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Sound substitution is a process whereby a phoneme in a loanword is replaced by its closest phone in the borrowing language. Many English loanwords with consonants /T/, /w/, /k/ and /g/ have been adapted by Persian. None of these consonants exist as a phoneme in Persian. The pronunciation or substitution of these consonants by their closest phone in Persian depends on the phonological environment; the dental /T/ is replaced by [t] and [s] respectively in the onset and coda. The bilabial /w/ is replaced by [v] in the onset. However, since [w] is only used as an intervocalic consonant in Persian, it acts like an intervocalic consonant upon the declusterization of word initial /sw/. Therefore, it is not usually replaced by any consonant in this environment. Finally, the velar consonants /k/ and /g/ either change to palatal [c] and [Š] respectively or do not change at all, due to the phonological environment. This research aimed at explaining each of these sound substitution processes within the framework of optimality theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993/2004). It presents arguments in favor of constraint rankings which cause the occurances of these processes.

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Giles, Goat-Boy is a black comedy to bite everyone. Embodied in a postmodern fabulation, Barth’s sense of humor allows him to create a political allegory on any structure of power that claims to save humanity. GILES, a hybrid of a machine and a goat, is tasked with the mission to lead the so-called academic society through instrumental intellect. But he can only go so far as not to create a conflict of interest between the ruling powers. The pattern used in creating Giles is an imitation of the classic patterns in creation and journey of a hero, except that Giles is destined to appear as a scapegoat against the positivist Sphinx of Time. Such an approach begs the main question of the research: How ideological systems sacrifice their heroes to secure their interests? This hypothesis is also in line with Frankfurt School’s critical theory, which considers the capitalist system to be a violation of freedom and social values. The intellectuals such as Horkheimer and Adorno consider man to be a victim of objectification and alienation arising from social and political conflicts. They also believe that hegemonic systems have humiliated man with false pleasures. Just as Giles fails to reform the most powerful ruling system, WESCAC, so Barth symbolically paints a bleak picture of human destiny in modern society today. The purpose of the research is to raise human awareness about the harsh laws that are the ominous products of instrumental intellect, as one of the defining elements of capitalist system.
 

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This study sheds light on Ben Lovatt's idiosyncratic characterization, cognitive impairment, and peculiar perception of the world through the lens of cognitive and stylistic features such as schema and cognitive theories. It explores Ben's inability to make meaningful sense of the outside world, his failure to activate adequate schemata when necessary, and his foregrounded conceptual metaphor. Exploring Ben's foregrounded linguistic and cognitive patterns reveal that Ben, in many aspects, proves the particular belief in the story that he seems to be on the threshold between humanity and animality or a throwback who belongs to centuries ago. However, despite Ben's human-animal hybridity, the most striking point about the analysis of Ben's mind style is that Ben seems to be beyond the descriptions of other characters and has a particular way of seeing the world, which makes him seem different from others. This difference, eventually, causes his exclusion from the world and his suicide.
 

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Recitation of the Holy Qur’an has its own phonological rules. This paper addresses total nasal place and manner assimilation, known as “idgham”, that lead to “gemination with nasalization” and “gemination without nasalization”. The former which is accompanied by lengthening occurs in the environment where the /n/ in the coda position precedes one of the four sonorants /j/, /m/, /w/, and /n/ in the onset position of the following syllable. However, the latter which is not accompanied by lengthening occurs in the environment where /n/ in the coda position precedes either of the sonorant liquids /r/ or /l/ in the onset position of the following syllable. The present research aimed at identifying the constraints whose interactions cause either of these processes in the recitation of the Holy Qur’an within the framework of optimality theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993/2004). The results of this paper are as follows: The [+long] geminated [n:.n] is the result of gemination of /n/ in the coda position with /n/ in the onset position. The [+long] geminated [m:.m] is the result of total nasal place assimilation of /n/ in the coda position with /m/ in the onset position. The [-long] geminated [r.r] and [l.l] are the result of total manner assimilation of /n/ in the coda position, respectively with /r/ and /l/ in the onset position. The [+long] geminated [j:.j] and [w:.w] are the result of both total nasal place and manner assimilations of /n/ in the coda position, respectively with /j/ and /w/ in the onset position.
 

