Language Research

Research Paper

Discourse Disorder in Right Hemisphere Brain Damaged Patients: Evidence from Relative Clause Processing

Mahla Arianpour

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 1-22

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.352485.666818

Abstract

Based on clinical observations, it has been determined that damage to the right hemisphere may cause some communication disorders. These non-aphasic communication disorders lead to ... Read More Based on clinical observations, it has been determined that damage to the right hemisphere may cause some communication disorders. These non-aphasic communication disorders lead to impairments in the pragmatic, prosodic, lexical-semantic and discourse aspects of language that affect social participation. In right hemisphere damaged patients (RHD), discourse may be affected at both the perceptual and expressive levels. Right hemisphere damage can affect language-related skills. The present study aimed to investigate discourse disorder in adults with right hemisphere brain damage through the processing of relative clauses. The research is descriptive-analytical and quantitative. The statistical population included 10 healthy adults and 10 Persian-speaking adults with right hemisphere damage, who were selected in a convenience sampling way. The research tests included screening tests and tests for measuring the processing speed of relative constructions, which were done through DMDX software. Data analysis was done by the statistical methods such as variance analysis, independent t-test of two independent groups, and paired sample t-test. In subject relative constructions, the difference in processing speed of categories, relative clauses and relative sentences between the two experimental and control groups was not significant (P>0.05); However, in the object relative constructions, this difference in processing speed between the two experimental and control groups was significant (P<0.05). In subject and object constructions preceded by an initial context, the difference in processing speed of categories, clauses and sentences between the two experimental and control groups was significant (P<0.05). In the experimental group, the difference in processing speed of subject and object relative clauses and sentences with and without an initial context was significant (P<0.05). The research findings provide evidence for the negative effect of right hemisphere brain damage on discourse skills. Likewise, people with right hemisphere brain damage have more difficulty in processing complex language constructions referential items such as relative constructions compared to healthy peers.

Research Paper

The study of brain function during the understanding of conventional and unconventional metaphors

Ladan Javaheri; amer gheitury; Mehdi khodamoradi; Shahab Moradkhani

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 23-53

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.353638.666822

Abstract

The present era is the era of science's control over human beliefs. Man's need to know the nature of himself and the world around him has led him to believe in phenomena based on objective ... Read More The present era is the era of science's control over human beliefs. Man's need to know the nature of himself and the world around him has led him to believe in phenomena based on objective evidence, and this has caused cognitive science to become the favorite field of many scholars today. One of the main fields of cognitive sciences is linguistics, which is based on the study of language. Since language can be considered as a tool to represent the mind; therefore, cognitive linguistics goes beyond the study of the apparent structure of language and investigates very complex fundamental operations that play a major role in the development of language grammar, conceptualization, speaking and thinking. The theoretical approach of this field is based on experimental observations and scientific experiments of psychology and neuroscience, and its purpose is to understand how linguistic information is represented in the mind, to learn language and to understand and use it. In recent decades, the analysis and explanation of metaphor understanding processes has been the focus of many linguists. One of the main challenges in this direction is to find a solution that can explain the processes involved in understanding different types of metaphor. In this research, considering the mechanism of language understanding in the brain, we examined two different groups of conventional metaphors and unconventional metaphors. This research is descriptive-analytical and based on the articles, books and research done in the field of brain connection with metaphor understanding process. The results of this research show that understanding conventional metaphors causes activity in the left middle temporal gyrus, the right fusiform part and the inferior frontal gyrus. While, the fusiform part of the right side is related to the integration of visual and semantic information. On the other hand, unconventional metaphors continuously activate the left fusiform gyrus and the right precone.

Research Paper

Object Omission in Persian: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis

Faezeh Salimi; Vali Rezai

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 55-81

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2022.328325.666733

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate object omission based on Role and Reference Grammar. Object omission is a valency-reduction process in which a verb which is transitive in ... Read More The aim of this research is to investigate object omission based on Role and Reference Grammar. Object omission is a valency-reduction process in which a verb which is transitive in nature, appears without its object. This study, will indicate semantic, syntactic and pragmatic representation of the aforementioned construction with respect to the presented concepts in Role and Reference Grammar including the layered structure of the clause, logical structure, semantic macroroles, information structure, activation status of the referents and linking algorithm. Explaining object omission in the framework of RRG, indicates one of the advantages of this grammar. Although RRG attends to the interaction between form and function, it declines the abstract layers or elements in the syntactic analysis. Accordingly, in this grammar the syntactic structure of the clause is represented based on what is explicitly applicable. Therefore, RRG is not faced with any restriction in explaining object omission and regarding what is explicitly presented in the sentence, it behaves with transitive verbs which omit their objects as intransitive ones. The most specific attainments of investigating object omission in the framework of RRG are as follows: In the layered structure of a clause with omitted object, one of the arguments of the core will be reduced and the syntactic representation will be like an intransitive verb with just one argument (subject) in the core. The logical structure of such verbs, likewise, will be represent with just one argument (x), unlike transitive verbs which has two arguments (x, y) in logical structure. Regarding the aktionsart type of the verbs, the findings indicate that activities are the most frequent verbs in object omission construction. the reason is that the second argument of activity verbs is not a macrorole and therefore can be omitted. Describing object omission with regard to information structure and activation status of the referents in RRG shows that as in the aforementioned construction the object is omitted, it cannot be a focal or topical element and its referent can be considered as an accessible one. Since it is the hearer’s knowledge of the world that makes it possible to understand the notion of the omitted object. Moreover, in this study, regarding object omission construction, linking algorithm from semantic to syntax and from syntax to semantics has been provided. The bidirectional diagrams show that the linking principles of selecting and linking undergoer in both directions will not exist in the objectless sentences.

Research Paper

Different Structures of Floating and Non-Floating Quantifier Constructions in Persian

Safa Sadeghi Ashrafi; َAli Darzi

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 83-104

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2021.320488.666704

Abstract

Quantifiers basically occur adjacent to a nominal phrase. However, sometimes the quantifier and the nominal phrase appear apart in sentences. This phenomenon is referred to as quantifier ... Read More Quantifiers basically occur adjacent to a nominal phrase. However, sometimes the quantifier and the nominal phrase appear apart in sentences. This phenomenon is referred to as quantifier floating (Q-floating). The most prominent approach to Q-floating is stranding analysis, according to which the quantifier and the adjacent nominal phrase together make up a single constituent, and in the course of derivation, the nominal phrase moves from this constituent to a higher position, stranding the quantifier in situ; in other words, stranding analysis considers the floating quantifier construction as the result of a transformation from non-floating quantifier construction. This paper addresses the structure of floating and non-floating quantifier constructions, provides evidence from Persian to indicate the independence of their structures, and argues for the oblige toriness of each structure. The floating quantifier is shown to be a late adjunct to a copy of its associated DP: in the derivation leading to quantifier floating, a DP moves from its θ-position and then receives a QP as an adjunct, and then it moves again to a higher position and strands the quantifier in situ. According to Chomsky’s (2013) Labeling Algorithm, when QP is an adjunct to DP, the movement of DP and it’s leaving the QP behind is obligatory; to put it another way, floating quantifier construction is obligatory. As opposed to floating quantifier construction, in non-floating quantifier construction, QP is not an adjunct. In this construction, the DP is the complement of the quantifier head. Given Labeling Algorithm, this construction is obligatorily motivated, too. In addition, since quantifier phrase is the topmost nominal phrase in such constructions, it is a phase; and in order for the DP to move out of this phase, it needs to move first to the specifier position of the QP, but this movement is considered too short. For this reason, DP cannot move off the QP in non-floating quantifier constructions

Research Paper

Primary and Secondary Predicate Ellipsis in Complement and Adjunct Small Clauses: A minimalist Approach (Phase Theory)

