Language Research

Abstract This study investigates the phenomena of aspect and coercion in Persian through the lens of Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin & Foley, 1980; 1984) and Cortes-Rodriguez’s (2014) approach, focusing on the predicate level and the syntactic layers of nucleus, core, and clause.  The study aims to identify aspectual categories of the verbs, determine the operators influencing coercion and aspectual shift, and present a hierarchy of these operators in shaping the final aspectual interpretation of the sentence based on the chosen theoretical framework.The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the data are collected through fieldwork from daily conversations, magazines, newspapers, and interviews with native Persian speakers. First, the paper introduces examples of Persian verbs corresponding to various aspectual classes (states, activities, accomplishments, achievements, and semelfactives at the nucleus layer, and activity-accomplishment classes at the core layer). It then explicates the properties of each class using syntactic-semantic tests, such as the application of different grammatical operators and adverbial modifiers within sentences. The tests are employed to illustrate the aspectual nature of the verbs. Subsequently, the study examines the roles of various operators like perfective and imperfective grammatical aspect, perfect operator, directional prepositions, the referential nature of internal arguments, and different types of adverbs (durative, completive, frequency, delimitative, speed, and dynamic) in aspectual coercion. Next, we try to explain and identity the structural position of each operator within sentence layers. Lastly, the paper represents types of aspectual shifts resulting from the interaction of aspectual classes with sentence elements and operators through formalized formulas, determining the placement of each element within the nucleus, core, and clause layers. To structure and sequence elements across these layers, the paper proposes a linear hierarchy and syntactic projection model. Findings demonstrate that coercion can occur at any level—nucleus, core, or clause—leading to changes in the verb class

Abstract Employing a Cognitive Linguistics framework—specifically Langacker's Cognitive Grammar, Rosch's Prototype Theory, and Hickok and Poeppel's dual-streams model—this research explores Inconsistent Phonological Disorder (IPD) in Persian-speaking children aged 5-7 years. Speech data from seven children with IPD were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, revealing the following results: First, 73% of phoneme production errors showed a relationship between instability (e.g., /k/ to /t/ substitutions) and a deficit in phonological encoding at the formulation stage of the Levelt model. Second, syllabic simplification in the form of CVC to CV structures was the dominant strategy for reducing  cognitive load              in children with IPD (mean of CV syllables = 0.68). Third, dysfunction in the dorsal stream, especially in the parietal-premotor connections, was identified as a neural factor in the instability of phoneme production. Cross-linguistic comparisons showed that in Persian, IPD errors mainly involve phoneme substitution, while in languages with complex phoneme clusters, such as English, the reduction of these clusters predominates. This study suggests that efficient IPD treatment should focus on strengthening phoneme cues and improving the function of dorsal stream neural circuits. In addition to enriching the neurocognitive literature on IPD, the findings of this study provide guidelines for the developing integrated treatment protocols. Therefore, IPD is considered a multifaceted deficit resulting from the dysfunctional interaction of cognitive, linguistic, and neural systems. Its treatment requires a comprehensive approach  targeting  both mental representations of phonemes and the associated neural circuits. It is suggested that therapeutic exercises be designed based on Rosch's theory, focusing on strengthening the representation of exemplars through frequent words. Also, neuromodulation methods such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)  may prove useful and effective  in improving  premotor cortex function and the transfer of phonological schemas.

Abstract Clausal negation and post-syntactic ellipsis have been extensively investigated within the Generative framework, and Persian linguists have offered detailed analyses of both phenomena. The present study, however, examines a specific type of negation that has thus far remained largely unaddressed in the syntactic literature on Persian. Rather than employing the verbal negative prefix, this construction makes use of an independent negative particle to reverse the truth value of a proposition. This syntactic configuration, called discontinuous negation, is realized by the bipartite marker na … na (‘neither … nor’) and licenses the ellipsis of parallel constituents and heads in coordinate structures. Focusing on this construction and drawing a principled distinction between sentential negation and constituent negation, I first demonstrate that the head of Negation Phrase (NegP) in Persian, merged above TP, hosts the verbal negative prefix. I then argue, following Hedde Zeijlstra (2015, 2022), that the negative particle na is phrasal in nature: it constitutes an independent syntactic element realized in the specifier of NegP and is capable of negating a clause either on its own or in combination with its counterpart. Building on these assumptions, I analyze coordinate structures with a shared subject that occur in discontinuous negation contexts and exhibit deletion of part of the first or second conjunct. I identify four distinct syntactic patterns—distinct from canonical gapping constructions—in which the verb or its dependents are deleted from either conjunct. I show that in cases where the verb lacks the negative prefix, the derivation involves either TP-ellipsis or VP-ellipsis. By contrast, in constructions where the verb bears negation in the presence of the discontinuous na … na marker, the relevant phenomenon is best analyzed as constituent negation rather than clausal negation. Moreover, drawing on both empirical evidence and theoretical considerations, I argue that in the constructions under discussion, an Across-the-Board (ATB) movement mechanism forces identical subjects to raise to a single structural position. This movement leaves behind a gap in the structure that, at the level of surface representation, gives the appearance of identity-based ellipsis

