نشریه زبان پژوهی
پیاپی 38 (بهار 1400)

The urge to translate books and other sources of knowledge, as harbors (providers) of experience and skill, to different languages and cultures is presumably as old as the history of writing. An accurate and comprehensive understanding of a book under translation is of paramount significance for translators as any lack of understanding or misunderstanding potentially distorts the real and intended meaning of the selected book. Needless to mention, a translator should possess a comprehensive command of ideas and concepts articulated in a text. The flourishing of translation industry, accompanied by the flood of translated books, within the last decades gave birth to the emergence and development of various translation theories which provide critical criteria to evaluate translated items. Translation criticism soon asserted itself among other branches of academic studies. Prominent scholars like Antoine Berman, Herbert Paul Grice, Carmen Garcés, Basil Hatim, and Juliane House, among others, have propounded diverse aspects of translation criticism. The translation of scriptures (holy texts) is one of the domains which necessitates understanding and accuracy as million people around the world base their beliefs on the them. Thereby, the translation of these texts should be performed with outmost vigilance. The Holy Quran, the religious book of Muslims, embodies sacred concepts that are expressed through morphological, syntactic and rhetorical structures of Arabic language. It is not surprising, therefore, that numerous translators from around the world have assigned themselves the task of translating the Holy Quran to different languages. Such an undertaking, however, has witnessed a number of challenges as, for example, theologians and scholars, including Al-Zamakhshari and Al-Suyuti take the translatability of the Holy Quran with serious doubts. Despite challenges and obstacles, this holy book has been translated to many languages. The critical assessment of the quality and features of different translated versions of the Holy Quran constitutes the main bulk of papers and dissertation written in this field. The faithful translation of the Holy Quran into Persian, among other available types, has received a considerable deal of attention as scholars/translators like Makarem Shirazi, Meshkini, Elahi Ghomshei, Khoramshahi, and Fooladvand have attempted to provide a faithful rendition of this holy text. Like many translated literary and non-literary books, these translations potentially exude advantages and disadvantages. Carmen Garcés’s theory has widely been utilized to critically assess the translation of literary texts. This work, accordingly, draws on Garcés’s theory, with a particular attention to the second level of his model (syntactic-lexical axis), to examine the translation of “MA as negative maker” in the first and second chapters of the Holy Quran. This study follows two goals: to pinpoint some of the important challenges in this field and to propose some suggestions for handling these challenges.   Adopting an analytical-descriptive approach, this study draws on Garcés’s(1994) framework which is divided into four distinct levels: semantic-lexical; syntactic-morphology; discourse-applied; and stylistic-scientific. In addition, some other branches of translation criticisms dealing the with quality and legibility of translation are consulted. At the second level of Garcés’s framework, which constitutes the focal point of this study, four types of translation are proposed: literal translation, syntactic reduction, syntactic expansion, and syntactic changes (modification in form) in sentences. Based on the critical observations made in this study, it is safe to conclude that Makarem Shirazi and Meshkini are more successful than their peer translators in providing a faithful translation of the Holy Quran. Likewise, none of the translators has confined his translation of the Holy Quran to “literal” translation, which Garcés discredits. Finally, the most important shortcoming in this field concerns the lack of a concerted effort to identify exact equivalents in the target language (Persian), which would lead to overlooking of religious concepts and commands reiterated in the Holy Quran.

Several works of research done in the past 50 years have largely convinced some researchers that fundamental emotions are natural and can be seen in all animals, this view is called the basic emotion theory. One of the recent meta-analyses of the human neuroimaging literature was interpreted as supportive of the basic emotion hypothesis (Vytal and Hamann, 2010). However in fact, although there are some consistencies between limbic and non-limbic regions, some of non-specific regions become activated during anger, sadness, fear, disgust, and happiness. Based on this point, each emotion category arises from an innate, specific brain module with homology to other animals. This basic emotion view has commonly loomed large in the science of emotion, and is broadly accepted by many researchers in this field. It has also become a general topic in the popular mainstream media, in spite of the fact that there is still a long way to perceive how the brain basis of emotion is functioning. All in all, some scientists think that certain emotions, such as anger, fear, sadness, happiness and disgust, are biologically basic. It means that these primary and fundamental emotions are natural and can be seen in all beings, that is why it is called the basic emotion theory. In contrast to the basic emotion theory, another approach to emotion, the ‘conceptual act theory of emotion’ assumes that an emotion such as anger, sadness, fear, disgust or happiness is an instance and these instances do not originate from their own. They come from different parts and sections of the brain and they are not specifically devoted to identified brain networks. It means that emotions are built from the combination of activities in domain-general and core brain systems that perform more basic psychological functions, such as salience detection, memory, sensory perception, language, and so on (Barrett, 2006; Lindquist and Barrett, 2012). On the other hand, many different parts of brain are involved in order to understand the concepts of emotions and act, react, or take positions while they are being processed. The present study, which has a qualitative and descriptive-analytic character, aims to specify and discover the active parts of the cerebellum, when they process and understand the concepts of power and movement in the form of conceptual metaphor for the concept of anger based on Quranic data. That is why the present research has focused on anger verses in the Holy Quran. To do so, eighty conceptual metaphors in the source domain of power and movement were gathered from the Holy Quran. To find the appropriate metaphors, first the lexica of anger terms were looked up in the Holy Quran thesaurus (Ghoreshi, 2007), then the verses containing those terms were extracted to discover the conceptual anger metaphors. After that, the derived metaphors were studied and analyzed by some Quran experts to ensure their accuracy. To perform the present investigation, the following practical steps have been taken. First, metaphorical representations sought in the conceptual anger metaphors were considered as signs indicating the activation of the functional regions of the cortex. Second, the themes and evidences of any conceptual metaphor, in other words, the kind of Qur'anic look to anger in different verses, are identified. For example, an extracted metaphor in Quran says: anger is chewing the fingertips, based on precise divisions of cortical functions put forward by Brodmann (Judas, et al. 2012), this conceptual metaphor can be attested to by the activation of parts of motor, executive, attention, emotion functions of the cerebellum during processing anger in the mind. Third, in the same vein, then, given that the active regions of the brain are widespread during anger (Vytal & Hamann, 2010: 2880), it became clear that Quranic anger metaphors entail some different parts of brain to be involved in processing anger. Finally, by matching and comparing the data of Vital and Haman (2012) with Bradman, adapted from Judas (2012),and analysis of the explanation of the concept of motion and power metaphors the data was analyzed and represented.  . Living experiences are the main sources by which emotions are conceptualized in the brain networks.  Consequently, based on the previous experiences, these emotions start to be processed. It has been proved that by means of already – made concepts many possible connections of brain neurons happen in the brain, which have important impacts on our ultimate decisions and reactions while beings emotional (Vytal & Haman, 2010). Therefore, this shows that those situations that you experience while you get angry exert strong influences on your future behavior. Based on the data analysis for metaphorical comprehension, the findings show that the sources domains of power and movement in the form of conceptual metaphors for the concept of anger are shown in the target domains, such as patience, charity, forgiveness, actions, denial, neglect, repentance, blasphemy, eulogy, hell, provocation, excitement, self-denial, curse, and torment. It was also found that different areas of the cerebellum are active during the processing of anger through different responses. The findings also display that the concept of anger and the concept of exposure to anger rebound. Moreover, these reactions are reflected from interactions between areas, networks and numerous neural networks, and ultimately, a conceptual action theory is confirmed. In addition, the results demonstrate that the conception of anger is transitional, transitory and context-based in the Holy Quran. Findings also indicate that while we are exposed to conceptual metaphors for the concept of anger, many different somatosensory feedbacks are observed. These are because of the interactions of brain networks and neuron connections. Results also show that the conceptual act theory of emotion is approved and anger is not only transitory but also context-based

Today more than ever, in the new era of communication, the role of translation in conveying concepts and creating understanding between cultures and civilizations is evident.  One of the issues that has always been discussed in translation studies is the translatability or untranslatability of metaphors. Therefore, theorists in the field of translation have  proposed different methods and approaches for translating metaphors so far. Some experts, such as Menachem Dagut and Eugene Nida, believe that metaphors cannot be transferred from one language to another (Jamet, 2003, p.130). In contrast, other translation researchers, such as Raymond van den Broeck and Peter Newmark, have ascertained this possible and have defined solutions for it (Ibid). Considering the significance of sacred texts, the literary arrangement is doubly important, and the need for precision in this regard can be felt more. The Holy Quran, the heavenly book and the miracle of the last prophet of God, in many parts of its verses, shows the unique effects of using different types of metaphors. In this article, we try to provide an analytical comparison between the performance of two famous French translators of the Holy Quran in the twentieth century, Regis Blachère and Jacques Berque, within the scope of selected verses from Surah Baqarah. The choice of these translations is due to Blachère and Berque's sufficient mastery of the Arabic language and their familiarity with Islamic culture and customs. This has led the two translators, unlike others, to translate the Quran directly from Arabic into French, and to use their meta-linguistic knowledge to understand the concept of metaphors. Regis Blachère’s and Jacques Berque’s translations of the Holy Quran, were respectively published in 1950 and 1990, by Maisonneuve & Larose and Sindbad Publications, and have been revised and reprinted several times up to now. For this study, we have chosen Surah Baqarah as a statistical population, and we  focused, in particular, on verses from this surah that are adorned with metaphorical arrays. Surah Baqarah, which is the longest surah and is called the peak of the Quran, is conceptually highly diverse, and addresses several religious, social, jurisprudential, and political issues. It also has a special richness in terms of structure and contains various forms of metaphor. Certainly, examining all the verses containing the metaphor of Surah Baqarah does not fit within the framework of one article. Therefore, after careful examination of  all the verses, the authors have provided a detailed analysis of thirteen samples in this study. Of course, the number of verses that have been referred to or compared in these thirteen verses is more than twenty-five. In this report, which summarizes the results of more detailed studies, we have made attempts to select verses that are varied in content and form, to cover and reflect the totality of metaphors and subjects proposed by this surah. The method used in this study was descriptive-analytical based on library tools and within the framework of Peter Newmark's (1988)theories. The results of this study show that despite the fact thatthe two translators held similar temporal-spatial horizons, they have adopted different methods for translating Quranic metaphors from Arabic to French. They have used one of the conventional strategies for each metaphor, depending on the context of the verse, the type of metaphor, and the implicit concepts in it. The seven techniques suggested by Peter Newmark (1988) cover all the strategies used by Blachère and Berque. Actually, in translating the metaphors of surah Baqarah, Blachère followed the first, second, fourth, and sixth strategies of Newmark, and Berque used the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth strategies. Perhaps the main reason for this difference in the choice of technique is the difference in the translators’ interpretation of the verses. In fact, most verses with metaphors contain words that have multiple primary and secondary meanings. In other words, the semantic scope of these words is wide. Therefore, each translator can deduce one of the possible meanings. Accordingly, his interpretation and therefore his translation of the verse is based on its intended meaning. In some cases, translators have turned to French equivalent words, which also have this multifaceted capability. Hence, the ambiguous state of metaphor is perfectly preserved. This seems to be the best way to translate metaphors. However, it can only be used if there is an equation with these features and specifications in the target language. In other cases, replacing the original metaphor with another metaphor that contains the same semantic and conceptual equivalent in the target language can also be useful. However, considering the concern about loyalty to the source text and the need to observe the requirements of the divine word, and noting the cultural differences between the society in which the Quran was revealed and the target community in the French translation, perhaps it would be better to use this strategy in translating literary texts than sacred texts. Overall, Regis Blachère seems to have been more successful in simultaneous transmittal of the structure and meaning of metaphors, while Berque has sometimes abandoned the metaphorical form and has contented himself with conveying the concept. This study also confirms the views of translators, such as Newmark and Broeck. It also shows that the sacred texts and even the literary arrays used in them are fully translatable and transferable to foreign cultures and languages. However, this indeed depends on the translator’s choice regarding the appropriate solution.

