Language Studies

Abstract The authors used a descriptive-analytical and statistical method based on Cohesion Theory of Halliday and Hassan (1985). they aimed to compare the application frequency of grammatical and lexical cohesion factors and the degree of cohesion and coherence in an eight-couplet poem from the first book of Rumi's Masnavi and its English translation and answer the following questions:

1. According to the cohesion theory of Halliday and Hasan, what is the degree of cohesion and coherence in this poem of Rumi’s Masnavi and its translation? how are the cohesion factors distributed?

2. considering the comparative analysis of the frequency of cohesion and coherence in the source and target texts, to what extent has the translator been successful in transferring the concepts?

based on Halliday’s model, the frequency of lexical and grammatical cohesion factors and percentage of cohesion and coherence in the poems were calculated. Considering Halliday’s Approach of Equivalence in Translation, closeness of cohesion (94.6% , 96.4%) and coherence percentages (92.8% , 91%) in two texts as well as similarity of the distribution of cohesion factors, which were very close together, except in equivalence and synonymy factors, can demonstrate the translator success in reproducing style and meaning of the source text.

Abstract Negation is a cognitive and rational phenomena that reflected in human language in different ways. The purpose of this paper is to study the structure and semantics of different types of sentences in Persian in which there are two negative elements. Double negation and negative concord structure are two well-known types of these structures that have been extensively studied in various languages and they have also been dealt with in Persian. But in addition to these two, Persian has various structures in which two negative elements are used and have not been studied structurally and semantically. The results show that sentences containing two negative elements can be structurally classified into 11 categories and the analysis of their semantic aspects shows that interaction of two negative elements in a single sentence creates a complex semantic situation, that its analysis requires adopting a continuum-based approach to the concept of negation. In other words, although affirmative and negative concepts are introduced in linguistics under the category of polarity, these two concepts in no way are polar or binary, but they are spectral and continuous.

Abstract The Proto-Elamite writing is the oldest writing system on the Iranian plateau that has been widely used in most parts of the Iranian plateau. The scribes probably used this line for complex and simple texts out of a sense of need, and today a large part of the surviving manuscripts is known as standard texts Which has a relatively uniform grammatical structure in most of the inscriptions. It has caused this line to be Better known. The purpose of this study is to investigate the function of M153 thinker and M153 + M342 composite thinker in different parts of standard Proto-Elamite Tablet. The authors of descriptive - analytical and collecting the research method used to identify different They have tried after two Ideograms compound to investigate the causes of the symptoms mentioned in different parts of the text to be Tablet. Typically Tablet total number ends but half of the series at the end of the Tablet. As a result, it is probably a symbol of a tribe or family, which in some cases is accompanied by a phonetic name in which the name of a specific person is written from that family, and in some cases without a phonetic name and after a numerical system only with the family name of the contracted party.

Abstract The present study examines the verbal communication strategies used by sellers in interacting with customers in Sari. According to Lakoff (1975), these strategies are divided into items such as persuasive, respectful, assertive, affirmative, intensifiers, and so on. The data of this study were collected by recording the voices of sellers and customers in the market and stores of Sari and after transcription, the application of each strategy was calculated and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of data analysis showed that sellers in interaction with customers mainly use verbal supportive strategies such as persuasive expressions, respectful expressions and intensifiers. Considering the gender variable, it was found that among female sellers, persuasive, respectful and affirmative expressions have the highest usage. Among male salespeople, persuasive expressions, hedges, and intensifiers are the most commonly used strategies. It was also found that there was no significant difference between male and female sellers in using supportive verbal strategies, but in the case of aggressive verbal strategies, male sellers used more aggressive verbal strategies than female sellers.