Abstract Text comprehension and recall are among the most fundamental cognitive processes, and explaining their mechanisms can be effective both in the development of cognitive science theories and in the design of intelligent computational systems. Written texts generally fall into two main categories - narrative and expository - each activating different patterns of mental processing: narratives, relying on temporality, causality, and character-centeredness, are closely related to episodic memory, while expository texts, with their logical and conceptual organization, are more dependent on semantic memory. The present study, with the aim of examining these two text types simultaneously, empirically tested two well-known models of text understanding - the Landscape model and the Event-Indexing model - and, alongside them, evaluated the effectiveness of a revised model designed on the basis of integrating conceptual activation, event structuring, and positional weighting. For this purpose, three Persian texts with different structures were selected. Fifty-one ninth-grade students, after reading the texts, participated in a free recall task, and their memory outputs were recorded and coded sentence by sentence. The three cognitive models were then implemented, and their normalized outputs (0–1) were compared with the actual data of the participants. Statistical analyses included accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, along with Pearson correlation and paired t-tests. The findings showed that the Landscape model was more effective in representing key concepts and semantic relations, whereas the Event-Indexing model better captured the temporal and causal coherence of narrative texts. However, neither model alone was sufficient to cover the full pattern of human recall. In contrast, the revised model, by integrating the three cognitive mechanisms and incorporating the serial position effect, provided the highest level of correlation with behavioral data and demonstrated a significant advantage over the two classical models in terms of the F1 measure

Abstract This article presents a functional analysis, based on Halliday’s interpersonal metafunction, of Mohammad Mossadegh’s historical speeches during the fifth and sixth terms of the National Assembly. The study aims to identify how elements such as "verbal violence," "flattery," "speaking from a position of power," and "definitive statements" are reflected in the language of this prominent figure in Iran’s democracy movement. For this purpose, 223 sentences representing each of these four categories were extracted from the book Dr. Mossadegh and His Historical Speeches. For every category, the subject of the sentences, tense, polarity, and modality of the Finite were examined. Additionally, attention was given to whether the sentences served the primary speech roles of giving or requesting information or goods-&-services. The findings of this analytical-descriptive research revealed the following linguistic features in Mossadegh’s speeches: 1.Self-deprecation and deprecation of others. 2.Recklessness in using language against others. 3.Use of inclusive clause subjects (e.g., employing "no one" or non-personal subjects in the subject position to refer to everyone). 4.Positioning oneself in speech as distinct from the general public. 5.Assertive speaking (sometimes even stating unreal events—for instance, expressing certainty about a future event that has not occurred to this day, such as referring to the Pahlavi-Mosul railway). 6.Self-centeredness in expressing opinions. 7.Frequent use of imperative sentences when the speaker perceives himself to be in a position of power.

Abstract In lexical semantic studies, verbs constitute one of the core components of language and play a crucial role in meaning interpretation. Consequently, the investigation of semantic relations among verbs across languages has received considerable attention. Adopting a typological perspective, the present study examines the hierarchy of perception verbs in Persian and explores their positioning within the hierarchy proposed by Viberg (1983). This research follows a descriptive–analytical design, drawing on corpus-based data derived from the usage of basic Persian perception verbs, namely see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.In the first stage, the basic perception verbs of Persian were identified and systematically listed. Subsequently, corpus searches were conducted to extract relevant instances of these verbs from Persian texts. A frequency-based analysis of the data indicates that vision-related verbs occur more frequently than other perception verbs in Persian. At the same time, the relative ordering of the remaining sensory modalities does not display a stable or uniform pattern, and variations are observed in the ranking of auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory verbs.The findings suggest that although a tendency toward the prominence of vision can be observed in Persian, the organization of perception verbs does not fully conform to a universal sensory hierarchy