There are many verses in the Holy Qur'an that are related to God’s wrath toward man. The frequency of these verses which are presented in different grammatical forms and meanings implies the importance of this divine message which is to be transferred to the human. Undoubtedly, God’s wrath is quite different from human anger in nature. However, a man knows the concepts that he has experienced himself and this includes emotions like anger. According to cognitive linguists, metaphor is a way of converting abstract concepts (namely the source domains) to concrete concepts (namely the target domains). This study seeks to answer the following questions:1.How does the concept of divine anger is conceptualized in the Holy Quran?  2.What are the target domains? 3.What are the differences between the prototype scenario in God and a man? The theoretical framework used in this study is Kovecses’s (1986) theory of human anger. His model includes a list of source domains that are mapped onto the target domain of anger as well as the scenario of anger. The source domains are: A) “anger is fire/heat” as the central metaphor. The major metaphors are: B) Anger is insanity. C) Anger is a dangerous animal. D) Anger is an opponent (in a struggle). E) Anger is a burden. F) Anger is trespassing. More metaphors are “existence are pressure” and “body is the container of feeling”. The scenario of anger which is called “prototype scenario” include the following stages:an offending event, anger, control, loss of control, an act of retribution.

Cognitive linguistics was introduced by the publication of the book “Metaphors We Live by” by Lakoff and Johnson in the '80s. This approach made fundamental changes in the study and analysis of metaphor that has remained unchanged since Aristotle. The new approach quickly replaced the classic one and it soon attracted many researchers. The term ‘conceptual metaphor’ is well known among Iranian researchers and a significant number of works can be found in this area. As an illustration, Hooshagi & Seyfiporgu (2009) studied the most frequent source domains in the Holy Quran and listed them. Ghaeminiya (2009) also analyzes the conceptual metaphors used in the Holy Quran, believing that cognitive theory has an impact on understanding the Qur'anic verses. Pourebrahim (2009) lists the types of conceptual metaphors in the first half of the Qur'an (15 parts).Veysi & Ouraki (2015) analyze metaphorical structures in the holy Quran. They believe that the cognitive approach is capable of analyzing verbal metaphors.  Finally, Andalibi (2006) focuses on the meta-metaphor of " Man as the Servant of God" and studies the relationship between ‘God’ and ‘Man’ in the metaphoric terms.

The present study is qualitative and descriptive-analytic research. To investigate how the concept of anger is conceptualized in the Holy Quran, the verses in which the concept of anger was expressed metaphorically were first extracted and then were examined regarding the source domains as well as the prototype scenario. Our aim was to identify the familiar and understandable concepts ( to man) which are used in the Quran. The target domains were found in the conceptualization of divine anger in Qur'an were: fire, damage and destruction (disease, natural disaster, and destruction), animals, space (excommunication, damn and sealing the heart) and darkness. The target domains used in Qur'an show that although divine anger is quite different from human anger, conceptualization is done in a way that makes it easy and understandable for the human beings. Moreover, the stages of anger for  God are different from the stages of anger in man. The divine scenario of anger consists of the following three stages: ‘Guidance’ is the first stage in which God shows the right path to the people through the prophets and the Holy Scriptures. ‘Warning’ is the next step. In the Holy Quran, there are many verses that prohibit man from committing certain sins, such as disbelief and lies. The last stage is divine retribution in which God prescribes definite retributions for the sinners.

Under the infinitive constructions in languages like English, the analysis of embedded control constructions, especially prior to the onset of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky & Lasnik, 1993), was typically confined to the study of a special group of English-type infinitival constructions whose subject position was occupied by PRO. Prior to this era, languages that lacked infinitive constructions, and/or alternatively used other constructions to host control and PRO, were considered marginal to the mainstream generative tradition of that era. These otherwise constructions posed challenging questions to the mainstream theory of non-finite control and PRO in infinitives.Nonetheless, with the advent of Minimalism, other clause types, were put in the agenda. Generally, control construction with PRO could also appear in finite and/or subjunctive clauses (Kapetangianni 2010; Landau, 2004, 2013; Lee, 2009; Roussou, 2001; Spyropulous 2007; Terzi, 1993, 1997).The aim of present study, however, is to classify Persian control constructions according to the type of embedded clause that can host. More specifically, the results of the current study shows that there are several types of control constructions in Persian: embedded finite subjunctives, with two variant forms in obligatory and non-obligatory control environments, embedded gerundive clauses, hosting both obligatory and non-obligatory environments, and a special group of impersonal constructions hosting only non-obligatory control constructions.Methodologically, the current study follows the three approaches: a) the reintroduction of the already attested constructions, b) the introduction of new classifications based on the generalizations of the already attested constructions, and c) the probe into other types of embedded clauses that can host control constructions. In what follows, we try to follow the approach above.A. Obligatory control into finite subjunctivesSimilar to indicatives, these constructions appear with their full clausal specifications. Specifically, they have obligatory person and number endings on the verbal element within their TPs. The verbal element additionally receives a subjunctive mood clitic be- to its beginning. Moreover, the embedded clause appears as a CP headed by the complementizer ke. This is shown in (1) below.