The present study elucidates the process of consonant assimilation in the Turkish language of Zanjan within the theoretical framework of the geometry of phonological features, and specifies the nodes that are regularly involved in consonant assimilation. The theory of the geometry of phonological features is concerned with how different distinctive features get organized by phonological rules. The research question is whether consonant assimilation in Zanjan Turkish language can be explained within the framework of this theory. To answer this question, data was gathered through questionnaires, books and theses written in this field. After the introduction of theory, the right research method was used to analyze data. The observed assimilations were analyzed after identifying the frequency of occurrence. After presenting the samples, a typical example was chosen and a nonlinear representation of samples was provided. The results indicate that Zanjan Turkish language can be explained in terms of the geometry of phonological features theory and that most of the assimilations occur in the root node, resulting in complete assimilation.

Korta is one of the dialects the variants of which are spoken in Rūdbār-e Janub and Qal'e-ganj towns located in the south of Kerman Province. From the geography of language use perspective, it is found at the contact-zone between Rūdbāri dialect, belonging to Baškardi (= Bašākardi) dialect group and ultimately to Southwest Iranian Languages Family, and Makkorāni dialect of Balochi language, a member of Northwest Iranian Languages Family. Hence, it can be correctly predicted that from the perspective of linguistic properties, this dialect plays the role of a link between these two language families. Following a synchronic approach, the present study attempts to linguistically describe the inflectional constituents available in the structure of finite lexical verbs of  the Korta dialect variant spoken in Qal'e-ganj town. To this end, by recording the free speech and conversations of 7 (fe)male, middle-aged plus, illiterate and native informants, a linguistic corpus has been collected and analyzed. Research findings indicate that there are 15 inflectional constituents in the structure of the related verbs which fall under the three major types: 1- (past/present) verb stem; 2- pre-verbal constituents including the verbal proclitic (Ɂ)a-, the prefixes of negation, prohibition, subjunctive mood, imperative mood, and the subject proclitics; 3- post-verbal constituents including the prefixes of past-tense marking, causative marking, progressive marking, past-participle marker, the attributive copula, the subject personal pronouns, and the subject/object agent clitics. Moreover, Korta utilizes the split-ergative structure in the verb past-tense system.

The aim of this article is to study the split ergative construction in southern Tati dialects. The ergative construction can be seen in perfect aspect and in verbs which are derived from past stem. In this case, the agent and the object in transitive sentences are marked respectively with oblique and direct case. In intransitive sentences, only the argument of the verb is marked with direct case. The split ergativity has been described and compared in different Tati dialects. As it is shown, the split ergative in these dialects is disappearing and is being replaced with the nominative/accusative system due to the influence of Persian and Azeri which are languages without an ergative system. Eshtehardi is the most conservative dialect in which ergative system has been preserved. In other dialects, the agent has lost its oblique case. Following Yang (2000) the external and internal factors are considered to be effective in changing the ergative into nominative/accusative system.

This article investigates the representation of such motion concepts as manner and path in Azari Turkish language with regard to Talmy's typological theory (2000 A & B). Talmy has classified languages into two groups: verb-framed languages (in which the motion event is represented by the verb); and satellite –framed languages (in which the motion event is represented by the argument of the verb). The main goal of this paper is to find out the group to which Turkish language belongs and to challenge the verb-framed hypothesis in Turkish language. Thus, a corpus of 160 motion verbs was collected from Turkish dictionaries and recorded sounds of Turkish speakers. Examination of the verbs shows that Azari Turkish language has the properties of both groups. That is, the motion event can be represented by the verb itself and by the argument--particularly in complex predicates. Thus, Azari Turkish is placed in the middle of a continuum ranging from verb-framed to satellite-framed languages. This quality reveals that the category of motion verbs, previously considered verb-framed, has changed appreciably under the influence of Persian language.

This paper examines the status of women in Qashqhai oral literature from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. The data consists of a series of couplets, proverbs, idioms and folk stories from Qashqai books written by Mardani Rahimi (1391 and 1378) and Kiani (1371), and other works compiled by the researchers. This study seeks to show that in the aforementioned works, ideology, power relations, ethnic customs and tribal traditions matter in analyzing the status of women. The data has been investigated according to Fairclough's three-dimensional model: description (vocabulary and grammar), interpretation (power, ideology, intertextuality) and explanation (social functionalism). On the description level, data is analyzed based on empirical, expressive and relational values; additionally, representations of discourse are studied in linguistic forms. On the levels of interpretation and explanation, the context in which texts are formed is analyzed. Having considered the data, the researchers found out that in most texts, women, compared to men, have a lower dignity and value. But this evaluation has changed in some texts and situations, and positive ratings of women can be observed. In general, women in Qashqai oral literature have positive value as long as they play the role of the mother, otherwise, there can be seen no evidence of equality with or superiority to men. Nevertheless, because of the social and cultural progresses, this issue is not acceptable among the younger generation.

This paper aims to study the place of stress in word classes and its functions in the Hawrami language, one of the new Northwestern Iranian languages. I have interviewed ten illiterate native speakers of this language aged between 30 and 80, and have collected the data in a recording of about five hours. Furthermore, written materials within this domain and my linguistic intuition as a native speaker are used as sources of research literature. Data analysis indicates that stress is distinctive in this language and has three functions: 1. It changes the meaning of the word. 2. It changes the grammatical category of the word. 3. It is the distinguishing factor of grammatical gender in nouns and adjectives having the same formal markers. The grammatical gender in the masculine and feminine nouns ending in the vowels [a] and [i] and masculine and feminine adjectives ending in the vowel [a] is identified by the place of stress.

Languages and dialects are means of communication and connection between adjacent areas in many countries. Iran's southern coastal areas have long had strong cultural ties with the southern Persian Gulf countries; from among different dimensions of such relations is the domain of language and dialect. Bastaki dialect is a branch of Larestani language spoken in the south of Iran, that has borrowed many words from the local languages spoken in the margins of Persian Gulf. No trace of such borrowings can be found in other Iranian languages and dialects. This article investigates the semantic and phonetic changes of the Arabic borrowings and the frequency of Arabic words and expressions in Bastaki dialect by using library and field research methods as well as concordancing method and by relying on the visual media within the domain of Persian Gulf. Results indicate that some local words and expressions of southern Persian Gulf countries have gone through semantic and phonetic changes, some others have become obsolete due to the widespread use of Persian language and media, and some have survived. The frequency of the words and expressions borrowed from the Arab states in the margins of Persian Gulf is considerable in Bastaki dialect.