Aliyeh Kord-e Zafaranlu Kambuziya; Farzaneh Tajabadi; Ailin Firouzian Pouresfahani
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 1-38
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Weakening is the process by which a sound is turned into a sound of lesser degree of stricture or duration. Among different forms of weakening, deletion is the most complete form. Deletion is a phonological process that often occurs in continuous speech. In the sense ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Weakening is the process by which a sound is turned into a sound of lesser degree of stricture or duration. Among different forms of weakening, deletion is the most complete form. Deletion is a phonological process that often occurs in continuous speech. In the sense that whenever the combination of phonemes result in creating an ill-form linguistic unit which is not in agreement with the phonological system of the language, a phonetic unit of the speech chain is deleted to resolve this problem. This process changes the structure of the syllable and creates an acceptable syllabic or lexical pattern coincided with the phonotactics rules and restrictions of a language. The current study aimed to shed light on the process of deletion in Standard Persian language in view of the optimality theory. The following questions were addressed in this research: 1. In what phonetic environment does the deletion process arrive in standard Persian language? 2. Among consonants and vowels, which of them is exposed to the deletion process? 3. What is the category and kind of words in which the deletion process appeared? Review of Literature On the phonological process of deletion, valuable studies have been carried out that can be broadly divided into two categories: standard Persian language researches and studies on different dialects of Persian. In the case of different dialects of Persian, the following studies can be mentioned: Kalbasi, (1991), Shokri, (1995), Borughani, (2004), Alamdari (2005), Korde Zafaranlu Kambuzia and Sha'bani (2007), Kambuziya and Nemati (2007), Sharifi, (2008), Khodabakhshi (2008), Jabarooti (2010), Razmdide (2011), Kazemaini (2011), Miri (2011), Fadaei (2011), Soleimani (2012), Kambuziya, Tajabadi, Esmailimatin, and Khordbin, S.(2016) etc. Furthermore, Lazard (1992), Meshkatodini, (1995), Bijankhan (2006), Kord-e Zafaranlu Kambuziya (2007), Sadeghi (2007), Jam (2009) etc. have studied Standard Persian. A review of the research literature indicates that all studies have focused on only one aspect of this process and so far no comprehensive study has been conducted, especially on the Standard Farsi, which clearly demonstrates the need for the present study. Method This descriptive-analytical study describes and explains the phonological process of deletion in the Standard Persian language. For this purpose, in addition to the authors’ intuition and linguistic knowledge, written sources such as books, theses in dialectology and dialect dictionaries have been used to collect the research data. In order to extract the data, in addition to the Standard Farsi, a total of 25 other language varieties were randomly selected. Data extracted from these linguistic varieties were examined only as an evidence to validate the results of this study. Totally, 881 samples from Standard Farsi and 200 samples from different dialects were extracted. Then these data were examined in terms of the type of linguistic unit removed, the context and also the structure and lexical category of the word in which the deletion process occurs. Furthermore, the percentage of units affected by the process was calculated. Finally, these data were analyzed within the framework of standard optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993). Results and Discussion In this section, we examine the different types of deletion in the Standard Persian language in terms of the deleted unite, the position and context in which the deletion take place. A close look at the data shows that the deleted unit can be consonant, vowel, consonant-vowel sequence, or vowel-consonant sequence. Depending on the number of deletions in each datum, it can be categorized into single deleted item group or multiple deleted items group. In items of the second group, two consonants or one consonant with a consonant-vowel sequence or vowel-consonant sequence, are deleted. It is worth noting that the deletion of only one consonant is the most frequent ones; however the deletion of two consonants is more varied than other types of deletion. Among all kind of consonants, stops make a greater contribution to the deletion process and fricatives rank second. In addition, among stop consonants, the share of coronal consonant and among fricatives, the contribution of glottals is greater than others. In multiple deleted items group, deletion of stop-stop consonants accounts for the most. On the other hand, examination of data in which only vowel deletion has occurred (51 cases) indicates that out of the six Persian vowels, only three short vowels (a, e, o) are deleted in a single word. Of the 47 cases of vowel-consonant deletion, 83% of deleted vowels were short ones. In addition, out of the 38 consonant-vowel deletions, only 18% of the deleted vowels were long vowels. Regarding the relationship between deletion and number of word syllables, it can be said that among the one-to-five syllable words, the three syllable words have the highest and the two syllable words have the least tendency toward the deletion process. With regard to the relation of deletion to lexical type and category, it seems that words with the lexical category of noun and derivative structure have the highest share. In terms of the position in which deletion occurs (initial, middle, final position of syllable or word, syllables boundary, the boundary of two morphemes), it can be said that in Standard Persian there is only a middle and ending deletion, and the final deletion is much more than the middle deletion. Analysis of the results demonstrated that consonants underwent the deletion process more than vowels. Meanwhile stop consonants and short vowels (a, e, o) were ranked first in deletion process as compared with others. The findings also indicated that derivations, nouns, and two or three syllable words were more likely to be deleted. Furthermore, last syllable of the words tends to be the best place for applying the deletion process. Conclusion It can be said that when some of the universal principles like Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) and Syllable Contact Law (SCL) are violated, a series of phonological processes, including the deletion process, are used to modify the existing structure. In addition, the presence of heavy syllables or an abundance of light syllables creates a kind of asymmetry in words. This type of sequence is both productively and audibly problematic. In these cases, phonological processes, such as deletion, operate to bring the desired structure as close as possible to the optimal syllable of the language studied.
Mozhgan Habibi; Mahmoud Elyasi; Mohammad Reza Pahlavan Nezhad
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 39-59
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
As a remarkable topic in sociolinguistics, code-switching is a natural phenomenon among many bilingual communities throughout the world. Van Dulm (2007) describes this phenomenon as the use of two or more languages while making an utterance or a sentence. Azeri Turkish-Persian ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
As a remarkable topic in sociolinguistics, code-switching is a natural phenomenon among many bilingual communities throughout the world. Van Dulm (2007) describes this phenomenon as the use of two or more languages while making an utterance or a sentence. Azeri Turkish-Persian speaking bilinguals are one of these big communities which code-switching is a very common practice among them. The present study investigates code-switching and the goals of its occurrence among some of Azeri Turkish-Persian-speaking bilingual teachers in Urmia city. The study takes into consideration such social variables affecting code-switching as age, gender, education level, teaching experience, topic, and setting.
Review of Literature
One of the first studies in the United States of America in this regard is Barker (1947) that examined code-switching process among the Mexico-Americans in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to the analysis of the economic relations, social and geographical networks of the citizens of Tucson, the author saught an answer to the question that why bilingual people use different languages in different places or situations.
One of the most important investigations on code-switching from social perspective was carried out by Bloom and Gumperz (1972). They believed that social events introduced under the title of participants, setting and topic would limit linguistic variables choice. They added in any given social situation, some forms of language are more appropriate than others.
