In order to contrast and compare inflectional bound morphemes of English, Azeri and Persian languages and to identify their similarities and dissimilarities, inventories of English, Azeri and Farsi inflections, i.e. their set of affixes, were gathered, studied, and elaborated with some examples, and with English meanings. Eventually, after comparison, the researchers ended up with a series of statements about similarities and differences between these languages. The design of the present study is comparative-analytic which concentrates on the comparison and contrasting inflections of English, Azeri and Persian languages. The data is analyzed and illustrated through the contrastive method.
Contrastive Linguistic (basic word order in formal and functional linguistic ...Suyarifa Arumi
this presentationn is one of contrastive linguistic's assignment. It show several points that compare one languate with another language based on the syntax.
Language learning has always been an essential part of effective communication and development. Being accurate in using the second language makes it necessary to be professional in all aspects of L2. One of these neglected but important areas is stress. Stress is melody of conversation and each language has its own stress patterns. Accordingly, negative and positive interferences may happen for EFL/ESL learners. In this regard, the present research provided a contrastive study on the stress patterns of Persian and English. Exploring similarities and differences can help learners to have better understanding of accent when using English language and speak fluently.
Different intonation pattern is one of the factors affecting the learning of L2 pronunciation. The contrastive analysis of English-Persian intonation patterns has shown that both languages are similar in sentence-final intonation while they are different in incomplete sentences. To this end, this paper describes English-Persian intonation patterns to look at the differences and similarities of the two languages to improve the effectiveness of L2 learning.
Contrastive Linguistic (basic word order in formal and functional linguistic ...Suyarifa Arumi
this presentationn is one of contrastive linguistic's assignment. It show several points that compare one languate with another language based on the syntax.
Language learning has always been an essential part of effective communication and development. Being accurate in using the second language makes it necessary to be professional in all aspects of L2. One of these neglected but important areas is stress. Stress is melody of conversation and each language has its own stress patterns. Accordingly, negative and positive interferences may happen for EFL/ESL learners. In this regard, the present research provided a contrastive study on the stress patterns of Persian and English. Exploring similarities and differences can help learners to have better understanding of accent when using English language and speak fluently.
Different intonation pattern is one of the factors affecting the learning of L2 pronunciation. The contrastive analysis of English-Persian intonation patterns has shown that both languages are similar in sentence-final intonation while they are different in incomplete sentences. To this end, this paper describes English-Persian intonation patterns to look at the differences and similarities of the two languages to improve the effectiveness of L2 learning.
Present article examines the psycholinguistic factors that affect ease of learning foreign language vocabulary acquisition. Demonstrate the orthographic and phonological patterns of vocabulary acquisition. by Egamberdieva Shakhzoda Damirovna, Egamberdieva Farida Oktamovna, Egamberdiev Khumoyun and Ergasheva Yulduz 2020. Psycholinguistic conditions in vocabulary acquisition. International Journal on Integrated Education. 2, 3 (Mar. 2020), 23-25. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31149/ijie.v2i3.251. https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/251/244 https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/251
A study on urdu speakers’ use of english stress patterns phonological variationMehranMouzam
The aim of this research paper is to study Urdu Speakers’ use of English Stress Patterns and their phonological variation from native speakers of Pakistani EFL learners. The stress patterns of English language are affected by the influence of L1Urdu speakers’ perception in Pakistan which ultimately influences English pronunciation and sometimes its meanings as well. It also results difficulties faced by learners in our class rooms. Based on phonological differences between two languages, the researchers assume that there is a wide discrepancy in stress patterns among those spoken and used by native speakers and read and perceived by Pakistani students in our classrooms using English as second language. It carries a tangible impact of Urdu stress pattern with almost equal stress on all the syllables which is quite problematic both for teachers and learners of English whether it is as Second Language Learning or as Foreign Language Learning. To find out concrete results quantitative analysis of stress patterns was made on the selected sample taking from public sector university students. Findings of the research provide a useful pedagogical insight into the perspective of English language teaching with particular emphasis on spoken proficiency of English among students whose L1 is Urdu. The findings of the research suggest invariably the wrong placement of lexical stress in English words in Pakistan by Urdu speakers who have Urdu as L1 because they either place the stress on the syllable preceding the actual syllable or following it. Finally, it is suggested to follow the native speakers tone as a final remedy.
International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)irjes
The core of the vision IRJES is to disseminate new knowledge and technology for the benefit of all, ranging from academic research and professional communities to industry professionals in a range of topics in computer science and engineering. It also provides a place for high-caliber researchers, practitioners and PhD students to present ongoing research and development in these areas.
A HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS: A RELEVANT REVIEW IN SECOND...ijejournal
Contrastive analysis (CA) was primarily used in the 1950’s as an effective means to address second or
foreign language teaching and learning. In this context, it was used to compare pairs of languages, identify
similarities and differences in order to predict learning difficulties, with the ultimate goal of addressing
them (Fries, 1943; Lado, 1957). Yet, in the 1980’s and 1990’s the relevance of CA has been disputed.
Many studies have pointed out the limit of CA with respect to its weak and strong versions (Oller and
Ziahosseiny, 1970), (Wardhaugh, 1970) (Brown, 1989), (Hughes, 1980), (Yang, 1992), and (Whitman and
Jackson, 1972). To answer the limits of CA with regards to its weak, strong, and moderate versions, many
language teachers used CA with a new approach. Kupferberg and Olshtain (1996), James (1996), and
Ruzhekova-Rogozherova (2007). Here, salient contrastive linguistic input (CLI) is presented to learners for
an effective noticing. Yet, mere exposition of contrastive linguistic input to learners may not be enough for
effective acquisition to occur. Hence, Djiguimkoudre (2020) proposed structured phonemic awareness
activities to further strengthen such contrastive salient linguistic input when phonetics and phonology are
involved. When grammar is involved, the processing instruction (PI) model of Lee and
VanPatten (2003) is recommended since the types of activities that result in PI are believed to incite
effective noticing for intake.
This study aims at explaining the confusion that led by the misuse of English grammatical structures when conveying meanings in written English texts. Indicating how committing certain errors in written English structures constrains Sudanese English learners’ performance. Investigating English grammatical structures experienced by Sudanese learners who are preparing to graduate with B.A. in English. Therefore, the roles that grammatical structures play in models of communicative competence are discussed in this paper. Additionally, the study explains the role of mastering these structures in communicative purposes. The obtained results revealed that Sudanese students are incompetent in using grammar well enough for some real-communicational purpose. Grammatical structures play a role in language communicative competence for the learners of English language. Learners’ mastery of the language communicative ability is affected when language learners are unable to successfully communicate in L2 without cultural knowledge of what is considered appropriate according to a particular context in the target language.
As the topic suggests, the research paper presents Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners. Error analysis always tries to resolve language learners’ problems in acquiring second or foreign language setting. Learning to English pronunciation is perhaps as important as learning listening skill, speaking, and spelling. Errors in English pronunciation create several problems for English language learners in their works. In other words, most of the English language errors of pronunciation are due to the lack of knowledge of language learners. However, all the students in our sample are of age group (16-25) at Bushehr language institute and they are all Iranian nationals. In addition, all of them were female learners. An English pronunciation (consonant) test was used to get information about the knowledge of the learners in English pronunciation. Findings of this article indicated that the first and second hypotheses of this article were accepted, but the third hypothesis was rejected. However, the findings of this paper showed that the Iranian EFL students have problem to pronounce English sounds correctly.
