Language Research

Abstract Secondary predicates are among the syntactic structures that have been neglected by the traditional Persian grammarians, but in the course of the last four decades of studies in generative grammar, almost all kinds of this structure have been explored. Secondary predicates are of two major kinds: the so-called depictive predicates and resultatives. A depictive predicate attributes a property to its subject which holds of that subject all the time that the event denoted by the matrix verb is going on. Resultatives attribute a property to their subject which holds of that subject at the point that the event denoted by the matrix verb ends or culminates. In the present study, following Rothstein (2006), I show that the Persian depictive and resultative predicates can be distinguished from each other just by semantic properties; they have no syntactic differences. Moreover, I will discuss that depictives can be subject- or object-oriented, while resultatives can only be object-oriented. Both subject- and object-oriented secondary predicates are adjunct small clause, the former adjoins to the vP and the latter to the VP (or more correctly, to the main PredP) and the argument modified by the second predicate, sideward moves from the adjunct clause to the main clause leaving a PRO in its base position.

Abstract This study aims at examining the construction of the word-formation pattern of [del-X] (compounds of “heart”) and investigating its semantic variations, the most general schema and subschemas in Persian employing the Construction Morphology approach (Booij, 2010). To this end, a collection of 71 compound words starting with “del” were collected from Bijankhan Corpus, Dehkhoda and Zansoo Dictionaries and Google. Then they were assigned to different categories based on their semantic variations and the specified categories were closely studied. The results reveal that one general constructional schema and Three subschemas have command of this construction and the central meaning “distinctive feature of an entity related to SEM del and X” is the most abstract pairing of form-meaning understood from all products of this word-formation pattern. This implies that the [del-X] pattern is basically an adjective-making construction and the usage of its compound words in nominal category is through conversion activated by metonymy. Furthermore, it was revealed that the polysemy we deal with here is not at the word level but it is at the construction level.

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 research is to explore this suffix within the framework of two theories of Construction Morphology and Cognitive Grammar in order to provide a cognitive and constructional account of the formation of words with this suffix. Empirically, the paper adopts a corpus-based method and theoretically, it adopts a cognitive and constructional approach. The data include a corpus of 29 derivational words having the suffix ‘-gɑr’ extracted from the authors’ own morphological corpus (including more than 10000 complex words) and Farhang-e Zansoo (Reverse Dictionary, Keshani 1993). The results of the research reveal that the suffix ‘-gɑr’ can appear in six different constructional subschemas to express the cognitive domains of agenthood, voice and relation. The results also show that the two cognitive process of construal and categorization have crucial roles in the formation of these constructional subschemas and the semantic category of the suffix ‘-gɑr’.

Abstract The relationship between semantics and phonology is generally denied (Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994: 5, 433). That is, semantic and phonological changes usually apply independently. Phonological processes of Persian which convert a phonemic representation to its phonetic representation mostly do not involve any meaning changes. However, there are few idiosyncratic words in Persian whose phonetic representations which are used in the colloquial style differ in meaning from their phonemic representations.Various types of semantic changes including extensionand restriction of meaning or both, in addition to pragmatic changes occur in these words. In some cases the meaning changes accompany a change in spelling too. This research addresses phonology-semantics interaction using “lexical-access constraints” (Boersma, 2001), in optimality theory as the sole theory to make the analysis of phonology-semantics interaction to some extent possible. Furthermore, some of these interactions occur to save energy and to make less muscular effort. This is usually discussed in functional rather than formal approaches. Following Kirchner (1989) this research integrates functionalism and formalism in optimality theory to deal with this issue.

Abstract Some linguistic forms may become polysemous through language changes and lose their core meaning. Sometimes these forms may stay as relics in different constructions and their core meaning is not understandable without historical studies. In Persian language, “var / bar” means “side, beside”. “var / bar” has been varah- in Avestan language, and "war" in Middle Persian, which used to mean "chest". In Dari Persian (prose and poetry in  the Islamic era), meaning of "bar" has changed to "embrace, side, beside, in somebody’s presence" and also "front" through broadening and metonymy. Today, “var / bar” is used to construct words such as “barobazu” (shoulders and arm), baroru (face)" and phrases such “dar bar dâštan” (include), and although it is morphologically distinguishable for Persian speakers, it is semantically opaque. These compounds and syntactic structures are in primary stages of lexicalization in Persian. In “vare dele kasi nešastan” (being with someone), “var” is a preposition and its grammaticalization process is in intermediate stage.