(1) Rezai [PROi dus=dar-e] (ke) daneʃgah be-r-e.Reza appealing =have-3Sg that university Sbj-go-3Sg“Reza likes to go to the university.”Therefore, these subjunctive control constructions are analogous to the infinitive control constructions found in other languages that have this mood distinction. This category of embedded clause-typing in control environments was classified based on the relevant literature on Persian control (Hashemipour, 1988, 1989; Ghomeshi, 2001; Karimi, 2005, 2008; Taleghani, 2008; Darzi, 2008; Pirooz, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2016; Darzi & Motavallian, 2010; and Ilkhanipour, 2014).B. Obligatory control into gerundives:These gerundives are classified based on Darzi (2001) and a few other suggestions appearing marginally in under the category of subjunctive control including Ghomeshi, (2001), and Hashemipour (1989). The verbal element in these constructions undergoes the nominalization process, with the derivational ending -æn appearing to the end of the verbal element. These constructions are analogous to the gerundives in other languages like English, and can appear both in the object position and as prepositional object in (2) and (3) respectively.(2) Rezai [PROi daneʃgah ræft-an-o] dust=dar-e.Reza university go-Ger-Acc appealing have-3Sg“Reza likes to go to a university.”(3) Rezai [æz [PROi daneʃgah ræft-an]] bizar-e.Reza from university go-Ger unappeal-be.3Sg“Reza hates going to a university.”C. Non-obligatory control into gerundivesThis new category almost includes no previous literature. Located in the subject position of the matrix clause, these constructions appear as non-obligatory control with PRO having an arbitrary interpretation. Similar to (2) and (3) above, the verbal element in these embedded clauses obligatorily includes a nominalization ending -æn on the verbal element. The lack of this derivational ending renders the string as ungrammatical.(4) [PROArb daneʃgah ræft-æn/ *ræft-] xub-e.PROArb university go-Ger/ go-ø good be-3Sg“It is good to go to the university.”D. Non-obligatory control into subjunctivesThis group of control constructions is the result of an analogy with the finite subjunctive. However, can the category of obligatory control in Persian subjunctives (i.e. the group A above) be extended to include non-obligatory control constructions in this language as well? The current study finds the answer positive. Therefore, this new category was introduced into Persian for the first time by this study. These constructions appear as a special type of subjunctive clauses in which the verbal paradigm of the embedded clause is restricted to second person singular or third person plural, respecting generic interpretation in both. However, the two verbal endings correspond to the two categories of generic interpretation, as found below:a) a generic inclusive interpretation with “second person singular ending” on the verbal element,b) a generic exclusive interpretation with “third person plural ending” on the verbal element.These categories can be found in (5) and (6) respectively . Phonologically, as it is the case with control construction, the subject position of these embedded subjunctives should be null. Hence, an overt nominal element like to “you” in the subject position of these clauses may render the construction non-control. (5) [PROArb / *to be-r-i daneʃgah] xub-e. (Including the speaker)PROArb / you Sbj-go-2Sg university good-be.3Sg“It’s good if you go /one goes to a university.” (6) [PROArb / una be-r-æn daneʃgah] xub-e. (Excluding the speaker)PROArb / they Sbj-go-3Pl university good-is“It’s good if they/ people go to a university.”These constructions appear only in the informal register of the language, analogous to the class of gerundive non-obligatory control.E. Non-obligatory control into impersonal constructionsA special category of impersonal constructions, where the verbal element lacks personal endings, can also host non-obligatory control with an arbitrary interpretation of the PRO.(7) Bayæd [PROArb daneʃgah ræft].PROArb.ought university go-ø“One ought to go to a university.”These control constructions basically appear marginally in the literature on impersonal constructions in this language.

Individual differences are known to play a crucial role in the acquisition of a second language (L2). An especially important variable of this type is perfectionism. Recent studies (e.g., Erozkan, 2016; Flett, Hewitt., Su., &n Flett., 2016) have sought to explain the relationship between this variable and anxiety. However, this task is complicated by the fact that the mechanism or process which underlies this relationship is believed to implicate various mediator variables. Among these are the roles of the self (Mercer & Williams, 2014). In recent years, the key role of the self in second language acquisition (SLA) has also increasingly been gaining recognition from SLA scholars and practitioners (Mercer & Williams, 2014), since being human implies the reflective consciousness of having a selfand the nature of the self is the very essence of being human (Lewis, 1990). It is worth noting that previous studies have investigated only some, but not all, of the variables under scrutiny in the present study. Accordingly, the overriding goal of the current project was to investigate the relationships among perfectionism, anxiety, and language achievement in the L2 context, considering the mediating roles of self. Another key feature of this investigation was that Iranian learners of English (ILEs) will be the L2 group of interest. To date, relatively little work has been done on this group, regardless of the specific topic. In addition to fulfilling the research goal stated above, this study achieves several significant advances in the field of SLA; for example, it will increase the meagre amount of research that has been done on ILEs to date. By extension, it willalso help L2 learners in general to be more aware of the factors that affect learning. In addition, it will provide teachers, teacher educators, curriculum designers and researchers with a better understanding of the above factors. The target population in this study were 400 EFL learners within the age range of 15-30 who enrolled in private language learning institutes in Iran. The participants’ proficiency levels fell within the range of upper-intermediate to advanced sub-levels of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines as determined by a placement test already administered by the institutes. To estimate perfectionism, Multi-dimensional Perfectionism Scale MPS was used (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). For anxiety factor, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was utilized (Horwitz et al., 1986). Learners’ L2 Self was measured by application of Taylor’s Quadripolar Identity Questionnaire (2010) structured into 4 primary scales representing the four self-categories (private self, ideal self, public selves, imposed selves). Learners’ language achievement was obtained from their final exam scores. The participants were asked to fill out the related questionnaires. To draw the sample, probability sampling was used. The sampling method in the present study was stratified sampling: five institutes were selected randomly as the accessible population. All the instruments were administered by regular EFL teachers, with the support of bilingual aides when needed. All study