Iranian Language Research Articles

Zaza Dilinde Tamlama

Ezafe, which is known as Genitive in European languages and used in Turki, Iranian and Sami languages spoken in the Middle East, is used to link two syntactic elements. Generally, one of the elements is the possessor and the other one is the modifier. There are grammatical elements that link these syntactic structures which at least consist of two units. The historical development of these elements, which varies according to languages, in Iranian languages did not follow the same process. While the languages classified in Northwest Iranian languages, such as Zazaki, varies with a nominal construction, , there are some similarities with Zazaki in the languages belonging to the Southwest Iranian languages group. The purpose of this article is to explore the structures of the nominal phrase in Zaza Language. Both noun and adjective phrases will be analyzed in detail, and other nominal phrases will also be scrutinized. It will also be examined whether these syntactic structures have semantic functions. The origin of Ezafe will be traced back to the Old Iranian languages, and its structure in the Modern Iranian languages will also be investigated. The similarities and differences will be discussed by comparing the functioning of the Zaza language with other Iranian languages. In addition, the nominal phrase constructions in many Zaza dialects will be examined, and it will be investigated whether there are differences between them.

Post-focus compression in Brahvi and Balochi.

Previous research has shown that post-focus compression (PFC)- the reduction of pitch range and intensity after a focused word in an utterance, is a robust means of marking focus, but it is present only in some languages. The presence of PFC appears to follow language family lines. The present study is a further exploration of the distribution of PFC by investigating Brahvi, a Dravidian language, and Balochi, an Indo-Iranian language. Balochi is predicted to show PFC given its presence in other Iranian languages. Dravidian languages have not been studied for prosodic focus before and they are not related to any languages with PFC. We recorded twenty native speakers from each language producing declarative sentences in different focus conditions. Acoustic analyses showed that,in both languages, post-focus f0 and other correlates were significantly reduced relative to baseline neutral-focus sentences, but post-focus lowering of f0, and intensity was greater in magnitude in Balochi than in Brahvi. The Balochi results confirm our prediction, while the Brahvi results offer the first evidence ofPFC in a Dravidian language. The finding of PFC in a Dravidian language is relevant to a postulated origin of PFC, which is related to the controversial Nostratic Macrofamily hypothesis.

A Fall into the Pit

Abstract This paper argues that Tocharian B koṣko, koṣkīye does not mean ‘hut’, as was taken for granted, but ‘pit, hole’; and that it is not an inherited Indo-European word, but an Iranian loanword in Tocharian B. Although the possibility of a borrowing from an unknown Middle Iranian language cannot be excluded, an unattested (Pre-)Bactrian form *kōškā is demonstrated to be the most likely source of this loanword.

Crimean Gothic sada ‘hundred’, hazer ‘thousand’

Abstract The Crimean Gothic numerals sada ‘hundred’ and hazer ‘thousand’ are not of Persian origin, as long assumed in reference works, but loanwords from Alanic or another of the closely related Iranian languages spoken to the north of the Black Sea from the mid-1st millennium BC onwards. With its final vowel, sada reflects Alanic *sade (cf. Ossetic sædæ), whereas hazer can be from Alanic *hazar or *haz(a)re (cf. Ossetic ærzæ ‘countless number, myriad’). The borrowing could have occurred anytime from the 3rd century onwards, with a date in the late 4th century most likely.

The Role of Mediational Discourse in Developing an EFL Teacher’s Oral Corrective Feedback Strategies: A Sociocultural Perspective

Taking sociocultural theory (SCT) as a theoretical framework, this qualitative phenomenological case study investigated the mediational discourse of a series of ten observation and post-observation conferences between a coach and an English language teacher teaching at Iran Language Institute (ILI) in Shiraz, Iran, in order to represent the development of student-focused oral feedback in an EFL teacher over time. Features of verbal mediation already identified by Wertsch (1998) such as shared definition of the task, inter-subjectivity, graduated help, and reasoning existed in the data, while they were insufficient in triggering the teacher to think conceptually about his use of oral feedback to students. Similarly, professional discourse, languaging motives, and teacher dynamicity, alongside the aforementioned meditational features, were revealed to be pivotal on the uptake of conceptual thinking by the teacher. The study was divided into three phases, namely, before, during, and after verbal mediations given by the coach to the teacher participant. The results of the study, along with the previous descriptive and empirical studies, accounted for an obvious role of mediational discourse in the development of teacher’s understanding of conceptual thinking through verbally-mediated activity. The results also found that negotiated help given by the teacher to learners was excessively pivotal in assisting learners to internalize their oral errors. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications for second language teachers to be reflective, dynamic, and evaluative in dealing with oral corrective feedback challenges in their classroom practices.

