Aspectual System and Aspectual Shift in Bakhtiari Lori Dialect

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Letters and Human sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Aspect is a semantic category that reflects how speakers conceptualize the internal temporal structure of a situation. This study investigates lexical aspect in Bakhtiari Lori within the framework of Vendler’s (1957) typology and the diagnostic tests proposed by Dowty (1979) and Jackendoff (1983). In addition to outlining a lexical aspectual system for Bakhtiari Lori, the study addresses the following questions: (1) Which components determine the type of grammatical aspect in Bakhtiari Lori? (2) How can the role of context in aspectual shift (aspectual alternation) be explained? The research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach. Data were collected through interviews with native speakers of Bakhtiari Lori, involving a total of five participants. Although Dowty’s and Jackendoff’s tests proved sufficient for distinguishing certain aspectual categories, the analysis revealed a lack of clear delineation and, in some cases, conflation between aspectual types. The telic and atelic properties of verbs, along with their aspectual behavior, were found to be highly sensitive to semantic and pragmatic context, often giving rise to shifts in aspectual classification. Accordingly, telicity is better treated as a semantic feature rather than a rigid aspectual category. Furthermore, formal and semantic markers—such as the auxiliary dâʃten, the prefix e-, and the adverb haj—indicate continuity and may additionally signal futurity or imminence. Despite the use of identical predicates for different types of eventualities in Bakhtiari Lori, aspect plays a decisive role in distinguishing event types. Overall, the findings underscore the need for a comprehensive, context-sensitive, and pragmatically grounded analysis of aspect and verb classification in Bakhtiari Lori. 

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References

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Journal of Linguistics & Iranian Languages
Volume 10, Issue 2
October 2025
Pages 59-77

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History

  • Receive Date: 12 May 2025
  • Revise Date: 24 December 2025
  • Accept Date: 12 November 2025

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