measures were administered to the participants in the form of a take-home survey to be returned in the next session of the class. Using a descriptive correlational design, the predictive independent variables in this study are types of perfectionism, FLA and L2 achievement are the dependent variables, and L2 selves is mediating variable. The participants’ scores on the final exam were collected. Initially, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was computed to estimate the internal consistency estimate of the reliability of the four questionnaires. Then the data collected by means of questionnaires was explored using correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). The software package SPSS 24.0 and Amos 8. were used for the descriptive statistics and the correlation analyses, respectively. Reflecting on the research findings, it is assumed that there exists a structural relationship from perfectionism to FLCA and English language achievement via the mediating role of L2 Selves. Two models were considered to test the hypothesis. The first model evaluated the effect of perfectionism on achieved score through selves and anxiety constructs. The second model assessed the effect of perfectionism on achieved score through selves’ sub-factors and anxiety constructs. In the light of the results, values of fit indices show that all the models have a good fit and for the each of two models it is in good and the least acceptable level considering the value of goodness of fit indices, proportation of chi-square to degree of freedom, RMSEA, CFI, NNFI, GFI, and AGFI. In other words, they are in the least acceptable limit for accepting the model. Overall, the findings of this study are important for researchers, university teaching staff, and the students themselves. It is hoped that increasing and detailed knowledge about the dynamics of foreign language perfectionism, anxiety, and self-will enlighten foreign language educators and researchers. Thus, these people can be in a better position to help to reduce the perfectionistic tendencies and as a result anxiety in the English classroom that will better help the students to benefit from English language learning

The corpus is a collection of spoken and / or written texts that can be used for linguistic analysis. More precisely, it can be said that these texts are purposefully labeled and categorized based on specific rules and allow the user to do various studies. Corpus linguistics is a branch of applied linguistics that examines and compares different aspects of linguistic data, and, of course, corpora are integral tools of this branch of linguistics. Due to the increasing role and importance of corpus linguistics in development of various sciences in recent decades, the produce and development of various linguistic corpora has been one of the priorities of scientists and researchers in different languages ​​during these years. After the creation of speech processing systems since about two decades ago, the use of context-dependent methods has become particularly prominent  in an effort to increase the accuracy of these systems and some special studies  conduct in linguistics,. One of the best ways to achieve this, is to use corpora that, have special labels in addition to segmentation at the phoneme level, to indicate the differentiation of various allophones. These allophnescan only be achieved by obtaining the necessary phonological rules. In linguistics, this process can be called allophonic labeling of corpus. About 10 years after the introduction of allophonic corpora in the world, no allophonic labeling has been performed for any of Persian language corpora yet. The small Farsdat corpus is the main spoken corpus in Persian. Hence, the need to equip this corpus with allophonic labels to increase the accuracy, to improve the performance of speech processing systems , and to produce specific study, research programs, and tools in linguistic is obvious. In order to elucidate the method proposed in the present study for allophonic labeling of phonemic corpuses, and in parallel for equipping the Persian language with at least one allophonic corpus, the steps of the task are precisely performed on the small Farsdat phonemic corpus. The corpus is one of Persian-language corpora in the last two decades that consists of 6080 sentences spoken by 304 Persian speakers. The speakers of this corpus have indeed one of the most widely spoken dialects in Persian and all of sentences in this corpus, are segmented in to different levels. The segmentation of sentences in word and phoneme levels results in their efficiency in various speech processing systems, such as speech recognition systems, broad transcription systems, and text-to-speech systems. Moreover,  the small Farsdat corpus has the potential to be used in the systems. The suggested solution to prepare an allophonic corpus is to implement a program using the rule-based method and applying it on the phonemic corpus to add allophonic labels on it. The basis of the rule-based method in this research is access to rules for converting phonemes into allophones. After compiling these rules from the resources available in each language and preparing the appropriate settings (for implementation),  the program is implemented. Finally by applying this program to the phonemic corpus, an allophonic corpus is prepared. As noted, special phonological rules are required to convert phonemes into allophones in Persian and to add allophonic labels to the small Farsdat corpus. The purpose of this research is not to study phonemes based on acoustic and laboaratory approaches in order to obtain Persian allophones; but rather to formulate and synchronize phonemes identified in various studies and then to adapt them to the International Phonetic Alphabet System. This ultimately leads to provide a standard set of allophones as far as possible and to achieve the phonological rules necessary for converting phonemes into allophones in Persian (based on existing studies. Although one of the limitations of this study is its incompleteness regarding the extraction of different allophones in Persian, the implemented program has the capability to be updated. if  any studies are carried out in the field of allophones to supplement the existing theoretical resources in the future, it has the possibility to be  to modified or to be enhanced regarding the performance . The present study may also highlight the need for more recent linguistic experiments and the use of more accurate tools and facilities to identify Persian phonemes. This can increase the motivation of phonetics and phonology researchers to take more practical steps in this field as well. After providing the necessary preparations in the phonemic corpus (such as the syllable segmentation) and implementing the above rules, the allophonic labels can be added to the phonemic corpus by implementing this program on it.

