Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 10، Junuary 2026 ، issue Number 116

Inversion in Persian

Jalil Ghiasi, Department , Mohammad Reza Oroji (Author in Charge), Mohammadreza Tusi Nasrabadi

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This research investigates the phenomenon of "inversion," particularly "locative inversion," in the Persian language and seeks to explain its position alongside other word order change mechanisms such as "scrambling" and "topicalization." The primary goal is to analyze the pragmatic motivations and the role of information structure in creating these phenomena.

METHODOLOGY: This study was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, relying on natural data derived from everyday speech and written Persian texts. The theoretical framework of the research is based on the principles of "Information Structure" and functional theories (particularly the works of Birner and Ward 1989 and Birner and Mahootian 1996).

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that, unlike English, inversion in Persian does not necessarily require the displacement of the subject and verb and occurs primarily in the form of "scrambling" or "topicalization" of a non-subject element (such as a locative prepositional phrase) to the beginning of the sentence. These XSV word order changes are mainly driven by factors such as contrastive focus, topicalization, and overall scene-setting. True inversion with XVS word order, where the subject follows the verb, is rare in Persian and is mostly confined to literary and poetic texts. Furthermore, the element that moves to the pre-posed position typically carries older information or is at least informationally commensurate with the postposed element.

CONCLUSION: In general, it can be concluded that what is referred to as "inversion" in the literature on Persian is not an independent syntactic process but rather a specific type of "scrambling" with pragmatic motivations. The three phenomena of scrambling, topicalization, and locative inversion, although distinct in their syntactic form, are all mechanisms for managing information structure and highlighting different parts of the sentence.

Keyword
focus , information structure , inversion , Persian language , scrambling , topicalization , word order