Habibollah Abbasi,
Volume 1, Issue 1 (5-2004)
Abstract
The universal culture has turned about some binary elements.
An Obvious indication of this state is the contrast between spoken and written language, which has, in turn, influenced the human culture to the extent that Derrida considers it as the source of errors in the two-millennium tradition of Western culture. Any reform in the world communities has been attributed to the above contrast and the so- called revolution of the written language. In Islamic culture, the revelation of the Holy Quran is considered as the first revolution of the written language and Adonis has beautifully illustrated the written / spoken dialectic in the Islamic culture. In this declaration, he discusses the position and role of Rhetoric as an art of speech and explores rhetoric from various perspectives: substantial features, its functions, training and persuasion, ultimate goal and significance as well as its triadic underlying principles; commonly agreed upon by rhetoric scholar's composition, harmony and style. Also, it covers such topics as anatomy of rhetoric, its status in the Ignorance era and the Islamic age as well as its impact on Arabic poetry and rhetoric.
The paper proceeds with highlighting the major distinctive features of speech and prose and sheds lights on their functions as well as aesthetics.
Naser - Qoli Sarli,
Volume 2, Issue 5 (5-2005)
Abstract
Unlike general linguistics which, practically speaking, prefers spoken language to written language, in studying the standard language and standardization, priority goes to written language. The logic behind this phenomenon must be found in social, cultural, and technical bases as well as the unique functional and structural characteristics of the written mode. Whereas features of written language contribute to its tendency for standardization, the nature of the spoken language has proved it more standard-resistant, so that some scholars, even, push the argument further denying the existence of any standard spoken language. Nevertheless, the sociolinguists have identified a standard variety for the spoken language but they have hardly suggested any precise definition for it yet. Although, standard spoken language should, by nature, have its own norms and criteria, in practice, the norms and criteria of written language dominate it and the written language functions as a prototype model. It is argued that the narrower the gap between the written and spoken modes in a given language, the higher the standard value of that language would be. The gap between written and spoken language has, at times, resulted in language death.