Other things being equal, grammatical subject is coded as the theme of the clause. In marked cases, however, other non-subject arguments and prepositional phrases may appear as the theme due to some processes, including pre-posing. Accordingly, the goals of the present study are three-fold. First, it aims at investigating the information status of grammatical subject as the unmarked theme of the clause. Secondly, it intends to find the marked themes in the non-canonical constructions, including inversion, topicalization, passivization, and scrambling. Preposing as a cover terms includes all these processes. Accordingly, this study is set out to examine information status, syntactic category, and grammatical function of preposed constituents (marked themes). The degree of matching between grammatical subject and theme is also investigated. This study is a corpus-based one in which the data are collected from two different corpora: a movie (Separation by Farhadi) and a football report. The theory of information structure by Prince (1992) revised in Birner (2013) is adopted as theoretical model of the study. Based on this theory, information is classified in terms of discourse and hearer. Accordingly, information status of any constituent can be one of these for cases: discourse old- hearer old, discourse old- hearer new, discourse new- hearer old, and discourse new- hearer new. This classification is applied to the collected themes (both marked and unmarked) of both corpora. Halliday (2004) is another theoretical basis of this study. Different types of themes are taken from Halliday(2004) to be analyzed in terms of information status. The focus in this study is on topical themes (not interpersonal or textual themes). The target themes were, then, coded based on the theoretical model and they were analyzed by SPSS (version 23). In terms of syntactic markedness, the results indicated that in football report, there were more numbers of marked syntactic structures comparing with the film corpus. As for the match between subject and theme, the results indicated a higher amount of match between these two concepts in film corpus comparing with football report corpus. The lower match between subject and theme in football report can be accounted for by the higher number of movements and dislocations in the syntactic category of this type of language.  As stated, the main goal of this study was to investigate the information status of both marked and unmarked themes. As for unmarked theme (subject), the results showed that in film corpus such themes are mainly old (more than 90%) both in terms of discourse and hearer. In contrast, the themes were found to be mainly discourse-old but hearer new (more than 65%) in the football report corpus.  This is due to the different nature of these two corpora. In daily conversations (film), we have topic continuity, while in football the sentences are expressed to refer to different individuals (no topic continuity). As stated, preposed (marked themes) are also investigated. As for information status, there is almost the same pattern as unmarked themes. Most of the marked themes in film corpus are old both in terms of discourse and hearer. In football report corpus, however, the marked themes (preposed themes) are mainly discourse- old and hearer new. This is somehow problematic, since the discourse old entities cannot be hearer-new. Prince (1992) resolved this problem by raising the issue of schemata and set relations. She believed that many referents are implied in the discourse and hence counted as being discourse-old.  She called them inferable. In football report corpus, there were many such inferable marked themes. Another unexpected finding was the high amount of new preposed themes in film corpus which seems to contradict the previous literature (Birner, (1996), for example). Careful examination of literature does not ban the occurrence of new pre-posed items in theme position, although themes naturally have identifiable referents. ‘recency of new-ness/ old-ness proposed by Birner (1996) can account for the emerged pattern in the present study. The results of this study are important both theoretically and practically. Many findings showed that the constraints on preposing are not observed in the two investigated corpora. It implies that Persian language, due to its flexible word order, does not follow the rules of other languages. It seems there is a connection between language type and the kind of the constraints in that language. This can be a suggestion for further study to find the appropriate constraints governing information status of themes in Persian. Another implication of this study is the fact that in the same language, we do not have the same patterns as far as the information status of themes is concerned. As it was found, the information status of themes in film corpus was dramatically different from football report corpus. Therefore, one cannot generalize the results obtained in a study to the whole language.

Equative constructions have not been desirably studied due to their formal and semantic similarity to similative constructions. Haspelmath (2017) proposed the six basic types of equative constructions in distinct patterns based on typological studies. The five key components in an equative construction, are illustrated in (1), using an English and a French example. The six types can be characterized with reference to these five components: (1) 1 2 3 4 5 comparee degree-marker parameter standard-marker standard Mary is [as beautiful] [as Lili]. Mary est [aussi belle] [que Lili]. As Haspelmath (2017) points out, an equative construction must allow a way to express the PARAMETER (component3, some gradable property concept words, usually are called adjective), the COMPAREE (component 1, the first referent to be compared), and the STANDARD (component 5, the other referent to which the first referent is compared). Regarding the equative constructions in Persian language, as far as the authors have considered, no research has been done. However, some works of research can be mentioned regarding the methods of expressing analogy and similarity, such as; Shariat (1988), Arzhang (1971), Farshidvar (2009) among them. In this paper, however, we intend to answer the following questions by studying equative constructions: 1- What will be the representation of different types of equative constructions in Persian language? 2- what are the generalizations given about equative structures in Persian? The data used in the present study comes from two main sources: from published stories and novels with colloquial styles, and from daily conversations of people around. The methodology used to collect the data was, primarily, direct elicitation of sentences. The authors built contexts and ask people to make a constructions according to that contexts. We tried to provide enough context to give a clear view of the use of the construction in question. After studying the data, the authors identified seven types of equative construction in Persian, which are introduced as follows. Type 1: this type of equative construction in the most common type in data. It consists of a predicative parameter plus compare and standard. There is an equative standard-marker, but no equative degree marker. 1. Mɑ mesle to hɑzerjavab nistim. We like you spontaneous are not We are not as spontaneous as you. Type 2: In this type of equative constructions, in addition to the three main components (comparee, standard, parameter), there is also a degree-marker and a standard standard-marker. In Persian, as far as the authors have considered, there is no construction in which the standard-marker and the degree-marker can be shown at the same time based on type 2, but there is a construction similar to the type 2 in such a way: “comparee+ preposition+ nominal adjective+ Ezafe+ standard”: 2. Afshin be zerangi-e Bijan nist. Afshin as smart as Bijan is not. Afshin is not as smart as Bijan. In (2) we can consider preposition (be) as a degree-marker and Ezafe as a standard-marker. Type 3: This type consists of a predicative parameter with an equative degree-marker, the comparee and standard referents are unified, i.e. they are expressed as a single conjoined or plural noun phrase (‘Afshin and his brother’). There can thus be no standard-marker. As Haspelmath (2017) points out, “This construction can also be regarded as a kind of reciprocal construction.” [Afshin va barɑdar-ash] ham qiɑfe-and. Afshin and brother-his the sam appearance are. Afshin and his brother are the same. (have the same appearance) Type 4: this type of equative construction contains a verb as its primary predicate that in other contexts represents a notion of ‘residan= reaching’ or ‘raftan= take after’, there are comparee as subject and the standard as second argument that is generally the object, and the parameter that expresses as a kind of oblique constituent (‘in kindness’). 4. Sɑrɑ tu mehrabɑni be Maryam nemiresad. Sɑrɑ in kindness to Maryam doesn’t reach. Sɑrɑ does not reach Maryam in kindness. Type 5: In this type of equative construction, there are comparee and standard as a continuous unit as a subject, a verb expresses the notion of “reaching or equalling” and a parameter as an oblique constituent (tu zibaei). 5. [Afshin va Bijan] tu zibɑei be ham miresan. Afshin and Bijan in beauty to eachother reach. Afshin and Bijan are equal (to each other) in beauty. Type 6: In this type there is a parameter as the first predicate, and a second verb that expresses a notion of ‘residan=reaching’ or ‘yeki shodan=equaling’. This type of construction does not exist in Persian as far as the authors have considered. In more precise terms, it is not possible to use an adjective as the first predicate and a verb as the second predicate at the same time. But the construction is used with a attributive adjective, such as in example (6): 6. Zibɑei-e Arash be pedaresh nemirese. beauty-Ezafe (of) Arash to his father doesn’t reach. Arashʹs beauty doesn’t reach to his father (beauty). Type 7: In this type of equative construction, comparee and standard is used along with the verb of “reaching/ equalling”. There is standard-marker without standard, it inferred from the context. The important point that distinguishes this type of construction from other constructions is that the comparee also has a marker that appears as a postposition (after comparee). 7. Maryam ham be mɑdaresh rafte. Maryam as well to her mother take after. Maryam takes after his mother (in manner). Based on the research findings, some generalizations of equative constructions in Persian can be provided. First, [if the Ezafe is considered as a standard-marker] there is no equative construction in Persian that has a degree-marker but left the standard without any marker. Second, in all examples of equative constructions in Persian that the parameter appears as a predicate, the parameter is placed after the standard, and according to Haspelmath (2017), in such a situation, the language has an object-verb word order. According to Dabir Moghaddam (2001), Persian language, especially in the field of simple sentences, tends to have a predominant object-verb order. Therefore, the mentioned generalization is valid in Persian language equative constructions. Third, in all examples of equative constructions (with predicative parameters) with the order of [parameter + standard] in spoken and written data, the standard-marker is placed before the standard. This violates Haspelmath's (2016) prediction. Perhaps the reason for this discrepancy can be attributed to the nature of the free word order of the Persian language.

