Ra-centric constructions at Persian left-periphery: an RRG account

Abstract

AbstractRa-marking in Persian has been a hotly debated topic over five decades. The postposition is primarily a definite marker of accusative objects in Standard Persian. However, the possibility for it to accompany indefinite accusative objects has paved the way for the emergence of further accounts such asrabeing a marker of specificity, topicality, or identifiability. In colloquial Persian, the postposition also appears in displacement constructions where it marks clause-external possessors or obliques serving as so-called topics. In this paper, we argue thatra-marking is not unique to topical DOs and displaced NPs. Ara-marked NP also partakes in the constitution of focus structure while the postposition is taken to be an identifiability marker. We situate our account within a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) framework to delineate thatra-marking at the Persian left-periphery is an example par excellence of the (mis)match between identifiability as a discourse-based concept and the pragmatic functions that thera-marked displaced NPs serve in information structure. It becomes clear that a displaced NP legitimately plays an array of information-structural roles varying from a primary and secondary topic to a contrastive focus.