Welcome!

My name is Ahmad R. Lotfi. I'm a member of the Academic Staff of Azad University at Khorasgan (Esfahan) where I offer Syntactic Argumentation, Issues in Linguistics, and Discourse Analysis to Ph. D/M.A students of ELT. I'm also a member of the Advisory Board of the LINGUIST List (Eastern Michigan University. Wayne State University), URL:

http://linguistlist.org/ .

My research interests include minimalist syntax, second language acquisition studies in generative grammar, and Iranian linguistics. For the past 10 years, I have been developing a radically minimalist theory of syntax. The original outline of the theory is available online as an unpublished manuscript (Semantico-Phonetic Form: A Unitarianist Grammar) via the link below:

URL: http://cogprints.org/1669

Semantico-Phonetic Form is a unitarianist theory of language in two different but inter-related senses: first, it assumes that the Conceptual-Intentional and Articulatory- Perceptual systems (responsible for semantic and phonetic interpretations respectively) access the data at one and the same level of interpretation; hence a single interface level—Semantico-Phonetic Form, SPF. Second, it is unitarianist in that (although a still formalist theory of language) it potentially permits the incorporation of both formalist and functionalist explanations in its formulation of the architecture of language. Within the framework of Semantico-Phonetic Form, and as an alternative proposal toChomsky's minimalist thesis of movement, the Pooled Features Hypothesis proposes that "movement" is the consequence of the way in which the language faculty is organised (rather than a simple"imperfection" of language). The computational system CHL for human language is considered to be economical in its selection of formal features from the lexicon so that if two LIs (to be introduced in the same derivation) happen to have some identical formal feature in common, the feature is selected only once but shared by the syntactic objects in the derivation. It follows that the objects in question must be as local in their relations as possible. The locality of relations as such, which is due to economy considerations, results in some kind of (bare) phrase structure with pooled features labelling the structural tree nodes that dominate the syntactic objects. Pooled features, in a sense, are structurally interpreted. Other features, i.e. those not pooled, will be interpreted at SPF.

Selected Publications

_(2006). Agreement in Persian. Linguistik Online29.
URL: http://www.linguistik-online.de/29_06/lotfi.pdf

_(2006). Feature Sharing v. Feature Checking: An Analysis of Persian Pre- and Post-verbal
CPs. California Linguistic Notes. Vol. XXX1 No. 1.
URL: http://hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/cln/pdf/Checking%20v.%20Sharing.pdf

_ (2003). Persian Wh-riddles. In Multiple Wh-Fronting, C. Boeckx and K. K. Grohmann
(eds), 161-186. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company.

_ (2003). Intonation contours, yes/no questions, and minimalist syntax: A unitarianist
perspective. Cognitive Science 1:70-83.

_(2002). Minimalist program revisited: Chomsky’s strength to trigger movement. In Proceedings
of the 34th Linguistics Colloquium (Germersheim 1999), R. Rapp (ed), 131-140. Frankfurt

am Main, Peter Lang.

_(2002). Dances with the Quantifiers. Journal of Language and Linguistics 1.
URL: http://www.shakespeare.uk.net/journal/1_1/lotfi1_1.html

_(2001). Persian ‘bayad’: A violation of the extended projection principle? California

Linguistic
Notes 1. URL: http://hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/cln/spring01_articles/spring%202001.htm

_(2001). Iconicity: A Generative Perspective. Working Papers in LinguisticIconicity.
URL: http://www.trismegistos.com/IconicityInLanguage/Articles/Lotfi/lotfi.html

Lotfi, A. R. and M. Shahrokhi. 2005. Interlanguage subjectivity. Journal of Language and Linguistics.
Vol. 4 No. 2. URL: http://www.shakespeare.uk.net/journal/4_2/lotfi_shahrokhi.htm

Lotfi Khajooi, M. and A. R. Lotfi. (2004). Teaching vocabulary to Iranian students of English:
The application of Rosch’s Prototypicality Model in vocabulary learning. Danesh va Pezhouhesh. No. 4.

Lotfi, A. R. and N. Vaziri Tehrani. (2002). Thinking-for-speaking effects in English (L1=Persian)
interlanguage. Danesh va Pezhouhesh 13, 14: 31-41.

Lotfi, A. R. and A. Ameri Golastan. (2002). Wh-extraction from claim-type constructions in Persian-
speaking L2 learners’ English interlanguage. Danesh va Pezhouhesh 10: 13-22.

Lotfi, A. R. and N. Saei-pour. (2001). Access to X-bar theory: A Study of (L1=Persian) English
interlanguage. Danesh va Pezhouhesh 7: 13-24.

Sharifian, F. and A. R. Lotfi. (2003). Rices and waters: The mass/Count distinction in Modern
Persian. Anthropological Linguistics 45(2): 226-244.


BOOK REVIEWS

Syntax: Uriagereka (1998) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/10/10-926.html

General Linguistics: Darnell, Moravcsik, Newmeyer, Noonan & Wheatley, eds. (1998)
URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-3.html

Syntax: Martin, Michaels & Uriagereka, eds. (2000) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-974.html

SLA: Gass & Macky (2000) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-1414.html

Linguistic Theories: Bybee & Hopper, eds. (2001) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/13/13-2116.html

General Linguistics: O'Grady, Archibald, Aronoff & Rees-Miller, eds. (2001)
URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-2273.html

Syntax/Semantics: Di Sciullo, ed. (2003) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-2481.html

Syntax/Language Acquisition: van Hout et al (2003) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-646.html

Syntax/Computational Linguistics: Kruijff & Oehrle, eds. (2003)
URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-2326.html

Syntax: Brody (2004) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-1456.html

Syntax: Schweikert (2005) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-646.html

Syntax: Everaert & van Riemsdijk, ed. (2006) URL: http://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-3167.html


DETAILED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A more detailed bibliography is available via the link below to Online Faculty Information System
(OFIS) at Azad University.

URL: http://khuisf.ofis.ir/default.aspx

*NOTE* Once in OFIS, you must click on Members on the left, and then on my photo in order to be directed to my OFIS page.