فصلنامه مطالعات زبان و ترجمه
سال پنجاه و سوم شماره 4 (زمستان 1399)

The interconnectedness of language and culture has attracted the attention of scholars in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and applied linguistics. In this regard, inspired by the ideas of Halliday (1975, 1994), Vygotsky (1978, 1986), and Sapir and Whorf (1956), which imply the relationship among culture, thought, and language, Pishghadam (2013) introduced the concept of “Cultuling”. He postulated that investigating and identifying the cultulings of each society not only can pave the way for the faster detection of right and wrong cultural behaviors but also can facilitate the cultural reforms which lead to linguistic excellence and “Euculturing”. Due to the prime importance of identifying and investigating cultulings, several studies have analyzed them; nonetheless, no systematic research has been conducted to synthesize the cultuling studies. Therefore, in the present study, the theoretical frameworks, the corpora, and the findings of all cultuling studies were scrutinized. The results suggest that the majority of cultuling studies have embarked on the data by reviewing the linguistic structures and expressions that occur in natural situations and have used the Hymes’s (1967) SPEAKING model to analyze these expressions. The findings also indicate that few studies have analyzed textual cultulings. Moreover, no empirical study has been conducted to evaluate textbooks based on cultulings. Finally, based on the results and findings of this review, some avenues for future studies are provided.

Given the significance of cultural considerations and cultural categories in determining appropriate translation equivalents, this paper discusses the cultuling of ‘insult’ based on Iraj Pezeshkzad’s My Uncle Napoleon translated by Dick Davis into English and the original Persian version of the novel where there can be found so many linguistic segments containing or conveying insulting connotations. Cultuling refers to those pieces of language which are the manifestation of cultural concepts since language is the representation of culture, and it is also bounded by culture. The investigation of insults just like cursing and swearing are common issues in language and culture, especially when considered in two languages. That is the real motive for conducting the present inquiry, and more importantly, perfect translation needs cultural knowledge. As for the research methodology, Del Hymes’s (1967) SPEAKING model as a discourse/ qualitative method as well as frequency effects as the quantitative method were employed. Applying this methodology, the speakers’ motivation for the use of insults is found in this culture. Moreover, the cultural differences leading to and manifested in linguistic differences are discussed. Meanwhile, strategies for appropriate equivalents were laid out. The results are of use and value for the entrenchment of the cognitive-cultural views of translation studies as well as socio-cultural studies of linguistic issues. The data analysis shows that these insults form around the pivotal centers of animals, body part, human characteristics, personality traits, human behavior, dignity, honor, reputation, originality and dependence to family. The results show that sexual(nāmūsi) insults are more frequent for which the cultural explanations were offered.

Obtaining academic certificates has become important in societies, which, at times, is known as “certificate admiration” in our society. In defining certificate admiration, which is a derivative, compound word, it should be noted that the importance of university education has made many people consider certificates as an advantage for a person to achieve their desired goals, including promoting their career and social status. Obtaining a degree can facilitate marriage and guarantee the happiness of the people around us, including parents. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, degrees and skills are of paramount importance in choosing a job. The present inquiry attempts to examine and analyze mainstream discourses, which are rooted in Persian culture and are associated with certificate admiration among individuals of different ages; hence, the concept of “Cultuling” is introduced here. This coined term consists of language and culture, i.e., “culture in language”, representing people’s culture and the science relevant to its study is called “Culturology of Language”. Following the existing studies on “Cultuling”, the present study draws on Hymes’ SPEAKING model. Simply put, attempts were made to analyze cultuling of certificate admiration in Persian language discourses in the framework of the Hymes’ model. For this purpose, 150 conversations belonging to individuals were examined and explored according to their economic status, age, education, and their employment status. The conversations took place in public and private places and formal and informal settings. The corpus was gathered from 95 female and 55 males and representatives from Khorasan Razavi (Mashhad, Neishabur, Sabzevar), Golestan (Gorgan), South Khorasan (Tabas), Kerman (Sirjan), East Azarbaijan (Tabriz) and Tehran (Pakdasht) provinces. The majority of the participants were from Mashhad and associated cities and a handful of the participants were from other provinces. The results showed that individuals in Persian culture are engaged in conversation with people on certificate admiration so as to follow these purposes, among other things, gaining knowledge, competing, showing off, gaining social status and a better job, and being respected and approved by people. It seems that there is often a confrontation between a degree and a skill, but both are complementary in the end. Therefore, in a healthy culture, both concepts can positively contribute to the individual’s success. The two should be valued and used together to promote healthy thinking, generate better ideas, and lead a life with more awareness.

