LANGUAGE RELATED RESEARCH (COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE RESEARCH)
Year:2014 | Volume:5 | Issue:1 (17)|Papers Count:17

Euphemism in Persian is a less studied topic, which seems to deserve more attention. The present article aims to study the mechanisms, both linguistic and cognitive, used to produce euphemism in Persian, and also to suggest a classification for them. Euphemism is a powerful conversational tool used to enhance politeness and preserve the public self-image of the participants in communicative exchanges, hence, facilitating a harmonious interpersonal relationship. In Persian, most of the euphemistic expressions are associated with death, sexual relations, bodily effluvia, advertising, disability, insults, body parts, mental illness, drugs and business. In this language, there are three main ways in which euphemisms may be constructed: 1) phonemic modification, 2) loan words, and 3) semantic devices. Thus, we have the following classification of the main devices for constructing euphemism in Persian: reduplication, omission, loan words, implication, metaphor, metonymy, reversal, understatement, overstatement, circumlocution, litotes, fuzzy words, semantic widening, and deictic expressions.

In languages, which have free word-order property, different constituents of a sentence might be permuted due to scrambling. Miyagawa (2001) argues that in Azari Turkish, scrambling gets non-subject constituents to move to TP specifier while the subject remains in-situ in the specifier of vP. In the present study, resorting to the agreement operation in the probe-goal model of minimalism program and presenting examples, we attempt to propose that contrary to Miyagawa’s argumentations, the constituent in vP specifier has to move to TP specifier to meet the double role agreement requirement (T[-interpretable] feature checking and receiving nominative case). In Azari- Turkish, because of scrambling, non-subject constituents like object in the process of agreement during syntactic derivation moves to the position preceding TP, which is labeled as focus position simply because TP specifier has already been filled by the subject. Then in Azari-Turkish, scrambling has to be assumed as topicalization, which makes non-subject constituents move to the focus position preceding TP specifier.

Philosophical and linguistic reflections of Gadamer and Ricoeur on how understanding occurs are of considerable significance. Gadamer’s concept of “Fusion of horizons” and Ricoeur’s idea of “Understanding oneself through the other” are among the most important issues in this regard. These two philosophical issues attempt to gain intercultural understanding. The fact is that the dichotomous strategies and approaches of translation as manifested in Venuti’s foreignization-domestication dichotomy, and other similar theories have been unable to pave the way for mutual understanding between cultures. Employing Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s ideas, this study attempts to tackle the dichotomous issue of translation theories. Considering the Gadamer’s view that all understanding occurs through language and the Ricoeur’s idea that man enjoys a specific unity despite his great variation, translation is rethought as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon instrumental in creating cultural and linguistic affinity among people and causing a sort of intercultural unity. Therefore, unlike the dichotomous approach of foreignization and domestication, the present study aims to view translation from the view point of philosophical hermeneutics and offer a new approach, which simultaneously considers attention to the two cultures involved in translation and respect for the other culture.

Generally speaking, cleft constructions are marked syntactic structures, which represent a simple logical proposition by two clauses. The relation of these constructions to more basic structures is determined in regard with the theoretical framework chosen for the analysis. In the one hand, transformational studies try to determine the underlying structure through using cleft construction features. If copular sentences were considered as the basic structure for cleft constructions, the chosen analysis would be an extrapositioal one, and in the case of relating these structures to non-cleft structures, expletive analysis would be given. Recent efforts on studying cleft constructions will not be accommodated in none of the approaches above, on the other hand.Eventually, this paper indicates that transformational approaches can not well afford explaining these sentences, and thus a non-transformational approach must be chosen.

By emphasizing on the correspondences of linguistics and psychoanalysis, Julia Kristeva has presented new theories about the analysis of literary texts. “The Theory of Abjection”, which is derived of her post-structuralism researches, considers the author as a speaking subject who, through a poetic and semantic language, moves away from the ravages of his around. Kristeva has examined the applicative possibility of this theory in European literature. In this paper we focus on a contemporary Persian poem (“I am concerned for the garden” by Forough Farokhzad) for demonstrateing an application of the analytic approach of the “Theory of Abjection”. Hence, we aim two principal purposes: firstly, we try to represent an exhaustive panorama of the analytic approach of the Theory of Abjection, and secondly, we examine the possibility of creative interpretations of this poem According. Finally we try to examine the possibility of application of analytic approaches of this theory for the contemporary Persian poetry.

The present paper examines Persian and Russian idioms and proverbs denoting “waste of time” and “futile acts”. It is obvious that idleness is accepted and approved of in neither cultures. The proverbs and idioms denoting idleness are divided into two broad categories: idle works done with no difficulty, and idle works that cause enormous difficulty. Some of these expressions illustrate a resemblance in the mentality of people in both cultures, like “counting flies” in Russian and “shooing flies” in Persian. There are other expressions in Persian and Russian that on the surface convey the same meaning, but they have differing cultural backgrounds, such as “running like a squirrel in a wheel” in Russian and “like an assari hourse” (methl-e asb-e assari) in Persian. Some figures of Greek myths such as Sisyphus have entered Russian idioms. The poems of Iranian poets and our classic literature like “Kelil-e va Demneh” and Russian works like the fables of Krilov have had a profound impact upon the development of these proverbs and idioms.