Abstract  The contribution of translation in inter-relating the cultures is undeniable. In addition, the literary texts possess a lofty position in showing and resounding the thoughts, emotions and imaginations of people of the world. However, the translation of literary texts, especially poems have always been a questionable issue giving raise to lots of challenges, such that many translators and literary men believe that untranslatable. Today studies on the subject of translation have entered into the field of inter-disciplinary issues, the authorities of linguistics, literature, and philosophy are studying its quiddity, reasonability, and its nature and they have already expressed various contradictory views about the issue. According to the findings of the present paper, the content, and message of the poem, also different kinds of figures of speech, like symbol, metaphors, allegory, and many others, as well as imagery, allusion, implicature, and historical and cultural issues are mostly translatable, what has convinced some authorities of untranslatability of a poem is its melody and music which appear in the forms of rhyme, rhythm, pun, and the cases in which the meaning and form have been interwoven such that any acceptable translation seems out of reach.

Abstract Linguistic politeness is one of the highly regarded issues by sociolinguists and linguists.The phenomenon importance rises due to its culture-specific nature and its effect on social relationship. This study which is descriptive-analytical one, aimed at identifying the extensive used request patterns in Ardebili Turkish in the light of Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory(1987) and Blum-Kulka et al’s coding scheme for request(1989) regarding age and gender. To achieve this goal, the data has been collected by participant observation and Likert scale questionnaire designed by the researcher. The sample research is 245 male and female Persian-Turkish bilinguals within three age ranges, 18-30, 31-40 and +41. In order to examine the statistically significant effect of variables SPSS software(version 21) and non-parametric tests, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis were used. Findings indicated that in all kinds of request the suggestory formula and query preparatory are the patterns with high frequency and strong hint and weak hint strategies are the low- frequency patterns. The statistically significant difference is revealed among the age ranges but there is no such difference between male and female.

Abstract This article examines the relationship between phonetic elements and meaning in Dashti and Mahur Āvāz-s (songs) from Abdollah Davami’s Vocal Radif. Its purpose is to identify the effective articulatory phonetic elements and how they are used in the phonetic chain of Āvāz-s. Here, we have studied phonetic elements such as pitch, vowel lengthening, rhythm, and elements such as silence and syllable type in each Āvāz. The results showed that the phonetic structures of the Gūše –s (melodic modes), like phonetic structures of sentences of languages, follow fixed and predetermined patterns, and the occurrence of the phonetic elements, with a certain quality and in the positions determined by the melodic structure of Gūše -s, triggered transmitting and stimulating a sense and a meaning in the listener and reinforcing poetry. As, Dashti in comparison with Mahur induces a sense of sadness to the listener by using more falling pitch, maintaining the pitch proceeding in the syllable realm, more dramatic use of silence, the desire to use longer silences, the extensive use of vowel lengthening, the lower speed of its Gūše-s and as a result, the slower rhythm of its Gūše-s.

Abstract In this research, cl and cm letters from Bactrian letters collection have been studied. First, the author has transliterated the two letters and translated them into Persian, then analyzed the lexicon. The letters show that the two letters are related to each other and indicate the correspondence of government officials in Bactria. For example, letters begin with "a greeting to my dear brother", and the author of the letter expresses his pleasure at hearing the ruler's health, and at the end, again, Greetings to the ruler. The letters are about stealing horses. This article, while providing a Persian translation of these letters, seeks to answer the following questions: 1. what is the style of writing in Bactria? 2- Based on these letters, letters, is it possible to understand writer's and recipient's occupation? 3. According to these letters, is it possible to understand the rank of the officers? 4. What is the tone of the letters?
Key words: Bactrian language; Bactria; cl and cm letters; horse theft; Bactrian letters; documents and correspondence in middle periods.

Abstract In the ancient calendar, the year was based on twelve thirty-day months, each of the thirty days of the month was attributed to one of the gods and angels of  Zoroastrian religion.. There have been do’s and don’ts for doing things among Iranians, and every day has been desirable for doing something. In the Pahlavi piece called MAdayAn I Sih-ROzag , thirty days are mentioned, what is suitable and good for which day. The main question of this research is whether the belief in the misfortune of deeds is related to the selfishness of the gods who observe the days of the month and is it influenced or not? In the book of Farziyat-Nameh of Darab Pahlan’s and a piece called “Truth Days” from Azarbad Mehraspandan, the works that should be included in Each of the thirty days of the month did is listed. This research examines the thirty-day requirements of the Iranian month by means of documentary-library study. First, the Pahlavi text of MAdayAn I Sih ROzag is translated into Persian and examined linguistically, and it is matched with the Farziyat-Nameh and advice of Azarbad Mehraspandan. This research shows that the belief that things are unlucky on the days of the month has been common among Iranians and is related to the names and duties of  Gods of  thirty days of the month.  

