Language & Media
Zahra Jahanbani; farideh haghbin
Abstract
The present study aimed at critically analyzing two newspapers published in Iran and Pakistan and unraveling the views of the editorial boards of a Persian language newspaper and an Urdu language newspaper as a representative of two opposing political views in Saudi Arabia's stance toward Yemen. For ...
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The present study aimed at critically analyzing two newspapers published in Iran and Pakistan and unraveling the views of the editorial boards of a Persian language newspaper and an Urdu language newspaper as a representative of two opposing political views in Saudi Arabia's stance toward Yemen. For this purpose, 88 news articles in each corpus reporting the Yemeni crisis were randomly selected and analyzed based on Van Leeuwen’s (2008) model of social actors. The results showed that Hamshahri represents Saudi Arabia more with activation, negative appraisement and spatialization features to represent Saudia Arabi as an aggressive and criminal who plays an active role in making war and murder. On the other hand, Yemen is more represented with subjection, aggregation and association features to emphasize its unity and alliance between Yemen government and the Yemeni people. Also, it represents a unity between Shiite government and Yemen people as passive actors who are oppressed and attacked with many deaths and injuries. Jhang represents both Saudi Arabia and Yemen more with activation, spatialization and aggregation features, and the Houthis with the negative appraisement as rebels and warmongers. Also, Jhang represents Saudi Arabia repeatedly with instrumentalization and spatialization features in order to support Saudi Arabia by reducing its role and its responsibilities in the crisis.
Language & Media
Shadi Ansarian; Negar Davari Ardakani; Parsa Bamshadi
Abstract
Today the UN general assembly plays the role of a tribune to achieve general diplomatic goals, and the leaders of nations take full advantages of this opportunity to communicate with the international media and to negotiate with the officials of other countries. The present research attempts to analyze ...
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Today the UN general assembly plays the role of a tribune to achieve general diplomatic goals, and the leaders of nations take full advantages of this opportunity to communicate with the international media and to negotiate with the officials of other countries. The present research attempts to analyze President Rouhani’s speech at the UN General Assembly in 2017 based on James Paul Gee’s (2014, 2018) discourse analysis approach. The results show that Rouhani has focused on eight central issues in his discourse: (1) Democracy and human rights; (2) Moderation; (3) Cultural and religious diversity; (4) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and response to violation of it; (5) Interaction and negotiation; (6) Iran missile power; (7) Terrorism support by USA; and (8) Iran economical capacity. The main reason to foreground these issues is the current debates in the world and intertextuality with president Trump’s UN speech. These findings also reveal that the most prominent identities in Rouhani’s speech are Iran and Iranian nation and the most important connection is between peace and security on one hand and development and progress of nations on the other. Also, the legal system can be considered as the dominant sign system and knowledge in Rouhani’s speech.
Language and Culture
soheila sadeghi; Ali Pedram Mirzaee
Abstract
This research is a linguistics analysis of "Nafthat al-Masdoor" by Shahabuddin Mohammad Zaidari with a critical discourse approach based on the analytical model of Yarmohammadi (1391) and Van Leeuwen (1996). Discourse analysis reveals the relationship between the text and the author's ideology, and attempts ...
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This research is a linguistics analysis of "Nafthat al-Masdoor" by Shahabuddin Mohammad Zaidari with a critical discourse approach based on the analytical model of Yarmohammadi (1391) and Van Leeuwen (1996). Discourse analysis reveals the relationship between the text and the author's ideology, and attempts to pay attention to the general analysis of the text and its deep and complex structure with a particular focus on the nature of the use of language. Given that the purpose of the critical analysis of discourse is to decode the underlying layers of the text, the findings of this research show that the author has used the deletion component in addition to the use of verbal and emotional expressions as the dominant aspect of the work. At first glance, this silence or gap in the discourse of concern refers to a constantly delayed referent inducing the reader to think of the author as an introverted person. However, what is pushed to the margins is the fact that despite his severe objection to Kharazmashah’s court and its unfriendly atmosphere, Zaidari in fact attempted to develop a corpus featuring his contemporary events by arranging the pieces of his works, consciously or unconsciously, in such a way as to rely on a discourse consonant with his thought. The corpus generally reflects a theme of fate and determinism. The macrostructure of this work prompts the readership to assume that in shaping the unfavorable bitter end of this account Zaidari's beloved king, Jalaladin Kharazmshah, and his oppressed people could do nothing but succumb to this doomed destiny.