Abstract Modality is a semantic category which allows the speakers of a language to express their viewpoints on linguistic propositions and talk about the possibility and necessity of potential events. The present article attempts to investigate the interaction between tense and modality in Mukriyani Kurdish. Mukriyani is a subdialect of Sorani Kurdish which is spoken in some of the Kurdish-speaking cities in Iran such as Mahabad, Bukan, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Naqadeh, Oshnavieh, Miandoab, and Shahin Dezh. In Mukriyani, two words which are frequently employed by speakers as a means of expressing modality are “dabe” and “dabɑ”. They belong to the verbal category and are the equivalents of “bɑjad” and “bɑjesti” in Persian. These modal verbs convey strong necessity (in terms of modal force) and thus are used to express deontic and epistemic modal flavors. The current research indicates that the difference between these two modal verbs lies in the grammatical category of tense, such that “dabe” is marked for the present and “dabɑ” for the past. The results of this paper point to the fact that tense plays an integral role and exercises an important influence on the modules of syntax and semantics. In the domain of syntax, the tense of the modal verb determines the tense of the main verb. Otherwise phrased, the [present] feature of “dabe” dictates the main verb to appear in the present tense as well. In the same fashion, the [past] feature of “dabɑ” causes the main verb to appear in the past tense. In the semantic domain, grammatical tense is instrumental in rendering the modal interpretation of these verbs. More specifically, our findings indicate that “dabɑ” can only be used in order to express deontic modality in the past, whereas “dabe” can be utilized in order to express deontic modality in the present or future as well as epistemic modality. In this context, grammatical aspect is the underlying element which lends us support in distinguishing between the deontic and epistemic interpretations. If “dabe” is accompanied by the perfect aspect, the interpretation is going to be epistemic, but if aspect is lacking in the sentence, the interpretation is going to be deontic

Abstract In the discourse of urban design and architectural theory, the concept of the city as text - as the foundation of history, culture, and social relations - has been one of the topics that has been given attention many times. Urban landmarks, as study cases of the City-as-Text concept, illustrate the intricate layers of history, culture, and social dynamics woven into the fabric of urban spaces. Among these, public squares play a pivotal role in fostering social interactions and enhancing urban sustainability. Assuming that urban discourse is shaped by a blend of discourse category elements, in which intertextual aspects are viewed as a "combination of potentials," this study aims to give a chance of a comprehensive understanding of how historical public squares can be effectively used in visual-interactional design contexts. In this research, visual discourse samples are collected in the field and through photography from the components of Naghsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan. Then, to depict the complex layeres of hidden messages and meanings in this physical space and its visual and interactive components, the proposed approach of "multimodal-intertextual critical discourse analysis" is used. The purpose of developing this approach was to help perform a comprehensive semiotic analysis of prominent urban landmarks and gain insights into the formation of complex interactions of visual and interactive elements within such spaces. This approach helped to examine how language and visual elements contribute to meaning-making in an urban context such as Naghsh-e Jahan Square. Findings indicated that analysis of a city landmark may lead to exploring how stories and histories in the place contribute to its cultural identity and how they can be communicated to visitors and residents. Results also revealed that using Naghsh-e Jahan Square in interactive design elements could profoundly influence user behavior, from enhancing engagement and perception to affecting emotional and cognitive responses

Abstract The progressive prefix has no phonetic realization in most Kalhori Kurdish verbs and appears as a zero morpheme. However, Fattahi (2022), in a comparative study, provided evidence for the existence of remnants of this prefix in certain verbs, where it has undergone phonological change at morpheme boundaries. In a subsequent study, Fattahi and Jafari (2025), confirmed the existence of this remnant as well as reporting a case of free variation in verbs which contain it in Kalhori Kurdish of Gilan‑e gharb. This prefix seems to have changed in a way resulting in phonological Opacity; In the /tjæ-em/ à [ʧæm] (‘I am coming’) mapping, the consonant remnant [t] assimilates to [ʧ] before the glide [j], while there is no sign of this glide in the surface form. This study aims to investigate counter‑bleeding interaction between the processes responsible for this type of opacity. The data were analyzed within Harmonic Serialism and Optimality Candidate Chains, as two frameworks of Serial Optimality, to see which one accounts for the Opacity observed in the case of Kalhori Kurdish. Data were collected through a 12-hour corpus of interviews with 15 native speakers of Kalhori Kurdish from Gilan‑e Gharb. After being transcribed, and syllabically and morphologically segmented, the alternating forms were derived and analyzed within the frameworks. Given the importance of process ordering in opacity, the results showed that the sequential application of the processes is not enough for Harmonic Serialism to explain opacity, and this theory needs to be equipped with a mechanism which is capable of determining the correct order between processes. Therefore, the framework of Optimality Candidate Chains was revealed to  be able to explain opacity, due to order‑related constraints, commonly known as Prec (a,b), and representation of candidates in the form of chains. Prec(Ident [ant] Max_glide) was eventually concluded to be dominating *complex‑syllable, and mandate the preference of assimilation over deletion in during the derivation of [ʧæm]

