Search published articles


Showing 9 results for Mazinani


Volume 0, Issue 0 (Articles accepted at the time of publication 2024)
Abstract

Some muslim scholars and theologians believe in monotheistic creation, but others believe that Allah The Almighty has inspired monotheism to man after his creation. Aiming to investigate the collection of Mulla Sadra's works on monotheism (tawhid) and its correspondent beliefs, the Topic-based Discourse Analysis Model (See Mazinani, Alizadeh, and Azad, 1397) was applied. The results were categorised in three sections: claims, warrants/topos, and certainty in assertion. Sadra claims that the belief in the monotheism is Man's very nature and a necessity for his existence. He has made most of his claims by refering to Quranic verses and hadiths by their explicit quotation, implication and interpretation. In the maze of this important matter, this philosopher occasionally takes an implicit rational position by denoting the topos such as "benefit", "harm", "fundamental need", "necessity", "fulfillment of treaties", "trustworthiness" "Pressure", and "attribution", which these can also be infered from the quoted verses and hadiths. Of course, such kind of argumentation by Mulla Sadra makes it difficult for non-Muslims and rationalists to accept his claims and theory. In all the data considered, however, an influential decisive declarative tone prevails in the claims so that no words or signs of doubt or any item suggesting Mitigation Strategy were observed. In the same vein, the Intensification Sterategy application was nearly observed in 20% of the data, and the processes of negation and passivization with their specific function were seen in 10% of the data.

Volume 6, Issue 4 (No.4 (Tome 25), (Articles in Persian) 2015)
Abstract

"Syntactic change should not arise, unless it can be shown to be caused"(Longobardi, 2001:278). Historically placed in second position of the clause, Persian Pronominal Clitics behave differently today and appear in three different structural-typological patterns: a) preposition + clitic assigned oblique case; b) nominal + clitic assigned genitive case; and c) immediate adjacency of a transitive verb assigned accusative case. Aiming to discover the causes of Persian's achievement to this trio of patterns, this study was conducted in the framework of Generative Grammar. The diachronic analysis shows that a sequence of some factors has been involved in changing Persian’s historical second position Clitic System: firstly, some morphological changes and the speaker’s attempt to remove the ambiguities have paved the ground for other structural changes to happen. Secondly, after particular morphological feedings, patterns a & b have been established as a result of analogical generalization of pre-existing linguistic structures. Pattern c has gradually come to existence by frequently reanalyzing the position of clitics in the sentence. This pattern can be a part of the grammaticalization process of Persian clitics that has been accelerated by morphological changes and Reanalysis. As a final step, linguistic contact to Arabic was recognized as an accelerating factor in applying this trio of patterns in Persian Standard Language.

Volume 7, Issue 3 (10-2016)
Abstract

To the Iranians minds the matter of the Russification of the Caucasus, as an Iranian area by its historical, cultural and ethnical roots, always has been a fresh and recursive concern; the process in which the Armenians had a dominant role. Inspired by memories of the Crusader Wars, the Armenians always were engaged with the ideal of presence of a powerful Christian state in their neighborhood. Since Western Europe powers never were as close to the region as to cause any change on the Caucasus, naturally the attention of the Armenians had been absorbed to another Christian state, the State of Muscovy. The process which Armenians attempted to involve the ever-expansionist state of Muscovy or later Russian Empire with Caucasus affairs through it, begun by 1660th (1070 H.) and took long up to 1828, year of signing Turkmanchay treaty. This survey tried, by appeal to an explicative approach, to shed light on twists and turns of a 160 years process and the transition of the Armenian loyalty from Iran to the Russia as most as possible. Findings of this survey show that the church leaders, the Meliks, and the merchants, as the triumvir which shaped the Armenian Aristocracy, respectively had the most effective influence on the Armenians political loyalty; while introduction of the Russia was the initiation of the merchants, then the Meliks intensified the aspiration, and at last it was the church which by choosing its new affiliation put the end on everything. 

