JOURNAL OF HUMAN SCIENCES
Year:2007 | Volume:- | Issue:55 (SPECIAL ISSUE ON LINGUISTICS)|Papers Count:15

Syntax has always been considered as the core of language in Chomskyan generative enterprise, and in turn, grammaticality as the core of syntax. Until the Minimalist Program, particularly in the earlier form of the Principles and Parameters Approach known as the Government and Binding Theory, the conditions governing and determining grammaticality, whether in derivational or representational modes, were those of ‘well-formedness’, imposed on syntactic operations or levels from within; that is, the conditions were not motivated by any external systems and were construed within and by syntax proper. In Government and Binding, the structural description of a linguistic expression involved four levels of representation; such levels were then checked by  various independent sub-theories (of principles), e.g. projection principle, binding and bounding, which acted as well-formedness conditions, or filters, on the relevant levels. With the advent of the Minimalist Program and the re-interpretation of grammaticality as ‘convergence’ at the two, and only two, interface levels, grammaticality of linguistic expressions comes to be determined language externally; that is, by cognitive performance systems, external to language, yet internal to mind. This article is an attempt to demonstrate how the re-definition of grammaticality and well-formedness conditions as convergence and legibility conditions respectively turns Minimalism into a functional theory, albeit a generative one.

Syntactic theory has yet to achieve systematic consistency in distinguishing structure and function, especially as far as the grammar of English is concerned, before the two could be integrated in a unified model. That inconsistency has prevented progress at fundamental levels, such as an accurate description of parts of speech. A successful treatment of “stylistic reordering” is another such fundamental problem area. This paper argues that such non-canonic word orders as extraposition for focus, fronting for topicalization, middle-field topicalization, locative inversion, and passivization can be accounted for if we assume an argument structure level that is subject to information management. Reorderings at this level are then presented to syntax at the interface level of MERGE, which will select lexically stored syntactic templates to accommodate the arrangement of arguments. In this arrangement is the potential for a universal base that underlies movement languages (English) and non-movement languages (Chinese) alike. Without a principled account of functions arrayed in lexical arguments prior to MERGE, the selection of any such templates would appear arbitrary.

Perhaps the most challenging as well as the most interesting question raised in linguistic studies is the Innateness Hypothesis of Human Language. There have been various types of evidence proposed to corroborate such a hypothesis. One type is based on different linguistic disorders resulting from brain damages. In the present paper, I shall focus on Specific Language Impairment (SLI), a linguistic syndrome, which does not correlate with general intelligence, but is known to be involved in linguistic deficiencies concerned with morphosyntax or the understanding of embedded (e.g., relative) clauses. This syndrome is related to the FOXP2 gene, which is active in the development of language skills, including grammatical competence. However, brain regions where the gene is expressed (caudate nucleus, cerebellum) are often characterized as being dedicated to the “motor control” phenomenon. Now the question is whether this gene is responsible for motor control or the linguistic behavior of the human kind. Investigating the role of this gene in chimps, mice and birds, we shall demonstrate that the findings corroborate the latter as well, in turn confirming the innateness hypothesis-or in today’s terminology, the genetic basis of language-adopted by Chomsky.

The aim of this paper is two-fold. In the first part, it is an attempt to explain the “nature of the linguistic sign” according to the Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure. Saussure, in his Course in General Linguistics, manages to propose a new direction to linguistics which remains quite influential and essential to this day. In his Course, Saussure claims that language should be studied as a sign system. In other words, according to this view, the process of meaning-making does not take the relation of the word to an outside object. Meaning happens based on the relation and difference between signs within a system. Hence, the nature of the linguistic sign is ‘arbitrary, differential, and relational.’ In the second part of the paper, Emile Benveniste’s reading of Saussure is investigated; it will be demonstrated that some aspects of Benveniste’s interpretations are flawed.

Narration has a specific structure, and “plot” is the literary term applied to it. Plot should have a beginning, a middle and an end. We believe that the detraction of an element from the plot will derange the foundation of the story. This paper is an attempt to deal with the element of plot in the short story "Yek Holu va Hezar Holu" (One Peach and Thousand Peaches) . Why this element and not another one? Because, considering this subject, the writer wants to know whether this work has the characteristics of a narration or not.  And why? For this reason, first we try to define narration according to Vladimir Propp, and then we will go through the work in order to find the answer to these questions. 

This article investigates the role of gender as an effective parameter on the success of language learners. The knowledge about such parameters affects the process of a foreign language learning / teaching. The role of gender in foreign language learning has always been accompanied by different ideas. This question has long been on the table if the ability of foreign language learning is related to the gender of the learner. Boy's learning process differs from that of the girls. It is believed that girls are generally proved to be more successful than boys. In this article the authors have tried to investigate the role of gender by considering several factors like: endeavor, motivation, learning styles, social factors, and physiological activities. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between the foreign language learning process, proficiency and gender, which influences the process.

Linguistics is a science that encompasses a wide range of domains. As other sciences, it needs to have its own unequivocal system of definitions and concepts. Thus, to deal with linguistics, we have to ask who a linguist is today. To answer this question, we need to know where linguistics stands and what the objectives of the discipline are. Topics and phenomena that linguistics deals with are studied through logical analysis. Thus, the method of linguistics distinguishes it from other sciences and it has domains which are specific to this science. So, it has its methods and scientific tools in the domain of interdisciplinary sciences. 

This research is concerned with the coding of causation, a topic that raises so many issues central to cognitive linguistics. Causation plays a central role in everyday human experience. So it can be considered as one of the integral parts of human cognition or according to Layoff a notion that exists in our thought. The present paper tries to study the relationship between the formalists' analysis of causality and the cognitivists' model, and also to explain how causatives are interpreted in the cognitive approach. The results indicate that the cognitive approach provides a relatively straightforward solution to the problems raised by formal approaches (e.g. case grammar), since it does not assume that situations in the real world are characterized by objectively defined properties. Also, it is claimed that human beings interpret and conceptualize causative constructions by the help of semantic factors as well as general functions of the mind. In fact, it is shown that the cognitive analysis of causatives is in a complementary relationship with formalism.

The present article is a short survey of the historical roots and familial relationship between Pashto and Urdu, which geneologically are among the Eastern Iranian and Indic branches respectively. The general description will be followed by an account for the characteristic patterns of similarities and differences between the phonological systems and orthographic systems of the two languages.

When important decisions are made based on test scores, it is critical to avoid bias, which may unfairly influence examinees’ scores. Bias is the presence of some characteristics of an item that results in differential performance for individuals of the same ability but from different ethnic, age, sex, academic, cultural, or religious groups. The investigation of differential item functioning (DIF) is crucial in language proficiency tests in which test-takers with adverse backgrounds are involved, because DIF items pose a considerable threat to the validity of tests. This study mainly focuses on the detection and investigation of the possible multi-dimensional causes of DIF in IELTS, Listening and Reading sub-sections. The main aim of this project is to provide test constructors with information as detailed as possible about sources of DIF in order to help them avoid item bias in future forms of the test. The study was carried out in three steps. First, DIF items were identified using Item Response Theory (IRT) Likelihood Ratio Approach (LR) and Mantel-Haenszel statistical procedure. The second stage was an investigation of the multi-variant sources of DIF for different groups of candidates and whether it worked to their advantage or disadvantage. At the third stage, it was decided whether a possible source of DIF was relevant or irrelevant to the construct the test claimed to measure.