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The present case study had as its aim to uncover the diagnostic and instructional potential of dynamic assessment (DA) in the context of L2 writing during asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC). More precisely, the study investigated the role of ACMC-based DA through e-mail in diagnosing and promoting low-proficiency L2 learners’ writing abilities in an Iranian EFL context. To this end, a case study design was adopted and three low-proficiency students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) were selected to participate for a time span of ten weeks. The error analysis of learners’ performances in the pretest and posttest sessions led to the detection of a number of writing problems including the content, structural organization, grammatical accuracy, lexical appropriateness, and mechanics. A posterior examination of computer-mediated offline interactions led to the detection of a number of mediational strategies namely ask to revise, identify a problem area, specify the problem area, clarify the error kind, offer a choice and provide an explicit explanation as well as reciprocity patterns including unresponsive, growing autonomy and full autonomy which together helped diagnose the students' writing problems and trace their developmental trajectories. On implication side, it is argued that the ACMC-based DA serves as a strong diagnostic tool that makes a genuine understanding of L2 learners' writing abilities.
Keywords: dynamic assessment, sociocultural theory, asynchronous computer-mediated communication, writing
 

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The current research aims to investigate the universality of the language by examining the perception of Persian learners in recognition of subject position according to the theory of input processing and the principle of the first noun from this theory. The first noun principle indicates that language learners consider the noun or pronoun that comes at the beginning of the sentence as the subject of the sentence.The participants in this research are 70 Persian language learners at elementary (23 participants), intermediate (23 participants) and advanced (24 participants) levels in the Persian language learning center of Al-Zahra University. Using Friedman et al.'s (2004) executive method, this study has examined the principle of the first noun as a predictable path in the education of Persian learners. In this direction, a test has been designed on Google Forms, and Persian learners have participated in two different implementations of this test in a time interval of 5 months. In both of its implementations, this test included 15 sentences that the language learners had to connect to the related pictures after hearing the sentences. In order to characterize the perception of the participants from the position of the subject, 8 sentences in the second sentence were put into the passive form. The results of this study have shown that the change of sentences in the second implementation of the test caused an increase in errors in the response rate of language learners and this was reported higher in elementary language learners than in other groups.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the fundamentals of Wittgenstein's theory of language games and its role in overcoming false preconceptions and biases. This qualitative research utilized a conceptual analysis and inductive method to review the related literature. In the findings section, by examining the theoretical foundations of Wittgenstein's linguistic games, we first critique the shortcomings of early philosophy such as the absoluteness of affairs, a purely analytical approach and ostensive definition, and then, the characteristics of language such as sociality, variability and discussion of its use and instrumental role were mentioned. Also, while expressing the mission of Wittgenstein's philosophy, the position and cause of the centrality of language in his philosophy was revealed and finally, due to the new perspectives on the theory of language games, and based on it, as well as Wittgenstein's way of working in later philosophy, a set of strategies was proposed to overcome biases. Overcoming the sense of essentialism, perspicuous representation, self-imposed exile, experiencing different occupations and professions, emphasis on differences, and eventually designing appropriate questions are among these strategies. As a result, it can be acknowledged that many false beliefs and preconceptions are passed on through language to future generations, and therefore many issues have survived throughout history. Therefore, incorrect concepts and ideas should be identified in the language and their repetition should be avoided by removing them.
 

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In this study, 30 mental states were suggested to 50 theatre actors. They designed a specific physical form for each mental state. In this process, 2000 images from actors’ gestures were collected. Images was surveyed by 321 accidental audiences; and among all images, images achieving the highest rate were selected. Reliability and validity of selected images were evaluated by a software designing for mind-reading's test though body. This study achieved its results mentioned below through preparation, design, implementation, analysis, record of results of a mind-reading’s test.
According to statistical results, the body has an ability to convey the mental state. We can figure out individuals’ mental states through body forms. Based on Baron-Cohen’s study, 30 body forms were determined. The relation between mind-reading through body and eyes was analyzed. Selected images for designing a mind-reading’s test through body were identified, and its reliability and validity were confirmed.
In this study, the first archive of images representing mental states through actors’ bodies has been designed and prepared. In comparison to men, women have a better function in understanding of mental states. Furthermore, bodies can represent mental states better than eyes.