Dialectal Layers in West Iranian: A Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Approach to Linguistic Relationships1

AbstractThis paper addresses a series of complex and unresolved issues in the historical phonology of West Iranian languages, (Persian, Kurdish, Balochi, and other languages), which display a high degree of irregular, non‐Lautgesetzlich behaviour. Most of this irregularity is undoubtedly due to language contact; I argue, however, that an oversimplified view of the processes at work has prevailed in the literature on West Iranian dialectology, with specialists assuming that deviations from an expected outcome in a given non‐Persian language are due to lexical borrowing from some chronological stage of Persian. It is demonstrated that this qualitative approach yields at times problematic conclusions stemming from the lack of explicit probabilistic inferences regarding the distribution of the data: Persian may not be the sole donor language; additionally, borrowing at the lexical level is not always the mechanism that introduces irregularity. In many cases, the possibility that West Iranian languages show different reflexes in different conditioning environments remains under‐explored. I employ a novel Bayesian approach designed to overcome these problems and tease apart the different determinants of irregularity in patterns of West Iranian sound change. This methodology helps to provisionally resolve a number of outstanding questions in the literature on West Iranian dialectology concerning the dialectal affiliation of certain sound changes. I outline future directions for work of this sort.

Expanding the dative semantic map: the functions of the postposition=rāin the Tātic language group

AbstractIn Tātic, a modern Northwest Iranian language group,=rāis a polysemous postposition which has not evolved into an accusative marker, unlike what happened in Modern Persian. Tātic varieties, which include all Tāti, Tālyshi and Tātoid dialects spoken in northwest Iran, exploit the postposition=rāto mark many different case roles. This paper studies the various functions of the postposition=rāand its variants in this language group. The data for the study have been gathered through fieldwork and interviews with Tāti native speakers as well as through available descriptive grammars. Using the dative semantic-map approach, we show that the main functions that=rāmarks in all Tātic dialects are ‘beneficiary’, ‘reason’ and ‘purpose’. We conclude that because some of the functions of=rāare not among the semantic roles in the conventional dative semantic map, this needs to be expanded in order to account for the polysemy patterns of=rāin the Tātic language group.

Verbalization of the Family Concept in Russian and Iranian Language Pictures (Based on Proverbs)

This article examines the concept of the “family” and its lexicographic expression in the comparative relation of Russian and Persian linguocultures. The methodological basis of the study is the units that served as the fundamental material for the study, built on the methods of linguo-cognitive and linguocultural analyses of the “family” concept, as well as those withdrawn by the method of continuous sampling from explanatory and phraseological dictionaries of the compared languages. The relevance of the study is determined by the expediency of a comparative study of paremias in the linguocultural and linguo-cognitive aspects, in order to identify and demonstrate the fundamental centuries-old values of family relations of two compared linguocultures. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that such a conceptual analysis with the “family” component in a comparative-comparative aspect on the basis of phraseological units, proverbs and sayings of Iranian and Russian linguistic cultures is carried out for the first time. Based on the purpose of our study, which was to identify the specifics and originality of “family relationships and values” at the proverbial level of the two compared languages, the norms of behavior and relationships between members of the concept of “family” were identified. As a result of the linguocultural analysis of the hyperconcept “family” and the microconcepts branching from it, it was revealed that in the ordinary minds of representatives of both Russian and Persian people, they have a positive connotation. The conclusions obtained by us are of practical importance and can arouse the interest of researchers in the field of oriental studies, as well as teachers of Russian as a foreign language in an Iranian-speaking environment and the Persian language in a Russian-speaking audience for the purpose of further linguocultural analysis and study of the paremias of the compared languages, and are also taken into account in the development of specialized dictionaries of proverbs and sayings, phraseological units and set expressions.

Teachers’ Mindsets about L2 Learning: Exploring the Influences on Pedagogical Practices

This qualitative study aimed to examine Iranian language teachers’ mindsets about language learning and teaching, and the ways in which their mindsets influenced their educational practices. The participants of this study were 20 Iranian language teachers who taught general English courses at private language institutes in a city in central Iran. The data were collected through conducting semi-structured interviews with the participants. The qualitative content analysis was conducted, and the main themes and categories were extracted. The results revealed that teachers had categorical (fixed or growth) or mixed mindsets (both fixed and growth mindsets). Moreover, the results showed that teachers’ mindsets influenced teachers’ pedagogical strategies, homework assignment, and their praise type. The findings show that it is important to raise teachers’ awareness about their mindsets and the effects they might have on their teaching strategies and the feedback/praise they give to their students.