The role of semantic head and constituent position in processing and representation of root compound nouns comprised of noun-noun was studied in this article. For this purpose, the performance of three people (two men and one woman) with Broca aphasia was studied through naming and repetition of endocentric and exocentric root compound nouns taken from the Ph.D. dissertation of Xabbaz (2006). Easier processing of simple and compound nouns' repetition compared to their naming proved that repetition processing was different from naming. Moreover, easier processing of root compound nouns in comparison with simple ones showed the role that morphological structure plays in processing. The occurrences of errors in one constituent of compound nouns (the initial or final constituent) and also in the whole compound (both initial and final constituents) confirmed that semantic head had no role in processing compound nouns. More errors of people with Broca aphasia in initial constituents, compared to the final constituents of endocentric (head-initial and head-final) and exocentric root compound nouns in confrontation naming, indicated that constituent position has a role in the processing of root compound nouns. Moreover, fewer errors of final constituents compared to initial constituents of compound nouns in repetition task provides an account of the easier processing of nouns' final constituents and supports the role of constituent position in the repetition process too. The distribution of errors in initial, final, and both constituents (the whole) of root compound nouns is an indication of their hierarchical and flat processing in naming and repetition tasks. Analyzing the correct answers of people with aphasia in confrontation naming and repetition revealed that they had better performance in repetition than naming. The repetition of their simple nouns also was better than their naming. Moreover, they had better performance in repetition and naming of simple nouns in comparison with compound ones. The finding of easier processing of simple and compound nouns' repetition compared to their naming processing proved that auditory repetition and confrontation naming were processed differently. Moreover, easier processing of simple nouns compared to compound ones indicated that the structure of words played an important role in processing of words. In other words, words with complex structures are processed more difficultly than words whose structures are simple. Regarding the fact that the head and its position are separate from each other in exocentric root compound nouns and none of the constituents are heads; this independence shows the role of constituent position in both hierarchical and flat processing of compound nouns. If the head finial compound nouns, whose heads are located in words' final, have an easier processing, it is expected that the exocentric nouns will be processed in the same way. In other words, since none of the constituents of exocentric compound nouns are heads, it is expected that both constituents will be processed at the same degree of easiness, but contrary to this expectation, analyzing the errors which are produced by people with Broca aphasias showed that the distribution of errors were not different from endocentric compound nouns. This means that although none of constituents of exocentric compound nouns are heads, like endocentric ones, their final heads are processed more easily Moreover, the fewer errors of these constituents show the important role of constituent positions in processing. In addition, this finding displays the role of compound nouns' final heads too. It also reveals that the processing of exocentric and endocentric compound nouns are the same. The distribution of errors in initial and final, or both constituents of compound nouns simultaneously shows the hierarchical and flat processing of confrontation naming. On the other hand, the higher number of occurrences of errors in both constituents of root compound nouns demonstrates that the flat processing is more frequent than the hierarchical one in naming these stimuli. This finding is in accordance with what Marelli, Crepaldi & Luzzatti (2009) found in processing of compound words. The distribution of errors in initial, and final or both constituents of compound nouns produced by people with aphasia proves that both the flat and hierarchical processing occur in repetition. Moreover, the higher occurrences of errors in initial and final head constituents of compound nouns compared to the whole compounds (both constituents) of these nouns shows that the frequent processing is hierarchical in repetition. This finding is in accordance with what El Yagoubi, Chiarelli, Mondini, Perrone, Danieli, & Semenza (2008) claimed on potential impact of headedness in processing of nouns in Italian.

