Journal of Linguistics and Khorasan Dialects
Year:2011 | Volume:2 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

In Modern Persian the interrogative pronoun, the relative pronoun and the complementizer ke are homophonous and formally identical. The present paper based on the historical data from Persian, attempts to find the cause of this identity. Do they come from the same source or is this just an accident?Harris and Campbell (1995: 282-313) on discussing the development of complex constructions make the point that “certain devices that mark subordination do indeed originate in questions and are then extended to subordination” (ibid: 308).Examining the formal devices used for marking subordination, complementation and forming questions in Old Persian, Middle Persian and Modern New Persian shows that:a. In Old Persian the interrogative pronoun is quite distinct from the relative pronoun and the complementizer.b. In Middle Persian the interrogative pronoun is homophonous with the relative pronoun but the complementizer is still distinct.c. In Early New Persian, in some cases the complementizer overlaps with the other two forms.d. In Modern New Persian the three forms have become the homophonous Ke, formally resembling the interrogative pronoun in Old Persian.So it seems that the Persian data give support to Harris and Campbell's point.

This research has studied the language disorders of Persian-speaking aphasic patients to evaluate their comprehension abilities of simple and compound nouns, and to specify the categories having the largest number of vulnerabilities. The subjects were 3 monolingual patients (2 Broca’s and 1 transcortical motor aphasics) referring to speech therapy clinics of Shafa Hospital and Welfare Rehabilitation Center in Kerman city. Three normal control individuals matched in terms of gender, age, education, place of residence, native language and handedness also participated in the study. Research instruments were spoken word picture matching and associative word picture matching tests. The stimuli were 32 simple and 32 root and synthetic compound nouns. The results indicated that Broca and Motor Transcortical aphasic patients did not show a significant difference in comprehension of root and synthetic compound nouns (p= 0/179), while there was a statistically significant difference between the comprehension of simple and compound nouns (p<0/05).  Both types of aphasics showed more disturbance in comprehending root compound nouns comprising of “noun+noun” in comparison to other categories. The comprehension processing took place through a continuum form. The Motor Transcortical patient had more severe and wider disorders in accessing semantic information relating to compound nouns, while Broca ones had difficulty in understanding concepts.

This article studies the knowledge of the abstract concept of c-command in Persian children acquiring their first language via the first principle of the Binding Theory. It attempts to describe part of the competence or the innate mental grammar of human being, which according to Chomsky is a biological endowment. This research was performed on a sample of 40 randomly selected children in the age range of three years and six months to five years old. Preparing the test was done by considering the studies by McDaniel et al (1990), Chien & Wexler(1990) and Marefat (2004). We employed descriptive statistics and independent- samples T test as inferential statistics in this research. The statistical results indicated that the children of 4-5 years of age outperformed the kids of 3-4 years of age in recognizing the referent of an anaphor or in identifying the noun phrase which C-commands the anaphoric pronominals. Also, the effect of gender variable as a biological factor was found to be in favor of female subjects. The statistical results indicated that girls acted better than boys in identifying the referent of anaphors, a task that is highly sensitive to the concept of c-command.

With the emergence of the theory of control in linguistics and the introduction of PRO as one of the empty categories in Government and Binding, one can find the investigation of the interpretive properties of PRO in the generative agenda. Within these studies, especially within the Minimalist tradition, some new properties were added to the list while others lost their values. As such, a new picture of this empty category is depicted in recent literature. Based on the data from Persian, this study aims to revise these properties and to introduce a revised version of them.

The present article explores and analyzes the acoustic aspect of vowel-to-consonant assimilation in Colloquial Persian. To do so, the acoustic variables of intensity, duration, F1, F2, and F3 of the two phonemes are investigated on which assimilation is applied. This research involves the analysis of acoustic properties of each phoneme in a non-assimilated phonetic context in initial, intervocalic, and final position and then these properties will be compared with acoustic properties of the same phonemes in an assimilated phonetic context. In this way, the acoustic variable of assimilated sound whose average value is between the acoustic properties of the two phonemes in assimilated and non-assimilated phonetic context would show the assimilation process. The results of this analysis show a kind of acoustic assimilation in the variables of intensity, duration, F1, F2, and F3 of the two phonemes in question.

In this paper, the writers try to define and describe the formulaic speech in Farsi. Formulaic speech is a term used in theoretical and descriptive studies of grammar to refer to utterances which lack normal syntactic or morphological characteristics. The method of the research is based on documentary and field work. One hundred Farsi formulaic speeches which are most popular among Farsi native speakers were chosen and two questionnaire, each one including 50 formulaic speeches and some questions, were prepared and answered by 200 Farsi speakers. Formulaic speeches are represented in Farsi as proverbs, expression/idioms and phatics. Analyzing the answers given to the questionnaires indicates that  age, gender and level of education can be considered as the effective factors for using some of  Formulaic speeches while for other formalic speeches no remarkable differences were observed.

Down Syndrome (SD), the most common genetic cause of mental retardation, results in characteristic physical and neuropsychological deficits and abnormalities especially within the scope of cognitive and linguistic abilities. This study has been carried out to introduce and investigate some of the most important and efficient causes involved in speech delay and linguistic deficits in DS. These causes are:1- Structural and functional deficits in speech articulatory organs.2- Hearing impairments.3- Short – term memory impairments.4- The specific laterality pattern in language perception and articulation.5- Structural and functional brain abnormalities.It is necessary to note that most researchers believe that brain abnormalities especially in cognitive- linguistic regions is the most prominent in the before – mentioned causes. It worth noting these brain abnormalities have great varieties.

This article aims to investigate the linguistic representation of power in Molana’s letters within the critical discourse analysis framework. The power relationship is represented directly or indirectly. To investigate the linguistic representation of power, the letters were categorized in two types: those addressed to non-relatives and those addressed to relatives. Each type then was divided into two subsidiary categories. The non-relatives category was sub-categorized to the letters addressed to politicians and letters addressed to Molana’s students, the other category was subdivided into the letters addressed to molana’s children and Molana’s daughter-in-law.The results show that in most letters the representation of power is indirect. This indirectness serves the functions of saving the addressee’s face and politeness. In a limited number of letters, the representation of power is direct. This directness shows that Molana stands in a higher status relative to his students, children and in-laws.