Russian as a Foreign Language in Iran During the Pandemic: Problems and Benefits

This study provides a brief overview of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the process of teaching Russian as a foreign language in higher education institutions in Iran. The purpose of the study is to identify and characterize the problems and advantages of teaching Russian as a foreign language in Iran, carried out in the format of distance education. The article clarified the concept of "distance learning" and separated it from the "online learning" format. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the presentation of the identified problems and benefits of teaching Russian as a foreign language on the basis of Iranian universities, which can be taken into account by teachers in the teaching process during the transition to a standard teaching format after the end of the pandemic. As a result of the study, a number of measures were proposed to organize an effective process of teaching Russian as a foreign language in Iran in the context of a pandemic, and along with the problems, the advantages of this type of learning were also presented.

The Role and Place of Culture in Sino-Iranian Relations

In the modern era of globalization, culture has become an important indicator of the total power of the state, and also began to act as a decisive force in the relationship between actors and the system of international relations. China and Iran are the birthplace of ancient oriental civilizations, have long-term cultural exchanges, which are the basis and conditions for cultural interaction between the two countries. 2021 has become an important milestone in Sino-Iranian relations. The countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and signed an agreement on comprehensive strategic cooperation for 25 years. Cultural cooperation between China and Iran goes back centuries during the Han Dynasty, when the Chinese traveler Zhang Qian opened the Great Silk Road, which became an important channel of communication and friendship between the peoples of China and Iran. At present, “One Belt, One Road” is not only a way of economic and trade cooperation, but also a means of cultural exchange. Today, Sino-Iranian cultural relations are a dynamic process. There are several mechanisms for cultural cooperation such as the “China-Iran Friendship Association Annual Meeting” and the “China-Iran Cultural Dialogue”. The countries closely cooperate through women’s and other specialized creative organizations, interact in the field of cinema, youth exchanges, and are also engaged in the popularization and teaching of the Persian language in China and the Chinese language in Iran.

СИНТАКСИЧЕСКИЕ И СЕМАНТИЧЕСКИЕ СВОЙСТВА КЛИТИКИ I В ШУГНАНСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

This article describes the optional 3rd person singular enclitic i in Shughni (the Pamir subgroup of the Eastern branch of the Iranian languages), which appears with transitive verbs in the past tenses. The research is based on a corpus study as well as elicited examples. Generally, the enclitic i occupies the Wackernagel position after the first constituent, but can shift due to the operation of rhythmic-syntactic barriers. Two barriers that affect the position of the enclitic are described. The first type of barrier (the subject in the first position) is caused by syntactic factors, it affects only on the enclitic 3Sg i and is gradually disappearing in the modern language. The second type of barrier (the adverbial in the first position) depends on the communicative situation and is observed optionally both in the texts of the first half of the 20th century and in the modern language. This study also describes the interaction of barriers, if they appear simultaneously, and frequency of barriers both in the modern language and in the texts of 1915–49.

А.Авчян, В.Восканян, <<Учебник талышского языка>>/A.Avchyan, V.Voskanyan, <<Textbook of the Talish language>>

In general, the publication of this textbook should be considered an important achievement of the Armenian school of Iranian studies, which has been actively engaged in scientific study over the past 2-3 decades, i.e. historical-comparative and descriptive study of Iranian languages ​​and dialects, including stateless peoples living in modern Azerbaijan. And now a new stage is opening in relation to the use of some of the results obtained in the form of university textbooks and teaching aids also in the applied field of Iranian studies.

Seminar in Memory of A.A. Freiman (St. Petersburg, May 19, 2021)

On May 19, 2021, after a one-year break, a meeting of the Iranian seminar Freiman Readings was held, bearing the name of the outstanding Iranian philologist, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology Alexander Arnoldovich Freiman (1879-1968). The seminar was attended by employees of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg University (SPbSU), the State Hermitage (GE), the National Research University Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE) and the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOM RAS), who shared with the gathered results of their latest scientific research. The speeches of the seminar participants were devoted to a wide range of problems associated with Iranian studies, namely, with the study of modern Iranian and Central Iranian languages, textual criticism and the history of oriental studies.