Volume 7, Issue 5 (No.5 (Tome 34), Fall Special, (Articles in Persian) 2016)
Abstract

Carried out in the framework of Transformational Grammar and Typology, this research aims at determining the generation place of Persian Object Clitics, and examining the effects their synchronic-diachronic analyses may have on typological studies. The underlying order ‘Object Clitic + Verb’ was consequently considered to be at work in correspondence to SOV order; And, it’s the Move-α Transformation that drives the clitic out to surface elsewhere, i.e. mostly in Postverbal Position. Moreover, syntactic, morphological, and prosodic alignments were introduced to be influencing in cliticization in Persian as a trio of criterions which may change by the passage of time; Grammaticality of encliticization to the nominal part of Complex Predications in Classic New Persian and the ungrammaticality of the same process in some CPs of Standard NP was mentioned as an example; Referring to the UG Principle of ‘Minimal Link Condition’, this duality in behavior was argued to be an approval of the interaction between cliticization and incorporation processes. Finally, to explain the possible effects of the above results on the typological analyses, the hypothesis of Persian’s type change from OV to VO suggested by Dabir-Moghaddam (1997) was reformulated by keeping an eye to the diachronic change in the Clitic System; it was put forward that the historically-growing inconsistencies of this language to some of the Dryer’s (1992) criteria and specially to the Greenbergian 25th Universal are mostly applicable to the change stated. It was therefore concluded that the synchronic-diachronic behavior and placement of these elements testifies the aforementioned type-change hypothesis.
 
 


 

Volume 9, Issue 1 (12-2017)
Abstract

Though the sixty-year duration of the domination of the Afsharid and the Zand dynasties is of great importance for the Iranian Armenian politicization it has mainly been ignored. Focusing on daily developments to understanding the switch in political trends of this people from Iran toward Russia which was subjected to enormous ups and downs wouldn’t be helpful so much. Any survey here should obligate itself to take simultaneously into account features of the institution of policy of the society and the characteristics of its concomitant world time. Accordingly, the present study would elucidate impacts of a rising early capitalism and a flourishing system of absolutist states on the transmutation of the Iranian Armenian politicization.

Volume 9, Issue 3 (Vol.9, No.3 (Tome 45), July, August & September 2018, (Articles in Persian) 2018)
Abstract

Introduction

In the last few decades, critical theories, which are to understand and change social systems, as well as critical discourse studies adhered to the principles of Frankfurt School and Social Constructionism have been of a great significance in the fields of linguistics and political and social sciences. Weiss and Wodak (2014) believe that critical theory, even with different conceptions of ideology, seeks to make human agents aware of their needs and interests (p. 14). In the same vein, immanent critique, which has its roots in Hegelian-Marxist tradition, is a means of detecting the societal contradictions which offer the most determinate possibilities for emancipatory social change (Antonio, 1981).
However, these studies are now encountering a serious challenge in the process of analyzing and assessing the discursive practices of ‘power elites’. In other words, as reason and the ideals of liberty, equality and justice which support social ideals decline decade-by-decade, immanent critique loses its whole power to challenge social systems and practices.
To find a complement to immanent critique, the thematic exegesis of the Holy Quran was considered in terms of philosophy, aims and application. A thematic exegetist does his best to discover and bring together the ideals, suggestions, and solutions - presented in a non-organized way in the Holy Quran - to particular individual/social problems and issues under investigation. In this article, we will introduce an approach called ‘Topic-based Discourse Analysis’ (TDA), intending to generalize the philosophy and application of Shahid Sadr’s Approach to Thematic Exegesis (SSATE) to the field of social/ political discourse analysis.
TDA is recommended for the researchers to compile the ideals, comments, and theories of acknowledged (charismatic) leaders on a particular issue to be applied as a complement for immanent critique or as a guidebook for ‘power elites’.

Methodology

TDA is a blend of analytical tools/strategies designed by Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) and the operational phases of SSATE. It is introduced from these three dimensions: a) the Model’s theoretical basics: these basics were drawn out of DHA and SSATE philosophies of application; b) its analytical tools: Four-level Theory of Context, Argumentation Theory, and Wodak’s five discursive strategies were adopted from DHA. Another discursive strategy called Reverse Statement Strategy was added to the Wodak’s set which was drawn out of exegesis’ analytic tools; and c) its operational phases: the TDA steps were designed based on those of SSATE together with some necessary adjustments. 