Error analysis is a type of linguistic studies that focuses on the errors that learners make. To identify and explain the errors which are committed by second/foreign language learners, error analysis is one of the best ways of such purpose. This study aimed at analyzing the errors in the use of prepositions made by Kurdish EFL learners. One-hundred and seven students studying English at University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq participated in this study. Based on the result of Oxford Placement Test participants of this study were at three different levels of proficiency; elementary, lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate. This study tries to find out the sources of the errors and specify the differences between learners at different levels of proficiency. An Oxford Placement test and a preposition test were used to elicit the data. After analyzing the data by SAS ver. 9 and SPSS VER. 22, it was revealed that, Kurdish EFL learners have problems in the use of English prepositions. The students at different levels of proficiency were different in making errors and the sources behind making errors. The students of higher levels of proficiency were least effected by the interlingual source of errors and also intralingual errors, and they committed fewer errors; it might be because students at higher levels of proficiency have more practice compare to the lower levels of proficiency. In the light of findings, this study has some pedagogical implications for teaching prepositions. Teachers are advised to draw their students’ attention to the fact that literal translation into their mother tongue may lead to errors.
Similar to A contrastive linguistic analysis of inflectional bound morphemes of English, Azerbaijani and Persian languages: A comparative study. (20)
A Radical Shift to a Profound and Rigorous Investigation in Political Discour...Bahram Kazemian
Drawing on overarching methodological frameworks of Hallidayan grammatical metaphor, Fairclough’s
perspective on critical discourse analysis and rhetoric, this study attempts to posit a novel, integrated and
practical approach to political, the media, advertisement and other discourses. To this end and based on the
proposed approach, it aims to critically and eclectically exemplify and dissect three speeches delivered by Mr.
Barack Obama, former president of the US, to first manifest the integrated approach practicality and adeptness
through analysis; then by virtue of analysis to unveil how language is manipulated and distorted by orators in
order to convey seamlessly intended messages and political creeds to the audience. Surveying recent annals of
literature, to date no one has conducted an integrated study applying these disciplines in an individual paper and
this study as a trial one can be useful for upcoming research. The analysis depicts practicality and efficiency of
the integrated approach and displays that the speeches abound with nominalizations, modal verbs, parallelisms
and antitheses. Furthermore, there are some three-part listing, the use of passivization, quotations and modality
metaphors. Therefore, a tendency to utilize more nominalizations, parallelism and other devices by the speaker
can be a fundamental reason for making his political language more powerful, impressive, persuasive and
ambiguous as well.
The Importance of Culture in Second and Foreign Language Learning.Bahram Kazemian
English has been designated as a source of intercultural communication among the people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. A range of linguistic and cultural theories contribute meaningful insights on the development of competence in intercultural communication. The speculations suggest the use of communicative strategies focusing on the development of learners’ efficiency in communicating language through cultural context. However, the teaching of culture in communication has not been paid due importance in a number of academic and language settings of Pakistan and Iran. This assignment study indicates problems in view of teaching English as a medium of instruction in public sector colleges of interior Sindh, Pakistan and prescribed textbooks in Iranian schools. It also aims to identify drawbacks and shortcoming in prescribed textbooks for intermediate students at college level and schools. Therefore, the assignment study recommends integration of cultural awareness into a language teaching programme for an overall achievement of competence in intercultural communication.
The Role of Error Analysis in Teaching and Learning of Second and Foreign Lan...Bahram Kazemian
The aim of this paper is to investigate errors made by second and foreign language (L2) learners so as to understand the strategies and techniques used in the process of second and foreign language learning. Error analysis is a very important area of applied linguistics as well as of second and foreign language learning. It is also a systematic method to analyze learners' errors. Errors are not always bad, rather they are crucial parts and aspects in the process of learning a language. They may provide insights into the complicated processes of language development as well as a systematic way for identifying, describing and explaining students' errors. Errors may also help to better understand the process of second and foreign language acquisition. This study tries to investigate why Pakistani ESL and Iranian EFL learners fail to produce grammatically correct sentences in English, in spite of having English as a compulsory subject at all levels in their learning institutions and schools. What are the reasons for their poor English written performance? In the present study, the writing assignments of university students as well as intermediate English learners were analyzed for the purpose of error analysis. Results of the analysis suggest that students lack grammatical accuracy in their writing and are not sure of the grammatical rules that may apply in their writing in English. The study concludes that they are highly influenced by the rules of their first language (L1).
A Rhetorical Identification Analysis of English Political Public Speaking: Jo...Bahram Kazemian
Since political discourse reflects the close relation between politics and language, it has attracted many scholars’
attention at home and abroad. Therefore, English political public speaking (EPPS for short), the subcategory of political
discourse, has been chosen as the subject of the study. Based on the findings of Kenneth Burke’s new rhetoric and classical
rhetoric, the identification strategies of EPPS in John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address from the perspectives of rhetorical content and rhetorical form were probed. Since EPPS is always well-prepared rather than impromptu, the identification strategies via rhetorical content and form are always employed by the speaker to accomplish their purposes.
An Investigation of the Reading Text ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (Long Live Pakistan)...Bahram Kazemian
This paper is a critical study in Critical Discourse Analysis paradigm of a Textbook prescribed for intermediate students (Second Language Learners) in Government Colleges affiliated to the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan. The textbook contains selected texts to improve students reading skills integrated with writing activities. Each of the texts contains questions at the end to be answered. It is observed that the reading tasks are badly designed and there is no mental activity to involve students in the text discourse. The study focuses on critical discourse of the underlying text to inspect whether the text reading involves students in the critical discourse or not; it also attempts to analyze the Reading Text ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ to identify problems showing the gap and unawareness on the part of teachers and students regarding the critical discourse of the text in classroom reading context. It is also suggested that teachers need to bring about a change in their traditional teaching methods in order to tackle the issue. The awareness of critical discourse analysis is recommended on the part of the teachers in order to analyze and understand the real meaning of the text. In result, it may develop the critical approach which is very essential for a reader.
Pilot Study for Validity and Reliability of an Aptitude TestBahram Kazemian
The study was conducted in the department of the English University of Gujrat during Spring- 2012 semester. A question
paper was designed to check the aptitude of the intermediate students of population 25. There were three sections; Grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension, in the question paper. Section: A (Grammar) was proved valid with 84.33 % of validity. The validity of Section: B (vocabulary) and Section C (reading comprehension) were 91.64 % and 52.00 respectively. As a whole, the validity of all the questions was 75.99 %. Thus, the designed aptitude test may be considered reliable.
Audience Perception of Synonyms from the Pulpit: A Case among Six Church Anci...Bahram Kazemian
This work investigated audience perception of messages that contained synonyms. Some church members opined
that synonyms changed meanings of messages intended by Ministers of the Christian religion. The study was conducted among 161 church members drawn from six church ancillary groups in Madina, a suburb of Accra. The groups were selected from Orthodox, Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in Madina. A qualitative approach was used in this study. It was found that sets of words used as synonyms did not make any much difference in meaning to the majority of the members in the audience nor did it have any significant effect on their perception of the messages preached from the pulpits. The work concludes that, so long as synonym use in the pulpits does not create any misunderstanding among the audience, its’ use by Ministers of the Christian faith will continue.
Critical Discourse Analysis of a Reading Text ‘Pakistan and the Modern World’...Bahram Kazemian
This paper presents some key concepts in studying and analyzing the aspects of communication critically. It has always been crucial and a complex phenomenon for the experts in the field of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to decode and deduce the meaning of a text through context. They examine and attribute language as a social process involving context to determine the meaning of an utterance to its producer and receiver. It has also been of great interest and enthusiasm for discourse analysts to explore and identify the underlying objective of meaning carrying an ideological message based on religious, sociopolitical, and historical assumptions. The discourse practitioners are seriously occupied with critical studies on revealing social inequality, power relations, and dominance operated through language (Wodak, 2001a). Critical studies have actively pursued such discursive practices of power dominance, the imposition of an ideology, and discrimination through text and talk. There have been important insights on sociopolitical and historical discourse serving the purpose at (macro and micro) levels of analysis (van Dijk, 1993). It suggests the use of conversation analysis, narrative analysis, rhetoric/stylistics, and media analysis. The underlying approach may be used to analyze the discourse of speeches delivered by renowned politicians, parliamentarians, and national leaders. Following van Dijk (1993) approach/model, this study aims to analyze a political speech, titled as ‘Pakistan and the Modern World’ made by the first Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan at the University of Kansas, United States of America.