Abstract The Mesopotamian land locates in an area called the Near East, which surrounds by the water districts of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. The Sumerians were from the first ancient civilizations who founded some city-states in the south Mesopotamia. After shattering the Ur III Empire by Nomadic Amorites, the Sumerian language replaces with Akkadian as the common tongue of the area. They were replaced by a Semitic state by name Akkad which impressed by the Sumerians in all contexts.
Then the Akkadian language evolved into the Mesopotamian area and divided into Babylonian and Assyrian branches about 2400 B.C. The Babylonian language applied in northern Mesopotamia and the Assyrian language in southern Mesopotamia. The ancient empires such as Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian are a successive version of the same multinational power structure, each resulting from an internal power struggle within this structure. In other words, the empire was each time reborn under new leadership, with political power shifting from one nation to another. Of course, the empire changed with each change of power. However the changes were relatively slight, one could say almost merely cosmetic.
The writing system of Akkadian divided into syllabic signs (syllabograms) and word signs (logograms). The latter wrote mono- or polysyllabic words in Akkadian texts. Logograms were signs, which had Sumerian graphic etymologies, but they showed Akkadian phonetic values. Indeed, A logogram was a Sumerian word which represented by a sign concerning a simple logogram (É=bitum ‘house’; KUR=mātum ‘land’), or by two or more signs concerning a composite logogram (KU. BABBAR =kaspum ‘silver, money’; É.GAL=ekallum ‘palace’); for example, a sign such as a- could be read syllabically as a simple logogram (A=Aplum ‘heir’, or A=mu ‘water’); and as a composite logogram (A-ŠA=equlem ‘field’).The Akkadians adopted both logograms (some books called them sumerograms) and syllabic signs but pronounced into the Akkadian language; i.e., they took both sumerograms and syllabic signs from the cuneiform script but read sumerograms into the Akkadian language. In the cuneiform system, a logogram (word sign, ideogram, sumerogram) could use for a sign or a group of emblems of an Akkadian word; that is, in the Akkadian language ‘king’ is written both as a logogram LUGAL/LUGAL-um/lugal and as a syllable ‘šar, ša-ar-ru-um, šar-ru-um.' The ‘king’ in Assyrian texts shown both with Akkadian ‘šarrum’ and by Assyrian mal-ki. These Logograms can also occur alone such as LUGAL, DTMU, DUJN.SAL, DUB, MU, or with partial phonetic values such as KUG.BABBAR-am/kaspam/, LUGAL-um /šarrum/, LUGAL-ri. /šarri/, GAN-lam /eqlam/, GIS.TUKUL-ga-šu /kakkašu/, AB+AŠ-bu-tum /šibutum/. The Sumerographic and syllabic spelling could sometimes combine, e.g., a.ša-lum to spell eqlum ‘field’. When a word sign of logograms or a Sumerian word used in an Akkadian text, it followed by a sign, which coincided with Akkadian word and a vowel or sometimes a consonant represented by CV or CVC sign. This syllabic sign was inscribed in Roman capitals and Romanized in italics which separated by a hyphen (KI-tim). The Sumero-Akkadian writing system was still in limited use as late as the 1^st century A.D.
The Aramaeans were nomadic people with unknown origin who migrated into the ancient Middle East between 1500 and 1200 B.C.E. The first inscription of the Aramaic Language refers to the first millennium B.C., but in the following centuries, the Aramaic language utilized by the Assyrian and Persian Empires and spread through the ancient Near East. Assyrian, a branch of the Akkadian language, used the Aramaic language and script for the conquered realms in the ninth century B.C.E. Achaemenid Kings used the Aramaic language and script for communication purposes. It caused the Aramaic language to apply as a lingua franca until the next periods.Having collapsed the Achaemenid dynasty by Alexander of Macedon and his successors, the Aramaic language did not consider a national language anymore. The Aramaic language had used for satrapies that subjected to the Persians and divided into the West Aramaic and East Aramaic. The West Aramaic is composed of the Palestinian’s and Nabataean’s dialects, and the East Aramaic those of Palmyrene, Hatraean, Syriac, Elymais, and Mandaean. The Aramaic language lost its position because of the Arab conquests, but its importance preserved as a spoken language and especially, as that of literacy.
The history of the Persian language divides into the three Period of Old Persian, Middle Persian, and Neo-Persian. The Middle Iranian languages subdivide into western and eastern branch: Western languages comprise the Middle Persian and Parthian, and Eastern languages consist of Soghdian, Kharazmian, Scythian, and Bactrian.
From the Parthians onwards, writers of Parthian and Sasanian texts used the Aramaic words that called ideograms; i.e., they wrote in Aramaic but pronounced into Pahlavi. Of course, these ideograms of Semitic words had not Sumeric or Chinese typical characteristics but wrote with the consonantal alphabet, and hence are called ‘Arameograms’; e.g., ŠM ‘name’ was written but read and pronounced as Iranian nām, or LYLA ‘night’ rendered into Iranian šab. Verbal stems wrote in the shape of Arameogram, but endings were inflected based on the Iranian phonetic values, e.g., YHWWNyt=bawēd ‘it is.' A word, too, could occasionally be read both as an ideogram, and read and pronounced into middle Persian, e. g,  read either ideogram TWB/did ‘ other,' or tang ‘narrow’ with the Iranian phonetic value. Also, the word of the ‘king’ was written Malka  in Aramaic but read and pronounced šāh ‘king’ in Middle Persian, i.e., they wrote in Aramaic but read into Parthian and Pahlavi equivalents.
Some scholars believe that it is possible to originate in the time that Persian governmental secretaries, Dabiran in the Persian language, employed parchment in place of clay, and the Aramaic language used as a lingua franca in the time of Darius the Great. It is clear that the writing system of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties was not their invention, but the writing system used in their court continued to have grown up in the chancelleries of Achaemenid Persia.