Miscellany on the Tumshuqese Documents: Part II

The present article is part of the research on Tumshuqese (for Part I see Central Asiatic Journal, 2020, vol. 63, no. 12. pp. 1124). Among Middle Iranian languages, linguistic research on Tumshuqese has been much delayed because of the insufficient documentation, and the lack of the parallel texts written in other languages which leads to the comparative study. However, the secular documents, especially the contracts, are the most important material for the linguistic study of this language in view of the fact [1] that Tumshuqese contracts offer the best preserved texts and [2] that some passages are comparable to the contracts written in other Central Asian languages. In this paper, an attempt will be made to elucidate following Tumshuqese words attested in the secular documents: the numerals tshārsa forty, hodad1a seventy, sod1u hundred, dṛd1a- third and words of measure jaha- and khaa- in addition to a noun dau/do gift. Among them, the numerals tshārsa forty and hodad1a seventy are recognized for the first time. Although other words have been more or less known to scholars, different meaning and/or analysis have been assigned to them.

Mit der Peitsche in den dreckigen Orient: Die Darstellung des Orients in Oskar Manns Reisebriefen

The present article deals with the travel letters of the German orientalist Oskar Mann (1867-1917). With financial support from the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, Mann made two expeditions to the Ottoman Empire and Iran between 1901 and 1906 to research the Iranian languages and dialects. Travel letters and travel diaries are texts with relatively subjective value judgments, in which people and cultures are often described using ethnocentric stereotypes, because a real journey represents a cultural encounter and confrontation with the other that offers unique and invaluable information about the new world. The description of a foreign culture cannot be separated from the subjective value judgments of a traveller. This means the foreign world in which the traveller moves is represented by the subject who experiences it. According to Mann, the Orientals are people from a place that has surrendered to the West. He separates the Orient from the Occident with precise and sharp lines and divides them Eurocentrically into two separate categories. During his travels, Mann produced and imparted knowledge about the foreign cultures on the one hand, and on the other hand he spread and reinforced images and prejudices as well as stereotypes that led to the ontological differentiation between Orient and Occident. This essay tries to show that he perceived the Orient with hegemonic thought patterns and that his foreign imagination remained deeply rooted in the classic European orientalist discourse of the 19th century, and as a consequence the Orient was devalued. This study discusses the stereotypes, images and pattern of ideas that he used to represent the population of the foreign country where he travelled. 

Definiteness in Laki: Its interaction with demonstratives and number

AbstractThis article investigates definiteness and its interactions with demonstratives and number in Laki (Northwestern Iranian). By the examination of demonstratives and building upon previous proposals, I argue for two types of definite DPs in Laki, namely anaphoric and deictic. I show that the patterns of definite and number marking are sensitive to the type of the DP. In particular, I argue that double definiteness, resulting from an Agree relation between D and N, and head movement of Num to D both are obtained only in anaphoric definite DPs for feature-checking requirements. Overall, this study highlights the contributions of anaphoricity to the DP internal structure. The present proposal can account for similar phenomena in other Iranian languages (i.e., Sorani and Kermanshahi Kurdish). The divergence of Laki definiteness from similar attested patterns (i.e., Scandinavian double definiteness) contributes to our cross-linguistic understanding of definiteness and its interactions with other nominal elements.

Semantic And Structural Types Of Armenian Personal Names Borrowed From The Old And Middle Iranian Languages

Армянские собственные имена, имеющие иранское происхождение, являются ценными фактaми в плане освещения армяно-иранских отношений. Большинство этих имен собственных было заимствовано в период правления Аршакуни.

EFL TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND THEIR (NON)-COMMUNICATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (TSEBs) about instructional strategies, student engagement and classroom management strategies they adopt for teaching. It also examined the relationship between TSEBs concerning the three sub-efficacies and teachers’ use of (non) communicative instructional practices. The participants of the study were 48 EFL teachers in Iranian language institutes. A survey questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations were administered to collect the data needed. The results demonstrated that teachers regarded themselves as high-efficacious, and there was a moderate positive relationship between TSEBs in terms of the three sub-efficacies and communicative instructional practices. TSEBs towards instructional strategies had the highest contribution to explaining communicative practice, which was also confirmed by the interview results. The data from observations indicated that TSEBs were not realized regarding instructional strategies, but student engagement and classroom management strategies were reflected in teachers’ instructions.

Farvi: An Iranian Language in Kavir Desert

Farvi, also known as Farrokhi, is an Iranian language spoken in the village of Farvi in Khur district of Kavir desert in central Iran. It shares features with other languages in Kavir region such as Khuri, Irāji and Garmayi. This paper describes synchronic and historical phonology and the grammar of Farvi based on data collected in Farvi village during April 2019. The study of historical phonology and morphological evidence show that though basically Northwestern, Farvi shares some features with Southwestern Iranian languages so that, like Kurdish and Balochi, it is separated from the other Northwestern Iranian languages. In later changes, Farvi shows some areal features that put it alongside Southeastern languages such as Northern Bashgardi and Balochi.