Abstract This article aims to defend the Parallel Morphology Hypothesis as the theoretical foundation of the Optimal Distributed Morphology (ODM) framework. Unlike the standard rule-based model of Distributed Morphology (DM), which assumes a rigid, feed-forward derivational architecture comprising sequential morphosyntactic modules, the parallel hypothesis posits that all post-syntactic operations occur simultaneously within a constraint-based evaluative system. Building upon insights from Trommer (2001a, 2001b) and Foley (2017), the article argues that adherence to the Derivational Architecture Principle (DAP) in classical DM leads to a form of circular reasoning when analyzing irregular inflectional forms. Specifically, decisions regarding operations such as feature bundle fusion or fission often presuppose knowledge of which Vocabulary Items will be inserted. A knowledge that, in a strictly sequential model, should not yet be accessible. Using representative data from languages such as English and Basque, the article demonstrates that attempts to resolve this paradox within a strictly modular, rule-based DM architecture require extensive stipulations and ad hoc rules. These additions not only undermine theoretical elegance but also compromise the model’s psychological and computational plausibility. In contrast, adopting a constraint-based approach grounded in Optimality Theory (OT), as formalized in the ODM framework, allows for a more economical and predictive analysis. Here, the derivational output is determined through the competition of candidate structures evaluated by violable constraints, rather than deterministic rule application.A constraint-based analysis of irregular plural formation (e.g., mice vs. mouses) is provided, incorporating three key constraints: *UNDERSPEC, *STRUCT, and CRSP-D. These constraints regulate under-specification, structural economy, and faithfulness to input feature bundles, respectively. Through a formal ranking procedure (Recursive Constraint Demotion), the paper shows how ODM naturally accounts for both regular and irregular morphology without recourse to excessive derivational opacity or lexical idiosyncrasies. The article concludes that the Parallel Morphology Hypothesis not only offers a more descriptively adequate account of inflectional irregularities but also aligns more closely with broader cognitive and psycholinguistic principles of linguistic architecture

Abstract Meaning embodiment is a central construct in cognitive linguistics which, by rejecting the traditional mind–body dualism, posits that perception, meaning, and language are fundamentally grounded in lived bodily experience. In this view, linguistic structures are not merely abstract symbolic systems, but are deeply connected to sensorimotor processes and physical interactions with the environment. The present study investigates the manifestation of embodied meaning in Persian news discourse across two distinct domains—economics and sports. Drawing on Mac Whinney’s (1999) model, the study examines the role of perspective-taking elements, including affordances, spatial–temporal reference frames, causal chains, and social roles, in meaning construction. Adopting a qualitative design, data were collected from major Persian news outlets and analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that metaphorical expressions such as درو کردن طلا (“harvesting gold”) and تانک بختیاری (“Bakhtiari tank”), functioning as conceptual affordances, map abstract notions onto concrete sensorimotor experiences through cognitive simulation. Spatial–temporal reference frames such as پاریس (Paris), تا آخر هفته (by the end of the week), and امروز (today) facilitate semantic organization by activating motion- and location-based schemata. Causal chains—manifested in more intricate forms within economic discourse and in more straightforward forms in sports discourse—are represented through force and motion metaphors embedded in causal and conditional grammatical structures. These elements collectively sustain narrative coherence, mentally situate the reader within the described events, and enhance comprehension. Furthermore, the analysis shows that social roles and identities such as مربی (coach), باشگاه (club), and فدراسیون (federation) construct social perspectives, enabling readers to interpret power relations, responsibilities, and the positionality of actors in discourse. The study reaffirms that human cognitive systems, even when processing highly abstract concepts, operate fundamentally on the basis of bodily experience and physical interaction. By situating its findings within the broader framework of embodied meaning, this research contributes to expanding the scope of cognitive linguistic inquiry in the Persian linguistic and cultural context.