Language Research

Abstract Based on Foucault's discourse analysis approach, this study examines participants' discourse perceptions of historical-political words and tries to find the answer to the question of how different historical-discourse formulations and their changing nature is expressed in words as a referent of discourse truth (constructed discourse) and reproduced and  recalled by words. In other words, how is the "word" itself a discourse that can be analyzed? This research was conducted in two stages and two questionnaires with 110 and 135 participants. The method of this research is qualitative-quantitative and based on description and analysis. The second questionnaire in 5 groups of questions evaluates the connection of the word with historical periods and discourses, the difference between the discourse of the word in each period, and the individual discourse of the participants. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively in the form of statistics and graphs. Quantitative analysis of data from 21 items by SPSS software confirmed a significant relationship between "words" and "historical periods and discourses". The results showed that some words, such as historical-political words, are to some extent formed in discourse and are tied to specific historical discourses. And reciprocally,  independently and disregarding any background and verbal context, they can represent and induce that discourse and reconstruct the components related to that discourse in the mind of the addressee. Thus, although the words have their own lexical meaning in the language, according to different contexts, conditions of occurrence, different minds, and finally different discourses, they show different perceptions, influences, and relative meanings and carry different discourses, and the concept  they have in the mind is a historical  one that has been formed in history. This study concludes that words reflect the reorientation of the discourse formulations and articulations of history and they alone can be studied in discourse analysis and ethnology.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to study the compound construction [X be-V_pres] in Persian within the framework of Construction Morphology. In this study a construction-based approach has been used to determine the different possible meanings drawn from the [X be-V_pres] construction, its schemas, subschemas and the hierarchical structure of this construction in Persian lexicon. The proper data for this study were collected from farhang-e bozorg-e sokhan [The Great Sokhan Dictionary] (Anvari, 2002) and in some cases they have been checked in loqat-nāme-ye dehkhodā [The Dehkhoda Dictionary] (2012). Whenever the meaning of words were unclear, riše-šenāsi-ye tārixi-ye estelāhāt-e fārsi [Etymology of Persian Idioms) (Partovi Amoli, 2013) was used. Accordingly, thirty-nine words were extracted and studied. This study followed a usage-based, construction-based approach. The data in this study have been analyzed within the framework of Construction Morphology (CM). In order to analyze the data, the meaning of each word was studied in a real sentence found in our corpus. In addition, we paid attention to the thematic relation of the non-verbal and verbal parts of each data. Accordingly, our data were categorized in five different semantic categories illustrating agent, benefactory, patient, property and theme. In other words, one single form was corresponded to five different semantic roles. The findings of this study revealed that the [X be-V_pres] construction is polysemous in Persian, that is, the polysemy can be seen at the level of construction. In fact, the polysemy found in this research is constructional.  Analysis of the different meanings revealed that they all related to the thematic  relationships between two parts of the compound. In line with this  finding, we showed that the most abstract meaning of [X be-V_pres] is "an entity with relation (R) to XV". It was the most schematic meaning whose characteristics were inherited by five other subschemas which determined each semantic category.

Abstract Persian uses [o] and [va] as two conjunctions, both of which mean ‘and’. Interestingly, both are represented by the grapheme <و> in the Persian orthography. Accordingly, they are considered homofunction-homogragh conjunctions in the present research. The morpheme [o] is an enclitic that has reached the Modern Persian from the past after undergoing some phonological and categorical changes. The morpheme [va] is an Arabic loanword. The main reason for borrowing it from Arabic was to compensate for the impossibility of applying [o] in an environment where there is no host for [o] to attach to, or there is a pause between the host and [o]. Moreover, a speaker can produce [o] or [va] if he chooses not to pause after producing a word. This research aimed at analyzing the pronunciation of these conjunctions in various phonological environments applying optimality theory (Prince  & Smolensky, 1993/2004). In so doing, the constraints whose interactions within the rankings determine the pronunciation of these conjunctions are discussed. As the results regarding the enclitic conjunction [o] indicate, in case the first part of the parallel structure ends in a consonant, it will undergo resyllabification. However, if the first part of the parallel structure ends in a vowel, an intervocalic consonant will be inserted between it and the enclitic [o] to resolve hiatus. More specifically, if the first part of the parallel structure ends in one of the vowels [i], [u] or [o], the intervocalic consonant will share the same feature with them. But as other Persian vowels [e], [a] or [A] do not share a significant feature with Persian common intervocalic consonants, the intervocalic consonant will share the same feature with the enclitic [o]. Finally, when the conjunction /va/ conjoins a word starting with a long vowel, a ranking which contains a specific type of MAX constraint resolves hiatus by deleting /a/ and preserving the long vowel.

