Evolution of the subjunctive in New Persian (10th–20th): From disappearance to reappearance

Abstract

Abstract The subjunctive mood is not built with the same morpheme in Middle Persian as in Contemporary Persian. In Middle Persian it is marked with the suffix -ā- and with the prefix be- in Contemporary Persian. Based on a corpus of eleven texts, this article will demonstrate how the Middle Persian subjunctive disappeared and how a new subjunctive form was created in New Persian. Contrary to common belief, we will see that this modal opposition indicative/subjunctive does not exist during the intermediate stages, i.e. Early New Persian (10th–11th c.) and Classical Persian (12th–19th c.). Therefore, the first value of rhematicity of the prefix be- will be analyzed in order to explain its reuse as a modal marking, certainly with an intermediate step of perfectivity, as well as the dialectal variants in New Persian. Since this same exact evolution of disappearance and modal recreation is seen in other languages not related neither genetically nor geographically to each other, the Persian modal evolution may shed light on the reason for the reuse of an ancient present as a modal form.