Distinctiveness of Pakistani English in Online Travel Guides of PakistanBahram Kazemian
The study highlights the distinctive features of Pakistani English (PE) in a new genre: online travel guides of Pakistan uploaded by Pakistan Tourism. The data has been gathered through internet resource. British National Corpus has been used for the conformation of the distinctiveness of those features. The features highlighted in the paper validate the previous studies in order to take a serious step towards the codification of PE. It also presents new features such as a divergent use of
punctuation and orthography of compound words from BSE and contributes to the existing body of knowledge. It is helpful for the researchers interested in a compilation of register based lexis and also offers a number of dimensions for further research by taking new genres into account in the study of non-native varieties of English. It also provides a good source of data for the compilation of corpus of PE.
The Language of TV Commercials’ Slogans: A Semantic AnalysisBahram Kazemian
This qualitative-descriptive study highlights the semantic property of the slogans of TV commercials. The study
focuses on the analysis of linguistic tools used by the copywriters of TV commercials to influence the target audience. Leech’s (1981) associative meaning with its sub-types provide a theoretical basis to the study. The research displays multiple strategies used by the copywriters. It underscores the associations attached to the keywords of the selected slogans according to the mentioned theory of meaning. The research helps the TV viewers to understand the guile used by the copywriters to entrap them as well as the researchers of the field of semantics.
Systemic Functional Linguistics Mood Analysis of the Last Address of the Holy...Bahram Kazemian
The study highlights the functional and semantic properties of the last address of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The
study is based upon Halliday’s (1985) SFL Mood analysis. The data obtained from the last address of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) are analyzed in tables. The analysis of 56 clauses reveals that 32 are declarative, 22 are imperative; whereas, only one is interrogative clause. A brief discussion explains the functional structural meanings based on clausal Mood classification. The study of the religious text discusses interpersonal metafunction of language. It highlights the power relations of the participants. The study fills the gap of SFL based linguistic study of the religious texts. The research shall act as a torch light for young researchers for further investigation in this regard.
Code-Switching in Urdu Books of Punjab Text Book Board, Lahore, PakistanBahram Kazemian
The study highlights English code-switching in Punjab Urdu textbooks. The research aims at finding and categorizing Urdu-English code-switches. Another rationale behind the study is to present Urdu equivalents of the switches from an Urdu-English dictionary; for instance, adakar for actor and sayyah for tourist. Textbooks of 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th class are selected for data collection and analysis. A number of instances are observed at morpheme, word, phrase and clause levels. Data is analyzed qualitatively. The data analysis shows switches at all the mentioned levels. The researchers propose a revision of the existing textbooks in the light of the given equivalents and a careful scrutiny of the compilation of future textbooks to preserve the purity of Urdu language.
Factors Responsible for Poor English Reading Comprehension at Secondary LevelBahram Kazemian
The present study shows factors responsible for poor English reading comprehension at secondary school level students. The purpose of this study is to explore those factors and to suggest remedies how to strengthen English reading comprehension of the students. English is the 2nd language of Pakistani students and Kachru (1996) places it in the outer circle. Test and interviews are conducted to get the data. Different factors like poor command of vocabulary, habit of cramming, no interest to learn creativity in reading but the sole goal is just to pass the examination which are found responsible for poor English reading comprehension. Motivation to learn reading can develop reading comprehension skill of students.
Dialogical Odes by John Keats: Mythologically RevisitedBahram Kazemian
This paper, using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism tries to investigate the indications of dialogic voice in Odes by John Keats. Indeed this study goes through the dialogic reading of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to Psyche’, and ‘Ode on Melancholy’, considering mythological outlooks. Analyzing Keats’s odes through dialogical perspective may reveal that Keats plays a role of an involved and social poet of his own time. Moreover, Keats embraces the world of fancy and imagination to free himself from sufferings of his society. Keats’ odes are influenced by expression of pain-joy reality by which he builds up a dialogue with readers trying to display his own political and social engagement. Applying various kinds of mythological elements and figures within the odes may disclose Keats’s historical response and reaction toward a conflicted society and human grieves in general.
Although, chaos/complexity theory and SLA have commonplaces, they seem to be different in that chaos/complexity theory offers the wider perspective that has served SLA in the past. As opposed to SLA, chaos/complexity theory encourages linguists to think in relational terms. It refers to the fact that by accepting participation metaphor/language use/emergent grammar position, chaos/complexity theory does not reject psychological perspective. As it is stated , chaos complexity theory like socialists focus on the following issues: 1. all languages are static 2. there are mechanisms for language change 3.language and learning are seen as an open systems.
Nevertheless, C/CT never rejects the following characteristics which psychological perspective focuses on: 1. languages are sensitive to initial conditions 2. there are systemic patterns with dynamic paths.
A Bakhtinian dialogical nature of theme in Keats’s odes as a circular escape ...Bahram Kazemian
This paper, applying Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism as a theoretical starting
point, attempts to study the manifestations of dialogic voice in Odes by John Keats.
In essence, this study investigates the dialogic reading of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on
a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to Psyche’, ‘To Autumn’ and ‘Ode on Melancholy’, regarding thematic viewpoints. A scrutiny upon Keats’s odes through dialogical viewpoints may
disclose that Keats is an involved and social poet of his time. Besides, Keats as an
escapist poet clings to the world of fancy and imagination to release himself from
conflicts of his society. Keats’ odes are dominated by expression of joy-pain reality
through which he, in an intimate dialogue with readers tries to show his own social
and political engagement. Examining various themes within the odes may display
Keats’s historical response toward a troubled society and human sufferings in general.
Critical Discourse Analysis of Barack Obama's 2012 Speeches: Views from Syste...Bahram Kazemian
In the light of Halliday's Ideational Grammatical Metaphor, Rhetoric and Critical Discourse Analysis, the major objectives of this study are to investigate and analyze Barack Obama's 2012 five speeches, which amount to 19383 words, from the point of frequency and functions of Nominalization, Rhetorical strategies, Passivization and Modality, in which we can grasp the effective and dominant principles and tropes utilized in political discourse. Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis frameworks based on a Hallidayan perspective are used to depict the orator’s deft and clever use of these strategies in the speeches which are bound up with his overall political purposes. The results represent that nominalization, parallelism, unification strategies and modality have dominated in his speeches. There are some antithesis, expletive devices as well as passive voices in these texts. Accordingly, in terms of nominalization, some implications are drawn for political writing and reading, for translators and instructors entailed in reading and writing pedagogy.
Nominalizations in scientific and political genres: A systemic functional lin...Bahram Kazemian
Halliday (1985, 1994) contemplates that there are two kinds of utterances: congruent, also called non-metaphorical; and incongruent, or metaphorical. Predominantly, it is believed that people, places and things are realized by means of a noun; actions are realized verbally and so on. However, all meanings may have more than one way of realization, and sometimes, in written language and particularly in scientific register, the realizations of the semantic functions of the clause are not typical, but marked. The general characterization of GM in terms of alternative realizations is stated more precisely as alternative lexico-grammatical realizations of a choice in the semantics (Simon-Vandenbergen, Taverniers, & Ravelli, 2003).
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
2. 594 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Such descriptive comparison and contrast serve to show how languages differ
in their sound system, grammatical structure and vocabulary. This type of analysis can
be used in language teaching, translation, and of course, designing syllabus among
others, to point out the areas where the similarities and discrepancies between two or
more languages are present.