Abstract Affix ordering is a theoretical discussion in morphology. There has been some debate over the existence of general principles or mechanisms governing affix ordering. In this regard, we can point to three principal approaches. The first approach named the stratum-oriented model (Siegel, 1974; Allen, 1978; Kiparsky, 1982; Mohanan, 1986), believes that lexicon has a layered structure and can determine the affixes' combinations. The second approach relies on Selectional Restrictions' affix oriented (Fabb, 1988; Plag, 1999). These restrictions include restrictions of the group of affixes and phonological, morphological, semantic, and syntax restrictions. This approach claims that the description of possible and impossible combinations of affixes is related to describing the functions of restrictions. The third approach formed the theoretical framework of the present study by providing a psycho-linguistic model based on this idea that the affix ordering is a function of the degree of parsability of affixes from their bases (Hay 2000; 2002). According to this approach, affixes parsed easily in language processing cannot stay near the base relative to the affixes with a lower degree of parsability. Plag (2003) called the approach as Complexity-Based Ordering (CBO). The question is that how can we describe the Persian derivational prefixes ordering based on the CBO framework. For this reason, by selecting 17 prefixes 2200 derivational words extracted from database. By considering prefixes co-occurrences the rank of each prefix was obtained by using directed-graph and upper triangle square matrixes. According to this theoretical framework, by using frequency of derivational words and bases we could draw the scatter plot and determined the rank of type and token frequency ratio. Finally, according to data and by using the rank of parsability, type and token frequency ratio, we assessed the continuum of Persian prefixes ordering. Similar to Hay and Plag (2004) findings, this approach can describe Persian prefixes ordering as well as English affixes ordering

Abstract Affix ordering is a theoretical discussion in morphology. There has been some debate over the existence of general principles or mechanisms governing affix ordering. In this regard, we can point to three principal approaches. The first approach named the stratum-oriented model (Siegel, 1974; Allen, 1978; Kiparsky, 1982; Mohanan, 1986), believes that lexicon has a layered structure and can determine the affixes' combinations. The second approach relies on Selectional Restrictions' affix oriented (Fabb, 1988; Plag, 1999). These restrictions include restrictions of the group of affixes and phonological, morphological, semantic, and syntax restrictions. This approach claims that the description of possible and impossible combinations of affixes is related to describing the functions of restrictions. The third approach formed the theoretical framework of the present study by providing a psycho-linguistic model based on this idea that the affix ordering is a function of the degree of parsability of affixes from their bases (Hay 2000; 2002). According to this approach, affixes parsed easily in language processing cannot stay near the base relative to the affixes with a lower degree of parsability. Plag (2003) called the approach as Complexity-Based Ordering (CBO). The question is that how can we describe the Persian derivational prefixes ordering based on the CBO framework. For this reason, by selecting 17 prefixes 2200 derivational words extracted from database. By considering prefixes co-occurrences the rank of each prefix was obtained by using directed-graph and upper triangle square matrixes. According to this theoretical framework, by using frequency of derivational words and bases we could draw the scatter plot and determined the rank of type and token frequency ratio. Finally, according to data and by using the rank of parsability, type and token frequency ratio, we assessed the continuum of Persian prefixes ordering. Similar to Hay and Plag (2004) findings, this approach can describe Persian prefixes ordering as well as English affixes ordering