Language & Media
Tina Chaharsoughi Amin; Ali Asghar Sultani; Mohammadjavad Hejazi
Abstract
The speech delivered by Iran Islamic Consultative Assembly Members is one of the most effective means they employ to get the MP’s to approve or reject the proposals made in the parliament. One way to convince the audience in a discursive process is to resort to argumentation. If argumentation, ...
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The speech delivered by Iran Islamic Consultative Assembly Members is one of the most effective means they employ to get the MP’s to approve or reject the proposals made in the parliament. One way to convince the audience in a discursive process is to resort to argumentation. If argumentation, as a key point in the rhetoric to achieve the highest degree of persuasion, deviates from the path of reasoning, recourse will be made to fallacy. This study examined persuasive topoi in the for and against speeches delivered during parliamentary proposal review and vote of confidence sessions for the proposed cabinet of Iran twelfth government. To this end, instances of robust arguments replaced by fallacies were identified by means of rhetorical sophistications. The findings show that although the use of such devices as magnifying, minimizing, highlighting, and marginalizing may lead to the initial and immediate persuasion of the audience, this would not guarantee the eligibility of the ministers who win parliament's approval during the vote of confidence process.
Language and Culture
Arezu Molavi Vardanjani; Sasan Sharafi; Elkاas Vaysi; Mansoore Shekaramiz
Abstract
This article is aimed at a cognitive analysis of meaning construction in the movie discourse based on Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) conceptual blending theory. The present research used a qualitative content analysis methodology with a descriptive-elaborative approach to survey the mapping procedures ...
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This article is aimed at a cognitive analysis of meaning construction in the movie discourse based on Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) conceptual blending theory. The present research used a qualitative content analysis methodology with a descriptive-elaborative approach to survey the mapping procedures and the constitutive elements of the conceptual framework of the movie Salesman, an Iranian film directed by Asghar Farhadi. The conceptual blending theory illustrates a system of background cognition including the categorizations, mapping, structural projections and dynamic mind stimulants. Accordingly, the presence of multiple inner layers and various vital relations such as identity, cause and effects, changes, time and representations made Salesman a blended mirror structure where a blended concept of loss is projected. The findings of this study emphasize the necessity of the focus on mind in discourse studies showing that the extension of the conceptual blending theory to analyze the discourse of movies can enrich the meaning construction affairs in the film and cinema industry. key words: conceptual blending theory, vital relation, discourse, movie, seller
Language & Media
Parsa Bamshadi; Shadi Ansarian
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to investigate ‘20:30 (Bisto-Si) News’ headlines as one of the most watched news programs in IRIB television. This corpus-based, quantitative- and qualitative-based study analyzed the news headlines collected within one month from the 2nd December, 2015, to ...
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The aim of the present study is to investigate ‘20:30 (Bisto-Si) News’ headlines as one of the most watched news programs in IRIB television. This corpus-based, quantitative- and qualitative-based study analyzed the news headlines collected within one month from the 2nd December, 2015, to the 1st January, 2016. The corpus consisted of 186 news headlines in various national and international issues. This study aimed to find out what linguistic properties in the headlines make the 20:30 news the most watched TV news program. The findings of the research show that the linguistic properties of these headlines can be described into three categories: 1) Semantic properties like metaphor, metonymy, idiom, proverb and synesthesia as well as a reference to famous poems or quotes; 2) Lexical properties such as associative collocations, lexical repetitions and versification; 3) syntactic properties such as verbless sentences and nominalization. Moreover, the results show that although the three categories play an important role in making the news program attractive, the semantic property was found to be the most influential linguistic properties of the 20:30 News headlines.