Shabnam Majidi; Fatemeh Bahrami; Mazdak Anoushe

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 105-134

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.352971.666819

Abstract

The phenomenon of the head- and constituent ellipsis is one of the most discussed issues that grammarians have given a different name to each of its types. The present paper deals with ... Read More The phenomenon of the head- and constituent ellipsis is one of the most discussed issues that grammarians have given a different name to each of its types. The present paper deals with a specific type of ellipsis within the clause, which is referred to, in the tradition of generative grammar, as the Right Node Raising, and it is distinct from the deletion of the second coordinate clause, namely gapping. In the aforementioned ellipsis, the verb alone, or together with its dependents, is removed from the first coordinate clause. While examining such structures, the present article analyzes the ellipsis from the coordinate clauses which contain a complement or adjunct small clause, and therefore, due to the simultaneous deletion of the primary predicate (from the main clause) and the secondary predicate (from the subordinate clause), they represent more syntactic complexity of its own. In the analysis, which is based on the assumption of two processes, namely the “verb movement out of the vP” and the “object shift”, the discussed structures are divided into two types: coordinates with a common subject and ones with a non-common subject; and thus, a different explanation is provided for each kind. In coordinates that have a common subject and host a small clause in their argument structure, in fact, two vPs, and not two clauses, are coordinated, and the process known as Across-the-Board movement, which is applied to the verb and the subject of the clause, leaves some gaps in the first coordinate clause in place. In contrary, the ellipsis phenomenon is applied to coordinates with non-common subjects. Since this phenomenon occurs at PF level, it is expected that its occurrence is related to the phase domain. In this research, based on the Phase Theory, as well as the empirical evidence of the Persian, we argue that in the latter structures, ellipsis occurs at the higher phase stage, and the elements that have already reached the edge of the phase are pronounced at the phonetic level, following the Phase Impenetrability Condition.

Research Paper

Constructive Process of Affirmative Negation and Its Practical Appearances in Persian and Kurdish Languages

Farhad Mohammadi

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 135-160

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.355201.666830

Abstract

There is a generative constructional process in both Persian and Kurdish languages, through which some syntactic constructions can be transformed from a simple expression to an emphatic ... Read More

Research Paper

An Acoustic Study of Persian Topic Constructions

Batool Alinezhad; Zeinab Homayouni; Rezvan Motavalian Naeini

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, Pages 161-186

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.352355.666816

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to compare the prosodic structure of the different types of Persian topic constructions within the framework of the auto-segmental metrical phonology ... Read More The purpose of this research is to compare the prosodic structure of the different types of Persian topic constructions within the framework of the auto-segmental metrical phonology (Ladd, 2008) in order to answer the challenge of whether the initial position in these constructions is the result of base-generation or the result of the movement of the initial element. In this regard, following Cinque(1990), we examine the Persian topic constructions in the three categories of topicalization, clitic left dislocation (CLLD) and hanging topic left dislocation (HTLD) in order to determine whether the initial element in these constructions forms an independent intonational phrase or is a part of a larger intonational phrase involving the whole sentence. For this purpose, we compare the values of the phonetic parameter of initial element final syllable length and the amount of pause between this element and the continuation of the clause in different types of topic constructions. according to Pierrehumbert (1980: 20), if the lengthening of the final syllable of the target group and the duration of the pause between it and the next words are more than these values in the unmarked construction, that group forms an independent intonational phrase. The results show that in Persian topicalization and CLLD, these values are not significantly different from such values in the unmarked construction; Also, like the unmarked construction, the initial element in topicalization and CLLD is produced with H- boundary tone. These features can be seen as the phonetic correlation of the strong syntactic connection between the initial element and the continuation of the clause in these two constructions; A characteristic that indicates the movement of the element to the beginning of the clause. On the other hand, the more lengthening of the final syllable of the initial element and the greater amount of pause between this element and the continuation of the clause in HTLD compared to the unmarked construction, is evidence that the initial structure in this construction forms an independent intonational phrase; A characteristic that, along with L- boundary tone, is the phonetic representation of weak syntactic connection in this construction. This feature strengthens the assumption that HTLD is the result of the base-generation of the initial element. The results of this research show that the characteristics of topic constructions that affect the subject of sentence follow the same pattern of the characteristics of topic constructions from the object of sentence.

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Volume & Issue: Volume 13, Issue 2 - Serial Number 25, May 2023, Pages 1-160

Discourse Disorder in Right Hemisphere Brain Damaged Patients: Evidence from Relative Clause Processing

Abstract

The study of brain function during the understanding of conventional and unconventional metaphors

Abstract

Object Omission in Persian: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis

Abstract

Different Structures of Floating and Non-Floating Quantifier Constructions in Persian

Abstract

Primary and Secondary Predicate Ellipsis in Complement and Adjunct Small Clauses: A minimalist Approach (Phase Theory)

Abstract

Constructive Process of Affirmative Negation and Its Practical Appearances in Persian and Kurdish Languages

Abstract

An Acoustic Study of Persian Topic Constructions

Abstract