Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat: A stylistic analysis based on constituent extraposition

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran

10.29252/kavosh.2025.22685.3666

Abstract

Wonders books make up a lesser-known category of the Persian literature that explore and describe unknown phenomena and creatures. This study examines the full text of the book Aja’ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara’ib al-Mawjudat by Tousi, dating back to the 12th century, focusing on relative clauses and prepositional phrases based on the syntactic process of constituent extraposition. The findings reveal that the majority of optional extraposition occurs with the relative clauses describing a noun phrase, whereas the rate of prepositional phrase extraposition in this work is 36%. Additionally, the proportion between the extraposed and retained relative clauses in the text is nearly balanced, with 88 instances of extraposition and 79 instances of retention in their canonical positions. The rate of extraposition of relative clauses from various sentence positions indicates that, while the main positions, such as those of subjects and objects, account for the majority (58%), other positions like complement and adverbial also significantly contribute (42%) to this process. The analysis of the extraposed structures in terms of grammatical weight and length shows an intermediate approach in this text, positioning it between the characteristics of Morsal prose and elaborate prose, with a clause length of 6.84 and a grammatical weight of 3.58. Thus, from a stylistic perspective concerning extraposition indicators, the style is assessed as moderate and balanced. Moreover, the examined examples in the book demonstrate phonological diversity and the alternating and simultaneous use of the relative markers “ke” and “ki”.
 

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Main Subjects

References

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Theses:
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Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 26, Issue 66 - Serial Number 66
December 2025
Pages 85-111

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