of the speech in most of the data from various localities.
Therefore, as I have discussed in my study of Tajrishi, one may tend to assume that
for this syntactic feature Shemirān is positioned aptly, true to its geographical
location, between Persian and Caspian. While Persian uses its eżāfa marker -e
inherited from the Middle Persian -ī, and Māzandarāni uses its own “reverse eżāfalike”
connector, the dialects of Shemirān probably used neither in their
uncontaminated forms. For example, Tajrishi mu ser “head’s hair” corresponded to
Pers. mu-ye sar and Māz. sər-e mi.
§2.2. Direct and indirect objects are marked by the postposition-re/-ro, which is
normally reduced to a single vowel after consonants. As in the Persian varieties of
Tehran and elsewhere, the marker may be repeated, e.g. EQ go-re dombeš-o
bekand “he pulled off the tail of the cow”. The examples with the postposition
marking the indirect objects follow.
Evi. mâ-ro dars hâmdâ “he would teach us"
Evi. ye sar-š-o (instrumental) xatt-e dorošd minvišdim “with one end we would
write calligraphy”
Hes. madrasa bašuan-mun-e bagam “I should say about our going to school"
Jmr. mixâm bašam guhâ-re xorâk hâdam “I want to go feed the cows"
Ren. gusband-e kâh hamdân “they would give fodder to the sheep"
Ren. pesarhâ-re mege “he would say to the boys"
Taj. ūn püsérrō báge “that he tell the boy"
Taj. ūÏrū pūÏli siyōÏh hōÏmdan (i.e. u-ro...) “they are giving him copper coins"
Taj. her dútō zénū hōÏde “give [it] to both women”
§2.3. Personal and demonstrative pronouns are Persian, but note the following
peculiarities.
(1) EQ inâhân, Jmr. unâhân “they.”
(2) Demonstratives are also expressed by i and u: EQ i yâlak kuje dare? “where is
the child?”; Hes. ru u halabiâ menevešdim “we used to write on those tin plates”;
Kšr. u-r bazam “I hit him.” 1 Note that the differentiation Tajrishi possibly makes
1 See Borjian, “The extinct dialect of Tajrish,” op. cit. no. 2.4.3.
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