International Linguistics Research

Going to the Root

Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Ioannis K. Kenanidis — Wed, 09 May 2018 13:26:13 +0800

This paper presents an attempt to reconstruct the most basic features of the language of Homo Sapiens, following the principle of monogenesis, namely the viewpoint that since humans share a common biological ancestry, they also share a common linguistic one. Considering this issue, the basic methods of comparative linguistics are briefly presented first, along with the methodological approach utilized herein, named Qualitative Inquiry. The results of the reconstructing process are presented, classified in terms of phonological, morphological, lexical, grammatical and syntactic aspects. Only bordering to the scope of this paper, a brief comparison of this treatise to previous studies reveals both convergence and discrepancy concerning the features of the language.

Depiction of Victorian Era in the Novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Farhana Haque — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0800

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectation actually did reflect the Victorian society and therefore the morality of that era’s people inside of the novel. Since we know that Victorian era basically present some features such as virtue, strength, thrift, manners, cleanliness, honesty and chastity. These are the morals that Victorian people used to hold with high esteem. In this novel Great Expectations, Dickens has created some Victorian characters whom we have seen both in good working way or not at all. But the protagonist named Pip was dynamic and he went through some several changes and dealt with different and significant moral issues. Somehow Pip left behind all the values he was raised with. Because Miss Havisham and Estella have corrupted Pip with rich life. Greed, beauty and arrogance were his ingredient of immoral life. The other characters like Joe and Biddy were static characters throughout the entire novel and became noticeable to be the manifestation of what we call as ideal Victorians. The main heroin of this novel was Estella with whom Pip thought he had some love connection. Hence, Estella has been presented as a good in the sense of potentiality and turned morally bad. Miss Havisham, who was basically a corrupt woman and she engraved the center of the novel. Great Expectations did disclose how was the situation of Victorian society through some important features such as higher class, corrupted judicial system between rural and urban England. Here in this novel, Dickens was concern about the education system in Victorian era where the lower class people get less opportunities of getting proper education. From the beginning to the end of this novel, Dickens explored some significant issues regarding higher and lower class system of Victorian society which did fluctuate from the greatest woeful criminal named Magwitch to the needy people of the swamp country, where Joe and Biddy were the symbol of that regime. After that we can proceed to the middle class family where Pumblechook was the person to represent that regime. Last but not the least Miss Havisham symbolized and bear flag of very rich and sophisticated Victorian woman who has represented the higher class society in the novel Great Expectations. Hence we can say Great Expectations has talked and displayed the class system of Victorian England and the characters of this novel therefore also did uphold the true reflection of Victorian era.

Seven Linear B Syllabograms of Conventionally Unknown Phonetic Value

Ioannis K. Kenanidis, Evangelos C. Papakitsos — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 19:43:53 +0800

This paper presents seven syllabograms (signs used for Consonant-Vowel [CV] syllables) of the Linear B syllabary that are conventionally considered of unknown phonetic value. This presentation is conducted following the theory of the Cretan Protolinear syllabary as the one that all the Aegean syllabaries evolved from, namely Linear A, Cretan Hieroglyphics, Linear B, cognate to Cypro-Minoan and the Linear Cypriot Greek. It is demonstrated that the phonetic value of each syllabogram corresponds to the Eteocretan name (in a conservative dialect of Sumerian) of the concrete object depicted by each syllabogram. Thus, more light is shed on the linguistic ancestry of the Minoan scripts and the practice followed for their creation.

A Content-Based Analysis of Jamshid Najafi’s Azerbaijani Turkish Songs Tested Against Linguistic and Literary Themes

Mostafa Shahiditabar, Mohammad Amin Mozaheb, Mehdi Fatemi — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 13:44:53 +0800

Jamshid Najafi is an Iranian Azerbaijani Turkish and Farsi singer. The present study aims to analyze some of his songs in terms of literary themes. The corpus of the current study is Jamshid Najafi’s Azerbaijani Turkish songs released by the permission of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Moreover, a content-based analysis approach is used to analyze the corpus. The analysis of the data shows that Najafi is a romantic singer whose Azerbaijani Turkish songs are replete with romantic images as well as themes. Mother is the next frequent theme found in Jamshid Najfi’s works. It shows that mother has a holy position in Azerbaijani culture. Criticism of life and nostalgic themes are the next themes found in the studied corpus. Sister, child, homeland, devotee and religion are other common themes in Jamshid Najafi’s songs that show the importance of these themes to his life and ideology.

Telepathic Communication

Mohammed Ziad Kebbe — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 13:58:02 +0800

In this multidisciplinary paper I will argue that speech module is but the tip of the ice berg of language whereas other language modules – such as thought – are still concealed in the dark recesses of the human brain. Considering several paths of possibilities that come to mind, I intend to address the question of whether language is really particles or waves. In essaying to answer such inextricably complex question, I will shun exegetical polemics and draw on an equally complex theory: the quantum theory as advanced by Niels Bohr (1913) whose views have recently been much absorbed by scientific opinion. My aim is to instantiate a posteriori that language is essentially a form of energy – electrically charged particles (which I will call thotons) generated when electrons leap downward from one fixed orbit to another within the nerve cell. Adopting a deductive comparative approach, I will argue that since electrons entangle each other even if they are in discrete locations, the thotons – here defined as the linguistic bits –are, by the same token, not tied down to any particular location; instead they could be anywhere and nowhere in the nerve cells of two or more minds even if they were on different sides of the globe.

Enhancing Writing Performance of Iranian EFL University Students in the Light of Using Computer Assisted Language Learning

Mustapha Hajebi — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 21:48:59 +0800

The purpose of this research is to improve the performance of Iranian EFL students writing process model based on technology to see computer software checked the grammar, punctuation, spelling and the performance of students. So there is in need of different conditions to design protocols for using computer assisted language learning to improve students’ performance. A quantitative method including pre- test and post -test followed in this study. The study lasted for four weeks with naturalistic use of computer software in the writing instruction of experimental group to check the performance of students based on using computer assisted language learning. The present study involves various techniques in writing performance in contrast with other traditional methods. Computer assisted language learning was employed to compare and assess the writing performance. The results of the study support the idea that word processors improve the EFL learners’ writing mechanism. Computer assisted language learning gives best path for the writing performance of students and also decreases mistakes in writings. This research provides recommendable performance for EFL learners, EFL teachers to adopt the technique in their classes to advance their students' language learning. Therefore, a comparison of the results after the next course cycle will then allow to impose the effects of enhancing writing performance, which would not be possible without using computer assisted language learning approach.