Tabaghat-o-Alsufiya is one of the ancient Persian texts written in the Harat area (Fifth century AD). Khwaja Abdullah Ansari was a Sufi who was preaching many people in several meetings in Harat. His sermons were written by one of his students later, which called ‘‘Tabaghat-o-Alsufiya’’. This text’s analysis can show some unspoken language tips about the current dialects at that geographic area. This article has focused on Arabic language effects on language of Tabaghat. After a while of the presense of Arabs, arabic language for various social, scientific, religious, political and cultural reasons, influenced Persian language and the works of great Iranian writers and poets. Ansari´s book’s language shows it has been influenced from Arabic language in some structure (grammar), vocabulary, phonetic and lexical features. This paper attempts to explain this subject with evidences and examples from the text. The study was done after careful reading of Tabaghat-e-Ansari by using content analysis method.

As a light verb, the verb “òodan” contributes in the structure of a wide range of verbs and forms different applied concepts, including the expression of the change of state. In the French language, there are many different verbs and structures, which could be known as equivalents of the verb “òodan” for expressing the change of state. Therefore, incorrect use of any of these equivalents is a great concern for Iranian learners, and usually leads to misunderstandings.This paper will firstly study the two verbs, “òodan” and “devenir” in Persian and French languages, respectively. Then we will introduce the equivalents of the verb “òodan” in French language. Next the verb “devenir” will be studied in contrast with other French verbs, which express the change of state. Finally, the aspectual values of the verb “òodan” and its equivalents in French language will be dealt with.

In the present article, the frequency and percentage distribution of the kinds of tenses have been analyzed. The goal is to discover the narrative stylistics, some aspects of grammatical voices and the degree of distance from reality. The theoretical framework is based on systematic functional grammar and traditional grammar. Its corpus contains 15890 verbs, which have been selected by systematic sampling in which 16 tenses have been analyzed. The statistical findings show hat the present tense with 64% consists the most and the future tense with 3% is the least. The past tense includes 35% of the all. Aspect of the past tense is 4% and of the present is zero. Also the imperative and subjunctive is 18%. The high percentage of the present tense shows that Rumi enjoys a humanistic philosophy and he thinks of living here and now. He uses the past stories and events to explain the dispositions of the people, which results in dialogue and polyphony of the present and the past.

In this article, the most important phonological processes of Kalhori Kurdish dialect have been analyzed on the basis of “generative theory”. To achieve this goal, the researchers collected data from 13 informants by interviewing with them, who were in all range of ages and all educational sections. Also one of the researchers is a native speaker of this dialect. We used written sources and ducuments like thesises, articles, and books as the background of the research. The gathered data were written according to the “IPA” alphabets. Method of research was descriptive-analytic in generative framework. Data analysis showed these phonological processes: assimilation and deletion in the middle and end of the word, insertion in the middle of the word, lenition, fortition, and metathesis. Deletion and lenition are very active, and insertion is very passive in these processes.

We examined two assumptions of the "Conceptual Metaphor Theory" (CMT) using corpus-based method. According to the first assumption, linguistic metaphors are merely reflections of conceptual metaphors; so linguistic metaphors have a marginal and secondary role. According to the second assumption, conventional linguistic metaphors are systematic. A 50- milion token sample of Hamshahri collection of Persian texts was selected as the corpus of the study. All of the corpus analyses of calculating the collocations and extracting the concordances were carried out using Ant Conc corpus software. Data analysis failed to find evidence in support of the first assumption provided by CMT, but the second assumption was partially confirmed. The findings suggest that the semantic patterns of linguistic metaphors are more complex than those predicted by CMT, and language use factors play an undeniable role in shaping the semantics of metaphoric expressions.

This study investigated the translation challenges and difficulties of preservice translators in Iran. In this regard, 35 undergraduate students of Arabic Language and Literature at the College of Qum affiliated to the University of Tehran participated in the study as a requirement for the course ‘Translation Techniques’. They all translated the same political-journalistic sentence from Arabic to Persian, and their errors and difficulties were collected. Descriptive analysis of the results revealed five high frequency erroneous areas common among the population; L 1 transfer, economy in translation or over-translation, word-to-word translation, taking side, and miscomprehension. As the major objective of this study was to inform novice translators of the possible pitfalls common in Arabic-Persian translation, the findings suggest that translators: be aware of homonymy, be loyal to the meaning, take the account of ‘free translation’, avoid taking side and self-censorship, and finally, ensure the full comprehension of the text before translation.

In the present investigation, experimental framework has been used to clarify the nature of lexical information arrayed against the lexical entries of Persian transitive verbs. In the test, we categorized the transitive verbs into 5 groups. What differs them is the number of argumental structural and sub categorization frame options of each verb. We are going to find out which one is more fundamental in sentence processing, and that whether the verbs with less structural argument and sub-categorization frame options are processed faster or not. Twenty normal native speakers of Farsi participated in these tests. The subjects were divided into two groups. They had to perform a secondary visual lexical decision task in the immediate vicinity of the verb while listening to the sentence for meaning. Reaction times to this secondary task showed the representational complexity of the verbs. This is called “cross modal lexical decision method”. Using DMDX software program, the tests were performed, and using ANOVA and t-tests, the data were analyzed. The results showed that both the argumental structure and sub-categorization frame possibilities of verb can affect sentence processing due to time.

Three main elements of recipient, enunciator and utterance are involved in any enunciation. Studies performed on apostrophe by the Western scholars and Iranians show that how this rhetorical device targets the reciepient while Arab rhetoricians discuss that apostrophe affects both the enunciator and the utterance. The Holy Quran is the most important text in Arabic, and Arab rhetoricians refer to Quranic verses as the main evidence of their theory on apostrophe. In this article, while studying the different types of apostrophe in Quran, we will show how it affects all three elements of enunciation.