Language & Media
Hosein Rahmani
Abstract
The present research aims to study how power and gender affect the choice of impolite strategies and how the addressees react to such face threatening acts in the play Ofool written by Akbar Radi in light of Derek Bousefield’s (2008) model of impoliteness. Although developed based on Culpeper’s ...
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The present research aims to study how power and gender affect the choice of impolite strategies and how the addressees react to such face threatening acts in the play Ofool written by Akbar Radi in light of Derek Bousefield’s (2008) model of impoliteness. Although developed based on Culpeper’s (1996, 2005) and Culpeper et al.’s (2003) model, Bousefield’s model was extended to study the addressee’ reaction to impoliteness. Impolite acts are intended to threaten the face wants of the addressees. According to Bousefiled’s model of impoliteness, the offended addressees can choose to keep silent or take an offensive or defensive action which can vary according to individual’s power and gender. The results indicated that the powerful and powerless characters used on-record and off-record impoliteness strategies, respectively. Moreover, the powerful characters and men took an offensive reaction to impoliteness while and the powerless characters and women took a defensive action to impolite acts. The analysis showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the use of impoliteness strategies between men and women.
Language & Media
Elham akhalaghi; Shahla Sharifi; Ali Izanlu
Abstract
Social and intercultural studies show that narrative is a basic and permanent form of human speech which is not used similarly across nations. This study examines how the Pear Stories, the internationally popular silent film, is verbalized in two groups of 40 women aged 18 to 22 and 40 girls aged 9 years ...
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Social and intercultural studies show that narrative is a basic and permanent form of human speech which is not used similarly across nations. This study examines how the Pear Stories, the internationally popular silent film, is verbalized in two groups of 40 women aged 18 to 22 and 40 girls aged 9 years old. This story has a social theme in which depict the story of young boy’s theft and the subsequent adventures. The participants were asked to verbalize the film once it is screened. To examine the social interaction, the data were analyzed by means of frequency and to investigate the evaluation, Toolan’s criteria were used. The statistical analysis indicates no significant differences in the two groups in terms of social interaction; however, their difference was significant in the way they evaluate the story. The findings show that adults’ ratings of their narratives were twice as high as those children. Also, the participants display interaction at the outset of the story in response to the interviewer and in the middle of the story while recalling. The results show that evaluation is a socio-cultural process implicating a level of maturity and social knowledge which children have not reached yet.
Language & Media
Sh. Davari; M. Ghasemi; B. Kokabi
Volume 1, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 9-16
Abstract
According to Heine (2013), the main function of discourse markers is to relate our speech and the situation of discourse (i.e. the speaker-hearer interaction), to explain the speaker’s ideas, and organize the text. They are syntactically independent from the syntactic environment of the sentence. ...
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According to Heine (2013), the main function of discourse markers is to relate our speech and the situation of discourse (i.e. the speaker-hearer interaction), to explain the speaker’s ideas, and organize the text. They are syntactically independent from the syntactic environment of the sentence. Since these markers, as particular tools of language usage and transferring messages, have a significant role in social communication, they make a part of sociolinguistic studies. This paper focuses on a group of Persian discourse markers which have mostly a fixed and certain syntactic structure (such as “The truth is that…”). We call these expressions “Disclosure” discourse markers due to their function in preparing the process of conversation and the addressee for revealing the truths. The research data were gathered from today’s Persian written texts and also Persian speakers speech. The theoretical framework consists of cognitive grammar and Aijmer’s (2007) grammaticalization models. Data analysis indicates that disclosure discourse markers represent a grammaticalized picture of the matrix clause in Persian because they no more carry the main concept of the sentence. This picture reinforces the necessity of reviewing the syntactic concepts of the matrix and subordinate clauses by considering the presence of discoursal elements in the sentence.