In a study in Ardabil province, northwest Iran, Heidari, Samaei, Latifi and Ruhi (2013), examined some primary school English teachers' views on code-switching process and factors which affect this phenomenon. Results showed that nearly all bilingual teachers agree with using code-switching in the classroom and asserted that repetition and translation have been the most effective factors involved in this process (Heidari et al., 2013). Sadat Giyasian and Rezaie (2014) examined different types of code-witching among Persian-Armenian bilinguals in Tehran. Inter-sentential code-switching was looked through Bloom and Gumperz’ (1972) and intra-sentential code-switching was surveyed through Myers-Scotton model (1993 and 2002). The results showed that, in their daily communications, both situational and metaphorical types of code-switching took place and the intra-sentential code-switching was turned to have a very high amount of frequency.
Concerning different types of code-switch, Bloom and Gumperz (1972) believe that in metaphorical switching, speakers use two languages at the same time which occurs through topic switch and the speakers change their codes to achieve specific effects.
And finally, examining different purposes of code-switching, Baker and García (1993) mentioned 13 basic types of purposes in making use of code-switching. Záňová (2011) enumerated some purposes of code-switching, i.e. putting emphasis on a particular point, reinforcement of request, clarification of a point-repetition, social distance-solidarity, quotinɡ, communicatinɡ common identity, excludinɡ people from a conversation, includinɡ people in a conversation, chanɡing attitude, arousinɡ attention, addressinɡ oneself, hedɡinɡ, expressinɡ opposition, topic chanɡe, showinɡ respect, no equivalence, introduction of certain topics, and substitution a word in one language.
The present study is based on Bloom and Gumperz’ (1972), Gumperz’ (1982) and Baker's (2001) theoretical frameworks.
Method
Studies carried out on code-switching have been mostly conducted among the students' communications and interactions at school or university classes but not among the university or high school teachers. On the other hand, most of the classifications are done to clarify inter-sentential or intra-sentential nature of an existing code-switching phenomenon, but this study is to search the case among the teachers and the use of different type of classification.
To carry out the study, relevant data on code-switching, produced by the teachers were collected through direct observation of their linguistic behaviour. The data were recorded and were later transcribed and analysed. To determine the function of social factors on code-switching, a researcher-made questionnaire was completed by 336 male and female Azeri Turkish-Persian-speaking bilingual teachers. Depending on the type of variables, tests as ne sample t-test, Independent t-test, Anova, Kalmogorov –Smiranov, Levene, and Structural equation modelling were used.
Results and Discussion
Descriptive results showed that 15 factors were involved in teachers’ code-switching occurrence and that the participants used situational, metaphorical, conversational, situational - metaphorical, situational - conversational and metaphorical-conver sational code - switching at school offices, teachers’ council meetings, and in service course sessions, while talking about educational and non-educational topics. The results of quantitative research also showed that there was no significant difference among code-switching according to the social factors mentioned above except for the in-service course sessions setting. In addition, the teachers preferred to switch from Persian to Azeri Turkish language in these settings and not vice versa.
Conclusion
Contrary to Bloom and Gumper'z framework, which had a clear boundary between different types of code-switching, the study showed that the difference between metaphorical and situational code-switching is in fact unclear and is not simple. There may also be more than one purpose for code-switching in a single conversation and overlapping among the goals. On the other hand, it seems that there is a direct relationship between code-switching and the goals. Also, in Urmia, the social factors mentioned above do not have a significant difference in the code-switching of teachers. Perhaps the reason for this is that Urmia is a Turkish-speaking city, and the teachers only need to speak Persian just in the classroom in teaching hours. On the other hand, they tend to keep their mother tongue.
The results of this study can be regarded as a guideline for other research projects in bilingual or multilingual regions of the country. The following recommendations can be useful for those interested in conducting research in this field:
Other bilingual and multilingual educational regions should be explored in amount of using their code-switching as well;
Other descriptive features such as culture, identity, language, accent, etc., and their impact on the amount of the occurrence of code-switching should be investigated as well to determine the kinds of relationship with this generally happen phenomenon.
Tayyebe Goodarzi; Ebrahim Rezapour; Ebrahim Kanani
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 61-84
Abstract
Nowadays, teaching and learning the Persian language, an integral part of Iranian’s identity, has attracted many researchers’ attention. Accordingly, different approaches to material developments have been proposed among which selecting the appropriate one is still a great challenge for both ...
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Nowadays, teaching and learning the Persian language, an integral part of Iranian’s identity, has attracted many researchers’ attention. Accordingly, different approaches to material developments have been proposed among which selecting the appropriate one is still a great challenge for both the instructors and learners of this language. In this regard, this paper aimed at analyzing the representation of Iranian culture in the pedagogical textbooks written for non-native learners of Persian. In doing so, the elementary and intermediate Reading Comprehension books for non-natives, were selected with the purpose of discovering the underlying conventions which lay behind. Investigating the three dimensions of culture (Poetic dimension, Content dimension and Context dimension) and three approaches of cultural semiotics based on Tartu-Moscow school (Cultural self not the other, Cultural other, Cultural self and the other) revealed that material developers benefiting from "cultural self-not the other" approach needed to use the CONTEXT dimension of self in elementary level. In this regard, a recommended model was also proposed for teaching context and content dimensions of learning a second language. Finally, the pedagogical implication of the study was discussed and further suggestions were put forward.
Fakhteh Nakhavali; Azam Estaji; Atiye Kamyabi Gol
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 85-110
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Man achieves a multitude of purposes through social interaction. Social interactions dictate how we behave in society and sometimes in order to elude from various responsibilities, man resorts to lying. “Lie” can be defined in many different ways and based on ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Man achieves a multitude of purposes through social interaction. Social interactions dictate how we behave in society and sometimes in order to elude from various responsibilities, man resorts to lying. “Lie” can be defined in many different ways and based on the fields of study and schools of thought, where the definition comes from, it can have an array of various subcategories. A “lie” can be defined as denying the truth or providing intentionally false statements. Lie has been defined based on sociological, psychological, philosophical, educational, and psycholinguist factors; however, it is primarily a speech act and should therefore be studied based on linguistic factors (Meibauer, 2011). The present research aimed at analyzing the relation between different variables such as age, gender, field of study, religious orientation, and geographical region (city or place in which the related participants have grown up in), and speech act of lie, and also studying the speech act of lie in Persian to determine its semantic features and to analyze this speech act in Persian as compared to English.
Review of Literature
Various Iranian researchers have studied the concept of lying in Iran (Seilanian Tousi, 2000; Sharif Asgari, 2011; Atrak & Mollabashi, 2012; Shafagh, 2014; Rezazadeh, 1988; Atrak, 2009) and they all conclude that lying is a strategy used by Iranians to deny the truth and to falsify information. Based on Coleman and Kay’s theory, the definition of lie prototype includes three features: 1) P is false. 2) S believes P to be false. 3) In uttering P, S intends to deceive. Results show that the lie prototype in Persian includes the three basic features of giving the asserted part of information, giving false information and belief, and communicating form of deception. So, Persian and English are similar in defining the speech act of lie based on Coleman and Kay’s theory (1981).
