Language Research

Research Paper

Investigating the Speech Samples of 4-5 Years Old Persian Speaking Girls with Specific Language Impairment Based on the Extended Model of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

sadegh eftekhary far; Mohammad Reza Pahlavannezhad

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 1-18

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.381272.666897

Abstract

This research investigates and analyzes the speech samples of three Persian speaking children, 4-5-years-old girls, who are suffering from Developmental Language Disorder (Specific ... Read More This research investigates and analyzes the speech samples of three Persian speaking children, 4-5-years-old girls, who are suffering from Developmental Language Disorder (Specific Language Impairment). The theoretical framework of the research is the expanded model of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Based on this model that proposed by Kovecses (2020), metaphor processing takes place in four levels that have a schematic hierarchy. These schematic levels from depth to surface include image schema, domain, frame and mental space. In metaphor processing, the mapping between the source and destination domains is done simultaneously in all four mentioned levels. Among these levels, the outer level is mental space and its processing is done online in the working memory. The other three levels (image schema, domain and frame) are located in long-term memory and are processed offline. The method of conducting this research is descriptive, and analytical. The data of this research was collected by the Speech Therapist through the Told-P3 Language Development Test from three children who have referred to the speech therapy center. The collected data is at the single word level. During the execution of the test, the examiner has checked both comprehension and expression of single words and has classified the data based on the answers of the subjects. The collected data are only descriptive and analytical, and no comparison has been made between the subjects. The results of this research show that this model can be used in examining and analyzing the speech of people with language disorders. Also, these children did not have comprehension and conceptual problems to produce words and had more problems in oral language. Therefore, the analysis of the speech of these children based on this model shows that in order to teach these children the vocabulary of expressive language, instead of going directly to the teaching of the phonetic label of the words, we should have a level of education that is related to strengthening the metaphorical understanding of the words. Especially, it seems that first of all, if domain and frame levels, which are intermediate levels in the metaphorical processing of words, are strengthened by means of teaching methods, the results can be more impressive and the child's access to phonetic label could be Facilitated

Research Paper

A phenomenological Study of Teachers' and Experts' Views on the Challenges Governing Arabic Language Learning in the Corona and Post-Corona Era and Solutions

Mehrdad Aghaei; kamal nosrati; Mohammadamin Aghaei; Hadi Najafi zangir

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 19-44

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.376242.666883

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the challenges facing Arabic language education among students in the Corona era and to provide solutions to the upcoming issues، with the ... Read More

Research Paper

Analyzing Of The Representation Of Experiential And Textual Meta Function In The Reading Content Of Secondary English Language Books (Vision):Functional Grammar Approach

Akram Parhizkar; Arsalan Golfam; Ferdows Agha golzadeh

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 45-75

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.395348.666918

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the clauses related to reading skills in secondary English books based on a functional grammar approach. Functional grammar approach has a wide impact ... Read More The aim of this study is to examine the clauses related to reading skills in secondary English books based on a functional grammar approach. Functional grammar approach has a wide impact on different parts of language learning, because instead of focusing only on linguistic structures, it pays attention to the communicative and contextual roles of language. This approach is effective in different language skills, and in this research we only examine reading skills. Reading skills not only help in learning new vocabulary and improving grammar, but also increase critical thinking and general language skills, so they are very important. For this purpose, 808 clauses were examined using a descriptive-analytical method, and the data collection method was documentary-library. The results indicate that from the experiential meta-role perspective, all processes were used in the Vision books in a proportionate manner, and it is only in the mental process that there is no meaningful relationship between the three books. From a textual meta-role perspective, the frequency of simple themes has not changed in all three books, and there is still no significant relationship with non-simple themes in terms of content presentation. However, marked themes are more coherently related to each other in all three books, and with the increase of the base, the amount of their use also increases. Given that the authors have claimed that the content of the textbooks is presented based on the CEFR levels and that students will reach level B1 by the end of upper secondary school, the present study proves the opposite of this claim and we witness many violations of level B1. Considering the above, the reading skills in Vision books need to be revised to be more in line with the needs of students. The analysis proposed in this research helps textbook designers to use more appropriate language structures in educational texts and encourage language learners to use language more effectively in real situations.