This study critically evaluated the newly published Iranian twelfth-grade English textbook, Vision 3, with a focus on ‘rights analysis’ and ‘culture’ adopting a mixed-methods design. To this end, 200 Iranian school English teachers and 200 twelfth-grade students were selected nation-wide from various Iranian high schools based on convenience sampling. The participants (both male and female) completed a validated 56-item researcher-made questionnaire both online and in the paper format. Moreover, 15 teachers and 15 students, whose informed consent was obtained, attended a semi-structured interview voluntarily. The participants’ rights and needs as well as the cultural aspects of the book were also analyzed subjectively by the researchers. The results of the descriptive statistics of the questionnaire and the content analysis of the interviews showed that despite the authors’ claim that the book enjoyed a mainly communicative approach in its design and preparation, the Vision 3 package has serious shortcomings, including failure to take into account the students’ needs, the negligence of the rights of the teachers and students in the process of designing and compiling the book, following a producer-consumer attitude in developing the materials, ignoring the equal distribution of power, and pursuing an extreme localization and Iranianization of the target language culture. Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers consider both teachers and students’ viewpoints to overcome these drawbacks in future editions of the book.

The aim of the current study is to investigate if teaching English as a foreign language makes learners lose or decrease their home cultural values, ​​or it helps them enrich their cultural values. This mixed-methods study was conducted in two different contexts, University and Language Institute in Gorgan, Iran. For this purpose, a questionnaire of Home Culture Attachment Scale was given to 50 English language university students and 50 language learners of the institute. Moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 10 participants from each group. Data collected from the quantitative and qualitative stages were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and thematic analysis, respectively. The findings of the quantitative stage show significant differences between university students and learners of the institute in terms of religious, Western and Iranian attachment. In addition, six themes were identified in the qualitative section, including identity, definition of culture, Iranian attachment, religious attachment, Western attachment and artistic attachment. This study shows that those who deal with English is at risk of losing or decreasing their home cultural values, and teachers in particular need to be more aware of this crucial matter.

In this article, the evolution of naming in four generations in one of the governmental organizations in Tehran has been studied and analyzed. Accordingly, 3108 names of those born in the 1300s were collected through the kinship tree. These names were collected in three groups of identities, including religious, national and transnational identities. In addition, since some of the names could not be classified in any of the mentioned groups, the fourth group considered neutral to classify these people. The data obtained in each identity group were analyzed in general and examined based on the gender of individuals using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results show that the names that derived from religious identity have the highest frequency and then come the national, neutral, and transnational names, respectively. The analysis of the evolution of names shows that in the fourth generation, national names were growing, but religious names were declining, and the tendency to use transnational names, which was very negligible in the first generations, increased in later generations. On the other hand, there are names with national and neutral identities that have subcategories of ancient names, celebrities, nature, and concepts, and the results show that old letters have increased in both men and women. However, the conceptual category has a downward trend in men but a growing trend in women.

This study examines the level of familiarity with instances of plagiarism among postgraduate students of English language programs at Iranian universities and its relationship with religiosity. The paucity of research on the relationship between culture and religiosity, and plagiarism in Iran justifies this study. Participants included 173 MA and PhD students in English language teaching, English literature, and English translation selected through convenience sampling. The participants voluntarily agreed to respond to the researcher-made questionnaire. The findings showed that the rate of familiarity with various instances of plagiarism among students is high. The two-way analysis of variance showed that religiosity does not make a significant difference in the degree of familiarity and perception of the seriousness of the various instances of plagiarism between male and female students. In addition, the effect of religion on familiarity with plagiarism was not significantly different between MA and PhD students. These findings can have theoretical and practical implications for postgraduate English language learners, academicians, and researchers.