Method
The present research is a descriptive, analytical, and field study. This research aims to analyze the relation between different variables such as age, gender, field of study, religious orientation, geographical region (city or place in which the related participants have grown up in) and speech act of lie, and also to study the speech act of lie in Persian to determine its semantic features and to analyze this speech act in Persian as compared with English. In this research, Allport’s religious approaches’ questionnaire and also Coleman and Kay’s questionnaire were used. These questionnaires were given to 280 postgraduate students studying in 8 different fields at the faculty of Literature and Humanities, at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Choosing the participants was based on a voluntary basis and the number of participants was based on Morgan’s table of generalizability. For analyzing the data, SPSS software (Version 22) was utilized.
Results and Discussion
In order to show the possible interconnection between variables under study (age, gender, field of study, geographical region, and religious perspective) and lie as a speech act, correlation was used. The results from Allport’s religious approaches show there is only a meaningful correlation between the variable of geographical region and speech act of lie since the level of significance of the test for these two variables was .093 that 0.05>.093. The level of significance for the rest of the related variables including gender, age, field of study, and religious perspective was more than 0.05 which shows there is no relation between these variables and the speech act of lie.
Conclusion
Based on the obtained results, all characteristics highlighted by Coleman and Kay's prototype can be seen in Persian. These characteristics include: a) It contains a finite list of properties; b) The individual properties on the list are each treated as dichotomous, c) Membership in the lie category is a gradient phenomenon; d) Satisfaction of each property on the list contributes to the over-all degree of membership of an utterance in the category lie; e) Each property on the list does not necessarily contribute equally to the degree of membership of an utterance in the category; that is, properties may be of differential importance in constituting the prototype; and, f) In this gradient framework, the bivalent concepts of the 'necessity' and 'sufficiency' of properties do not apply (Coleman & Kay, 1981).
Theses obtained results are in line with Cole (1996) who compared English and Arabic, and Hardin (2010) who compared Spanish and English. All the above studies highlight the importance of cultural factors which underlie an individual’s perspective regarding the definition of lie. Based on the correlations used in the present research, only the geographical region variable correlated with “lie” as a speech act, which could show that if one grew up in the suburbs as compared to metropolitan areas, their definition and perspective towards “lie” could be different.
Mansour Rahimifar; Vali Rezai; Rezvan Motavalian
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 111-139
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
This article is an attempt to illustrate a comprehensive functional-typological study of two perfect constructions in modern Persian. In regard to these forms, there has been a kind of intricate complexity and difficulty that have occupied the minds of the grammarians ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
This article is an attempt to illustrate a comprehensive functional-typological study of two perfect constructions in modern Persian. In regard to these forms, there has been a kind of intricate complexity and difficulty that have occupied the minds of the grammarians and linguists. Regarding the complexity of the perfect constructions, what can be seen is the consistency and heterogeneity of these constructions with the past, on the one hand, and with the present, on the other hand, as well as the characteristics of tense and aspect, and their functions with adverb expressions. In addition, since the nature of the sentences are not directly determined by grammatical tenses, the various features of textual, linguistic, and meta-linguistic features play a great role in this regard. Accordingly, the motivation for writing this essay is to provide an explanation of the various aspects and functions of the present perfect and present perfect progressive in the contemporary Persian language, especially since their uses are widespread in their entirety compared with other perfect structures so that we can assume present perfect "the prototype" of these constructions. Therefore, we provide an explanation of these two perfect constructions, whose common elements are the past stem of the main verb plus the perfect aspect morpheme –e-, or the so-called “past participle. Also, the amalgamation of present perfect with the past tense, and its relation with definity, on then one hand, and the behavior of temporal adverbs towards the limitation of the perfect uses, along with aspectual and temporal nature of this construction and other perfect constructions as well as their relationship with the category of evidentiality on the other hand, have made this research more impressive.
Review of Literature
This paper is conducted based on the framework of the functional-typological approach. In this approach, the structure of language depends on its role, in particular the role of communication. In other words, the most prominent principle in this approach is that the fundamental purpose of language is communication between human beings, and this role forms the structures in which the languages take. The claim of the role-oriented views is that, since language is a tool from the foundation, it is wise to think that language structures are best suited to refer to roles that they accept. Givon (2001, 293-297) puts forward that language and grammar are neither explained nor described as a separate device. He considers perfect structures the most complex and delicate categories in grammar. This linguist considers language a direct reflection of the human communication needs. He considers perfect constructs for an event that either occurred before a point of reference or at least before the speech time. He believes that perfect aspect is the most complicated grammatical category, giving it four characteristics of anteriority, perfectivity, counter-sequentiality and lingering relevance. A number of other authors also take benefit of the views of linguists such as Comrie (1976) and (1989), Bybee et al. (1994), Kyparsky (2002), Aikhenwald (2004), Vanvalin (2005), Duhan (2011), Craft (2012), and Haddlestone (2012, 1984).
Method
To attain the goal of the study, the present authors have taken benefit from the application of functional-typological approach. The research data is collected mainly from current spoken Persian texts together with the content of television series, movies, talk shows, newspapers, periodicals, and in particular, the Bijankhan linguistic corpus, as well as classical Persian literature, in some cases, to support the claims. After evaluating the data, based on the phonetic, morpho-syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic criteria, the functions of the four perfect constructions are presented one by one, and their relationship with tense and aspect is presented. Also, the relationship between the evidentiality and the perfect constructions is determined.
Reaults and Discussion
In this paper the authors focused on two perfect constructions in Persian and tried to find out their tense and aspect relations, along with their different functions. As to the nature of tense or aspect regarding perfect constructions, it is concluded that, contrary to the claims of the grammarians and some linguists that placed these structures in the tense category, one can not draw the boundary between the two because both the nature of tense and nature of aspect can be seen in these constructions. Regarding the functions of the perfect constructions discussed in Farsi, it can be argued that for the present perfect, at least the functions of current relevance, hot news, resultative, experiential, mirativity, expression of the future event, tense projection, and dependence on the present and the past, for the present perfect progressive, as a combination of past and past continuous tense, functions of continuity, repetition, and habituation and evidentialty, and for the past perfect, actions preceding the past, the occurrence without precedence over the past, the continuous functioning and expression of the future can be mentioned. In addition, in the case of present perfect progressive, especially the first person and the second person do not have much use, and regarding the relationship between the two constructions and the category of evidentiality, it has been shown that both constructions show the function of the evidentiality. Furthermore, present perfect in the Persian language is one of the controversial grammatical constructs and is complex in terms of both form and semantics. In measuring other perfect structures, this construction is one of the most prominent grammatical categories: on the one hand, it relates to the past, and on the other hand, to the present. In addition, the reason why this complexity should be searched is for this feature, which can be used to construct a transcendental past to the entire period of time we talk about or link to any part of it.
Conclusion
In this paper, in the framework of the functional-typological approach and with the help of formal, phonetic, historical, semantic, applied, and function criteria, we have studied the functions of the present perfect, including indirect information or evidentiality, tense projection, resultative, hot news, and mirativity in Farsi, and discussed its behavior in relation to the tense, on the one hand, and to the past tense, on the other hand. We have also found out that the feature of current relevance locates on the top part of a hierarchical structure of present perfect functions and entails other functions. Regarding present perfect progressive, we came to this point that evidentiality is the most important function this form is used for in modern Persian.
