Date Approved

9-24-2013

Date Posted

4-4-2014

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

English Language and Literature

Committee Member

T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D, Chair

Committee Member

Beverley Goodman, Ph.D, Second Reader

Committee Member

Veronica Grondona, Ph.D

Abstract

Any discussion of Dari noun phrases pays special attention to Ezafat and the way it behaves. Ezafat is of great importance to understanding the underlying structure of a Dari noun phrase. Much of this thesis uses the methodologies and tools provided by generative syntax to determine the status of Ezafat and to answer a number of questions posed by Ezafat. I hypothesize that Ezafat belongs to a functional category which is base-generated under D and its function is to mark nouns for genitive case. In addition, the analysis of Ezafat entails the classification of most Dari prepositions as a subcategory of noun. My analysis of Ezafat takes place at a level that mediates between syntax and semantics, that is, a presentation of the function of Ezafat in the syntactic structure and the range of possible meanings that are generated by it in a modified-Ezafat-modifier configuration. Finally, the function and meanings of Ezafat are discussed in noun, adjective, prepositional, and adverb phrases.

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