Language and Variation: A Study of English and Persian Wh-questions
محورهای موضوعی : language teaching
1 - Department of English, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
کلید واژه: Variation, Systematic/Patterned Variation, Variationist Sociolinguistics, Wh-questions,
چکیده مقاله :
It was claimed by variationists that languages experience variation at all levels, which is supposed to be patterned. The present study aimed at exploring how variation occurred in English and Persian wh-questions. More specifically, it investigated whether such a variation was systematic and patterned. To this end, a modified version of the Edinburgh Map Task was used in data collection. The population of this study was 60 Canadian and Persian native speakers who performed the task through the construction of wh-question variants. The results indicated that both languages experienced variation in the construction of wh-questions. However, Persian proved to be more variable than English because it allowed more wh-question variants to be produced. Moreover, this variation was patterned in English and Persian individually, yet a systematic variation could not be observed between these two languages. It followed that the different mind-sets of the Canadian and Iranian participants which were affected by social and cultural factors might account for such a variation.
پژوهشگرانی که در زمینه تعییرات زبانی فعالیت دارند معتقدند که زبانها در تمام سطوح تغییر را تجربه می کنند که این تغییر طرح مند به نظر می رسد. هدف پژوهش حاضر بررسی نحوه تغییری است که در جملات استفهامی انگلیسی و فارسی رخ می دهد. این تحقیق بالاخص به بررسی طرح مند و نظام دار بودن این تغییر می پردازد. بدین منظور برای جمع آوری اطلاعات یک نسخه اصلاح شده از کار-نقشه ادینبورگ (Edinburgh Map Task) مورد استفاده قرار گرفت. جامعه اطلاعاتی این تحقیق تعداد 60 بومی زبان کانادایی و فارسی بودند که کار-نقشه را از طریق ساختن گونه های جملات استفهامی اجرا کردند. نتایج حاصل نشان می دهد که هر دو زبان تعییر را در ساخت جملات استفهامی تجربه می کند. گرچه زبان فارسی نشان داد که نسبت به زبان انگلیسی تغییر پذیرتر است زیرا در این زبان گونه های بیشتری ساخته شدند. بعلاوه این تغییر در هر دو زبان بطور جداگانه طرح مند بود اما تغییر نظام مندی بین دو زبان مشاهده نشد. بنابراین می توان چنین استنباط نمود که ذهنیت متفاوت شرکت کنندگان کانادایی و ایرانی که تحت تاثیر عوامل اجتماعی و فرهنگی قرار دارد می تواند علت چنین تغییری را توضیح دهد.
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