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This study employs graph theory to analyze the semantic network of Persian verbs among bilingual speakers. Situated within the frameworks of cognitive linguistics, lexical semantics (cognitive semantics), and computational linguistics, the research involves administering a questionnaire comprising 50 basic Persian verbs to participants, asking them to map the conceptual and intra-linguistic relationships between these verbs.The primary objective is to identify the most robust and frequent conceptual and intra-linguistic links among these verbs and to provide a detailed description of the graph structure constructed by bilingual speakers. The study seeks to address the question: What typology of conceptual and intra-linguistic relations is reflected in the graph patterns of non-Persian-speaking Iranians? The working hypothesis posits that semantic relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and collocation will manifest in this network.The methodology is field-based, and the instrument used is a localized questionnaire. Participants were instructed to diagrammatically represent any semantic relationships among the verbs provided.The findings demonstrate that the semantic graph constructed by Iranian bilinguals exhibits semantic relations such as synonymy (6.45%), reverse antonymy (34.94%), polysemy (7.79%), entailment (11.01%) (comprising "type-of" relations at 8.60% and "part-of" relations at 2.41%), as well as intra-linguistic collocation (28.22%). Among these, collocation, entailment, and antonymy were the most frequent relations, respectively. 

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Explaining the nature of metaphor and its role in language has always been a controversial topic in the fields of linguistics, philosophy of language, rhetoric, and so forth. In metaphor analysis, these fields often converge in an inseparable manner. Donald Davidson, a 20th-century philosopher, is one of the influential theorists in the Philosophy of Language and the Theory of Meaning. His views on the essence and role of metaphor in language bear significant similarities to the ideas of  al-Jurjani, a prominent 5th-century Hijri literary scholar. This research aims, through a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach, to examine the intersection points of Davidson’s and al-Jurjani’s theories, with one addressing metaphor from a philosophical and linguistic perspective and the other from a rhetorical standpoint. For this purpose, Davidson’s essay "What Metaphors Mean?" is used as the basis for reviewing his theories on metaphor. Al-Jurjani’s views are analyzed with a focus on "Dala'il al-I'jaz." This study yields results in three areas. The first, identifies similar aspects in the two theories, indicating that both theorists reject the idea of metaphor being merely a shortened simile. They also critique the notion of "metaphorical meaning," emphasizing that the meaning of a metaphor cannot be reproduced in any form other than the metaphorical one itself. The second area involves finding complementary aspects in the two theories, considering Davidson's philosophical stance and al-Jurjani's rhetorical position. The third area elaborates on the connection between al-Jurjani's direct views on metaphor and the ideas indirectly inferred from theory of Construction.

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Despite the abundance of research on the language teachers’ pedagogical knowledge base (PKB), there is a scarcity of studies probing into the teachers’ individual differences and how they relate to the teachers’ instructional effectiveness. To address this gap, we investigated the association of language teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and their instructional efficacy, shedding light on the similarities and differences in the knowledge base of the teachers. Through administering a context-specific self-efficacy test, eight teachers were selected based on their scores and put into two groups. Afterwards, a 90-minute instructional session of each teacher was video-recorded and later used in a stimulated-recall interview with the teacher. The verbal reports were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic content analysis to identify the teachers’ pedagogical thoughts. The results indicated significant differences between the groups, with the high efficacy group reporting an average of 4.18 thoughts-per-minute in contrast to 2.85 thoughts-per-minute reported by the low efficacy group. Five of the dominant knowledge categories were common between the two groups, though with varying frequencies and ranking. The findings offer implications for attending to the construct of self-efficacy and its sources in teacher professional development, as well as the socio-cognitive and emotional side of teacher preparation and development.