TDA Operational Steps 

The holy Quran much like any other heavenly book is full of instructions from a variety of different fields of study. As mentioned above, a thematic exegetist brings into focus the Quran’s non-organized ideals and solutions to a particular individual/social problem under each of his investigations. This process is primarily based on these three sides:
  1. a discursive topic based on which the exegetist’s research questions are designed;
  2. the Almighty Allah as a knowledgeable reference;  
  3. the holy Quran a macro-text believed by Muslims as the words of Allah in different parts of which the answer to the question(s) can be found;
This three-side base of the Quran’s thematic exegesis was adopted and generalized to make up a three-side base for Topic-based Discourse Analysis Model:
  1. a discursive topic based on which the analyst’s research questions are designed;
  2. a charismatic knowledgeable human reference e. g. a political leader;  
  3. a macro-text i. e. the book(s) written by the human reference in different parts of which the answer to the questions can be found;
Having faced with a social or individual, political or religious, cultural or economic problem, a topic-based analyst is to ideally pass through these operational analytic phases recursively: 
  1. Forming the 3-side base for a particular research problem as described above.
  2. Literature review i. e. recollection and consultation of preceding theoretical/practical knowledge.
  3. Designing research questions and their specification for the given research problem based on the corresponding research literature.
  4. Systematic collection of data and context information related to the time when the selected macro-text was written as well as a complete biography of chosen the charismatic leader. (Depending on the research questions, various discursive events, social actors & fields as well as corresponding genres and texts are focused on).
  5. Macro-text data collection: the analyst’s careful reading of the macro-text  to firstly identify the data which are explicitly or implicitly capable to answer research questions, and to secondly classify them in accord with the discursive topics, sub-topics, and genres, etc.
  6. Collected data analysis: the classified data from the macro-text are to be subjected to the application of Four-level Theory of Context, Argumentation Theory, and 6 discursive strategies.
 Theorization by formulation of critique (answering research questions, taking into account the relevant context knowledge and referring to the DHA’s three dimensions of critique).
  1. Application of results (if possible, the obtained results might be applied or proposed for application)

Conclusion

In this article, we designed an approach called ‘Topic-based Discourse Analysis’ (TDA) to generalize the philosophy and application of Shahid Sadr’s Approach to Thematic Exegesis to the field of social/ political discourse analysis as a complement for immanent critique.
 
Diagram 2: the hermeneutic cycle of TDA operational phases
 
TDA is a blend of analytical tools/strategies designed by DHA and the operational phases of SSATE. It was introduced from these three dimensions: a) the Model’s theoretical basics; b) its analytical tools; and c) its operational 8 phases. These operational phases are cyclic and of a hermeneutic taste as illustrated by Diagram 2
 

Volume 10, Issue 3 (Vol. 10, No. 3 (Tome 51), (Articles in Persian) 2019)
Abstract

1)Introduction

Argumentation theory is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be reached through logical reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. This art and science employed in the process of civil debates, dialogues, conversations, and persuasions to protect one’s beliefs or self-interests or choose to change them. It is also used in law, for example in trials, in preparing an argument to be presented to a court, and in testing the validity of certain kinds of evidence.
Typically, an argument has an internal structure, comprising the following:
  • a set of assumptions or premises
  • a method of reasoning (deduction, induction, etc.)
  • a conclusion or claim.
 Often classical logic is used as the method of reasoning so that the conclusion follows logically from the assumptions or support. However, one challenge is that if the set of assumptions is inconsistent then anything can follow logically from inconsistency. That’s why theorist philosophers try to develop approaches to analyze the consistency and strength of arguments. In the same vein, argumentation was generally integrated in the analytical toolkit of Discursive-Historical Approach (See Wodak, 2001, 2015; Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) and Topic-based Discourse Analysis Model (See Mazinani, 2017; Mazinani, Alizadeh, & Azad, 2017).
However, some theories of argumentation, e. g. Toulmin’s Model, are so extensive that they can be used as a single complete toolbox. Keeping this in mind, we aim, in this paper, to design and propose an analytical research method on the basis of this model to be applied in different linguistic areas including Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Forensic Linguistics.
Stephen Toulmin (1958, [2003]), an English philosopher, developed a practical approach to analyzing the logic of everyday arguments. His approach involves identifying and separating the various components of an argument into a specific order so that they may be appraised.
 

