فصلنامه زبان شناسی اجتماعی
سال هفتم شماره 4 (پیاپی 28، پاییز 1403)

The present study investigates the European toponyms based on two linguistic criteria. The first criterion is the main factor for calling European countries; in other word, we try to determine the different factors of the European toponyms including social, political, geographical, religious and etc. The second criterion is related to Persian equivalences of European toponyms. For these sakes, 54 European country names extracted. The results of the first goal reveal that there are 6 factors for the European toponyms. Among them, the name of tribes and nations is the most popular one since is used in 28 European toponyms. Other factors are the name of Geographical feature or zone, the name of a person, the name of an animal, the name of a monument or the name of a natural element. The results of the second criterion also shows that there are 3 word formation processes for naming European toponyms including Borrowing, loan translation and coinage. The most popular one is borrowing which is used in 44 Persian equivalents of European toponyms. Loan translation is used for the formation of 7 European toponyms in Persian and only one of European toponyms is the result of coinage in Persian.

The aim of this study is investigating the relationship between onomasticon, -as depository of proper names- and mental lexicon and also eponymy –as a mechanism for transforming proper names into common words- from cognitive onomastics perspective. It is a basic descriptive research that collected a corpus of data in library method and seeks to find out whether eponymy is active in Farsi and if yes, which word formation processes create common words. The theoretical framework is adapted from Barcelona's (2003) ideas in demonstrating the role of metonymy in emergence of proper names and their frequent reclassification as common nouns, and class-inclusion model of conceptual metaphors comprehension of Glucksberg and Keysar (1990). The analysis of data revealed that in Farsi, eponymy in the form of word-formation processes like derivation, conversion and combination transforms the proper names into common words. This is justifiable on the basis of cognitive concepts like conceptual metaphor and metonymies. The metonyms "PROPER NAME FOR ITS RELATED OBJECT/ ACTION/ CONCEPT", "AGENT FOR ACTION" and "PROTOTYPICAL MEMBER FOR THE CLASS" and class-inclusion model of conceptual metaphor are involved in introducing eponymy. The successive application and interaction of conceptual metaphor and metonyms, indicates the metaphtonymy at work in this process.

In this research, we try to apply linguistics studies to the analysis of novels through critical discourse analysis. Critical discourse analysts take into consideration those elements of discourse that are hidden medium in order to preserve power hierarchy. Contrary to descriptive-formal survey of language, they contend that language can be used intentionally to support dominance, inequality and struggle against them as well. The novel Bamdad-e Khomaar (The dawn of lassitude) by Fattaneh Haj Seyyed Javadi is analyzed based on Theo Van Leeuwen’s research tools namely activation and passivation, nomination and categorization, identification and functionalization, differentiation, and over determination. The research demonstrates how the analysis of the novel based on linguistic research tools, which were used in this research, can help readers to understand the opinions of the novelist regarding both social classes and women.

Speech acts as the pragmatic part of the language have significant role in the social status representation of society people. So, investigating speech acts of the novel characters can enhance pragmatic and sociolinguistic knowledge of the foreign language learners and improve sociocultural knowledge of the foreigners about a speech community. According to the necessity and importance of this issue in Persian learning, and the lack of local social researches in applied linguistics and Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL), through a qualitative content analysis method, the present study investigates speech acts used in Simin Daneshvar’s “Soovashoon” Persian novel. The results show that the male and female characters of this novel have used the assertive, directive, and expressive speech acts more than the commissive, and declarative speech acts. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the results shows that Iranian women, in both the urban and rural contexts, follow almost the same pattern in using Searle’s (1969) speech acts.

The present article, with an emphasis on vowel shift of /u:/ with /ʉː/, examines phonetic changes in the Kurdish dialect of the native Kurdish speaker Lilakhi immigrants living in Sanandaj to improve social status through the application of changes known as "phonetic strategies for prestige promotion." Therefore, the authors intend to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of language change and their impact on social identity through the study of variables such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status. The research data includes 20 words in the Kurdish language in which the vowel under study is located at nucleus, and the distinction between them in the two dialects Lilakhi and Ardalani lies only in the phonetic manifestation of this vowel. The statistical population of the study also consists of 30 respondents who were selected through systematic sampling method and considering the equal distribution of gender, age and social class factors and they were asked to express each of the words they have in the form of a sentence or phrase. The results of the study show that the negative correlation between age and the use of the vowel /u:/ indicates a meaningful relationship.

Mazandarani language(The variety used in Mazandaran province)is one of the ancient Iranian languages,which has been the language of the natives,living in the northern regions of Iran,since distant past.In recent years,as a result of social,cultural,economic and political developments,this language has undergone countless transformations,changes and its number of speakers has decreased,So that,now,it seems that,language transition to Farsi,has happened not only,in the context of Mazandarani families,but also,in the use of the language in offices,alleys and streets, etc.The purpose of this research,is to,investigate the status of Mazandarani language,and its level of endangerment,based on the nine indexes of UNESCO.Analysis of data,shows that,based on,the pattern of intergenerational language transmission,Mazandarani language,is at level 3(definitely endangered),based on,the patterns of the absolute number of speakers,the proportion of speakers in the total population and the trends in existing language domains,at level 2(strongly endangered).Also from the point of view of the pattern of response to new domains and media,the pattern of materials for language education and literacy and the pattern of amount and quality of Mazandarani documentation,it is at the lowest level(ziro grade).Examining the pattern of governmental language attitudes and policies,shows that,Mazandarani,is at level 3(definitely endangered).The attitude of the language community members toward their mother tongue,shows that,Mazandarani,is at the lowest level

With the advancement of technology, students’ means of communication have changed from regular face-to-face appointments to email communications with professors and faculty members. Students send emails to faculty members for several reasons such as requests for appointments, advice, or course-related information. This study investigates email request strategies used by Iranian university students when communicating with their faculty members. To this end, a corpus of 200 emails (13103 words) was compiled within 4 years from Payame Noor University students majoring in humanities. The data were then coded for request strategies along with both internal and external modification devices. The findings showed that direct strategies were the most frequently used, with imperative and like/appreciate statements being the most frequently used direct strategy. Moreover, downtoners and attention getters ranked first and second among internal modification devices, while grounders and appreciation ranked first and second among external modifiers. These findings are expected to provide insights into Persian pragmatics and have implications for teaching Persian to language learners.