Segmentation and the Missing Morphophonemic Step
In a 15-mark qawa'id section, three items test morphology: (a) Segment 'نویسندگان' into stem and plural marker. [2] (b) Give the plural of 'دانشمند' and 'کتابخانه'. [2] (c) Explain why 'کتابها' is written with a zero-width non-joiner (نیمفاصله) in modern Persian. [1]
A candidate answers: (a) 'نویسنده + ان' (b) 'دانشمندان' and 'کتابخانهها' (c) 'Because ها is a separate word.'
The teacher's guide says: full credit for (a) only if the candidate notes the deletion of 'ه' and insertion of 'گ'; (b) one mark each; (c) accept any clear statement about plural suffix attachment. The candidate's (c) is ambiguous: 'ها' is a suffix, not a word. The teacher must decide whether to award 0, 0.5, or 1, and how to handle the fact that the candidate's (a) is a common overgeneralization. The script is otherwise strong; the student scored 12/15 on grammar last term.
1. Award marks for (a), (b), and (c), with reasoning.
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Award (a) 1/2, (b) 2/2, (c) 0.5/1.
- (a) 'نویسنده + ان' identifies the correct stem but misses the morphophonemic change: the plural allomorph after a stem ending in -ه is -گان, with the ه lost and گ inserted: نویسنده → نویسندگان. The guide requires that note for full credit, so 1/2 is right.
- (b) 'دانشمندان' is correct (دانشمند + ان); 'کتابخانهها' is correct (کتابخانه + ها). One mark each.
- (c) 'Because ها is a separate word' is not accurate: ها is a plural suffix, and the نیمفاصله marks attachment without full compounding. The candidate recognises separation but misnames the unit. Award 0.5 if the scheme allows half marks; otherwise 0 and give feedback. Do not award 1 for a wrong grammatical category.
2. How should the teacher give feedback on 'نویسنده + ان' without confusing a strong student?
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Use a contrast set, not a slogan. Put three pairs on the board: 'نویسنده → نویسندگان', 'دانشمند → دانشمندان', 'کتابخانه → کتابخانهها'. Ask: what happens to the final -ه? In 'نویسندگان' it disappears and گ appears; in 'کتابخانهها' it stays. The student's overgeneralisation comes from treating 'ان' as the only plural marker. Name the allomorph: '-گان' after -ه, '-ان' after consonants, '-ها' as the general plural. Then have the student re-segment only the one word, not ten. This corrects the pattern without humiliating a strong student.
3. A colleague says the نیمفاصله is a computer typography issue, not grammar. How should the teacher respond?
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Agree that it is orthography, but explain why orthography is part of grammar teaching here. The نیمفاصله signals that 'ها' is a suffix attached to a host, not an independent word. That affects reading, pronunciation, and the candidate's ability to identify the plural. It is not a deep syntactic rule, but it is a convention the examiner expects. The teacher can say: 'We are not doing computer typography; we are showing where the word ends and the suffix begins.' That satisfies the colleague without overloading the student.