فصلنامه مطالعات زبان و ترجمه
سال چهل و دوم شماره 1 (تابستان 1389)

Findings of various studies have indicated that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) can play a more significant role than Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in life and academic achievement of learners (Goleman, 1995). For this reason, many researchers in this field have been attracted to find the ways to improve EQ. Among the different procedures to improve this intelligence, it seems that English language classrooms due to their nature, can be more successful in achieving this aim. The present study aimed at exploring the impact of English language classrooms on Emotional Intelligence and its related constructs. To investigate this effect, two control groups were selected from some High School and Language Institute learners in Mashhad. These learners were presented by Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (1996) at the beginning and end of a six-month academic term. Investigating the results through t-test revealed a considerable improvement in Emotional Intelligence and its related constructs such as Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Stress Management intelligences at the Language Institutes comparing to the High Schools. At the end, some constructive suggestions regarding the topic were presented.

With respect to its linguistic and philosophical features, Don Quixote is arguably the first modern novel. This paper examines two major linguistic characteristics of this novel, i.e. linguistic perspectivism and heteroglossia, and the reflection of these attributes in Ghazi’s translation that is admittedly the best Persian translation of the novel. After scrutinizing some of the linguistic features of Don Quixote, such as polyonomasia, as Spitzer puts it, and Sancho’s linguistic errors, and studying the traces of these features in the Persian translation, the writes have concluded that although Ghazi has used Persian skillfully and has achieved a great deal in rendering some of the linguistic games of Don Quixote, he has fallen short of reflecting the multiplicity of voices, which is a manifestation of the multiplicity of truth.

This study aims to analyze Beihaqi’s historiographic style based on the narrative intelligence theory. Narrative intelligence (Randall, 1999) comprise cognitive abilities for perceiving and reproducing narrative structures. The authors argue that the analytical potentials of this theory provide a useful framework for the study of Beihaqi’s historiography. The results show that using the subabilities of emplotment, characterization, narration, and genre-ation, Beihaqi has managed to artistically apply the principles that have been introduced by recent theories of historiography proposed by Western scholars. Being influenced by the meta-narratives of the Islamic-Iranian culture, Beihaqi produced a coherent work which is in harmony with other constituents of the culture and civilization. It is also argued that the structural capacities inherent in narratological studies can be used effectively to link Persian literature with the principles of scientific historiography and to localize narratological theories.

T.S. Eliot is one of the dramatists who has chosen the language of verse for his plays. In doing so, he has moved in a way that is different from other dramatists. Critics believe that most of Eliot's plays have not been successful and some others have criticized Eliot's way of writing plays. In spite of all these criticism, Eliot, with his verse and sometimes the combination of verse and prose language, has created unique characters. This article studies Eliot's characters in his verse plays, presents their different kinds and classifies them. The article finally discusses the purpose behind this kind of presentation of character.

This study examined constituent lengthening as a cue of prominence domains and prosodic boundaries. Two experiments have been conducted. The first experiment studied the effects of focus accent on syllable, vowel and consonant duration. The second experiment examined the effects of three distinct sentence types and the effects of four prosodic boundary categories on the duration of syllable, vowel and consonant. Five educated speakers of Persian uttered three keywords with three CV syllables in ultimate, penultimate and antepenultimate syllable position. Each keyword was produced in a carrier-sentence under four different focus accent positions in the first experiment and under four boundary categories and three sentence functions in the second one. The results of first experiment indicated that focus accented syllables had increased duration. Furthermore, focus accented initial syllables had increased duration which suggests initial lengthening effects due to syllable position and focus accent. The main findings of second experiment support word final lengthening and indicated significant effects of the sentence function on the duration of the syllable, vowel and consonant and of the boundary position on vowel, consonant and total syllable duration. Finally, the results are compared with the results of the experiments done in English.

The present article investigates the register of truck driver community as speakers of a discrete occupational group. Having classified the collected language data into verbal and non-verbal expressions, the following characteristics have been identified as the most distinguished characteristics of the register: brevity, occupational direction of the expressions, colloquial and informal style of the expressions and destiny oriented nature of the sentences. Having identified the prominent aforementioned characteristics of the analyzed register, the functional conformity of them with seven functions of language, introduced by Halliday (1973), has been investigated. The results show that the register of truck driver community, as a variety of a language (Persian), can reflect all the social functions of language.

This paper aims to investigate how sociolinguistic transfers may lead to a breakdown in intercultural communication. The main argument is not only do they cause communication failures but also they help developing cultural stereotypes. The investigation will be carried out by looking at “terms of address”, “modes of request”, and “religious terms” in Persian and English in a contrastive fashion. The analysis of data, based on an ethnographical and introspective method, illustrates that the covert sociolinguistic transfer plays a more powerful role to perpetuate misunderstanding than overt sociolinguistic transfer.