Azeri language, also known as Azerbaijani, is the official language of the
Republic of Azerbaijan, though some dialects of the language are spoken in several
parts of Iran such as Azerbaijan Provinces, Ardabil, Hamedan, Gazvin and Zanjan
Provinces. Azeri language can also be heard in parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq,
and in southeastern area of the Republic of Georgia. Azeri people in Iran and the
Republic of Azerbaijan are bilingual. Worldwide, there are about 30 million or more
native speakers of this language (Farzaneh, 1998). Persian (Farsi) is an Indo-European
language, spoken and written primarily as an official language in Iran, Afghanistan,
and a part of Tajikistan. It is written from right to left in the Arabic-like alphabet
(Mace, 2003).
In all these places, English is incrementally becoming popular and essential
due to educational, social events and circumstances and it has become a compulsory
subject in schools and of course for families in the society. As English teachers, the
paramount importance of learning and teaching English morphology should be
recognized. The ability to acknowledge the components of words, i.e., affixes, roots
and word families etc., is believed to be an important skill in language learning and
teaching (Yarmohammadi, 2002).
Morphology and Bound Morphemes have become the focus by many experts
in the field of linguistics and language teaching. Azeri and Persian EFL learners are to
master explicitly or implicitly bound morphemes and inflections respectively. The
complexity in learning English inflectional morphemes, which Azeri and Persian
students are likely to encounter, seems to arise from different linguistic systems as
well as different linguistic affiliation. Two reasons have been put forward for the
considerable emphasis on this issue: the importance and necessity of inflectional
morphemes in learning English and vice versa and the difficulty of mastering these
types of structures for EFL and ESL learners. The idea appears even more
complicated when these languages come in contact with each other and when
speakers of Azerbaijani and Persian languages struggle to learn various types of
inflectional bound morphemes.
3. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 595
To identify such amiss, despite many criticisms, contrastive analysis (CA) as a
realm of applied linguistics was and still is a relatively underlying and sound basis for
paving the way for EFL and ESL learners, instructors, syllabus designers, text book
writers and translators (Fisiak, 1985).
For CA to take place, teachers of EFL and ESL must have an excellent
command of Azeri and Persian (native language) as well as English (target language)
so that they can grasp the problems that the learners will have to tackle in learning the
target language and assist them to overcome difficulties. Considering the absence of
studies on contrastive linguistic analysis of inflectional morphemes of English,
Azerbaijani and Persian languages, the primary aim of this study is to pinpoint the
similarities and discrepancies of these languages in terms of inflectional morphemes in
order to help teachers, syllabus designers, textbook writers, translators as well as EFL
and ESL learners to teach, design, translate and learn English inflections effectively. It
is believed that in EFL learning, the learner is very much affected by his or her native
language behavior; thus the problem of interference, while definitely not being the
only reason for learning difficulties, can hardly be avoided. CA plays an important role
in the recognition of language consciousness. Moreover, advanced learners can
benefit from a direct comparison of their native language with the target one.
Review of Literature
CA is defined as a realm of applied linguistics entailed in the comparison and
contrast of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine
both the dissimilarities and similarities between them (Fisiak, 1985). James (1989), on
the other hand, defines CA as "a hybrid linguistic enterprise aimed at generating
inverted (i.e., contrastive, not comparative) two valued typologies, and is founded on
the assumption that languages can be compared" (p.3).
Previous studies conducted by Krzeszowski (1990), Fisiak (1985) clarify that
CA is concerned with solving the problems that language learners have in learning
EFL or ESL. Ellis (1989) and Sajavaara (1977) in their books assert that CA was
rooted in the practical need to teach L2 in the most efficient way possible. As Lado
(1957) makes clear: "the teacher who has made a comparison …. will know better
what the real problems are and can provide for teaching them. So the origins of CA
were pedagogic"(p. 2).
4. 596 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) and pedagogical contrastive
researches may be studied with the insight stated by Fries (1945): “The most efficient
materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the language to be
learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the
learner” (p. 9).
To Fries, native language effect was influenced by old habits while some of
them were potentially efficient and useful, and some others were harmful. Fries (1945)
and Lado (1957) argued that it is of paramount importance to develop and expand
materials particularly designed for different groups of learners belonging to different
linguistic backgrounds. They believed that a language teacher has to take advantage of
the findings of cross-linguistic distinctions. Lado made CA explicit by stating that L1
plays a very important role in SLA. Lado (1957) mentions that: "individuals tend to
transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings …
when attempting to grasp and understand the language and the culture as practiced by
natives" (Lado, p. 2).
The linguistic and psychological aspects of CA were at the root of the
pedagogical component of Lado's theory. Generally, there are two forms of CAH:
strong version, and weak version (Fisiak, 1985; Ziahosseiny, 1999). The early
formulation of the CAH is called the strong version as it claims a high predictive
power. It is based on Lado's assumption that (1957): "the student who comes into
contact with a foreign language will find some features of it quite easy and others
extremely difficult. Those elements … that are different will be difficult (p. 2).
Following the criticism of the strong version of CA, Wardlaugh (1970)
proposed a more tenable weak version of CA. The weak version he writes, "starts
with the evidence provided by linguistic interference and uses such evidence to
explain the similarities and differences between the two systems" (p.15). This version
does not claim to be predictive but aims at identifying which errors are the results of
Ll interference. The difference is reflected in the analytic procedure it employs.
Therefore, the weak form of the hypothesis claims only to be diagnostic. The CA can
be utilized to pinpoint which errors are the results of interference (Khansir, 2012).
5. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 597
Revising the literature and annals of CA, there are plenty of studies
contrasting various aspects of languages with English; and there are also some
remarkable researchers who have made efforts to compare and contrast English and
Persian. Yarmohammadi (2002) has done a wide variety of researches in English and
Persian and in one of his studies, he has thoroughly contrasted both languages in
terms of phonology, vocabulary and grammar but no attention was paid to bound
morphemes. He has compared, juxtaposed and predicted some difficulties for Persian
learners of English. Fatemi and Ziaei (2012) carried out an analysis based on out-of-
context translation of Persian and English and its probable problems in EFL
classroom. Hayati and Kalanzadeh (2005) investigated Iranian EFL learners'
difficulties in utilizing English linking verbs in collocation with particular adjective.
Their results demonstrated Iranian learners' difficulty in internalizing linking verbs.
Unfortunately, few studies have contrastively inquired into Azeri and English
or Azeri and Persian and so on. Torabi (2002), for instance, has done an exhaustive
and noticeable research in Azeri and English; it is basically and generally about the
fundamental importance of teaching Azeri learners' mother tongue in schools as
bilinguals and he has also taken into accounts phonological discrepancies and
similarities between Azeri and English but less about morphological components. He
has depicted phonological problems for learners encountering English language.
Ahranjani (2011) has compared number system of the noun in Azeri and English and
has revealed both similarities and dissimilarities between them. As mentioned above,
there are few studies in terms of Azeri and English or Azeri and Persian and almost
all have confined themselves to one or two aspects of languages. Comparatively
speaking, this study is the first one looking into inflections in details between three
languages.
Nevertheless, there are still many applied linguists who strictly believe that CA
has a predictive essence. In fact, no one can deny the potential impact of CA studies
in certain fields (Fisiak, 1985). However, despite all heated controversies surrounding
the field of CA and strong critical voices, many language teachers from various
corners of the world as well as a large number of applied linguists have found
Contrastive studies functional in language teaching, materials development etc. It is
also helpful in dealing with the learning problems students confront (Fisiak, 1985;
Keshavarz, 2003).
