The juncture-nexus relations of continuous SVC in Persian language

Introduction
In many languages ​​of the world, several verbs act together as a unit, forming a single predicate. This set of verbs is known as a “serial verb construction”. SVC is divided into two categories according to its constituent verbs: symmetrical and asymmetrical. In an asymmetrical SVC, one verb is selected from a closed grammatical and semantic class paired with another verb from an open class. Among asymmetrical SVCs, stage or phase constructions represent a specific subtype that encodes different temporal stages of an event or action, with continuous SVCs constituting a particular kind of such phase constructions. In Persian, the verb "dâštan" ‘to have’ forms a complex predicate with the main verb, and in addition to being used to form a continuous grammatical aspect, it also expresses a continuous lexical aspect, especially when the main verb is of the continuous type, in which case we will witness a continuous lexical aspect. In the present study, in order to investigate the continuous aspect of a continuous verb in Persian, based on the exemplary criteria for recognizing the continuous construction from the perspective of Aichenvald (2018) and within the framework of the role and reference grammar of Van Valin (2005), data were collected from Najafi's Persian vernacular dictionary, websites, and other research works.
 
Review of Literature
Sadeghi and Arzhang (1979) conceptualize “aspect” as characterizing verbal action in terms of beginning, termination, or progression. Jahanpanah-Tehrani (1984) notes that the Persian verb “dâštan” expresses continuous aspect when paired with progressive verbs. Mahoutian (1999) establishes a grammatical-semantic typology of aspect, while Ahmadi-Givi (1981) and Ahmadi-Givi and Anvari (1983) analyze Persian continuous tenses (present and past) as constructions combining “dâštan” with activity verbs (e.g., "to study", "to play") to denote progressive actions or states. Gulfam (2006) suggests a binary classification of aspectual encoding: lexical vs. grammatical, a distinction elaborated by Rezaei (2012a, 2012b), who identifies three functions of "dâštan" and differentiates lexically-determined aspect from grammatically-marked one. Mousavi (2009) characterizes Persian continuous constructions as encoding imperfect aspect, whereas Farshidvard (2012) categorizes verbal features into five groups based on temporal properties (initiation, duration, completion, etc.). Furthermore, Rezaei (2015) and Anousheh (2018) analyze these continuous constructions as instantiating serial verb constructions. The present study aims to investigate the continuous aspect within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG).
 
Method
In order for determining the appearance of the sequential verb structure as one of the complex structures of the language, in addition to examining the type of action of the main verb, these questions are raised: what units the serial structure is composed of and what is the relationship between its constituent units. According to the layered structure of the clause (LSC), the core, the center, and the clause are the constituent units of complex sentences, and the relationship between these units is illustrated within the framework of the universal juncture-nexus model. Juncture includes the types of the core, center and clause. A nuclear juncture is made up of several nuclei, a central juncture is the result of the combination of several centers, and each center may be complex and include a nuclear juncture, a clause juncture is made up of several clauses, and each clause may be completely independent of the other clauses (Van Valin and Lapola, 1997: 442-448). The syntactic relationship between the internal units of complex structures is called a nexus relation, which includes three levels of coordination, subordination, and co-subordination. In complex predicates, the closer the semantic connection between two verb structures is, the stronger the syntactic relationship they have, and the weaker the semantic connection, the weaker the syntactic relationship.
 
Discussion
In the examples, “u dârad dars mi-xânad” ‘S/He is studying’ and “dâštand mi-gereftand mi-xâbidand” ‘They were taking sleeping’, the verb "dâštan" expresses a progressive aspect for the unit, considering the basic concept of continuity of the next verb. In all examples, “that” comes before the verb “dâštan” and it does not come between two verb parts, so its domain is the entire structure, which indicates a single predicate. Moreover, the verb “dâštan” always encodes the progressive aspect for the entire structure, considering the concept of continuity of the next verb. Serial verb constructions (SVCs) exhibit a single intonational contour when the constituent verbs are contiguous and no intervening subject separates them, in contrast when non-contiguous, the constituent verbs no longer share this single intonational pattern and instead show distinct prosodic features. The components of a serial verb construction must have the same tense, aspect, mood and polarity. Similarly, based on the data, the verb “dâštan” has the same tense, aspect, mood as the main verb. For example, in the sentence “dârad dars mi-xânad” ‘He is studying’, both verbs convey the present tense and, in this sentence, “dâštand mi-gereftand mi-xâbidand” ‘They were sleeping’, both verbs contain the past tense. Both examples include the same person and number and the second verb expresses a continuous aspect for the entire construction. According to the data, the verb “dâštan” with the main verb codifies a single event and has at least one shared argument (the syntactic subject). In the example “dârad dars mi-xânad” ‘he is studying’, “he” is the subject between the two verbs, “to have” and “to study”. Both verbs match the preferred syntactic subject in terms of person and number and have nuclear juncture. Also, the verb “to have” is not a predicate, but a modifier that is represented in the projective of the operator. In the same way, the verb “to study” which is an action verb, conveys a progressive aspect. As a result, this construction has a nuclear subordination nexus-juncture relation.
 
Conclusion
The findings of this study support the analysis that the combination of the light verb “dâštan” ‘to have’ with a main verb constitutes a type of progressive serial verb construction (SVC). In this construction, the initial verb (dâštan) contributes aspectual features to the main verb. Within the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) framework and based on empirical analysis, the progressive aspect is indicated to be expressed through a complex predicate including two (or three) verbs that jointly encode a single event. Consequently, the continuous aspect construction in Persian illustrates two distinct juncture-nexus relations within the RRG framework: a. nuclear subordination and b. nuclear co-subordination.
 
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