Research Paper

Hiatus Resolution Strategies in Old Persian

Bashir Jam

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 77-97

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.398484.666925

Abstract

Hiatus is a situation in which there is no consonant between the nuclei of two adjacent syllables. It occurs when the left syllable lacks a coda and the right one lacks an onset. The ... Read More

Research Paper

Speaker Identification in Virtual Environments: Investigating the role of Voiceless Fricatives in WhatsApp Audio Data

Rahil Davoudi; Homa Asadi

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 99-118

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.389287.666909

Abstract

In the digital age, accurate speaker identification plays a crucial role in forensic and security investigations. However, the widespread use of internet-based communication platforms, ... Read More In the digital age, accurate speaker identification plays a crucial role in forensic and security investigations. However, the widespread use of internet-based communication platforms, such as WhatsApp, has introduced new challenges in this field. Factors such as variable microphone quality, background noise, network distortions, and audio compression can significantly affect a speaker’s acoustic features and reduce the accuracy of speaker identification systems. Despite these limitations, evaluating the performance of acoustic features under such conditions is essential for advancing forensic phonetics and improving its practical applications in real-world settings. This study examines the role of voiceless fricatives in capturing between-speaker variability in audio recordings obtained through WhatsApp. The novelty of this research lies in investigating the ability of Persian voiceless fricatives to distinguish speakers under non-ideal recording conditions. To achieve this goal, speech data from 100 male Persian speakers were collected, and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were extracted from the voiceless fricative segments. These features were then used as input to a support vector machine (SVM) model for speaker classification. The results showed that when all voiceless fricatives were considered together, the model achieved an overall speaker identification accuracy of 69%. However, analyzing each fricative separately led to an increase in model accuracy. Among the individual fricatives, the /s/ fricative had the highest accuracy at 77%, followed by /ʃ/, /f/, and /x/ with accuracies of 75%, 74%, and 73%, respectively. These findings suggest that even in non-ideal recording conditions, such as WhatsApp recordings, voiceless fricatives can provide valuable information for speaker differentiation. However, this study only focuses on one type of non-ideal recording condition, and further research is needed to explore other potential sources of degradation. The results highlight the potential of voiceless fricatives in speaker identification applications, particularly in informal, uncontrolled, and real-world scenarios where high-quality recording equipment is unavailable.

Research Paper

Serial Verbs and Ingressive Aspect in Persian

Vali Rezai; Azadeh Sokhan Afarin; Rezvan Motavalian

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 119-140

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.381316.666898

Abstract

In many languages of the world, there are a sequence of verbs that are called serial verb construction (SVC). They are divided into two types, symmetric and asymmetric, based on their ... Read More In many languages of the world, there are a sequence of verbs that are called serial verb construction (SVC). They are divided into two types, symmetric and asymmetric, based on their composition. In symmetric construction, both verbs are chosen from the grammatical and semantic open class and in the construction of an asymmetric serial verb, a verb from grammatical and semantic open class, and another verb is selected from the limited and closed class. Aspectual or phasal serial verb is one of the types of asymmetric SVC which represents the perfective and imperfective grammatical aspect and the lexical aspect of inchoative, continuous and completive. The purpose of the research is to investigate the inchoative aspect of the SVC in Persian and to determine the juncture-nexus relation type in the framework of the Role & Reference Grammar (RRG). In Persian, auxiliary verb is placed in next to the main verb, it expresses tense, mood, and aspect, and there is a close and strong relationship between the auxiliary and the main verb, to the extent that they are considered a unit verb and behave similar to the construction of asymmetric SVC. Therefore, in line with the goal of the research, complex predicates consisting of auxiliary verbs and the main verb were the basis of data selection. These verbs include ‘gereftan (to take), bardɑštan (to remove), bargaštan (to return), raftan (to go), ɑmadan (to come), darɑmadan (to enter), and zadan (to hit)’, which express the inchoative aspect. The data of the research was collected from Najafi Persian Dictionary, Persian language database, storybooks, websites and other research work. Due to the avoidance of repetition, only one case was presented for each of the mentioned verbs, which were first examined based on criteria for distinguishing SVC in Aikhenvald. Finally, the type of juncture-nexus relationship was explained based on the RRG. The findings illustrate that these constructions are SVC and their juncture-nexus relation is of the type of ad-nuclear subordination.