6. 598 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Fisiak (1971) asserts that CA has a great pedagogical value precisely in day-to-
day teaching in the classroom, and it is a useful technique for presenting language
materials to the learner and is one of the characteristic aspects of a method of
teaching as well. He believes that the native language of the learner is a very powerful
element in SLA and one which cannot be removed from the process of learning.
Morphology and Bound Morphemes
Morphology is the study of the form or structure of words in a specific
language, and of their categorization (Brinton, 2000). A morpheme is the smallest
component of a word that has grammatical function or meaning. For example,
mowed, mown, mowing, and mows can all be analyzed into the morphemes
{mow} + {‑ed}, {‑n}, {‑ing}, and {‑s}, respectively. None of these last four can be
further divided into meaningful units and each occurs in many other words, such as
worked, sawn, sneezing, cooks (Falk, 1998; Yule, 2006).
A broad distinction can be made between two types of morphemes. There are
free morphemes that can stand by themselves as single words, for example, open.
There are also bound morphemes which cannot normally stand alone and are typically
attached to another form, exemplified as re-, -ed, -s. The inventory of affixes that
constitutes the set of bound morphemes can be divided into two types as
Derivational and Inflectional morphemes. The second set of bound morphemes,
the focus of this study, which is the process of adding an affix to a word or varying it
in some other way according to the rules of grammar of a languages is called
inflection. In English, for instance, verbs are inflected for 3rd
-person singular (she
ponders) and for past tense (she spelled). Most nouns may be inflected for plural
(lions, clouds etc.). These are not utilized to generate new words in the language, but
rather to display aspects of the grammatical function of a word. Inflections are used
to indicate if a word is plural or singular, if it is past tense or not, and if it is a
comparative or possessive form. English has eight inflectional morphemes (Trask,
1999; Brinton, 2000; Aarts & Mcmahon, 2006).
Azerbaijani and Persian Languages
Azerbaijani or Azeri, is a member of the Turkic realm of the Altaic language
family, which consists of about 20 languages. Azerbaijani belongs to the Oghuz
Seljuk sub-group.
7. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 599
Like all Turkic languages, Azerbaijani is agglutinative, that is, grammatical
functions are depicted by adding suffixes to stems. Separate noun suffixes display
gender, number, and case. All the Turkic languages, including Azeri, are highly
synthetic, i.e., words are inflected by means of suffixes (Farzaneh, 1998). For instance,
Türk-lə-ş-dir-əbil-sa-x which means if we can make (somebody) become like Turks;
literally, there are six inflections plus one stem. All Azeri words, like other
agglutinative languages, are lexically and grammatically independent components:
grammatical meanings and grammatical connections are constructed by mono-
semantic inflections which follow the stem and the root of a word (Vazinpour, 1969;
Hadi, 1995; Farzaneh, 1998).
Like English and Azeri, Farsi has an affixitive morphology. In other words,
suffixes, prefixes and some infixes are incorporated to Farsi words to alter the
meaning. Since Farsi is read from right to left, what seems to be the end of a word to
an English reader is actually the beginning; prefixes might at first appear to be
suffixes. Like English and Azeri nouns, Farsi nouns are affixed to denote possession
and plurality etc. (Bageri, 2002; Mace, 2003).
Methodology
Procedure
In order to contrast and compare inflectional bound morphemes of English,
Azeri and Persian languages and to identify their similarities and dissimilarities,
inventories of English, Azeri and Farsi inflections, i.e. their set of affixes, were
gathered, studied, and elaborated with some examples, and with English meanings.
Eventually, after comparison, the researchers ended up with a series of statements
about similarities and differences between these languages.
Design
The design of the present study is comparative-analytic which concentrates on
the comparison and contrasting inflections of English, Azeri and Persian languages.
The data is analyzed and illustrated through the contrastive method.
8. 600 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Data Analysis
English Inflectional Morphemes
Inflections, as mentioned earlier, vary the form of a word in order to display
certain grammatical characteristics. English has only eight inflectional morphemes,
listed in Table 1, along with the properties they demonstrate. Except for {-en}, the
forms depicted in Table 1 are the regular English inflections. They are regular
because they are the inflections attached to the vast majority of verbs, nouns, and
adjectives to indicate grammatical properties such as tense, number, gender and case
(Brinton, 2000; Yule, 2006) as follows:
Table 1: The Eight English Inflectional Morphemes
MORPHEME
GRAMMATICAL
FUNCTION
EXAMPLE
NOUN
plural Marks as more than one
regular: mugs, spas, buses
irregular: sheep, phenomena,
children
possessive Marks for ownership the man's, Mike's, the boy's
VERB
3rd person
singular present
Marks to agree with
singular third person
reflects, forms, proves
past tense Marks for past action.
regular: inquired, analyzed,
cooked
irregular: put, taught, shrank
present participle
Marks present participle
eating, being, screaming
past participle
Marks past participle
(follows be or have):
regular: proven, taken, eaten
irregular: drunk, hung;
waited (same as past tense)
ADJECTI
VE
comparative Marks for comparison faster, nicer, slower
superlative
Marks as superlative
fastest, nicest, slowest, quickest
Inflections for Nouns
In English, the class noun corresponds to inflectional categories number and
possessive case. In English, nouns are twofold, i.e. singular, which denotes one, and
plural, which represents more than one, and is indicated with (s). The plural suffix /-
s/ may be attached to the base form which is singular to change it to plural. This
plural suffix has three allomorphs, i.e., /-s, -z, and –iz/. (Aarts & Mcmahon, 2006).
9. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 601
It is worth noting that plurality in English is baffling at times and, in writing
and pronunciation, it needs more attention to be taken by learners and the following
spelling rules should be observed. The regular plural suffix -s is inflected to singular
nouns e.g.: hands, bats, to denote more than one. The suffix -es is inflected to singular
nouns ending in [s, ss, sh, (t)ch, x , and z] e.g.: boxes, watches.
It is incorporated to singular nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant and
the ‑y is dropped and ‑ies is added to form the plural as in opportunity,
opportunities; fly, flies etc. Nouns ending with -y preceded by a vowel take the
plural suffix /-s/ as in boys, bays. For nouns ending in ‑o, ‑es is attached to form
the plural: vetoes, torpedoes and so on (Alimohammadi & Khalili, 2006).
There are also several irregular ways of forming a plural as follows: There are
seven nouns that their vowels are varied to represent plurality: man, men; knife,
knives; ox, oxen; bacillus –bacilli etc. The last but not least, several nouns are used
only in the singular as in: music, advice; physics, linguistics, etc.
Salim (2013) argues that different languages abound variations in the number
and kind of case devices. Some languages (Chinese) don't possess case markings at all
but English nouns are marked in writing for the category possession by an
inflectional suffix (-'s) in the regular nouns and by (-s') in the plural nouns. The
pronunciation of the possessive suffix is identical with that of the plural suffix (s). The
possessive suffix /-s/ is attached to the end of the singular noun not ending in (s) as
in Matt's book. The apostrophe /-'/ is inflected after the plural (s) in plural nouns as
in boys' ball. There is also another structure to represent possessiveness in English
and it is symbolized with (of) and denotes possession to inanimate objects such as the
legs of the table; the roof of the house etc.
Inflections for Verbs
Verbs in English are suffixed with inflections to signify grammatical states viz
past and present tense, past participle etc. As the Table 1 presents, there are four
inflections for verbs in English. The morph that identifies noun plurals, which is
symbolized orthographically by -s and phonemically as /z/, and /iz/ is the same
form as the morph that marks 3rd
person singular verbs. Past participles are likewise
labeled by the morph -ed (/d/), while present participles and gerunds are indicated
by the morph –ing, (Trask, 1999).