Elahe Taheri Ghaleno; Mohammad Dabirmoghaddam
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 141-172
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Psychologists often consider gender differences as inherent characteristics of a person, not as a social or contexual subject. Many consider gender differences as a part of the genetic structure of mankind. Others also believe that social forces influence the behavior ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Psychologists often consider gender differences as inherent characteristics of a person, not as a social or contexual subject. Many consider gender differences as a part of the genetic structure of mankind. Others also believe that social forces influence the behavior of people in order to reveal gender-specific behavior (Escalera, 2009). Limited research has been done on the child gender differences in the use of language. Only two studies, Kyratzis and Ervin-Tripp (1999), and Escalera (2009), explicitly examined gender differences in useing discourse markers. Scholars suggests that there has been no research in the field of gender differences in the use of discourse markers in Persian so far.
The study of discourse markers has always been of interest to the researchers. Norrick (2001) believes that discourse markers do not create meaning, but direct the listener in a certain direction. Therefore, discourse markers can be deleted with no change in the meaning, although by deleting them, the power or the force of utterance will be less clear. According to him, discourse markers in narrative discourse have also another role. For example, discourse marker “well” is used as a sign of rejection of presupposition which is raised by another speaker, and it is clear that this is far from its adverbial meaning.
Theoretical Framework
Hansen (1998) describes discourse markers by using five concepts: grammaticalization, instructional semantics, polysemy, relevance theory, and conversation analysis. In this paper, by using Hansen's approach, we describe some of the discourse markers in the narrative context used by the subjects of this research, and we will study some of the functional roles of these discourse markers by referring to examples from corpus obtained from the subjects of this research. Then, following scholars such as Schourup (1985) and others, we will consider the core meaning of each discourse markers.
Methodology
The present research is a quantitative and descriptive study which is done on the 11207-word narrative corpus from children's storytelling. This research was conducted in Day and Bahman 1395 and Farvardin 1396 on 39 monolingual Persian-speaking Tehrani children (mean age of the all subjects was 11.57). 20 stories in creating test and 20 stories in retelling test were told by the boys. Also, 19 stories in the retelling test and 16 stories in the creating test were told by the girls participated in this research.
In the oral creating test, the children told the story of the loss of my little sister in the park for the examiner. Since the number of discourse markers, especially complex discourse markers such as (causal, contradictional, etc.) was low based on the data from the experimental group, the retelling test was also designed. In the retelling story test, the story entitled The fox that didn’t understand was selected, which has a number of complex discourse markers (e.g., such as, well, but, so). The fox that didn’t undrestand is published by Porteqal Publishing and is written by Farhad Hasanzadeh. The examiner read the story in a group and showed them pictures of the book while reading. After a short period of time, the examiner asked each subject to retell the story that the examiner had defined for them individually. The stories which were told by the subjects in both tests were recorded by a voice recorder for later analysis, then written on papers, and typed on Word software environment; finally, the discourse markers were extracted and tagged based on the standards raised in Hansen approach (1998).
Results and Discussion
Different kinds of simple discourse markers as well as the total number of narrative discourse markers used by eleven-year-old Persian-speaking girls and boys were calculated and descriptive statistics (including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) of the used discourse markers in narrative corpus of eleven-year-old Tehrani girls and boys in both retelling and creating story test were presented. The difference between the performance of girls and boys in this study in using discourse markers between the two groups was significant only in using discourse marker “well”.
Conclusion and Suggestions
Data analysis revealed that, in total, boys by using 349 discourse markers performed better than girls that used 314 discourse markers. But, this difference was significant only in using discourse marker "well" and there was no significant difference in using other discourse markers. The data of this research also revealed that girls used more diverse types of discourse markers with a total of 25 types in comparison with boys with a total of 20 types of discourse markers. Perhaps this is because of the girls' interest in narrating the story as well as conversation with their peers at break time at school or other contexts. The boys were playing in the school yard rather than talking.
The data analysis also showed that discourse markers representing simple function like “bQ/d, bQ/deS and vQ” with frequencies of 369> 90> 74 had the highest frequency of usage by the subjects of this study. This can be explained by the iconicity principle which, according to Debir-Moghaddam (1389), is a universal phenomenon in the language, not a specific language feature. Haiman (1980) introduced the iconicity principle. According to this principle, the sequence of the elements of the sentence is consistent with the sequence of events in real world. Hence, the use of the three above-mentioned discourse markers which indicates the sequence of events in the story, was more than that of the other discourse markers used by the children of this study. It seems that the children of this study had almost the same level of storytelling skill in both sexes. Goodwin (2001) believes that context is not important in gender differences, but that the skill of children is important to predict which group performs better. Therefore, in the future research, by teaching storytelling skill to children and having control group, we can investigate the effect of education, reading story books, and communication with peers and adults on the growth of types and numbers of discourse markers in narrative and other contexts.
