Armeno-Iranian Structural Interaction: The Case of Parthian wxd, Armenian ink‘n

Abstract

While Armenian is not a member of the Iranian language family, its lexicon is replete with borrowings from esp. Parthian. This paper ventures to show that borrowing is not restricted to lexical items alone, but extends to the realm of syntax as well. This will be demonstrated by means of a corpus based investigation of the usage of Middle Persian xwd, Parthian wxd and its functional counterpart, Armenian ink‘n; furthermore, parallels regarding the expression of reflexivity in both language groups are addressed. The tripartite function of the respective pronouns as intensifier, discourse anaphora and clause level anaphora are the result of extended language contact between Armenian and Western Middle Iranian.