10. 602 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
However, due to its long and complicated history, there are many irregular
verb forms in English, which might be irregular in a variety of ways. Primarily,
irregular words may use different inflections than regular ones: for instance, the
customary past participle inflection of a regular verb is {-ed}, but the past participle
of take is taken. Second, irregular forms may include internal vowel changes, as in
steal/stole, grow/grew, and sing/sang. Irregular forms present the abstract status
of morphemes. Thus, the word caught represents {catch} and {past tense}; went
symbolizes {go} and {past tense}(Falk, 1998; Aarts & McMahon, 2006).
Inflections for Adjectives.
In order to compare two things, comparative form of an adjective is used.
For example, the comparative form of high is higher, and the comparative form of
exciting is more exciting. If you want to say that one thing is quicker, more
fascinating, etc. than all the others of a group of things, the superlative form of an
adjective is utilized. For example, the superlative form of high is the highest, and the
superlative form of exciting is the most exciting. It should be noticed that if the
adjective is one syllable long, ‑er or ‑est to it, is added; if the adjective is three or
more syllables long, the words more or most before it, is attached. Not all adjectives
follow the normal rules. Some adjectives have completely irregular forms. The most
common ones are: good, better, best; bad, worse, worst etc. (Spencer & Zwicky,
2007).
Azeri Inflectional Morphemes
In Azeri, word meanings are altered by fixing other words on to the root as
direct suffixes. There is regularity in Azeri grammar but the difference is that it is
composed of post-positions which are inflected directly to nouns or other parts of
speech to change their meaning. This utilization of suffixes is called agglutination,
semantically meaning a sticking-on to…. The characteristic feature of agglutinative
languages is that a large number of so-called sticker-suffixes are incorporated to the
unchangeable root of the words. These suffixes express syntactic relations in the
sentence. This is opposed to English which uses individual prepositions by the same
token (Householder & Lotfi, 1965):
11. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 603
Table 2: Azerbaijani Inflectional Morphemes
MORPHEME
GRAMMATICAL
FUNCTION
EXPONENT EXAMPLE
NOUN
plural
Marks as more
than one
-lar
kitab-lar (the books), göz-lar
(the eyes)
-lər
gül-lər (the flowers), əl- lər
(the hands)
possessive
Marks for
ownership
-ün un in ın
-nün nun nin nın
adam-ın ev-i (the man's
house) // suyun dadı (water's
taste) // ana-m-ın bağça-sı
(my mother's garden)
VERB
present
tense
Marks to agree
with the present
tense.
-(y)ir(ır,ur,ür)
yaz gəlir (spring comes) //
oxu-y-ur (he/she reads) //
yaz-ir (he /she writes) // ged-
ir (he/she goes)
past tense
Marks for past
action.
-dı di du dü
iç-di-m (I drank) // gör-dü-n
(you saw) // yağış yağ-dı (It
rained) //göy gurulda-dı (the
sky thundered),
present
participle
Marks present
participle
(follows by ing in
English).
-məkdə məqdə
anda əndə //
-(y)an/ən
yaz-makda-yam (I am writing)
// oxu- məkdə-yam (I am
reading)
gələndə (upon coming //
oxuyanda (upon reading)
gal-an (who is staying) // gələn
(who is coming) // oxu-yan
(who is reading)
past
participle
Marks past
participle
-mış miş muş
müş //
-dıg dik duq dük
diy düy
quru-muş (dried) // gör-müş
(seen) // daniş- miş söz
(discussed words)
bil-dig-in-iş (known) // yaz-
dig-in ketab (written book)
ADJECTIVE
comparativ
e
Marks for
comparison.
-raq rak
kök-raq (fatter) // söyüq-raq
(colder) // yaxşı-raq (better)
// pisrək (worse)
12. 604 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Inflections for Nouns
In Azerbaijani, there is a progressive vowel assimilation principle that is
generally known as vowel harmony. Accordingly, the vowel of any suffix is
conditioned and harmonized by the vowel of the last syllable to which that suffix is
added, for example, if there is a soft vowel (e, ə, i, ö, ü) in the stem, then the inflection
must be soft, if there is a hard vowel (a, ı, o, u) in the stem, then the vowel of the
inflection must be hard. In nouns, for instance, the plural suffix is –lar for back vowel
words and –lər for front vowel words (Hadi, 1995; Ahranjani, 2011).
The case marking generates a possessive relationship between the nominal
components which are incorporated to and another nominal components. The
second component usually comes after the first substantive. The case marking
inflection is usually rendered into English with of or 's. The case marking suffixes in
Azeri are –n (in): a. after nouns ending in a consonant, -ün un in ın are used (toyuğ-
un = of hen) and b. after nouns ending in a vowel, -nün nun nin nın are used (ütü-
nün = of iron). In structures that comprise two nouns, the first two nouns that make
up a simple genitive-possessive compound are regarded as a regular noun, the
possessor, taking the genitive inflection, with the third noun taking the possessive
suffix (Farzaneh, 1998; Ahranjani, 2011), as in:
1. a. ev-in qapi-si = the door of the house
b. ev-in qapisin-in rang-i = the color of the door of the house.
Inflections for Verbs.
The present tense is formed by adding -(y)ir(ır,ur,ür) to the verb root. For
example: işləmək (to work) işlə-y-ir (works); gəl-mək (to come) gəl-ir (comes); and
bil-ir-lər (they know) etc. There is neither a definite article, nor gender pronouns in
Azerbaijani. A single word (o) signifies he, she, and it, and 3rd
person singular is only
identifiable when there are no words or letters after the inflections; namely there are
just roots and inflections attached together (Vazinpour, 1969).
The simple past tense in Azeri indicates a past action absolutely known to or
experienced by the speaker as well. A set of personal suffixes are used with simple
past tense endings. For simple past tense these (-dı di du dü) suffixes are utilized
(Hadi, 1995; Farzaneh, 1998). Consider the following examples:
13. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 605
2. Singular mən (I) yaz-di-m (I wrote)
sən (you) yaz-di-n (you wrote)
o (he, she, it) yaz-di (he/she wrote)
Plural biz (we) yaz-di-q (we wrote)
siz (you) yaz-di-niz (you wrote)
onlar (they) yaz-di-lar (they wrote)
Azerbaijani has several participles that are used as adjectives. English has
only two, namely the present and the past participles. In Azeri, the participles, for
instance, (-dıg dik duq dük diy düy) are one of the most frequently used ones, e.g.
göndər-diy-iniz (that which you sent). There are another suffixes inflected to words
to indicate past participle, present or past perfect as in: gör-müş (seen), al-mış
(bought), etc. The inflections for present participle in Azeri are (-məkdə məqdə; -anda
əndə;-an/ən) which are marked by -ing in English, for instance, gəl-məkdə-dir
(coming); ged-əndə (upon leaving); oxuy-an (who is reading), etc. (Householder &
Lotfi, 1965; Hadi, 1995).
Inflections for Adjectives
In order to express comparativeness in Azerbaijani, the suffixes -raq and -
rak (old-fashioned) for some words and the adverb (daha) for all words, which mean
-er and more, are used. Like English, these suffixes and the word (daha), in some
words, can be used interchangeably to indicate comparative adjective, e.g. yaxşı-raq
or daha yaxşı (better). There is no inflectional suffix for superlative in Azeri and it is
expressed by the words ən and lap (in colloquial): ən/lap böyük (the biggest);
ən/lap gözəl (the most beautiful) (Hadi, 1995; Farzaneh, 1998).
Persian Inflectional Morphemes
Like Azerbaijani and English, Persian possesses a rich morphology dominated
by affixations. Verbs are affixed in the language and signify tense and aspect, and
agree with subject in person and number. The language does not make use of gender.