Maryam Sadat Tayarani; Seyed Ali Asghar Soltani; Ali Rabiee
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 173-192
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction The Nahj al-Balagha is among the most paramount Islamic texts after the Holy Quran, having caught the attention of many researchers in the light of new sciences. Thus, a linguistic analysis of this book can have useful outcomes. Although there are various analytical methods ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction The Nahj al-Balagha is among the most paramount Islamic texts after the Holy Quran, having caught the attention of many researchers in the light of new sciences. Thus, a linguistic analysis of this book can have useful outcomes. Although there are various analytical methods in the field of linguistics, one of the well-founded and common theories in communications analysis is the theory of discourse analysis. One of the widely-used terms in discourse analysis is meta-discourse (Hyland, 2017: 16). The concept of meta-discourse is formed on this view that a writing or speech is a social commitment (Hyland, 2005: 144). Meta-discourse is a new and interesting field, playing an important role in organizing and producing a convincing writing (Amiryousefi and Eslami Rasekh, 2010: 159). Hence, it can be seen as a tool for persuasion in texts. After giving a summary of the main variables, it needs to be noted that a variety of studies having been conducted on the Nahj al-Balagha using different frameworks and approaches such as the theory of speech act (Tabatabaei Lotfi and Ghasemi, 2004), functional approach (Sedighi and Seyesh Mehr, 2005), social psychology and communications (Karampoor et. al., 2005), and the linguistic theory of speech act (Kazemi, 2004). However, the author's examinations in databases show that the framework of meta-discourse markers has been less applied on the Nahj al-Balagha. Moreover, most of the conducted research into the role of meta-discourse markers in language studies has focused on educational aspects, especially on second language writing skills (like Pahlevannezhad and Alinezhad, 2012) and these markers have been much less examined in religious texts in regard to their importance. Hence, there is a research gap in the field of the relationship between discoursal and ideological processes and their interaction with the approaches of persuasion of audiences. Investigating the discourse of Nahj al-Balagha using common discourse models, the explanation of rhetorical principles and the interaction of this discourse and rhetoric can provide big help in developing the valuable principles of Nahj al-Balagha. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that differences in using meta-discourse markers must be understood not only in connection with the writer's national culture but also in respect of the genre and the discourse community in which the text is written. This research aims to analyze the Shaqshaqiya sermon with the reliance on sociopolitical context, meta-discourse and the principles of rhetoric. Theoretical framework The theoretical framework of this study is based on a hermeneutic triangle Meta-discourse Markers, Principles of rhetoric and sociopolitical context. It relies on the sociopolitical context in which the sermon has been delivered, the determination of meta-discourse markers including interactive and interactional markers (based on Hyland's model, 2005) and the techniques used for the persuasion of persuasion in regard to the fundamental rhetoric methods (ethos, logos and pathos). Research process The first level of sociopolitical context in which the sermon will be delivered contains important lectures presented by Imam Ali (a.s) in different occasions. In the second level, Hyland's model (2005) is examined, which is comprised of two main interactive and interactional items. The interactive item of meta-discourse deals with the writer's awareness of the audience and his/her efforts to comply with their interests and needs and discuss and argue satisfactorily. On the other hand, the interactional part is related to the writer's efforts to clarify his/her intention and involving the reader through predicting objections and reactions to the text. The interactive part encompasses transitions, frame markers, endophoric markers, evidentials and code glosses while the interactional part includes boosters, hedges, attitudes, self-mentions and engagement markers. In the last level, the issue of rhetoric is analyzed. Aristotle considers rhetoric as the means of persuasion which include three appeals: ethos, logos and pathos 4. Findings The Findings of the Shaqshaqiya text showed that transitions with the frequency of 20 and frame and evidential markers with the frequency of 1 were the most and least repetitive interactive markers, respectively. Similarly, attitudes and self-mentions with the frequency of 7 and engagement markers with the frequency of 2 were the most and least repetitive interactional markers, respectively, with no endophoric markers and hedges seen in the text of the sermon. Also, interactive markers were more repetitive than interactional ones. Conclusion The results of the analysis indicated that in the Shaqshaqiya sermon transitions were more frequent than other interactive markers. When we look at the relationship between transitions and the topic of rhetoric, logos takes a leading role because the objective of delivering a speech is at first to present a coherent cluster of meanings. Drawing upon code glosses and boosters, Imam Ali (a.s) simultaneously provokes two items of logos and ethos since he both wants the text to be cohesive and he intends to strengthen his position as the speaker through creating strong semantic chains. Attitudes and self-mentions primarily focus on ethos because they are directly related to the individual traits of Imam Ali (a.s) and aim to paint a full picture of him. Such a proportion among the frequency of markers has highlighted the functional aspect of the sermon, the ultimate aim of which is to generate a motivation or psychological warning in the audience so that he/she is encouraged to do something. In the meantime, this sermon maintains its aesthetic features while politically talks of an issue which made Imam Ali (a.s) retreat into silence and keep patience for 25 years. Drawing upon the principles of rhetoric, Imam Ali (a.s) has delivered the speech so well that the audience is convinced he has not preferred his personal interests over the Islamic nations'. Using a wide range of words and laying the groundwork through the principles of rhetoric, he also conveys deep meanings directly or indirectlyDiscussion
Seyed Hamzeh Mousavi; Mohammad Amouzadeh
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 193-225
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Collocation is defined as the combination of two or more words, which generally go together in a specific context (Lyons, 1995). As an illustration, only one of the synonymous lexemes such as big and large fill the blank space in Example (1).
You are making a ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Collocation is defined as the combination of two or more words, which generally go together in a specific context (Lyons, 1995). As an illustration, only one of the synonymous lexemes such as big and large fill the blank space in Example (1).
You are making a ____big_____ mistake.
* You are making a ___large___mistake.
Example 1 indicates that mistake only collocates with big on a syntagmatic axis, and not large.
The study aimed at investigating certain semantic and pragmatic motivations behind lexical collocations based on frame semantics demonstrating what words collocate with certain words such as ‘dast’ (hand) and what motivates their constructions. In other words, the question is whether it is the frame correspondence that brings two or more words together. This research aimed to answer the following questions:
What motivates specific words to go together?
How does frame semantics provide us with information about collocations?
What cultural, metaphorical and metonymic factors play roles in lexical collocations?
The argument is that what motivates collocations reside in the speakers’ background knowledge and their ability to use syntactic and semantic phenomena properly.
Theoretical Framework
Frame semantics was introduced by Charles Fillmore in 1970s. It aimed to explain the configuration processes of encyclopedical knowledge of words (Ungerer & Schmid, 2006). This framework was primarily used for designing dictionaries which include our background knowledge, whether structural or semantic (Fillmore, 2007).
Fillmore (1982, p. 111) defines ‘frame semantics’ as “a particular way of looking at word meanings, as well as a way of characterizing principles for creating new words and phrases for adding new meanings to words, and for assembling the meaning of elements in a text into the total meaning of the text”. By the word ‘frame’ he means all other previously known terms such as ‘schema’, ‘script’, ‘scenario’, ‘ideational scaffolding’, ‘cognitive model’, or ‘folk theory’.
Croft and Cruse (2004) believe that words are not randomly saved in our memory. But they are not only organized based on relations within structural semantics, but also they are connected based on experience. For example, a “restaurent” is not just a place to eat food, it is related to other concepts such as customer, waiter, ordering, eating, and bill. They mention that these concepts are not connected to RESTAURENT by structural semantic relations such as hyponymy, antonymy and etc., but they are connected to restaurent by our daily experiences.
Furthermore, Fillmore (1982) elaborates how frame semantics can help us explain the subtle differences between various synonymous words. For instance, the words “shore” and “coast” are considered to be synonymous; however, within frame semantics they are different because a person that is at the deck of a ship may say ‘We are close to the shore’, and a person that is on land may say ‘This is the coast of France’.
Method
For conducting the present research, a corpus consisting of 2000 sentences was used. Most of the data were collected from the website The Persian Database and Sokhan Persian Dictionary. All data included the word dast (hand) as a subpart of the Body-Part Frame. For the investigation of collocations with dast, two types of data were found: nominal collocations and verbal collocations.
A kind of analytical-descriptive method based on frame semantics was used to carry out the current study. In this method, series of collocates with dast were collected to be compared with their near synonyms to discover the compatibility of bases, collocates and the whole construction. In nominal collocations, Body-Part Frame should be compatible with the frame in which the collocation is defined. In verbal collocations, the Body-Part Frame may literally or metonymically affect the verbal element. Moreover, cultural concepts might influence the quality of the collocation.
Results and Discussion
Mel’čuk (1998), and Gelbukh and Kolesnikova (2013) used the lexical-functional approach to study collocations. They do not, however, look at the semantic motivations behind their combination. Since lexical-functional appach is not based on our experiences and background knowledge, it appears to be difficult to find a way to the nature of lexical concatenations.
