This page intentionally left blank The Study of Language

Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 2016

Recently, SAMT (the public organization for researching and publishing academic textbooks in humanities) has witnessed a revival in publishing high-quality books, related to language teaching, under the supervision of Professor Mahmoud-Reza Atai, Kharazmi University, Iran. An instance is Understanding Research in Applied Linguistics. As a primer intended mainly for undergraduates in the field, the volume includes five parts with respective chapters. Besides the necessary content, the chapters also include relevant material in the boxes: 'tasks' and 'exhibits' with further materials from other sources, and 'moment of reflection' with quotes and anecdotes to engage and motivate the readers. These useful accessories, within boxes, provide interesting, funny, illuminating, and relevant materials to the readers. Part I, Introduction and Background, contains four chapters that intend to introduce some basic concepts, or "a general background" (p. 5), Chapter 1, Science and Research, briefly discusses key issues and assumptions of scientific inquiry, clarifies the concept of research, and highlights ethical considerations. Chapter 2, The Research Process, touches upon the steps in conducting a study, e.g., choosing a topic, developing questions, data collection, etc. Chapter 3, Applied Linguistics Research, does not seem to fit in Part I or in any part of the book, however, since it addresses the scope of the field of applied linguistics, rather than a concept in research. The chapter introduces the readers to the different areas of the field in other courses, within which they can find suitable topics for research. Therefore, it should be removed in the following editions.

This is the introduction to LHS 4.1, the special issue of the journal based on selected papers presented at the Free Linguistics Conference, 2009.

Jacob Wackernagel, Lectures on Syntax, 2009

In Lecture 9, the Indo-European comparative syntax of Berthold Delbrück and Karl Brugmann in introduced,and the psychological approach to language (Völkerpsychologie) of Heymann Steinthal and Hermann Paul is discussed. The chapter illustrates (Lectures 9–11) various types of syntactic assimilation (of number, gender, case, the relative pronoun, mood, tense), and (Lecture 12) of syntactic interference by association of ideas, and reviews (Lectures 12–13) three recent introductions to syntax (especially that of Wilhelm Kroll). The general introduction concludes with a few pages on the parts of speech and the permeable boundaries between them (verbs from nouns, and nouns from verbs).

Lexis, 2022