EXPLORING THE SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF PERSIAN COMPOUNDS MADE BY ᴂfkᴂn (CAST): A CONSTRUCTION MORPHOLOGY APPROACH

Abstract

Persian compound words, which are classified into two categories as primary and secondary compounds (Shaghaghi, 2008), are typically examined in the Construction Morphology proposed by Booij (2010; 2016; 2018). Within the framework of the theory, this study has attempted to explore the constructional schemas of the Persian compound words made of the present stem æfkæn (cast). To this end, 60 compound words have been collected from numerous sources such as Persian linguistic corpora, Persian grammar books, Persian monolingual dictionaries as well as some Persian reliable websites. Comparing the structure of the compounds made by it, taking the meaning of each compound into account and drawing the constructional schemas, we indicate that these compounds are given eight different semantic categories. Additionally, the constructional schema revealed that the semantic interpretation of these compounds may be allocated a continuum with the most semantically transparent compounds and the metaphorical or idiomatic meaning. Indeed, through the theory of Construction Morphology, the semantic distinctions of the compounds made of æfkæn (cast) could be well specified.