Fillmore (1975, 1977a, 1982, 1985) aimed to use frame semantics for describing lexemes and preparing FrameNet. However, Ruppenhofer, Baker and Fillmore (2003) believe that it is possible to use FrameNet for collecting information about the collocations and multi-word phrases. In fact, such information is hidden and this paper aims at dicovering motivations behind collocations based on such a theory.
Explaining motivations behind collocations without defining the terms collocations, metaphor and metonymy based on frame semantics becomes very difficult. Collocation is defined as combination of a word from one frame with another word from the same or a different frame, wich creates a construction wich can be defined within either of each elements’ frames or a completely new frame. Metaphor is defined as mappring from a frame into another frame. Metonymy is a frame-to-frame mapping, in which on frame is the subpart of the other frame.
Conclusion
In verbal collocations the verbal element is dominated by the frame in which the nominal elemenet is defined, whereas in nominal collocations the nominal elements should be defined in compatible frames. If they are not literally compatible, then they must be fixed metaphorically, metonymically or culturally.
Farhad Moezzipour
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 227-259
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Nichols's (1986) typological parameterization of languages as head versus dependent marking opened a horizon in language typology and linguistic research. Dependent-marking languages are those which morphologically encode dependency between verb and its argument(s) by ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Nichols's (1986) typological parameterization of languages as head versus dependent marking opened a horizon in language typology and linguistic research. Dependent-marking languages are those which morphologically encode dependency between verb and its argument(s) by grammatical markings on the latter. In head-marking languages, on the other hand, the dependency is displayed via bound forms hosted by the verb. This parameterization is not categorical however, as some languages utilize both strategies to encode grammatical relations, which is referred to as double marking or locus. Persian exhibits head- and dependent-marking features at the clause level, situating itself then within the category of double-marking languages. In close connection with this, Persian allows the possibility of co-occurrence between a ra-marked direct object and a cross-referencing bound form, which is tentatively called clitic doubling. The study sought to argue that the co-occurrence of a ra-marked object and a co-referential clitic can be representative of two information-structurally distinct structures. One is referred to as clitic doubled-object construction and the other as left-dislocated object construction. Diachronically, it is assumed that the latter sets the stage for the appearance of the former, and the two constructions co-exist in modern Persian. Theoretical Framework Object clitics optionally appear on transitive verbs in Persian. This resurrects the classical controversy concerning the agreement versus argument status of bound forms on a par with their controlling reference phrases. Haspelmath (2013) presented four dominant views in the literature with reference to this issue: the virtual agreement view, the bound-argument view, the dual nature view, and the double-expression view. Under the virtual-agreement view, bound forms are uniformly considered purely as agreement markers even if their controllers are absent. This is normally taken in generative approaches under the rubric of “pro-drop” or “null subject”. Under the bound-argument view, bound forms are treated in any event as true arguments; no matter their controllers are present, in which case they hold an appositive/adjunct status to the verb. The presence or absence of controllers are the key solution to the agreement or argument status of bound forms in the dual-nature view. Eventually, the dual-expression view allows an argument to be expressed twice. In line with Haspelmath (2013), we regard bound forms to perform as pro-indexes, cross-indexes or gramm-indexes. Pro-indexing is defined in terms of the complementary distribution of bound forms with their corresponding RPs, such that they never occur within the same clause. This implies that a bound form can co-occur with its controlling RP within the same sentence, in which case the RP is a dislocated topic. Bound forms and their optional controlling reference phrases are authorized to be in the same clause under a cross-indexing view, leading to the consideration of reference phrases as co-nominals. Gramm-indexing is akin to what Siewierska (1999) terms as grammatical agreement, where the obligatory presence of a co-nominal to bind a gramm-index within the same clause is vital (e.g. -s in English). Method This study is a theory-based investigation that tackles the role of information structure in the formation of the clitic doubled-object and left-dislocated object construction. Hence, some random sentences and question-answer pairs are presented from colloquial Persian in order to fathom out how the topic-focus articulation of an utterance characterizes the information structure in the given constructions. Results and Discussion It becomes clear that first, clitic doubling terminologically is a misnomer and can be representative of two distinct grammatical constructions, following Haspelmath's nomenclature. The pro-indexing construction is identified when the controlling reference phrase is outside the boundary of the clause, either within the same sentence or in the preceding discourse. The cross-indexing construction is recognizable when the controlling reference phrase/co-nominal and the clitic, indexing its feature bundles, are allowed to occur in the same clause. Second, the pro-indexing construction is topicality-motivated in the sense that, the controlling reference phrase needs to be a topic of the sentence/discourse. We maintain that pro-indexing is incompatible with the trifold focus taxonomy in Lambrecht (1994) and occurs only when the object referent constitutes part of the pragmatic presupposition. In contrast, the cross-indexing is a focus-driven operation and can be accounted for in the light of laying extra-emphasis an object with referential properties. Third, we argue that the cross-indexing construction historically evolves from the pro-indexing construction in the following fashion: a) The object referent as a dislocated nominal separate via hanging-topic constructions from the clause by an intonational pause whilst being pro-indexed by a co-referential clitic inside it; b) -Ra starts appearing on the dislocated object by analogy of its use with oblique and possessor roles, dating back to Middle Persian (Hopper & Traugott, 2003); c) The intonational pause disappears and the dislocated object incorporates into the clause, leading to the emergence of the cross-indexing construction. This explains why the pro-indexing and the cross-indexing constructions co-exist in modern Persian from a synchronic perspective. Conclusion We conclude that first, the simultaneity of the pro-indexing and cross-indexing construction confirms the reanalysis of the Persian -ra as an object marker. -Ra as a topic marker appeared initially on dislocated objects in the pro-indexing formats, which concomitantly paved the way for its companionship with clause-internal objects in cross-indexing formats. This is by no means new and cross-linguistically attested. Second, the birth of the cross-indexing construction out of the pro-indexing construction lends further credence to the emphatic nature of the former on the grounds that, the presence of a controlling reference phrase and its corresponding cross-index in the same clause is viewed as providing additional information helping to identify the referent in case the indications given by the cross-index and by the context are not sufficient (Siewierska, 1999; Creissel, 2001). Third, the co-existence of the pro-indexing and cross-indexing mediates the two opposing views in the literature. Some researchers favor object doubling (Rasekh Mahand, 2006) and some, on the contrary, defy it and support the view that those sentences which seem to contain instances of object doubling indeed represent what can be conveniently taken as object dislocation (Ghomeshi, 1997).
Ali Izanloo
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 261-284
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Language is a system whose various levels interrelate with each other. Thus, one of the most logical types of linguistic searching is to investigate the link between different linguistic phenomena at different levels. The study aimed to analyze the phonetic processes ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Language is a system whose various levels interrelate with each other. Thus, one of the most logical types of linguistic searching is to investigate the link between different linguistic phenomena at different levels. The study aimed to analyze the phonetic processes occurring in two-part loan first names in one of the Turkish varieties, to identify the patterns of phonetic changes, and to examine the communicative and functional role of the language along with phonetic changes occurred. Altogether, they would contribute to the recognition of the close relationship between form and meaning and their trace in one another.