A single word (u = )او represents he, and she as Azeri. Like Azeri, Persian verbs
usually stands at the end of its sentence or clause. Simple and compound verbs are
distinguished in Persian. A simple verb is one whose infinitive consists of one word
such as bāftən (to weave) and a compound verb consists of a non-verbal part and a
simple verb, e.g.: kar kərdən (to work) (Bageri, 2002; Mashkur, 2009).
14. 606 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Table 3: Persian Inflectional Morphemes
MORPHEME
GRAMMATICAL
FUNCTION
EXPONENT EXAMPLE
NOUN
plural
Marks as more
than one
-hā (ھﺎ) –(y)ān
(ان)
ketab-hā (the books), mard-ān (men),
gedā-yān (brggars)
-āt (ات) in (ﯾﻦ)
un (ون)
xater-āt (memories) / mohassel-in
(students) / ruhani-un (mullahs)
possessive
Marks for
ownership -(y)e
kafş-e Ali (ali's shoe) / çeşmha-ye
Sara (Sara's eyes)
VERB
present
tense
Indicate the
present tense.
prefix mi- mi-guy-əm (I say) / mi-rəv-əm (I go)
present
participle
Marks present
participle
dār (plus present
personal endings
and present
tense)
dār-əd mixəndəd (he/she is
laughing) / dār-im bāzi mikonim (we
are playing)
past
participle
Marks past
participle
-e
xord-e (eaten) / rəft-e (gone) /
xərid-e (bought) / āməd-e (come)
ADJECTIVE
comparativ
e
Marks for
comparison tər (ﺗﺮ )
çaq-tər (fatter) / sərd-tər (colder) /
ziba-tər (more beautiful)
superlative
Marks for
superlative
tərin (ﺗﺮﯾﻦ)
bolənd-tərin (the highest) /
xətərnak-tərin (the most dangrous)
Inflections for Nouns
In Persian, the plural form of a noun denoting a person is made by adding
the suffix -ān ()ان after consonant and -(y)ān after vowels to the singular form
(mehmān-ān = guests; āgā-yān = gentlemen); for the plural form of a noun, not
denoting a person, the suffix -hā ()ھﺎ (gozāreş-hā = reports) is inflected. However, in
modern Persian, there is tendency to add -hā ()ھﺎ to many nouns denoting people as
in (əfsər-ān or əfsər-hā = officers). Three other plural forms viz -āt (-,)اتin ()ﯾﻦ and -
un ()ون , borrowed from Arabic and used for words taken from Arabic, survive in
literary style and are utilized for a few words as alternatives for –ān and –hā in
everyday Persian (Mace, 2003).
15. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 607
The inflection -āt ()ات is Arabic so-called sound feminine plural and is
attached to certain words ending in consonant and not denoting persons: heivānāt
(animals). It is also used with words ending in silent -e ()ه and ət ()ت as in: hekāyət
(singular), hekāy-āt (plural) = stories; molahezeh (singular), molahez-āt (plural) =
regards. In imitation of Arabic, this suffix is also incorporated to some native Persian
words denoting things and ending silent -e ()ه and the plural takes the form jāt ()ﺟﺎت
as in mive-jāt (fruits) and ruznāme-jāt or ruznāme-hā (newspapers) (Ziahosseiny,
1999).
The inflections -in ()ﯾﻦ and -un ()ون are Arabic so-called sound masculine
plurals as well. They are inflected to certain nouns signifying male persons. After the
consonant, the suffix is -in (;)ﯾﻦ after the letter i (,)ی the suffix is -un (,)ون for
instance: motərjem-in (translators); estemari-un (colonialists). Eventually, Arabic
irregular or so-called broken plural (mokəssər), in which no suffix is attached but the
word's form is changed and it is similar to irregular nouns in English as in: şəxs = a
person (singular), əşxas (plural) = persons etc. (Mace, 2003).
In Persian, the genitive case connects two or more words to each other.
Possessiveness is symbolized with the enclitic -e (-ye after vowels), Persian so-called
ezāfe. The genitive enclitic is inflected to all the words that are related to the head
word and complement it (Mashkur, 2009; Ahranjani, 2011); Look at the following
instances:
3. a. ketāb-hā-ye Ali (Ali's books) (Persian)
b. Ali-nin Kitab-lar-i (Ali's books) (Azeri)
c. ərbāb-e həlqehā (Lord of the rings). (Persian)
The ezāfe can be repeated in a string; further any noun in the expression may
have a demonstrative adjectives, e.g: budje-ye hokumət-e Kuwait (the Kuwait
government's budget). It is also utilized with nouns to link two nouns which are in
apposition, namely the same in identity; the ezāfe (-e) is suffixed to the first noun as in:
xiābān-e Shəhriyār (Shahriyar street). It also has other functions in apposition forms
which are beyond the scope of this study (Bageri, 2002; Ahranjani, 2011).
16. 608 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
Inflections for Verbs
The present tense of Persian verbs (I do, I am doing) are structured with
present prefix (mi = )ﻣﯽ plus present stem and present personal endings viz əm, i, əd, im, id
and ənd; the present prefix is commonly written detached to the verb. (Bageri, 2002;
Mashkur, 2009). Consider the typical example in Persian present tense:
4. Persons Singular Plural
1st
mi xān-əm ( ﻣﯽﺧﻮاﻧﻢ ) mi xān-im (ﺧﻮاﻧﯿﻢ )ﻣﯽ
2nd
mi xān-i ( ﻣﯽﺧﻮاﻧﯽ ) mi xān-id (ﺧﻮاﻧﯿﺪ )ﻣﯽ
3rd
mi xān-əd (ﺧﻮاﻧﺪ )ﻣﯽ mi xān-ənd (ﺧﻮاﻧﻨﺪ )ﻣﯽ
I read / I am reading, etc. in English for all.
For most remaining verbs, the present stem is irregular and has to be learned
with the verbs (Mace, 2003; Mashkur, 2009). In Persian, the present tense is used for
any current or impeding action or situation and is also utilized to show present
participle (I am doing):
5. a. u mi-quyəd (he/she says and he/she is saying).
b. Çerā mi-xəndid? (Why are you laughing? and why do you laugh?).
However, there is another structure to indicate present progressive (ing in
English) in Persian with the prefix dār plus present personal endings (əm, i, əd, im, id
and ənd) and present tense as in: dār-i mi-xān-i (you are reading); dār- əm nāhār
mi-xor-əm (I am eating lunch) etc. (Yarmohammadi, 2002).
The past tense is formed with the past stem plus past personal endings. The
formation of past stem is easy, i.e. remove the final ən ()ن from the long infinitive, for
instance: koşt-ən (to kill) is turned into koşt (killed) and so on for all verbs in the
language. The 3rd
person singular form of the tense has no ending; for this form the
past tense is identical to the stem itself. All past stems and endings, and hence all past
tenses are regular and are stressed on the last syllable of the past stem, when the verb
is affirmative (Mace, 2003). A typical instance as follows:
6. Persons Singular Plural
1st
xānd-əm ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪم I read xānd -im ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪﯾﻢ we read
2nd
xānd -i ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪی you read xānd -id ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪﯾﺪ you read
3rd
xān-d ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪ he/she/it read xānd-ənd ()ﺧﻮاﻧﺪﻧﺪ they read.
17. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 609
Participles are adjectives derived from verbs. Like English, Persian has two
participles: the present participle (doing) and the past participle (done). The latter is
formed by inflecting the stressed ending –e to the past stem, for instance, resid
(arrived), resid-e (arrived); neveşt (wrote), neveşt-e (written) etc. The ending -e ()ه
might be similar to case marking –e at first sight, but unlike case marking, the ending -
e ()ه is written orthographically (Bageri, 2002).