Abstract The aim of this research is to study the borrowing of Persian conjunctions by speakers of Azerbayjani Turkish and its effect on their language. Data were collected from Azerbayjani Turkish resources and its speakers in Ardabil province. Data analysis based on linguistic and non-linguistic criteria of borrowing/code-switching differentiation shows that the majority of Persian conjunctions have been borrowed by Azerbayjani Turkish and some of them appear as code-switched elements in bilinguals’ speech. The findings correspond to Myers-Scotton’s view confirming borrowing/code-switching continuum as a mechanism for accomplishment of borrowing process. Speakers of Azerbayjani Turkish borrow Persian conjunctions to combine their language clauses. They do not substitute Persian compound sentence structures with those from their native language ones and they use the structures of both due to pragmatic reasons. The results match the second level of Thomason & Kaufman’s (1988) borrowing hierarchy supposing slight and limited changes to conjunction borrowing.

Abstract In this paper, we attempt to present an alternative approach to the concept of translational explicitaion. First, we shortly evaluate the validity of a fundamental presupposition widespread in explicitation research according to which, if converting A to B is an instance of explicitation, then converting B to A cannot have an explicitating effect. Then we introduce explicitation in translation as a pragmatic decision made by the translator to reduce processual effort on the part of target language audience and to provide an easier and faster access to the “meaning” of the text. Then, within the framework of construal operations (Croft Cruse, 2004), we propose a new taxonomy of explicitational mechanisms. These mechanisms change the way in which a construal operation is applied in source text and bring about construals in the target text which provide easier access to what the translator construes as the gist of the usage-event. All four construal operations, i.e., attention, judgment, perspective and constitution can be the locus of these explicitating mechanisms.

Abstract In spite of the significance, frequency, and function of swearing in many discourse communities and cultures, swear speech act has not been adequately studied with regard to Linguistics and Sociolinguistics theories and concepts such as “Speech Act Theory” and “Communities of Practice.” The current qualitative and quantitative study investigated swearing in the modern computer and cellphone market of Iran. We employed interviews and specially-developed questionnaires (with reference to sociolinguistic variables such as age, gender, appearance and membership status in the community) to tap into the swearing types and functions in the modern market as well as its members’ linguistics behaviors, perceptions and approaches. The results of content and statistical analyses of both religious and non-religious types of swearing suggest that, despite the high frequency of swearing in this community of practice, this speech act does not usually have a commissive, (per)-locutionary function; it can even backfire and suggest dishonesty and infelicity. The findings, the conclusions and possible applications are elaborated and discussed considering the literature, religious and cultural explanations, and the requirements of the modern market community of practice.

Abstract Motivation for learning a new language is both self and time-oriented. The language learner’s motivation experiences gradual fluctuation over time and the view of oneself is different on each timescale of the study. Interaction among different timescales throughout the Second Language Development (SLD) is a novel area of investigation (De Bot, 2015). In order to probe this interactive nature, the present study aimed to examine the motivational dynamics of a group of Persian learners on a longer timescale composed of tasks performed on a shorter timescale. To this end, a group of 96 Arab and Chinese Persian learners in both elementary and intermediate levels were surveyed at the onset (before performing tasks) and the end of the course (after performing tasks) to better picture the interplay of different motivational themes over time. The results revealed different manifestations of components of L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) over different timescales of the study. Apart from this evolutionary manifestation of L2MSS components, ANOVA results revealed significant differences between scores of each individual component among these two timescales. In sum, results of the study confirmed temporal and visionary variation in participants’ motivation. Finally, some implications were derived from the findings of the study.

Abstract Lexical Functional Gramma (LFG) is a non-transformational generative grammar, which excludes concepts such as deep structure, surface structure and transformation. Rather than shifting a deep structure into a surface form through transformations, LFG maintains the idea that several structures exist in parallel levels. The two main structures in the LFG are constituent structure and function structure, which are abbreviated as c-structure and f- structure, respectively. LFG is also comprised of other structures including argument structure, semantic structure, and information structure. The present paper mainly focuses on the f-structure to prove the capability of LFG in explaining some linguistic phenomena and characteristics of Persian language such as passivization, non-configurationality, and topicalization. Certain Persian structures such as simple and compound sentences, complement clauses, and genitive structures are studied and, following 10 grammatical roles are introduced for Persian Lodrup’s (2011) model, which are classified as argument vs. non-argument and discourse vs. non-discourse.