Review of Literature
Among the research conducted on names, two related ones can be referred to. One is Nadim (2005) which has examined informal names in Qeshm Island. He has dealt with names whose pronunciation has been distanced from the standard. For example, he points out that the name Ibrâhim is pronounced Berohimou, Berohimek and Berohim. In addition to specifying the type of change (morphological: Ibrâhim: Brohimek; shortening: Ibrâhim: Berohim; labeling: Abdullah: Abdul, Gorva = cat), he mentions two types of social function as well: surface function (foreground or limited), including the creation of joy, intimacy, contempt and ridicule; and the main or collective function of lifestyle (food, clothing, customs, music, etc.). From the phonetic perspective, the researcher solely states the three types of change mentioned above and does not exactly inspect the phonetic structure of the names. On the other hand, changes discussed lie within the scope of Persian language and differ from the aim of the current study which focuses on interlingual changes.
In addition to the above study, Izanloo (in press) has also explored first names. He has studied 140 single-part loan first names in Esfidani Turkish and extracted their phonetic localization patterns. Moreover, the pragmatic functions such as humiliation, endearment and the use of names with regard to politeness relations have been noted. The above study has only considered single-part names and pragmatic aspects have been the researcher’s focus. The present study, probing both two-part loan first names and the relationship between phonetic level and communicative and discursive functions, differs from the above research.
Method
Ninety three two-part loan first names were analyzed in Esfidani Turkish. Names were collected through field observation, consultation with the villagers and making use of the list available to the village council. A Persian monolingual with standard accent and an elderly resident of the village were then asked to pronounce each and every single one of the names. After comparing the differences between Persian and Turkish, phonetic processes were extracted and categorized.
Results and Discussion
Based on the types of name components, phonetic processes are analyzed in the following.
Qoli second part: Sa’âdatqoli, Emâmqoli, Rezâqoli, Mortezâqoli
In all the names of this category, the second part is accompanied by the raised first and last vowel. Sa’âdatqoli is pronounced as [sɒt.ɢu.le] by removing two syllables. Emâmqoli becomes [Ɂi.mɒm.ɢu.le] with raising the first vowel of the first part and [Ɂi.mo] with reduction, respectively. In Rezâqoli [rɒ.zɒʁ.le], the first vowel of the first part assimilates and the first vowel of the second part is deleted along with the conversion of the four-syllable structure [CV.CV.CV.CV] into the three-syllable structure [CV.CVC.CV]. Mortezâqoli turns to [mur.sɒʁ.le] by raising the first vowel of the first part, the removal of the [te] chain, the fortition of the consonant [z], and the semi-raising of the final vowel of the second part, converting the five-syllable structure [CVC.CV. CV.CV.CV] in Persian into three syllables [CVC.CVC.CV].
It is worth noting that, in general, shorter forms are used to express and establish a position of power. This is done through the use of short form(s) of a name to identify the type of power relationship (superordinate, subordinate or equal in intimate or formal relationships). More precisely, when a name is deformed in a variety of forms, the longer forms are unmarked, while the shorter forms are marked and have adopted discursive functions. This finding is also in line with everyday observations where a long chain of labels is commonly used to address important individuals. Therefore, there is a kind of an iconic relationship between the shortage of a name and its subordination. This means that in names that have changed in a number of ways, the shorter the form, the more subordinately it is used. In the tradition of iconicity studies, the iconic relationship between form and meaning is analyzed in terms of three principles of cohesion, adjacency and sequential order (Willems & De Cuypere, 2008). It can now be claimed that in a language system, the length of a chain (formal properties) is also closely related to its meaning or function. Given the fact that the longer the chain, the more energy is needed to produce it, and since language system logic is based on parsimony and energy efficiency (Calabrese, 2005), when encountering a long chain, it should be borne in mind that there is a strong incentive behind it which leads the language to the opposite direction of parsimony. The current research shows that longer forms of a name are used for more polite situations. This finding suggests that interpersonal communication engineering is of utmost importance in linguistic communication. By this token, spending more energy by extending the phonetic chain in order to secure and consolidate the interpersonal relationship by being more polite (Ogiermann, 2009) is completely justified.
Conclusion
The present research was an attempt to study the phonetic changes of two-part loan names in Esfidani Turkish. Data showed higher frequencies in the processes of lenition, semi-raising, lowering and umlaut. In addition, the data suggests that this variety highly tends to shorten the names lexically by removing a phone, or a phonetic chain. As discussed in the discussion section, these changes have been aimed at optimizing the communicative function of the language by increasing the expression of each of the names.
Azadeh Sharifi Moghadam
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 285-311
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor refers to understanding one idea or a conceptual domain in terms of another. A conceptual domain can be mentally organized out of human experiences which are useful for understanding complex ideas in simple terms. A conceptual ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor refers to understanding one idea or a conceptual domain in terms of another. A conceptual domain can be mentally organized out of human experiences which are useful for understanding complex ideas in simple terms. A conceptual metaphor consists of two main roles: the target domain is the abstract concept that we try to understand and the source domain which is the concrete concept from which we draw the metaphorical expressions, for example, in “argument is war”, ‘argument’ is the target and ‘war’ is the source domain. The way the source domain is related to the target domain is referred to as mapping (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003). In most conceptual metaphors, the relationship between the target domain and its source domains are often fixed and stable. For example, ‘happiness is always up’ and ‘sadness is always down’. However, the concept ‘death’ as the target domain is related to different or even contradictory domains such as ‘death is sometimes up and sometimes down’, ‘death is sometimes light and sometimes dark’ and ‘death is sometimes the beginning and sometimes the end’. The present study aims to identify the metaphorical contradictions in the conceptual domain of death in Persian, as well as to explain them by the theory of iconicity. The questions this research seeks to answer are the following: A) What are the source domains used for the conceptualization of death? B) Are they semantically in conformity with each other or not? C) Is there any iconic relationship between contradictions in language and out of language? Theoretical Framework and Literature Review In semiotics, iconicity is defined as a kind of relationship of similarity, resemblance or conformity between the two aspects of a sign (linguistic or otherwise), that is, the signifier and the signified. In an iconic sign, the structure of the form in language may resemble the structure of the signified in or out of language (Haiman, 1985). Onomatopoeic words are the simplest form of iconicity in language. Also, the structure of language may be in iconic relation with the structure of the external world such as the conformity between the order of verbs in a report and the order of events happened in the external world. More over, cognitive linguistics was introduced by the publication of the book “Metaphors we live by” by Lakoff and Johnson in the 80s. This approach made fundamental changes in the study and analysis of metaphor that remained unchanged since Aristotle. The new approach quickly replaced the classic one and it soon attracted many researchers toward this method of analysis. The term ‘conceptual metaphor’ is well known among Iranian researchers and a significant number of works can be found in this area among which we can name Fallah (2008), Moradi and Forouzani (2008), Kakaie and Jabareh (2014), and Hesampoor, et al. (2015). Method The present research is descriptive in type. To find the way, the target domain ‘death’ is conceptualized as well as to find the contradictions in the source domains, approximately 349 samples were extracted from different Persian literary and folklore texts. The literary