Language and Culture
V. Shahidi poor
Volume 1, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 72-83
Abstract
Compliments and their responses are of high frequency in daily speech acts and carry a special cultural-sociological load. This study aimed at identifying the effect of the variable of age on Persian speakers' compliment response strategies. To this end, 200 Persian speakers (100 women and 100 men) from ...
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Compliments and their responses are of high frequency in daily speech acts and carry a special cultural-sociological load. This study aimed at identifying the effect of the variable of age on Persian speakers' compliment response strategies. To this end, 200 Persian speakers (100 women and 100 men) from four different age-groups (10-18, 19-30, 31-40, and above 40 years old) were asked to respond to the written Discourse Completion Task (DCT) consisting of four imaginary situations. The results indicated that the participants used accept strategies the most and the evade ones the least but the most common sub-type of response strategies they used was the downgrade strategy. Return and appreciation tokens were the second and third most frequently used strategies. However, topic shift and reassignment strategies were never used. The results also revealed that the effect of age on the patterns of compliment responses was remarkable. While the age-group under 18 used appreciation tokens the most, the other age-groups preferred downgrade ones the most. However were used, disagreement and reassurance strategies the least in all groups.
Language & Media
S.A. Soltani; Z. Karami
Volume 1, Issue 1 , January 2017, , Pages 9-20
Abstract
Sociolinguistics is an interdisciplinary field that can provide a linguistic perspective of society and culture. One of the important domains of popular culture is popular songs which have not been seriously studied so far from a sociolinguistic viewpoint in Iran. The lyrics of these songs are reflections ...
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Sociolinguistics is an interdisciplinary field that can provide a linguistic perspective of society and culture. One of the important domains of popular culture is popular songs which have not been seriously studied so far from a sociolinguistic viewpoint in Iran. The lyrics of these songs are reflections of the folklore in every society which makes their study worthwhile. Although such songs may have different themes but love has always been one of the key concepts and recurring themes in these songs. This study tries to find out how concept of love has been defined and reflected in the songs in the course of history. And more specifically, it tries to discover the chains of equivalence and the differences that are made along with them in these songs. To meet this end, from the perspective of Ernesto Lacalua and Chantal Mouffe’s post-structural discourse theory, specifically through their two concpets, ie chain of equivalence and chain of difference, it focuses on 16 Iranian love songs which were randomly chosen from among those songs performed by both male and female singers in between the years 1971 to 1979. The results show that the songs have availed from “the presence of nature”, “reference to the past”, “immortalization” and “the use of different fields of discursivity”, specially religious and political discourses, as a means of meaning fixation.
Language & Media
P. Bamshadi; Z. Mohammad Ebrahimi; Sh. Ansarian
Volume 1, Issue 1 , January 2017, , Pages 48-56
Abstract
News texts, and specially news headlines, must be interesting and persuasive so that they can draw the addressee's attention and encourage him/her to study and follow the news. One way to achieve this goal is to use metaphor and metonymy in the language of media. Metaphor and metonymy, as two cognitive ...
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News texts, and specially news headlines, must be interesting and persuasive so that they can draw the addressee's attention and encourage him/her to study and follow the news. One way to achieve this goal is to use metaphor and metonymy in the language of media. Metaphor and metonymy, as two cognitive conceptual processes, have their root in thinking and conceptualization processes and are the integral parts of the human cognitive system. The present research explores the function and importance of metaphor and metonymy in Persian economic media discourse and tries to identify and explain the fundamental metaphors and metonymys in this field. Besides, possible hierarchical relations between them will be taken into consideration. The data include 700 headlines taken from: economic news headlines of “Donya-ye Eghtesad” newspaper in all its issue numbers in Azar 1394 A.P., economic news headlines of “Young Journalists Club” news agency and “Emruz Online” news portal in Azar 1394 A.P. The results indicate that the main conceptual metaphors in the economic discourse include: “Economy is a living being”, “Economy is human”, “Economy is a route”, “Economy is a space/container”, “Economy is a natural phenomenon”, “Economy is a car”, and “Economy is substance/ thing”. Moreover, some of the directional metaphors are significantly present in the language of economy.