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Aims: Adolescence is one the most precarious periods of life, concerning the drug abuse. The social cost of the drug abuse and injury among adolescents is extraordinary and requires intervention. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is perhaps the most influential theory for prediction of social and health behaviors including drug abuse. This study aimed at designing and implementing a curriculum based on the TPB for preventing adolescents from drug abuse. Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Hamadan, west Iran. We recruited 140 male high school students from randomly selected schools: they were divided into experimental group, n = 70 and control group, n = 70. The experimental group received 20 hours educational program based on the TPB. The control group receives no intervention. Findings: Compared to the control group, experimental group have significantly elevated post test scores for attitude (19.07 vs. 15.28, p < .001), subjective norm (18.08 vs. 16.45, p < .001), perceived behavioral control (51.67 vs. 54.82, p < .001); and their intention to use drug significantly decreased(p = 0.082) Conclusions: The TPB-based educational program may be effective in prevention of substance abuse among adolescents.

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This paper is focused on fuzzy theory of democracy. Here, it has been argued that the theory of democracy provides a two-valued description of political order (democratic or non democratic).However, this account of democracy is not consistent with the scientific truth. Democracy is characterized by fuzzy truth. Thus, following a critical discussion on the epistemology of critical rationality, a fuzzy epistemic apparatus has been formulated. Considering the fuzzy epistemology, it has been claimed that on this epistemic horizon, every thing is relatively calibrated and truth is something between zero and one. Also, in the mentioned apparatus, the black and white truth transforms into a gray truth and all follow the principle of uncertainty. Consequently, in the fuzzy epistemology, the membership function of zero and one will be generalized to a fuzzy membership based on a range of zero and one. To support the above mentioned epistemic apparatus, the writer of the paper has provided an empirical argument. The evidences the writer provides indicate that democracy as a truth represents values in the range of zero to one. The value of zero represents a completely non democratic country and the value of one represents a full democratic one. Any other value between zero to one is an indicator of a mixed category consisting of both democratic and non democratic aspects. Finally, based on the empirical evidences, it has been concluded that the U.S.A, England, Japan, Turkey, India, France, and Iran (1998-2003) are of democratic countries, albeit the kind and degree of democracies vary

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The Semantic Script Theory of Humor is the first complete linguistic theory on humor. This theory, that was in fact a radical departure from the traditionally taxonomic approach of puns and humor, was first introduced by Victor Raskin. He was the first linguist that analyzed the structures of humor from the semantic view point, and could identify the structure of joke. In Raskin’s view, a semantic theory must include two abstract concepts: a set of the whole scripts available to the speakers and a set of compositional rules. The purpose of this article is to introduce this theory and to answer this question that which objections on the basis of Persian data may be made to this theory. For this purpose, we studied a number of Persian jokes published in Iranian Humor Press, and by the analysis of these texts, we could show some weaknesses of the theory. The results of this study showed that the way of analysis in Raskin’s Semantic Scripts theory, which is based on listing all of the scripts involved in the words used in the humorous text, has some weaknesses in analyzing Persian Jokes; such as not being compatible with the linguistic processing realities and for having time-consuming redundant complexities, it is not applicable on long Persian jokes.

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Indo-european worldview has been reflected considerably in the formation of the Persian poem and prose, because of its literary and contextual grandeur. It has affected many works in various aspects, so that its mythology has been used in the prominent works such as Firdausi's Shahnameh and the Kyrgyz epic of Manas. However, the way of possessing such a worldview by Shahnameh and Manas is the subject of current research. In this regard, we have described and considered the behavior of heroes in the two works based on the George Dumezil's Three Functions Theory. Our study reveals that the tree functions of the theory have been applied all over the stories of these two epics. This theory is based on the two vises: coordination and contrast; meanwhile Shahnameh and Manas are based on goodness and evil, which are symbolized in heroes such as Siavash/Bakai as well as Rostam/Manas. The first section consists of the wisdom, intellect and calmness symbols, and the second section is related to the symbols of violence, stringency warmness, militancy, and self discipline; while ordering the Quadruplet elements system, provides the people with peace and self-coordination by its force. Moreover, there are invulnerable Demons and Personages in both epics such as Esfandiar (in Shahnameh) and Malgun and Mady Khan (in Manas). However, their only vulnerable spots are their eyes through which they must be killed and their dominance must be ended. This is the motif of “Killing the Demon by blinding him”, which forms one of the worldview's elements mentioned in Indo-european mythology.