Linguistic Typology: An Iranian Perspective

Abstract

The Iranian languages spoken in Iran reveal a very intriguing typological peculiarity. They all strongly benefit from agreement as a typological parameter. In this paper, I will begin with Comrie (1978) in which he has proposed the five possible language types based on case-marking and verb-agreement and will address the status of several varieties of Kurdish, as well as a dialect of Talyshi and Davani with respect to agreement. I will show that type (d), i.e., the Tripartite system in Comrie’s terminology where S, A, and P each has a distinct marking, and type (e), for which he has not proposed any name but is a type in which A and P are identically marked, are highly productive and stable systems in the mentioned Iranian languages. The observations reported have implications for the notion of type, language change, and linguistic variation.