Language Contact and Conflict
soheil daneshzadeh; Gholam-Hossein Karimi-Doostan
Abstract
In this research we critically evaluate two fundamental beliefs in explicitation studies. Our point of departure will be social cognitive linguisticss. These beliefs are as follows: 1) Degrees of explicitness are determined on the basis of linguistic forms. 2) Explicitation is by definition specification. ...
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In this research we critically evaluate two fundamental beliefs in explicitation studies. Our point of departure will be social cognitive linguisticss. These beliefs are as follows: 1) Degrees of explicitness are determined on the basis of linguistic forms. 2) Explicitation is by definition specification. Through evaluating the first beliefs, we argue that degrees of explicitness cannot always be attributed to linguistic forms and other variables such as shared encyclopedic knowledge and contexts should be taken into account. Through evaluating the second beliefs we apply secondary analysis to four examples which have been taken form two previous researches, and demonstrate that it is not the process of specification that has caused explicitation in those cases and consequently explicitation cannot be reduced to this one construal operation. So these beliefs not only are unreliable, but also-being widespread- they have almost made it impossible for researchers to search for and sufficiently explain many potential instances of explicitation. In light of these findings we propose that explicitation researchers should take into account the socio-cognitive motivations for this type of translational shift, and explicitation and explicitation mechanisms should be defined in terms of various conceptualization processes that take place in the process of explicitation.
Language and Culture
soheil daneshzadeh; behrouz mahmoudi bakhtiari
Abstract
Over the past six decades looking for linguistic manifestations of sexism has been a noticeable trend in linguistics. The theoretical motivation for this unprecedented interest is an insight put forward by critical linguists in terms of which linguistic events can affect social structures and at the ...
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Over the past six decades looking for linguistic manifestations of sexism has been a noticeable trend in linguistics. The theoretical motivation for this unprecedented interest is an insight put forward by critical linguists in terms of which linguistic events can affect social structures and at the same time, being affected by them. It is in the light of this view that looking for linguistic instantiations of sexism can gain a significance which goes beyond the language itself. Looking for gender inequality in those linguistic products which are tightly associated with popular culture can potentially lead us to the underlying social order which has given rise to them. Jokes, which are prototypical examples of such linguistic products, are the focus of this study. Based on the framework of critical linguistics we aim to identify and explain manifestations of discursive sexism in Persian jokes in terms of the social order witch constitute them. To this end, nine indicators of sexism in jokes have been elicited, and measured in a corpus of popular Persian jokes. The corpus-based analysis shows that instances of sexist discourse are highly frequent in Persian joke-telling culture; Moreover, the findings show that sexism in jokes cannot be reduced to those jokes which are “obviously” sexist in their humor, and the linguistic-structural manifestations of sexist discourse can be found in the whole Persian joke-telling culture and beyond the scope of sexist jokes.