Abstract For many years, researchers have attempted to discover the complex interrelationship between language and gender. This research investigated modal adjuncts usage in the writings of female and male learners of Persian as a second language. This research has been done based on Halliday's systemic functional grammar approach, because, this theoretical framework provides a systemic method for text analysis. Regarding the impact of gender on the writings of Persian language speakers, valuable studies have been done so far, but no research has investigated the impact of gender on the modal adjuncts usage in the writings of learners of Persian as a second language. In fact, this research has been done to investigate the impact of gender on different modal adjuncts usage in the writings of learners of Persian as a second language based on Halliday's systemic functional grammar approach. The method of this research is descriptive-analytic method.  The population of this study included advanced learners of Persian as a second language which studied at Persian Language Center of Ferdowsi University. This field study used random sampling for participant selection. data were collected through tests and writing assignments.  The sample and the corpus of this research was the writings of 248 advanced female and male learners of Persian as a second language of the center for teaching Persian language in Ferdowsi university of Mashhad. First, the writings were classified based on gender (124 men and 124 women). Then, the modal adjuncts in the texts  were identified based on the segmentation of Halliday; after that, the distribution of all modal adjuncts, was determined and shown by charts and compared. The chi - square statistical test was used to study the significance of differences between men and women. The results indicated that the modality adjuncts were the most frequent modal adjuncts in the writings of the participants. The results showed differences across males and females. Women used modal adjuncts that showed uncertainty in their writings more than men and men have used modal adjuncts that showed certainty in their writings more than women. Lakoff (1975) says that women are systematically taught to speak with specific language features, and those language features are associated with a lack of power. Also, the results indicated that women have used comment adjuncts more than men. James and Drakich (1993, pp. 302–3) said women are expected to talk, and do talk, about personal feelings and other socioemotional matters relevant to interpersonal relationships to a greater extent than men.

Abstract From past decades, the study of “clitic”, as a dependent and intermediate element that simultaneously represents some shared properties of the two morpheme types - “free word” and “affix”, has been the center of attention for different linguistic approaches as well as the investigation issue for scholars from different linguistic fields. Among them, by focusing on distinctive features as well as discovering and proposing universal parameters for clitics, language typologists have also played a crucial role in identifying, analyzing and explaining their typological behavior and, as a result, have paved very effective steps in developing the studies for this challenging linguistic unit. Considering the determinant position and the undeniable importance of analyzing under-studied linguistic variants in typological surveys, the present study tries to evaluate and analyze the North and South Bashāgardi pronominal clitics based on Aikhenvald’s (2003) typological model and universal parameters, and hence, to achieve a theoretical explanation for their typological nature, characteristics, tendencies and behavior. To this end, the research intended linguistic corpus was collected in a natural environment of language use by fieldwork method and via questionnaires, translating selected structures and sentences, and recording the free speech of eight (five men and three women) native, middle-plus aged, illiterate, and permanent resident informants, and then was transcribed and analyzed. According to the authors’ initial hypothesis, the nature, tendencies, and behavior of the investigated elements in Bashāgardi are compatible with Aikhenvald (2003)’s proposed universals for clitics. In like manner, the research findings overtly show that the clitics’ universal properties and typological behaviors and tendencies, such as freedom in host selection, non-correlation with phonological words, correlation with syntactic words, appearance after all affix types, and having phonological coherence, idiosyncratic phonotactics, segmental structure, syntactic order, syntactic domain and syntactic rules are implemented in Bashāgardi clitics along with possible theoretical explanations for those properties and tendencies. As a result, the typological parameters of the documented research model maximally approve the authors’ hypothesis and hence, the clitichood of all the studied elements.

Abstract The present study analyzed Houshang Golshiri’s discourse style in his short story of "Dehliz (=Atrium)", and the use of language in this text considering systemic functional grammar. The main question in this paper is: To what extent have the linguistic elements of the story been successful in representing political and social realities? In order to answer this question, the authors examined the text of the story according to the metafunctions to reveal how Golshiri's mental images of reality were coded in the language of his writing. In this story, 239 processes have been found and examined based on Halliday’s model, but due to limitations, only a few examples of each process are mentioned. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical. In this way, all verbs in the text have been extracted and the frequencies of the processes were identified. Then they were grouped and analyzed according to Halliday’s method. Among the three metafunctions, the focus of this article is on ideational and textual metafunctions. The findings demonstrate that material, behavioral and relational processes have mostly been applied and existential, mental and verbal processes have rarely been used. The high frequency of the material process in the story reflects its relevance to the historical context of Golshiri-era society, which coincided with the growth of capitalistic thought and the development of industry in Iran. Also, it shows that in his realistic discourse, the writer seeks to represent his attitude toward the political situation of the society. Compared to the material processes, mental processes have less frequency. It indicates that the writer has seldom involved his own and his discourse addressees’ feelings, and mental characteristics in the discourse of this short story. The processes and texture of the text fit together. The high frequency of use of past tense is a factor that has increased the degree of certainty in discourse.

