ZABANPAZHUHI (Iranian Journal of Language Research)
Year:2011 | Volume:2 | Issue:4|Papers Count:8

Considering word-formation processes introduced by Bauer (1983) as its main theoretical core, this study investigates word-formation processes in some political text of newspapers in 1340s & 1370s AP and compares these processes in these two decades. This study is an analytical descriptive research using both Statistic-Descriptive (tables and diagrams) and inferential (chi-square test) methods. Empirical investigations and evidence suggest that there is no significant difference between frequency distribution of borrowing, loan translation, clipping, conversion, and reduplication processes in political genre of press in two aforesaid decades. However, there is a significant difference between frequency distribution of compounding, derivation, compounding derivation, and acronym processes in 1340s and 1370s AP. Since Bauer has only considered word-formation processes in English and there are some processes in Persian language which may not be included in this framework, and Persian press is the corpus of this study, therefore word formation processes in Persian language is regarded in the present research.

Indicating the importance of abbreviation production and its characteristics in Farsi, The present study is to show the history of word formation process in Iranian languages through exemplification of ancient Persian Cuneiform and Pahlavi scripts. Moreover, it justifies this process by introducing principles of Economy and Least Effort and their relation with language, and also remarking viewpoint of Zipf (1949) and Martinet (1962). This study concludes that Economy principle has so important and regulatory role in language that each non-economic change which force an extravagant expenditure on the system and is an obstacle in comprehension will be removed or prevented. Economy is naturally a regulatory criterion for all aspects of human behavior which is controlled by the Least Effort principle. In a dynamic process such as language change, words are subject to shortening, displacement, deletion, borrowing and semantic change. It is a natural event in all languages and Farsi is not excluded. Presenting samples of abbreviations carved on ancient Iranian coins and Hozvares abbreviations, the present study also suggests that the ancestor of our today language employed such word formation process in a good manner.

The cohesion and the coherence of a text are the aspects that are always considered by analysts of texts. In this research, we are to investigate cohesion, cohesive harmony, coherence and also usage of this theory in a minimal Persian story based on Halliday and Hasan's theory that has been completed by Hasan and Halliday in 1985 and the concept of "cohesive harmony" introduced by Hasan in 1984. Using this theory, we concluded that by knowing this new method of cohesion and cohesive harmony, it is possible to use it in any literary and non-literary texts; especially by the cohesive harmony we can compare the quantitative degree of cohesion and coherence of texts.

This article presents an analysis of the correlation between pitch range and their pragmatic functions in conversational interactions in Persian. The present research is based on Pierrehumbert (1980) model and analyses changes of the fundamental frequency in order to play certain pragmatic functions in Persian speech. It should be mentioned that this study has no empirical aspect and it is confined to the pragmatic functions of the fundamental frequency in speech. Findings of the research show that there is convergence between rising and falling variations of pitch range and stating information structure (new/old), illocutionary force of the sentence, presupposition and turn-taking in conversation in Persian.

This article brings this question into focus that whether or not it is correct to classify Gunter Grass's The Tin Drum as a work of magical realism, as what it is generally claimed. A comparative scrutiny on the elements of this artistic-literary style used in this novel and elements used in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", shows that the "The Tin Drum" is not a magical realism novel, particularly because of absence of Authorial Reticence and concepts of "paucity" and "Momentariness". Sustained Hesitation indicate that contrary to the advertisement of certain sources and publishers, this novel in certain circumstances, contradicts and opposes these two indispensable elements of magical realism.Using close reading technique and comparing elements of magical realism employed in The Tin Drum with those used in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and also through the exemplification and providing excerpts from the texts of both novels, it is inferred that the only distinctive feature of magical realism, i.e. authorial reticence, has been explicitly neglected and overlooked. Furthermore, the presence of Sustained Hesitation through the text has blemished the magic realism validity.Moreover, based on Franz Roh's famous statement regarding the surreptitious and occult life of supernatural forces around us, two conclusions are drawn: firstly, there is a new element namely paucity, implying that extraordinary and supernatural events could not occur incessantly and frequently. Secondly, such events should happen momentarily and promptly and end immediately and consequently, they should not be controllable. Whereas in this novel, not only Oskar's magic power is used frequently, but also is controllable and in-access at any time he wishes.

By advancement of learning theories throughout the world, educationalists, teachers and researchers in this field are willing and eager to test new approaches in the classroom. Among all the new theories of teaching and assessment, it seems that portfolio as a constructivist learning approach has gained popularity in reinforcing different aspects of learning. This research aims to investigate the effect of portfolio assessment on university students' L2 reading comprehension. The participants included two groups of BA students majoring in English Literature. The results of statistical analysis and content analysis of semi structured oral interview revealed that constructing portfolios with concept maps as their artifacts has been useful for students. The result of this research suggests the use of portfolio as a learning instrument in the advancement of learning process and empowering reading comprehension skill, in addition to increasing content knowledge of the students.

This article is to investigate Quranic intertextuality and its concepts in some samples of Abo-tammam's poems. Its purpose is also to indicate the relationships and interaction between Quran and Abo-tammam's poem and their effect on the meaning production; because this phenomenon includes artistic aspects and methods of stylistics. On this basis, this article tries to show the type of relation between the poet and Quran and analyses different kinds of Quranic intertextuality based on their functions in order to portray the creative interaction between the Quran and poet's writings. Moreover, various intertextual techniques are reviewed in the poetical context.