For centuries the speculations on man's mental functioning posed a great challenge for the scholars in various disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociocultural studies, education, ethnolinguistics, discourse analysis, literary criticism. Researchers have been pondering over the ticklish question: is it the mind making the human society, or is it the society that shapes up the human mind? Researchers not informed in Vygotsky's contribution to the resolution of the issue, may still find the vicious circular question glaring in the face. But thanks to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT), the hazy horizon has cleared away and today we are convinced of the truth of Vygotsky's claim that man's mental functioning is mediated by sociocultural artifacts (physical and psychological tools) which imbue us with the capacity the shape natural environment, and in so doing change the natural circumstances in which we live, and the capacity to organize and gain voluntary control over our biologically specified mental functioning. The pivotal concept in this outlook is that man, released from biological constraints, emerges as the master of his own destiny. It goes without saying that a conception as such invests the educationists, social reformers, statesmen with a grave responsibility regarding the necessity of providing appropriate conditions for individual's cognitive, ethical and social development. Indeed, Vygotsky's position on the genesis of man's higher mental functioning which is said to be hinging on the social, cultural, and historical variables provides a viable solution to the mind-society enigma. This said, we intend to submit some ethnomethodological evidence in support of Vygotsky's claim regarding the genesis of man's higher mental conditioning. Manuscript profile

Chomsky cannot help wondering at the fact that we, despite so vast evidence, have little knowledge about the obvious evidence. A good example, I think, is the child’s way of first language acquisition. A great many researchers have studied various aspects of child language acquisition at different stages of the child’ life and have brought to light many details of language development. However, it remains uncertain how the child can cope with this heavy task of language acquisition within the first two years of his life. Since its birth, the child begins acquiring the intonation, the sound, the phoneme, the word, the meaning, and the structure of the language, to which he is exposed so fast that it is beyond our imagination. Mind that the same child is unable to do the simplest addition or subtraction of numbers within the early years of life. Thus, the intriguing question for Chomsky is: How is it that the child can acquire the complex system of a language such as English, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese … very fast despite so little and often deficient linguistic input? Manuscript profile

This paper is composed of three parts: part one deals with the trends of language study, the interest of philosophers in determining the meanings of ʻ meaning ʼ, sentential meaning versus pragmatic meaning, and the powerful role of words in conducting social affairs, wielding political leverage, and expressing imagistic fancies in poetry. The second part, drawing on Vygotsky’s (1973) views, seeks the genetic roots of thought and speech. The third part focuses on a discussion regarding external speech, egocentric speech, and inner speech. This part also highlights differences between Vygotsky’s view and Piagetʼs view regarding the nature and functions of these parts of speech. Manuscript profile

This paper aimed to bring together some general yet significant classical views on scientific/technical translation while contrasting them with beliefs held by experts on literary translation. In doing so, the seminal literature on scientific and technical English, looking for lexical and structural features and rhetorical functions employed therein, was critically reviewed, and the role of the translator was discussed with regard to the implications of some specific characteristic features of English for science and technology (EST) materials. Manuscript profile