2)Toulmin’s Model and the Proposed Research Method

 In an attempt to provide solutions to the problems of absolutism and relativism, Toulmin attempts throughout his work to develop standards that are neither absolutist nor relativist for assessing the worth of ideas. He believes that a good argument can succeed in providing good justification to a claim, which will stand up to criticism and earn a favorable verdict.
In The Uses of Argument (1958 [2003]), Toulmin introduced what became known as the Toulmin Model of Argument, which broke argument into six interrelated components:
  1. Claim: Conclusions whose merit must be established. For example, if a person tries to convince a listener that he is a British citizen, the claim would be "I am a British citizen."
  2. Data: The facts we appeal to as a foundation for the claim. 
  3. Warrant: The statement authorizing our movement from the data to the claim. In order to move from some data to a particular claim, one must supply a warrant -e. g. a law article, a logical statement, or a topo - to bridge the gap between the data and the claim.
  4. Backing: Credentials designed to certify the statement expressed in the warrant; backing must be introduced when the warrant itself is not convincing enough to the readers or the listeners. 
  5. Rebuttal: Statements recognizing the restrictions, e.g. exceptions, to which the claim may legitimately be applied. 
  6. Qualifier: Words or phrases expressing the speaker's degree of force or certainty concerning the claim. Such words or phrases include "possible," "probably," "impossible," "certainly," "presumably," "as far as the evidence goes," or "necessarily." The claim "I am definitely a British citizen" has a greater degree of force than the claim "I am a British citizen, presumably."
The first three elements "claim", "data", and "warrant" are considered as the essential components of practical arguments, while the second triad "qualifier", "backing", and "rebuttal" may not be needed or applied in some arguments. Subsequently, these components are recognized in the following tailor-made text:
"Institutions should prohibit the sacrifice of animals in doing cosmetic experiments [claim]. In these experiments, animals are tortured and/or killed [Data]. I believe Qualifier there is no need to justify this [warrant]. On one hand, the health and life of animals are more important than the benefit of cosmetics industries [Backing 1]. On the other hand, human beings take more advantages from some animals alive than dead [Backing 2]. Of course, I suppose Qualifier it is necessary to do these experiments in other fields of study such as pharmaceutics and medicine since all-inclusive prohibition of such experiments slows down their progress [Rebuttal]”
As you see, the analysis of the component ‘Qualifier’ in the model of Toulmin can, to a great extent, be inspired by modality analysis in Functional Systemic Grammar. Therefore, many texts, particularly defense bills, can be analyzed by the following suggested research objectives and questions:
Proposed Research Objectives:
The analysis of the dominant argumentation style of a chosen writer, lawyer, poet, theorist etc. in his/her selected text is determined as a general aim which is itself composed of the following objectives:
  1. To find and classify the writer’s explicit or implied claims and their correspondent fields or backgrounds;
  2. To analyze the sufficiency of the data and to categorize them; these statements are some facts based on which the claims are made;
  3. To identify the explicit/implicit warrants and their correspondent backings; warrants can also be categorized into rational, legal or common sense statements, topos, etc., which are to confirm the claims of the writer. Fallacies should not be overlooked;
  4. To examine if the writer has been aware of possible rebuttals to his/her used warrants and stated claims;  
  5. To examine the text qualifiers by implementing modality analysis to uncover the certainty degree of the writer while claiming, concluding, using data and evidence.
 