Inflections for Adjectives
The comparative form of the adjective in Persian is made by suffixing -tər
()ﺗﺮ to the basic form of the adjective and the suffix takes the stress of the word, e.g.:
bozorg-tər (bigger), gerān-tər (more expensive) etc. A few comparative forms are
irregular in a way that they do not use the common form as a base, and in lieu of it,
another form is utilized as in English, e.g: xub (good), behtər (better). The
superlative form of the adjective is formed by inflecting -in ()ﯾﻦ to the comparative
form -tər ()ﺗﺮ and the stress shifts on to the -in ()ﯾﻦ as in: bozorg-tər-in (the biggest),
gerān-tər-in (the most expensive) and so on. The irregular form is made as the
example: behtər-in (the best) etc. (Mace, 2003).
Findings and Results
The CA of the inflections in English, Azeri and Persian languages,
conducted in this study, reflects the following facts: (1) these languages share some
characteristics in terms of inflectional affixations. The inflections are incorporated to
signify number, possession, tense, comparison, etc. (2) Azeri is the most regular of
them in terms of plurality and utilizes only two suffixes to indicate it (-lar, -lər).
English uses a vast number of irregular forms borrowed from other languages;
Persian also employs three loan-inflections as well as the so-called broken plurals
from Arabic (-hā (,)ھﺎ (y)ān (,)ان -āt (,)ات -in (,)ﯾﻦ -un (.))ون The challenging part is
the feasibility of both regular and irregular forms for some nouns in English and
Persian. (3) English and Azeri are inflected to mark genitive case, but Persian applies
the enclitic -e (so-called ezāfe) in lieu to indicate possessive relation which is not
written orthographically but pronounced; the enclitic –e is applied for all possessive
relations and is very regular.
18. 610 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
(4) Genitive case in Azeri system is somehow intricate (-ün, -un,-in,-ın,-nün,-
nun,-nin,-nın) and eight possessive inflections are used, due to vowel harmony, to
represent it. English utilizes three constructions (‘s, s’, of) to mark it. (5) English
verbs are suffixed to demonstrate 3rd
person singular (s); Azeri are not affixed to show
it, i.e. there is no grammatical gender in Azeri and nor suffix for 3rd
person singular as
well (there is only a stem plus ir, ır, ur, ür); the 3rd
person in Persian for present tense
is only recognizable by an ending (əd) as in (mi-xān-əd = he/she reads or is reading
etc.). A single word (o for Azeri & u for Farsi) denotes he, she, in both. (6) Persian is
prefixed (mi) to mark present tense; and Azeri employs four inflections to symbolize
it (-(y)ir,-ır,-ur,-ür). (7) English uses two constructions (regular & irregular) to display
simple past tense; But Azeri utilizes a set of suffixes to represent it (-dı, di,-du,-dü);
Persian doesn't include any inflections and is formed by removing endings from
infinitives and is more regular than the others. (8) Persian structure does not generally
differentiate between simple present (I do) and present participle (I am doing); the
former is used to represent both. Present participle is only distinguishable in the
context. However, there is another framework colloquially employed to signify it,
namely dār (to have) followed by the present tense, e.g. dār-əm minevis-əm (I am
writing now).
(9) Azeri incorporates three various inflectional categories to mark present
participle (ing); the formation of present participle in English is very regular, namely
one framework corresponds to all verbs. (10) Azeri comprises a significant number of
inflections to characterize participles, but English only has two, i.e. present and past
participle. (11) English employs two constituents (regular & irregular) for past
participle. The structure of the regular form is conducted by inflecting (-d or -ed) to
the verbs, but the structure of irregularity is not stable and switches from verbs to
verbs. (12) Azeri utilizes two different categories to mark past participle and there
exists some various sub-categories within each category. Persian is the most regular of
all in terms of past participle and the stressed ending -e ()ه is inflected to the past stem
for all verbs to form past participle. (13) Persian adjectives are regularly suffixed to
construct comparatives (tər) and superlatives (tərin). Azeri makes use of two
inflections for some adjectives and one independent adverb (daha) is used for all
adjectives to express the comparatives. (14) There is no affix for superlative in Azeri,
and the adverb (ən) is consistently employed for all adjectives in lieu.
19. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 611
(15) English deploys two suffixes for one-syllable adjectives (-er, -est) to mark
comparatives and superlatives, and employs two adverbs (more, the most) for three or
more syllables long adjectives to show comparatives and superlatives. Nonetheless,
there is no consistency among them and there are some irregular forms as well.
Discussion and Implications
From the above results, it can be inferred that English, Azeri and Persian
languages abound in using inflections and share some joint properties as well as
multiple distinctive differentiation. In the light of such results, the learning path of
learners learning English, Azeri or Persian may be resolved. It is worthwhile noting
that the presence or absence of some structures such as regularity or irregularity in
one language must not be regarded or misinterpreted as flaws for one and strength for
others. The differences in this study are highlighted to reveal feasible difficulties for
learning these languages.
Technically speaking, the discrepancies and presence or absence of some
structures between these languages might bring about some degrees of difficulties,
among other sources, for learners as such coalescence or convergence, underdifferentitation,
reinterpretation and overgeneralization, overdifferentitation and split. Thus, a systemic analysis
and classification of differences and similarities can be of remarkable utility in not
only predicting but also diagnosing as well as facilitating such errors to be taken into
account by the text book writers and syllabus designers in the selection of the actual
teaching material on the basis of several criteria such as frequency of occurrence and
teachibility. Grading is also the concern of contrastivists. The text book writer divides
the language course into time segments, allocating more teaching time and learning
time to items with a high degree of difficulty. Sequencing, that is, the ordering of
teaching units can be most fruitfully based on the results of CA (Ziahosseiny, 1999).
Consequently, findings based on CA will sharpen the teachers' eye and equip
them for diagnosis; nevertheless instructors’ fundamental role in thorough
acquaintance and conveyance of CA results must not be underestimated. These
insights would enable us to answer questions such as, how is it that an Azeri or a
Persian sentence containing 3rd person present singular subject can be realized in
English and vice versa.
20. 612 Journal of Education & Human Development, Vol. 3(1), March 2014
It should be born in mind that CA does not suggest a method or technique of
teaching, rather it provides raw materials for methodologists, text book writers and
syllabus designers as well as for instructors with what of teaching. They will, then,
find the how of teaching. It is also asserted that the findings of CA furnish perfect
yardstick for selecting testing items (Lado, 1957).
Conclusion
The main objective of this study is depicting detailed descriptions of the
discrepancies and similarities between English, Azeri and Persian in terms of
inflectional morphemes to establish a linguistically incentive hierarchy of
dissimilarities for syllabus designers, textbook writers, translators and teachers. The
analysis reveals some similarities and multiple differences between the languages in
terms of inflectional bound morphemes. These languages use inflections to represent
aspects of grammatical functions of a word; in the meanwhile, they displays some
differences and irregularities in affixations, and these inconsistency might result in
some difficulties for learners.
Fisiak (1974, 1985) argues that contrastive studies are necessary prerequisites
of successful language teaching and preparation of teaching materials. In the progress
of learning and teaching a foreign language, CA cannot be omitted. The differences
assist the learners get through the similarities and discrepancies between his mother
tongue and the target language in order to enhance his knowledge.
To sum up, language is the most effective method of communication of
human beings. In this paper, thanks to CA, the researchers illustrated affixes
constituting Azerbaijani, Persian and English inflectional bound morphemes in
details. CA although is old, is still relevant in assisting language teachers with their
teaching methods and techniques. CA consistently make a contribution to our
command of language structure and of the strong association acquired between
language systems; therefore, CA is primarily concerned with linguistic matters and
pedagogy. It is also hoped that the analysis and results of this paper satisfy the interest
of the language teachers, translators, text book writers, syllabus designers as well as
students.
21. Bahram Kazemian & Somayyeh Hashemi 613
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