بررسی طرح‌واره‌های ساختی تلفیقیِ واژه‌سازی در ترکیبات فعلی پسوندی فارسی در آموزش زبان فارسی به غیرفارسی‌زبانان

Constructional schemas, the most significant theoretical tool in Construction Morphology, represent both the patterns underlying existing words and the instructions for creating new ones. Within this framework, the present study investigates the unified constructional schemas of word-formation in teaching Persian suffixed verbal compounds to non-Persian learners, as well as the diversity of such schemas in pedagogy. The data consist of 330 suffixed verbal compounds extracted from Persian teaching textbooks, analyzed through a descriptive–analytical method. Findings showed Persian suffixed verbal compounds are created by combining a non-verbal element (noun, adverb, adjective) with a verb, creating a bound complex verbal stem. These stems do not exist independently in the lexicon and are not inherently productive, yet they function as bases for further word-formation through derivational suffixes (e.g., khoshk-shu “dry-clean” in khoshk-shuy-i “dry-cleaning”). Indeed, compounding and derivation are unified in these words. From the perspective of teaching Persian as a second language, this unification is important, since learners often face difficulties in both comprehension and production. On one hand, they may fail to interpret the string of non-verbal and verbal elements as a unified semantic whole; on the other hand, the semantic diversity of these compounds (e.g., denoting actions, occupations, or agents) often confuses them. Therefore, Persian pedagogy should present these structures through unified constructional schemas, starting with general schemas and extending to subschemas and varied instances. Such an approach allows learners to recognize morphological similarities and semantic differences, and to deal with this part of the lexicon systematically, without memorizing exceptions.
Extended Abstract:
Introduction
The “Construction Morphology” approach, developed within the framework of Construction Grammar by Booij (2007a,b, 2010a,b) and Goldberg (1995, 2003), is regarded as a relatively new perspective in word- analysis. This approach introduces “constructional schemas” as theoretical patterns that not only describe existing words but also provide systematic instructions for creating new ones. In Persian, one of the most significant domains that requires detailed analysis within this framework is suffixed verbal compounds. Due to their morphological complexity and semantic diversity, these constructions pose serious challenges for non-Iranian learners of Persian. It should be added that there are several researches about  Persian compounds based on Constructional Morphology e.g. Arkan and Safari(2017) discussed Persian endocentric ans exocentric compound nouns and Imani et al (2023) investigated compounds with the verb stem of  saz (build) in Persian.
20 The main objective of the present study is to analyze constructional schemas of word-formation in Persian suffixed verbal compounds and to examine their pedagogical implications for teaching Persian to non-native learners. More specifically, the study seeks to demonstrate how the introduction of main schemas and their sub-schemas can lead to a more systematic and purposeful pedagogy of these complex compounds. In this line, it is assumed that teaching suffixed verbal compounds on the basis of constructional schemas facilitates the comprehension of the relationship between form and meaning for non-Iranian learners of Persian. Moreover, the introduction and explanation of constructional schemas in these compounds assist Persian learners in recognizing formal similarities while also enabling them to understand and appropriately use their diverse meanings.
 Methodology
The data for this study consist of 330 suffixed verbal compounds extracted from Persian teaching textbooks published by Al-Mustafa International University. The research method is descriptive–analytical, and the data were examined within the framework of Construction Morphology. The extracted data were analyzed to identify general constructional schemas and their subschemas, which then served as the foundation for pedagogical modeling. Furthermore, This analysis focused on identifying morphological  and semantic aspects of the data as well as the unification of compounding and derivational schemas and also the explanatory role of unified constructional schemas in these word-formation processes. The study adopts a construction morphology framework to address the challenges faced by Persian learners as a second language in comprehending and producing suffixed verbal compounds. Instruction is organized around constructional schemas, beginning with general patterns and extending to subschemas and specific instances. This schema-based approach is intended to enable learners to systematically identify morphological regularities and semantic distinctions, thereby reducing reliance on rote memorization.
  Results
In response to the first research question regarding how constructional schemas of suffixal verbal compounds were analyzed in the formation of Persian compounds (as represented in a corpus of al-Mustafa instructional textbooks for Persian learners), the findings showed that, despite variability in the data, a systematic analytical approach could be established. This approach addressed compounds with the suffixes -i, -ān, -ande, as well as compounds without overt suffixation, based on the unification of compounding patterns within derivational templates in constructional schemas and their coincidence. Furthermore, teaching learners through Unified Constructional Schemas that unified compounding and derivation helped reduce the dispersion and inconsistency in the pedagogical presentation of Persian word-formation patterns. Through exposure to these suffixal verbal compounds in the aforementioned instructional textbooks and their familiarity with them, learners develop unified constructional schemas of compounding and derivation in their mental representation. These schemas subsequently serve as a source for further word formation, enabling learners, through analogical reasoning and paradigmatic approach to generate numerous novel instances of such compounds.
In response to the second research question concerning how the diversity of Unified Constructional Schemas in Persian suffixal verbal compounds can be accounted for, despite their formal similarities, in a manner comprehensible to learners, it was observed that these verbal compounds inherit their grammatical information with varying degrees —including morphological, syntactic, semantic features and final category—from the dominant schemas and its subschemas. By introducing theoretical tools such as subschemas under the dominance of the main schema to learners, less regular and especially exceptional instances could be explained explicitly, without resorting to ad hoc solutions such as positing a zero morpheme for agentive compounds lacking overt suffixation. Furthermore, the assumption of two distinct dimensions—formal and semantic, each with different functions—in the construction of the suffixal verbal compounds under study, and the systematic relationship between the morphological aspect as a whole and a single meaning, led to the adoption of a unified analytical approach across data types. By distinguishing the function of the morphological aspect from that of the semantic aspect, it became possible to account more robustly for the distinct morphological behavior of compounds lacking overt suffixation, as well as for their semantic variation. This is because the form–meaning correspondence in these constructions exhibits varying degrees of motivation, and the derivation of subschemas significantly facilitated a consistent analysis of the semantic diversity of these words, without confronting learners with exceptional cases. Thus, learners develop in their minds knowledge of Unified Constructional Schemas of word formations, which enables them to acquire these suffixal verbal compounds more quickly and easily, despite the semantic variation they exhibit.
Conclusion
The study concludes that explaining compound verbs with suffixes through constructional schemas provides an effective pedagogical tool in teaching Persian to non-Iranian learners. Targeted instruction based on the systematic introduction of main schemas and sub-schemas, supported by diverse instances, enables learners to approach these constructions systematically rather than through rote memorization of exceptions.  It must be mentioned that the findings of the present study are in line with those reported by by Hassanpouran and Alizadeh(2023), and showed a similar result to the study conducted by Arkan and Safari (2017). Moreover, the findings of this study were consistent with the results reported in non-Iranian research by Booij and Audring (2018).
 Future research in Persian word formation based on Construction Morphology could explore several directions. First, constructional analyses of suffixless and prefixless verbal compounds could provide a clearer understanding of the interaction between form and meaning within Unified Constructional Schemas. Second, studies could examine the application of constructional schemas in teaching various Persian word-formation patterns—including nominal, adjectival, and verbal derivatives—to non-native learners, evaluating how schema-based instruction facilitates the acquisition of complex morphological structures. Finally, comparative research could investigate Persian word formation alongside that of other languages from the perspective of form–meaning mapping and schema unification, in order to identify constructional similarities and differences and to contribute to a cross-linguistic understanding of constructional approaches.
Acknowledgment
Special thanks are also extended to Al-Mustafa International University for providing access to resources and Persian teaching materials.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest—academic, financial, or personal—regarding this study.