University Entrance Exams (Konkoor) in Iran have caused severe competitions among educational institutes which prepare candidates for the high-stakes exams. Such institutes, through widespread advertising, attempt to beat their rivals and carve out a niche for themselves. Nonetheless, the discourse of such media advertisements, which contain veiled ideologies and hidden values, has rarely been analyzed critically. Through adopting Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model of Fairclough (1992), the present study aims at studying the discourse of nine (9) commercials produced by three (3) renowned institutes (Modarresan-e Sharif, Parseh, Mahan) that prepare candidates for Master's and Doctorate exams. The model contains three interrelated layers of analysis, namely text analysis, processing analysis, and social analysis. Accordingly, at text analysis, we focused on describing the linguistic features of the text (the visual and verbal signs); at processing analysis, we tried to interpret the processes of production and consumption of the texts with reference to their relevant situational and intertextual contexts; and at social level, we explained the effects the texts may have on the individuals. In case of the present study, the analysis of linguistic and non-linguistic structures of the commercials revealed that the institutes deployed various persuasion techniques, including defamiliarization, short and creative slogans (like become Mahani, 1,2,3, Parseh), visual and auditory appeals (use of eye-soothing colors and voices), and anthropomorphism (like Parseh is 18 now or Parseh-like self-confidence). Moreover, they mention a wide variety of services offered by the institutes (like online and face-to-face courses, compact books, periodical standardized tests, or expert counseling). Using testimonials by previous successful candidates who aced the test and offering discounts or special precious services for a limited amount of time (scarcity technique) were among other observed persuasion techniques. Through such techniques they keep instilling senses of needs and dependency into the candidates’ minds.  Critically looking, it seems that channelizing learners’ dreams is at the heart of such advertisements. In other words, gaining admission to university or getting an A on the exam is shown as the only dream (or one of the few available dreams) every individual should aspire to reach. Analogies could also be drawn between this view and the conception of “iron cage” proposed by the German sociologists, Max Weber. He believed that as a result of increase in rationalization in modernized social life, people and societies’ free actions have become more and more limited; as if they were being born and kept in an “iron cage” out of which they could not dream. Still more, re-producing or normalizing fast-food view of knowledge, a worldview which is in marked contrast with the sublime nature of knowledge, could be seen to be a deep-rooted ideology underlying the advertisements. This bears so much resemblance to George Ritzer’s (1993) concept of McDonalization. In his famous book, McDonaldization of Society, he argues that modern institutes enjoy characteristics of efficiency, calculability, predictability, or standardization, and control that are chiefly found in McDonald fast-food chains. Similarly, the preparatory institutes for University Entrance Exams through offering several online and face-to-face services like free consultations, running courses in various branches all around the country, and offering discourses for special events, among others, attempt to absorb more and more customers and hence reap more financial benefits. In other words, "marketization of higher education" is vividly seen in the discourse of such preparatory institutes. Meanwhile, through designing compact pedagogic materials, specialized books and packaged sets, and administrating periodical standardized multiple-choice mock tests that greatly resemble the original test, the institutes attempt to minimize the amount of time required for the test preparation as efficiently as possible. In other words, the candidates (learners) play the role of consumers who are supposed to digest large amounts of food in a short period of time through memorizing transmitted information and learning test-taking strategies. Such top-down, transmission and memorization-based model of education has long been criticized by critical researchers who have expressed their concerns about the inefficiency of the current educational system in bringing up critical learners and, in fact, future citizens who are able to apply their education in their daily lives (Fairclough, 2003, 2018; Freire, 1970). They argue that what happens every day in our classrooms both shapes and is shaped by the larger social currents that define who we are as a society and where we are headed to. Such commercials by the preparatory institutes, without a shadow of a doubt, keep legitimizing the status quo system of education in Iran. While transforming the current system of education seems to be a tall order, though not impossible, enhancing media literacy of the consumers (here university candidates) could aid them make informed decisions.

In every text, the beliefs, feelings, prejudices, and attitudes of the author is reflected in a way that indicates his stance. With regard to this fact, no novel is objective and neutral and the author, in any case, cautiously or incautiously shows his stance. This stance can be surveyed in different levels of language, including phonology, morphology, and syntax. Among these three , syntax is ideologically more important. Ideology shows itself in the syntax of a text.Accordingly,  the author.   chooses a special type of grammatical pattern. By surveying this grammatical pattern, the relationship between language and view of the author can be identified. "Modality" is one of the most important grammatical categories which shows the author's stance in a text. Based on the definition provided by stylists, modality is the potential power of language to reflect the attitudes of the author about the sentence expressed. In every text, the author's attitudes may include a range of his reactions such as wish, desire, duty, obligation, certainty, and uncertainty. Researches, concerning modality in the novels written by women, show that modality is restricted to "verb" and other modality maker elements are ignored. But as a matter of fact, in addition to verb, this stance appears in other grammatical categories, such as adverbs and adjectives. Most world literary texts are ideologically influenced.  In recent decades in Iran, the spread of "feminism" as the governing ideology in literature led to the creation of provocative novels about women subjects, their relationships, and social rights. In this article, one of these novels, "My Dear Husband" written by "Fariba Kalhoor" is surveyed. She is known by writing more than one thousand stories and rewriting more ancient works named "The lady of one Thousand Stories". "My Dear Husband" is one of her effective works which is written by women and for them. In this article, based on the Fowler's (2016) view, "modality" is studied. To him, modality appears in texts by using syntactic elements. These syntactic elements are as follows: a) use of modals, b) use of modal adverbial phrases, c) use of adjectives and adverbs as specifiers, d) use of feeling verbs, and e) use of short sayings. To Fowler, these five elements can enable one to understand the writer's stance. The purpose of this study is to determine which type of modality is used in this novel and what aspects of feminist style is applied in this regard.. Based on this research, the frequently used types of modalities of this novel are as follows: modality of verbs (epistemic, interrogative, and emotional), adverbial and adjective modalities. These modalities, express concepts of dubiety and uncertainty which are of the characteristics of feminine style. Based on the data surveyed, five types of modality are applied in this novel and each represents different concepts. In the examined novel, interrogative modality is frequently used. This shows that women are less confident in themselves and their thoughts in comparison to men. The narrator also makes mental questions when she encounters events or the behavior of the people around her. The narrator often replies the questions, raised by other characters, in her mind and this shows her uncertainty. Next, emotional modality   is frequently used in this novel. The reason for using this modality is because women are emotional themselves; therefore, they use short and independent sentences with emotional load more. In this novel, the frequency of the use of short sentences accelerates the text and makes it exciting. In addition to these modalities, adverbial one is the other feature of the novel "My Dear Husband". Therefore, in this novel, different adverbs show different features of women, such as exaggeration and doubt. As women have been put in weak stance, they use adverbs which indicate uncertainty. They do not speak with certainty and confidence. And finally, another type of modality, which is applied in this novel, is adjective modality which helps to the making of certain unique adjectives. This shows the judgment of the writer about her characters in this novel. The results of this article show that how utilization of different types of modalities can reflect the feminist style of the writer,i.e. Fariba Kalhor. This indeed does not mean that these types of modalities are only pertinent to women's works and are never utilized in men's works; nonetheless, it indicates that their frequency of occurrence in women's works is more.