samples were gathered from the selection of the following poets: Moulana, Ferdowsi, Sepehri, Tavalloli, Aminpoor, Shmloo and Farrokhzad. The folklore samples were extracted from Persian proverbs, tombstones, ad funeral massages. First, the source domains were identified and then metaphorical oppositions were tried to be explained based on the extralinguistic knowledge people believe in. Results and Discussion Analyzing the data, the source domains used for conceptualizing ‘death’ are as follows: Death is up/ down: death is both conceptualized as an upward movement (lexicalized by words like flight, heavenly bodies, crown, etc.) and as a downward movement (words like pouring down, falling in a valley, tumbling down, and melting). Death is path: death is conceptualized as both the end of the road of life as well as the beginning of a better and new life. Death is near by/ far away: death is both the means to reach God and rest in heaven and also the reason for separation from loved ones. Death is light/ dark: the data shows that the two poles of lightness/ darkness scale are used as the source domains for death. Death is open/closed: death is metaphorically depicted as being enclosed in a tight place such as in a prison. It is also a symbol of freedom and liberation Death is an animate: death as an inevitable event is conceptualized as a powerful being such as a human or a wild animal. Death is health/illness: both concepts of ‘health’ having positive semantic load and ‘disease’ with negative semantic load were observed in the data. Death is food: death is conceptualized as both sweet vs. nauseating food. It may also be a guar vs. bitter drink. Death is hot/cold: the source domains ‘heat’ and ‘cold’, the former having positive meaning and the latter being negative in meaning are used for the target domain of death. Death is the beginning/ the end: the two other opposite conceptual metaphors attributed to death are ‘existence vs. inexistence/ nothingless’ rooted in the belief in afterlife. Conclusion Data analysis reveals two opposing perspectives on death; one is based on a physical and material approach to death and the other is spiritual and it is rooted in religious beliefs; According to human experience, death is the end of one’s life. Here, death is conceptualized by negative concepts like ‘down’, ‘darkness’ and ‘absencse’. On the other hand, belief in the afterlife conceptualizes death by positive concepts like ‘up’, ‘health’, ‘light’ and ‘heat’. Therefore, there is a kind of conformity or iconic relationship between the opposing conceptual metaphors inside the language and the opposing perspectives toward this concept out of language.
Parisa Najafi; Farideh Haghbin
Volume 11, Issue 1 , May 2019, Pages 313-333
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The discourse in the interrogation process is one of the most interesting and valuable areas of language research. What creates the discourse of an interrogation is the sequence of questions and answers among the participants in an interrogation interaction. The interrogator, ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
The discourse in the interrogation process is one of the most interesting and valuable areas of language research. What creates the discourse of an interrogation is the sequence of questions and answers among the participants in an interrogation interaction. The interrogator, including the police, the interrogator, the judge, etc., uses the Q&A strategy to control the conversation and interact with respondents, including witnesses, defendants, informants, etc. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1. How many questions can be used in the interrogation process? What is the degree of control and the pragmatic role of each question?
Among the studies on the use of language in the judicial system, it seems that the discourse of interrogation and verbal interaction in this area has not been seriously discussed, and in this respect, the present study may provide insights into the interrogation process and the participants in the interaction which has not been investigated so far.
Review of Literature
In this study, the authors according to Woodbury (1994) divided the questions used by the interrogator in the interrogation process into six categories: 1) broad and narrow questions, 2) wh-questions, 3) optional questions, 4) yes/no questions, 5) declarative questions, and 6) tag questions and determining and discussing the pragmatic role of each questions by relying on the objective figure in data. In the (English) grammar, the question clauses are distinct from the other types of clauses (declarative, imperative) and are divided into five types according to Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and Finegan (1999): Wh-questions (also called polar questions), yes/no questions, alternative questions, tag questions, declarative questions. Huddleston and Polem (2002) divided the questions into two categories of open and close, based on form and their expected answer. The open category includes wh-questions and the closed category includes yes/no questions, alternative questions, declarative questions, and tag questions (2002). Maley and Fahey (1991) also briefly divide the speaker's purpose of the question into two categories: 1) Information-seeking questions, and 2) Confirmation-seeking questions (1991). In fact, the purpose of asking information-seeking questions is to gain as much information as possible about the subject under discussion, and with the confirmation-seeking questions seeking to confirm the arguments or assumptions in the mind of the speaker. Hefer (2005) also considers the purpose of the information-seeking questions to be in two (implicit) requests from the interrogator: a request for narration and a request for transparency (2005). Among the major studies on the types of questioning strategies can also be mentioned Woodbury (1984), which examines the types of questioning strategies used in court and finally provides a continuum of the degree of control over the types of questions. Archer (2005) also presents a new version of the Woodbury Controller continuum while examining the different features of interrogation questions.
Haqbin and Najafi (in press) also examine a variety of verbal strategies for interrogating the interpreter, including verbal strategies such as question formulation, repeated questioning, quotation marks, contrasting, the use of the phrase "khob" as a marker of discourse. Haqbin, Najafi and Jamali (2016) proved that the genre of speech in the trial space in Iran is a hybrid genre consisting of two narrative and anti-narrative genres.
Method
The data was gathered from 21 criminal cases at the trial/interrogation phase in three criminal branches of Shiraz Public Prosecutor's Office. The authors analyzed a total of 558 question clauses. They first divided the types of questions into six categories of broad and narrow wh-questions, alternative questions, yes/no, declarative and tag questions, and then presented a distribution diagram of the types of questions mentioned in the interrogation discourse.
Results and Discussion
The authors analyzed a total of 558 question clauses. They first divided the types of questions into six categories of broad and narrow wh-questions, alternative questions, yes/no, declarative and tag questions. The point to be noted is that the division of questions is based on the speaker's usual expectation of the audience's response, and the audience, or in particular the defendant, may not answer the interrogator's expected response to the question and reformulate his or her answer, that is, implicitly seeks to divert the subject of discussion. Findings of the present study indicate that declarative questions are classified as open questions, which in many studies fall under the close questions, and consequently, the level of control is lower, which means less control than the other questions. Finally, the authors provide ad categorization of the questions used in the interrogation process in the prosecution as well as the continuation of the level of control.
Conclusion
The authors have examined and divided the types of interrogation forms in the interrogation process and have also taken into account the pragmatic role of the "amount of control" in the investigations. The analysis confirms that the distribution of the types of questions in the interrogation discourse differs significantly from one another in that among the six types of question forms of broad wh-questions, narrow wh-quastions, alternative questions, yes/no questions, declarative questions and affirmative questions, narrow wh-questions and broad wh-questions respectively are most frequently used and are the least controlling (questions).
The reason for this can be attributed to the context and the space of the interrogation phase, where the investigator intends to gain as much information and evidence as possible for the subsequent trial. Other findings of the present study also indicate that the declarative questions that generally fall into the category of close questions in most of the studies are classified as open questions.
