Persian is a Head-Initial Language

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Abstract

Although the majority of Persian maximal projections (XPs) such as Noun Phrases (NP/DPs), Adjectival Phrases (APs) and Prepositional Phrases (PPs) are head-initial, many grammarians and linguists have considered this language head-final just because of the word order of the sentence which is mostly SOV.  This paper, focusing on the head initial structure of the majority of XPs in Persian argues for the head-initial analysis for this language based on the following three observations: first, post-verbal generation of CP-complements; second, placement of clitics and third, positioning of adverb relative to the V°, head of VP and its complement.  These observations in addition to the dual occurrence of OV and VO structure in Persian sentences conclude that supposing the head-final analysis for Persian does not illustrate the underlying structure of this language and proposes a head-initial analysis for Persian.

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References

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