Research Paper

Investigating the Accuracy of GPT’s Translation in Transferring Syntax-Semantic Interface: A Case Study of Ideational Meta-Functions in English Translation of Quran

Sajjad Farokhipour; Davoud Padiz; Bamshad Hekmatshoartabari

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 141-166

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.391037.666912

Abstract

AI-based models of analyzing linguistic data have attracted researchers due to the theoretical and practical spread of these models in recent years. Among them, machine translation ... Read More

Research Paper

Investigating the Properties of Primary and Secondary topic in Southern Kurdish (A Corpus-based Analysis)

Habib Gowhary; Safura Azizi; Ali Jamali

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 167-191

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.400925.666936

Abstract

The present corpus study is intended to investigate the linguistic and pragmatic properties of primary and secondary topics in southern Kurdish. The correlation between the primary ... Read More The present corpus study is intended to investigate the linguistic and pragmatic properties of primary and secondary topics in southern Kurdish. The correlation between the primary and secondary topics with factors including grammatical roles, animacy, definiteness, referentiality and specificity and grammatical agreement was calculated. In its canonical use, primary topic is matched with animate agentive subject and secondary topic is matched with inanimate patient object. Dalrimple and Nicholavae (2010) and Lambrecht (1994) as the main theoretical framework have been frequently cited. Topichood is defined based on the aboutness relationship. In other words, topic is that element in the sentence which is the main concern of the stated proposition. Pragmatic considerations play an important role in determining the possible topic(s) of a sentence. The natural conversations among the native speakers of southern Kurdish were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The investigated corpus included 450 sentences in which 208 topics were chosen, codified and analyzed using SPSS software. The results indicated that primary topics were found to be mainly definite, animate, specific, referential, agentive and basis of (obligatory) grammatical agreement. The secondary topics were, also, found to have s high correlation with their expected properties including being object, specific, referential, patient and being the basis of (optional) object agreement. In terms of morphological coding, both primary and secondary topics were found to be represented employing definite noun phrases. In terms of prosodic coding, primary topics were found to be unaccented while secondary topics were reported to have (activating) accent. Due to their salient status in the discourse, the investigated topics (primary and secondary) could be both deleted or moved within their sentences. However, in their marked cases, both primary and secondary topics are not matched with their inherent and expected properties. However, this mismatch is not correlated with a linguistic coding of topics in southern Kurdish. The careful study of probable repercussions of this mismatch of topics and their expected properties in Kurdish and other Iranian languages is a possible hint for future studies.

Research Paper

Investigation of the Correspondence between the Translations Produced by Chat GPT, Deep Seek, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator and Reverso, and the Approved Orthography of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature

Gholamreza Medadian

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 193-228

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.400687.666934

Abstract

Given that adherence to the orthographic principles and conventions of the target language constitutes a significant dimension of translation quality, this study investigated the compliance ... Read More Given that adherence to the orthographic principles and conventions of the target language constitutes a significant dimension of translation quality, this study investigated the compliance of English-to-Persian journalistic translations generated by five online machine translation (MT) systems with guidelines of the approved orthography of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (APLL) and standard usage rules for punctuation marks. To this end, several texts were extracted from English newspapers and were translated into Persian by five systems (ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, and Reverso). Through meticulous, word-by-word reading and analysis of the translations in the light of the guidelines of the Approved orthography and usage rules for punctuation marks, a total of 16 distinct categories of orthographic and punctuation errors were identified in the machine-generated translations. These were later classified into three main types: (1) errors in the use of non-breaking or half-space (Nim-Faslé) within word elements and elements of compound words, (2) errors in the orthography of secondary Persian characters, and (3) errors in the correct spacing of punctuation marks. Google, Microsoft, and Reverso produced instances of all error types. DeepSeek and ChatGPT exhibited 4 and 12 types of these errors in their outputs, respectively. Furthermore, the results indicated that none of the systems demonstrated complete consistency in performance so that a given compound or character was at times rendered correctly and other times incorrectly. It was, also, discerned that the identified errors bear a significant resemblance to orthographic errors prevalent in human-generated texts. This phenomenon is attributable to the predominantly open-source monolingual and bilingual corpora used for training these online systems, which comprise texts authored and translated by diverse individuals across varied contexts and registers. Considering the increasing reliance on online MT systems, such orthographic and punctuation errors possess the potential to gradually permeate into the texts generated by Persian-speaking communities, potentially undermining the APLL's ongoing orthographic standardization efforts. One proposed solution for this problem entails the development, either by the MT providers themselves or independent developers, of dedicated or integrated auxiliary systems designed to scrutinize and post-edit translations prior to final user delivery, specifically evaluating their conformity with the approved orthographic guidelines and standard punctuation conventions

Research Paper

National-Cultural Study of the Symbolism of Ornithonyms in Russian and Persian Languages; Resource for Historical Analysis and Worldview of the Peoples of Iran and Russia

Sevinj Mehdikhanli; Sedighe Khazaie

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 229-250

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.385782.666904

Abstract

Knowledge of the concept of symbols, which has its roots in the cultural aspect of the language, is especially important when studying the language. In the process of teaching a foreign ... Read More Knowledge of the concept of symbols, which has its roots in the cultural aspect of the language, is especially important when studying the language. In the process of teaching a foreign language, it is necessary that those working in this field consider themselves obliged, in addition to strengthening the grammatical aspects of the language, to value knowledge of the culture of the language being studied and to include it in the educational content. Thus, symbols are included in the content of education as part of culture and ultimately lead to a correct understanding of national-cultural texts. Given the importance of cultural aspects in teaching foreign languages and considering literature, we find that symbols and symbolism are of particular importance in the educational process, since when studying a foreign language and the literature of that country, it is necessary for the reader to be aware of the meanings hidden in the heart of the symbols. Ornithonyms are one of the areas of symbols and symbolism in popular culture and literature of each nation, and until now, no comparative studies have been conducted in this area in Russian and Persian. The authors of this study, using the library collection method, as well as the method of analyzing questionnaire data, and with the aim of obtaining the differences and similarities of the symbol of birds in the specified languages, when developing a questionnaire to measure the level of knowledge of Russian bachelor students about the symbol of ornithomyms, investigated the issue and after a comparative review and analysis of the questionnaire data, by clarifying the similarities and differences of the symbolism of birds in Russian and Persian, help Russian students and translators to correctly convey to the audience the concept of bird symbolism when translating cultural and literary texts. Therefore, at the bachelor's level in Russian, it is necessary to include the concept of bird symbolism in educational contentof such course unitas "Russian idioms and proverbs", "Cultural and literary influences of Iran on Russia", "Translation of texts" and "Regional studies"

Research Paper

Unveiling the Future of Translation: A Qualitative Study on the Benefits, Challenges, and Future Venues of Translation with AI

