ABSTRACT
The connector ezafe is a final unstressed -e sound added to a noun to connect it to the modifiers that follow and often to connect different modifiers to each other. Connecting a noun to its modifiers constitutes the core of ezafe's functions and in a way encompasses all other functions, in whatever way people call and define those functions. The most common function of ezafe is descriptive, where people have noun + ezafe + adjective. Most importantly, when two words connected by ezafe start to form a fixed compound, the ezafe is sometimes dropped, a process which happens first in spoken, informal Persian and is later adopted in formal Persian also. This new lexical identity can sometimes become quite independent, where a change in meaning would occur if people add the deleted ezafe, as in takhte-siyāh, blackboard, which differs from takhte-ye siyāh, a black plank or board.
