JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES
Year:2005 | Volume:38 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Using an analytic-descriptive method, the writer has described a sonnet from Hafiz within Halliday's systemic functionalism. The question of the study is: is it possible to, employing the functional theory, analyze and interpret the meaning of the sonnet so that the interpretation depends on linguistic criteria and observable linguistic data rather than on the interpreter's intuition and subjective observations? To investigate the question, the writer has first analyzed each line and then the sonnet as a whole, using concepts such as logical relations, lexical patterns, cohesive devices, transition processes. The response to the question proves to be positive. The writer concludes that functional approach is a very effective method of analysis for literary researches.

In this paper, the writers have made an attempt to identify the problems faced with in teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers and to offer solutions to these problems. They have first defined the terms education, learning and teaching and then discussed the factors affecting teaching in their order of importance. They have mentioned the three main components of a teaching situation; that is, the learner, educational materials and the teacher, and have discussed whether enough attention is paid to these factors in teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers. Drawing on their extensive experience of teaching and based on the sound opinions of education experts, the writers have mentioned 22 guidelines which can help the persons teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers.

In their interpretation of the Qur'an, early Persian prose writers have often used archaic words to best show the beauty of the language of the holy book. To appreciate the language of these early exegetic texts, we need to subject them to linguistic and stylistic analysis at various lexical, phonological and syntactic levels. In this paper, the writer has presented examples of archaic words used in the old interpretation of the Qur'an roz al-Jinân and Ruh aljinâan written by Abolfotooh Razi.

The present paper discusses the way the marker of indefiniteness has emerged in Persian. The study shows that, since the ancient times, number one has been used as the marker of indefiniteness. The hypothesis is that during the middle Persian period, number one, following countable singular nouns, has changed to the marker of indefiniteness, which has gradually been generalized to uncountable singular and plural nouns as well.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly introduce some word order typological hierarchies and show how they influence word order in contemporary spoken Persian. The framework for this study is Allan's 1987, which studies word order in English with special reference to the order of the constituents within the coordinated phrases. The selected hierarchies are the following: topic-comment; given-new; the universal sequencing conventions, definiteness and preferentiality; person, thematic roles and formal hierarchies.

Objective and subjective pronouns have different behaviors in different languages. The parameter pro-drop is used to distinguish languages in this respect. Persian is among languages that allow the omission of the subjective pronoun. In this paper, the writer first describes the characteristics of pro-drop languages, and then applies this parameter in his study of a number of Iranian languages including Persian, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Lori, Urami and Surani. In this study the writer has used 6 typological criteria.

Unlike the classical view of the word, which was static, in modem literary theory, the word is conceived as having the potential to present a multi-dimensional meaning and to depict a living thought or dream. A poetic word is a small world and its mission is to convey a thought from one mind to another by presenting a snapshot of one of the dimensions of existence. This snapshot is sometimes so vivid and original; it takes a book to explain it. Poetic words carry a load of inspirational meanings, turning into living things which reflect the poet's existence. Such a view of poetic words gives rise to a different understanding of poetry totally different from that of the classical teachings.

Antonymy is one of the semantic relations between words in a language. What traditional linguists understood from antonomy was different from what modern linguists understand from this semantic relation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the view of traditional linguists' of antonymy with reference to the Qur'an and to present a criticism of their view.

The present paper deals with the position of the direct object and its case assignment in Persian. Persian has a relatively free word order but in most studies it has been considered as a verb-final language with the subject in the initial position of the sentence. The way the accusative case is assigned in double object constructions shows that the direct object is base generated in a position adjacent to the verb where it receives its case and theta role. The writer argues that the direct object, which is characterized by the feature [+Specific] is in the Spec of VP at S-structure level due to its syntactic and semantic behaviors toward the verb as the head of the VP. Therefore, the writers suggests, there are two positions for the direct object based on different syntactic arguments including parasitic gaps, binding relations and the compound verbs in Persian sentences: 1. the specifier of the verb phrase for the nouns characterized by the feature [+ Specific]; 2. a position adjacent to the verb for the nouns characterized by the feature [- Specific].

As Muslims started to introduce Islam to other nations, Arabic words, especially religious words and governmental tides, began to enter the languages of those nations, affecting the national languages to various degrees. In some cases, the influence was so strong; Arabic affected not only the words but the syntax of the language as well. After the conquest of Spain by Muslim troops, Arabic words were borrowed into Spain and then, gradually, into other European languages. Although German morphology and syntax remained unaffected, a considerable number of Arabic words entered German. In this paper the writer introduces Arabic words that entered German directly or indirectly and explores their etymology.