Asghar Moulavinafchi; Reyhane Sadat Shadpour; Yasir Hazim Qasim Qasim

Volume 16, Issue 1 , November 2025, Pages 251-282

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.403095.666941

Abstract

Against the backdrop of rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), this qualitative study investigates how professional translators perceive the benefits, challenges, and likely ... Read More Against the backdrop of rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), this qualitative study investigates how professional translators perceive the benefits, challenges, and likely future trajectories of AI-assisted translation. We conducted semi-structured Zoom interviews with 20 translators (≥3 years’ experience) from diverse specializations and professional contexts. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s procedures, with code-checking by an experienced colleague to enhance credibility. Participants reported four prominent benefits of AI-enabled workflows: (1) efficiency gains through pre-drafting and automation of repetitive segments; (2) cost-effectiveness for large or time-sensitive projects; (3) improved consistency and terminological control, particularly in technical domains; and (4) smoother collaboration via shared memories and glossaries. Equally salient, however, were perceived risks and frictions: AI’s persistent difficulty with cultural-pragmatic nuance and rhetorical effect; over-reliance that can deskill practitioners and inflate client expectations; post-editing fatigue stemming from unnatural or ambiguous output; ethical concerns regarding data privacy, confidentiality, authorship, and job security; and technical limitations in low-resource languages or complex genres. Synthesizing convergent and dissonant evidence, we propose a human-in-the-loop “personalization and productivity” model in which AI serves as a co-pilot embedded within a human-led pedagogical and professional envelope. Within this model, human expertise remains decisive for problem framing, audience adaptation, quality assurance, and value-laden decisions. Implications include (a) targeted professional development in AI literacy, post-editing strategies, and bias awareness; (b) curricular redesign in translator education to foreground hybrid competencies and critical evaluation of AI outputs; and (c) organizational and sector-level policies for data governance, transparency, and fair remuneration. Limitations concern the modest, predominantly Iranian sample and reliance on self-report interviews; future research should incorporate longitudinal designs, task-based performance data, and comparative studies across languages and domains. Overall, our findings caution against both technological pessimism and automation hype, arguing instead for calibrated human–AI collaboration that leverages automation where it adds value while safeguarding cultural depth, ethical integrity, and the creative agency that defines professional translation.

A Constructional Cognitive Approach to the Persian Suffix ‘-gɑr’

Volume 9, Issue 2 , January 2019, , Pages 45-66

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2018.69528

Abstract

The suffix ‘-gɑr’ is a nominal and adjectival suffix in Persian which is believed by most researchers to express the subjective (agentive) meaning. The purpose of the present ... Read More

A Review of " The structure of the Persian Language": A review of revie and review criteria approach"

Volume 1, Issue 1 , November 2010

Abstract

نقد حاضر، نقدی صورتگرایانه در کنار نقد دانشگاهی است. در یک تعریف کلّی و عام، نقد صورتگرایانه (فرمالیستی)، ... Read More

The Study of Semantic Contribution of -ār and -andeh Suffixes in Persian

Volume 2, Issue 1 , March 2011, , Pages 101-128

Abstract

This paper examines the semantic contribution of -?r and -andeh suffixes in Persian based on Lieber’s (2004) lexical semantic representation. This framework using six semantic features ... Read More

Preposition sense disambiguation in Persian using semantic frames

Volume 9, Issue 1 , June 2018, , Pages 99-117

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2018.66652

Abstract

Word sense disambiguation is one of the important challenges in natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics. However, preposition sense disambiguation especially, ... Read More

A Study of Semantic Shifting in Persian Proverbs

Volume 1, Issue 1 , November 2010

Abstract

Semantic shifting which is one of the most important semantic processes forming the meaning of some linguistic structures was first introduced by Safavi (1379). The meaning of different ... Read More

Research Paper

Examining the discourse of verbal tyranny in the work of \"Dr. Mossadegh and his historical speeches\" based on the functional approach

Mohammad reza Pahlavannezhad; Atousa Babak

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 27 January 2025

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2025.380810.666894

Abstract

In this article, an attempt has been made to provide a functional analysis based on Halliday's interpersonal metafunction from Dr. Mossadegh's historical speeches in the fifth ... Read More

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