Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Linguistics, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran
2
Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of English Language Translation, Faculty of Humanities, Hazrat-e Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran
3
Department of Linguistics, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
Abstract
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.
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