Abstract Grammatical aspect encodes temporal features of a situation mainly as completed (perfective) or incomplete (imperfective). In the present study, the effect of perfective vs. imperfective grammatical aspects on highlighting different participants of an event has been investigated by means of exploring the role of aspect on the interpretation of the ambiguous third person singular subject pronoun and discourse relations in Persian. To this end, 75 native speakers of Persian participated in a story completion task. After reading a simple transfer-of-possession sentence in each of the three aspects, namely perfective, imperfective, and progressive, they wrote natural continuations to the sentence. The second sentence, which was to be completed, began with the Persian third person singular pronoun /u:/ (“he/she”). The task sentences consisted of 18 critical and 20 filler sentences. Filler sentences were used to disguise the purpose of the task. The acquired data were analyzed using chi-square significance test in SPSS. Results showed that: First, Source/subject preference has outnumbered Goal preference in all the aspectual conditions. This finding was interpreted as confirming the first-mention bias in the interpretation of ambiguous pronouns in Persian. Second, Source vs Goal preference of pronouns is significantly affected by the grammatical aspect such that the perfective contexts produce less Source preference but more Goal preference when interpreting pronouns compred to the imperfective contexts. Third, there is a significant relationship between the aspect type and the type of the discourse relation connecting the two sentences. In fact, the perfective aspect seems to bias the second sentence in the direction of shifting its focus to the Goal of the first sentence and extending the effect of the first event. Also, the imperfective aspect seems to bias the second sentence in the direction of focusing on the Source of the first sentence and providing explanations and details to the first event. Overall, the findings are in line with the predictions of the first-mention bias and the event structure hypothesis in the interpretation of ambiguous pronouns.

Abstract It is necessary to study the vocabulary of the Indo-European and Indo-Iranian periods because the structure of most Persian words goes back to the Indo-European and Indo-Iranian periods and  their  meanings show the beliefs of the earliest people and their views on the function of their morphology. During the recent centuries, comparative linguistics and mythology have facilitated the reconstruction of the words common between the two tribes. The Persians were the first Indo-Iranian tribes who established a world empire; nevertheless, there is no reference to the meaning of the word Pārs, which has an ancient construction, in historical documents. Consequently, linguists have different opinions about its meaning, and their views are just based on the linguistic document. So, in addition to linguistic and historical issues, one should also look at linguistic, mythological, and cultural exchanges with Mesopotamian civilizations because, after migrating to the Iran plateau and replacing the Mesopotamian states, the Persians owed them in many respects, including the fact that the word Pārs together with the  word Medes, has been mentioned in their documents for the first time. This research aims  at studying the structure and meanings of Pārs based on linguistic documents and historical-mythological traditions. Therefore, this research seeks to look for the time of  the formation of this word and  its most probable meanings. Hence, the method is to study the linguistic structure and morphology of the primary form of the word Pārs based on Assyrian texts and Greek mythological traditions and then find the most probable meaning. Since each word must be interpreted according to its primary form, in the end,  the meanings  of corner, leopard, ax and sickle are considered for the primary form *parsu/va, based on linguistic and historical documents, and "sickle" has been assumed as the most probable meaning for Pārs.

Abstract The notion of implicature was proposed by Grice (1975) who introduced two kinds of implicatures. Implicature is the level of meaning beyond the semantic meaning of the words uttered by the speaker or written by the writer. Neo-Griceans developed this notion more widely and proposed other types. An implicature is generated intentionally by the speaker and may (or may not) be understood by the hearer. Prosodic elements (pitch accent and its changes, pause, intensity, and duration) influence hearers' inferences in utterances having implicatures, and conveying different meanings. Therefore, we propose another class of implicatures namely “prosodic implicature”. It seems that some structures are grammatically underdetermined, i.e. the syntactic structure and lexical meaning are insufficient for determining their meanings, and the role of prosodic elements cannot be disregarded. Putting aside contextual effects, this paper argues in favor of the influence of prosodic elements. In a three-step experiment (a written test, and two listening tests with two different prosodic elements), 8 utterances having conversational or scalar implicatures were presented to 20 examinees  whose first language  was Persian, and all mastered the standard Persian. Findings show that in scalar implicatures, “duration” affects the hearer’s inferring the upper bounds (upper items in the scales) or the lower bounds (lower items in the scales). In conversational implicatures, “changes in pitch range” and “intensity changes” influence the hearer’s inference. Moreover, this paper shows that in absence of prosodic elements, i.e., in writings, some meanings are default for some structures, and readers base their inferences on those defaults. So, it seems that some meanings might be unmarked for some structures which leads to many misunderstandings in interpretation of written utterances as in text messaging like SMS and online chats.