A Semantic Analysis of Constructions Consisting of "ba"(WITH) in Persian Language

This article investigates the comitative constructions in Persian. These constructions consist of three members named accompanion, accompanee and accompanying setting. Previously, studies considered ‘bā’ (WITH) as a preposition in traditional grammar. All traditional grammarians introduced ‘bā’ as a preposition except those who pointed to ‘bā’ (WITH) in accompanying situations. One of the aims of the present research is to answer this question: Is ‘bā’(WITH)  a preposition in all sentences or  is it a conjunction or both? So, this study attempts to show its syntactic and functional features in Persian. Another goal is to compare coordinated and comitative constructions. The hypothesis is that ‘bā’(WITH) can be considered as a conjunctor and a preposition as well. Thus comitative constructions are divided into two groups: 1) symmetrical constructions in which [ with + DP2 ] is not an adjunct (an argument). The type of the verbs in this group are as follows: collectives, combining, relational predicates and similar comparison.  2) asymmetrical constructions in which [ with + DP2 ]  is an adjunct. The second type does not depend on the type of the verbs. It consists some members named non-collective verbs, instrumental, body organ, transportation. The instrumental type are of mediatory and facilitating. The findings of the present article can be used in the teaching of Persian grammar as well as syntactic analyses.