Abstract The sociology of language, which examines the relation between social and social classes and the germination of the fusion of linguistics and sociology, is a new interdisciplinary study that has opened up meaningful horizons to linguists. Because language is a fundamental element in the story, among the various literary types, the novel is a suitable platform for sociology of language studies, and the analysis of different aspects of the language of the novel from this perspective is necessary. Therefore, the present study aims to provide a sociological reading of the language of the novels of Ali Ashraf Darvishian's cloudy years, which is one of the contemporary, and relationship between the language and social contexts, based on a scientific method. In addition, writers in the final section of the article also refer to the sociology of the author's language in the novel. The method of doing research is descriptive-analytical and data are analyzed using a method of analyzing sociological content. The outcome of the research suggests that the author succeeds in choosing the right language for characters, and that the language of the novel is in cases in keeping with the writer's social orientations

Abstract It is fundamental to gain knowledge on overseas students from Arab countries in terms of their personality types, learning styles, and learning strategies to further promote the quality of Persian language teaching. This study investigates the relationship between Arab non-native speakers of Persian language and their leaning styles and strategies. To achieve the goal, 50 Persian learners were randomly selected from a Persian Language Center. Data collection instruments were Personality Types (Myers – Briggs, 1962), Learning Style (Kolb, 1984), and leaning strategies (Oxford, 1990) questionnaires used to measure learners’ personality types, learning styles, and learning strategies, respectively. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between convergent learning style and extroverted and introverted learners; it was also found that the correlation between assimilator style, sensing-intuition thinking and feeling was statistically significant. The result further showed that whereas the participants utilized all learning styles (convergent, divergent, accommodating, and assimilating) proportionally, they utilized metacognitive strategies more than the cognitive strategies. The findings of this study could motivate the teachers to enhance the quality of instruction as well as the quality of methodologies practiced in Persian language classes in accordance with the type of personality and styles and strategies of language learners.