Proposed Research Questions:
Since discourse studies are basically ideological which means they are to decipher the underlying beliefs and read the mind of the creators of the texts under analysis, our research questions were designed as follows:
1) What claims were made by the creator of the selected text(s)? And in which fields of study?
2) What are the warrants and backings applied by the creator of the text(s) to confirm his/her made claims or to persuade the audience? Are the warrants rational, legal, and experimental, topos etc.?
3) What qualifiers are used in the text(s)? How frequent are they? What degree of certainty do they show for the writer/speaker while stating the data, warrants and making his/her claims?  
4) What are the data - facts or assumptions - provided for the audience to be able to relate the warrants to the made claims? Are these data sufficient or relevant?
5) Did the creator of the text(s) know enough of possible rebuttals to the applied warrants? In other words, are the made claims stable? Or can they be rebutted by the analyst?
 

3) Conclusion

 Considering the argumentation process as well as the theorization of the relativist and absolutist philosophers on this issue, Toulmin presented a six-component model, which is both absolutistic and relativistic. In his model, an argument may have these components: 1) Claim, 2) Warrant, 3) Data, 4) Qualifier, 5) Backing, and 6) Rebuttal, of which the first three are necessary, and the others optional. Over time, the application capacity of this model was acknowledged in Linguistics and Discourse Analysis.
In this paper, due to the lack of a systematic methodology to apply Toulmin’s Model in analytic works, a research method was proposed to show the analytical power of this Model in the domains of Stylistics, Legal Linguistics, and Discourse Analysis. In this methodology we suggest that the modality analysis can be applied to the analysis of ‘Qualifiers’- one of the six components of Toulminian Model. The general aim of the designed method is "to study the argumentation style of the given writer in his selected work", and duly introduces 5 research questions; its application was illustrated by three different texts including a piece of poetry, a defense bill, and a political speech by Donald Trump.
 

Volume 18, Issue 4 (1-2016)
Abstract

In recent years, electrospinning that has the capability to form polymeric nano-/microfibers has gained substantial attention for fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds. The morphological resemblance to native extracellular matrix (ECM), high surface to volume ratio, high porosity, and pore interconnectivity are amongst the brilliant features of electrospun structures. The high surface area to volume ratio and interconnected pores of these fibrous meshes confer desirable cell attachment and growth. However, due to small pore sizes and high packing density of electrospun nanofibers, cell penetration into a conventional electrospun mat is completely restrained. Scarce cell infiltration in turn prohibit cell migration into internal parts of the scaffold, cause inhomogeneous cell distribution throughout the structure, limit vascularization, and impede tissue ingrowth. In fact, traditional electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds in practice act as two-dimensional (2D) surfaces rather than three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments. Thus far, a number of approaches have been employed to solve this problem, which range from simple variations in electrospinning parameters to intricate post-processing modifications. Some efforts directly manipulate the electrospun mat characteristics to enhance cell penetration, while others combine cells with scaffolds or encourage cells to migrate into internal parts with different stimuli. In the present study, we have attempted to provide an overview of different approaches offered for improving cell infiltration in electrospun scaffolds.

Volume 20, Issue 2 (3-2018)
Abstract

Various nutraceutical properties of olives are ascribed to their different oil compositions and diversity of their active substances. Iran is endowed with great olive diversity which deserves to be studied. Accordingly, nine minor Iranian olive varieties, i.e. Tarom (T) varieties, were studied. Characterization of these minor varieties (T10, T15, T16, T17, T18, T20, T22, T23, T24) along with 3 major Iranian and 4 Mediterranean varieties with 11 chromosomal SSR markers revealed remarkable diversity among them. Most of T varieties had oil and Total Phenolic Content (TPC) comparable to Mediterranean olives. In comparison with Mediterranean varieties, T18 and T22 had higher Oleic Acid (OlA). T24 and T18 contained the highest and the lowest Linoleic Acid (LiA), respectively. T18 exhibited the highest OlA/LiA ratio. T24 was exceptionally phenols-rich variety followed by T20. Radical Scavenging Activities (RSA) results hardly suggested linear correlation between TPC and antioxidant capacity of the examined varieties. Nonetheless, T22 showed Phenol Antioxidant Coefficient higher than Mediterranean samples. Harvest time was influential on LiA content and the (RSA/TPC) ratios. Considering nutraceutical potential, some of T varieties are superior to the prevailing Iranian and Mediterranean varieties, so, they deserve to be introduced to olive improvement programs.

Page 1 from 1