محمدرضا شمس الدین خرمی

The present research focuses on the morphosyntax of the Zoroastrian language in Yazd, which is one of the Iranian Central Languages. The language already categorized as "definitely endangered” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) displays similarities with the northwestern branch of Iranian languages, while its certain resemblances to the southwestern branch of the same language family are remarkable. As far as the ۱۹^th century linguistic typology – which hinged on morphology – is concerned, the use of adpositions, synthetic passive verbs, auxiliary verbs in the sense of “ability”, grammaticalization of mood in future tenses and an open category of compound verbs made with light verbs such as “kartun” indicates that the Behdinani language of Yazd should be categorized as an analytical language. Adopting a typological approach, the present descriptive-analytical, comparative research investigates compound verbs, pronominal clitics, noncanonical subject constructions and case marking in the Zoroastrian language of Yazd. This study sheds lights on the role of incorporation in creatin of compound verbs, the role of agency and semantic attributes in inflection of compound verbs, use of accusative, ergative, bipartite and tripartite agreement systems and the semantic roles adopted by noncanonical subjects as well as case marking and the role of word order in omission and reduction of prepositions in the Zoroastrian language of Yazd.