Ezafe: A Problematic Invisible Phoneme for Iranian EFL Learners

Ezafe, as an indispensable phoneme of the Persian language, does not exist visually, but its presence is extremely effective. It is an enclitic usually realized by /-e / or /-ye/ and mostly suffixed to nouns. The presence of the Ezafe is a must when a noun is modified. Ezafe can show different relations like possession and addition. It assumes such roles as definite and indefinite articles, the verb “be”, and stands for certain English prepositions. The presence of the Ezafe in Persian can lead to fluency and correct comprehension. No transitive verbs followed by objects can do without the Ezafe enclitic. This paper classifies different phonological and syntactic uses of the Ezafe, discussing its application against the English syntactic positions of words. The paper exhibits the probability of committing mistakes by the Iranian English learners when the Ezafe enclitic is included in or excluded from their foreign language communication.