The kinds of Ya in today Persian languag

Abstract Diversity of suffix ‘-i’, called ‘ya’, in Persian language, which is of important consideration, for any reason, has not been able to attract scholars and grammarians in the field of Persian language. Here is an attempt to mention different kinds of ‘ya’ and to explain their applications, relying on grammar books, dictionaries, and today native application. The character generally has three types of applications in Persian language. It is firstly one of the Persian alphabet, so it primarily functions as a ‘phoneme’. It is applied in its second function when appears in the form of ’morpheme’, such as ‘-i’ in ‘mardi rad shod’ (a man passed) with usage of indefinite article. The third function appears when it comes in the place of a word, because it is one of the six types of pronouns. So, ‘ya’ is applied in three forms: phoneme, morpheme and word. In continue, it is attempted to explain these kinds in more details. ‘ya’ as indefinite maker (Nakare): This kind of ‘ya’ is called the mark of indefinite by many of the Persian grammarians, including doctor Mohammad Moin. Dehkhoda says ‘ya’ is added to the end of the word to make it an indefinite one, such as the last word and it is a sign of indefinite types " of " is unknown, such as‘-i’ in ‘pesari ra didam’ (I saw a boy). ‘ya’ as numerical suffix means one (vahdat): This kind is added to the last of the word, and means "one". The difference between this one and the previous, ‘ya’ as indefinite maker, is just in their meanings. ‘ya’ as attributive suffix: This ‘ya’ is joined by various kinds of Persian words an attributes them to someone, some place or something, such as ‘Shirazi’(from shiraz), ‘farsi’(Persian), ‘Irani’(Iraian), Barmaki (Barmakian). This kind also sometimes has other meanings like emphasis, adverbial, degradation, similarity, vehicle, type, distance, and so on. ‘ya’ as addressing suffix (khetab): This kind is added to the end of verbs and is one of the six subjective pronouns – ‘-am’, ‘-i’, ‘-ad’, ‘-im’, ‘-id,’ ‘-and’ –used jointly. This just joins by verb and sometimes verb is replaced by it. ‘ya’ as infinitive maker: It is added to the end of nouns and adjectives to form various kinds of infinitives. Such as ‘-i’ in ‘madari’ (to be mother). ‘ya’ as a suffix means astonishment: This ‘ya’ appears in the end of adjectives meaning astonishment, such as ‘che marde zeshti!’ (what an ugly man!). ‘ya’ as description planner (relative, indefinite): This one has been called by grammarians variously indefinite, allusion, definition, descriptive, relative, indicative, and so on. These names are the matter of debates in this essay. ‘ya’ as emphatic suffix for adverbs: Another kind of ‘ya’ can be named adverb maker. 1- It is an independent one for which two possibilities can be considered: It comes with some adverbial expressions with an emphatic function such as ‘zoodi amad’ (he came soon). 2- It carries the burden of preposition in other adverbial forms, such as ‘be zoodi’ (soon). Arabic ‘ya’s in Persian language: Some kinds of ‘ya’ are Arabic, such as geminated ‘ya’ in attributives, and first person pronoun ‘ya’ which have separately or jointly by their words entered within Persian language and found their places. ‘ya’ as institution of ‘-e’ (kasre) meaning ‘of’: It comes at the end of the word finished by non-pronounced ‘ha’ in combining with an adjective or noun in the genitive case to avoid the difficulty in pronunciation of a vowel besides another one