The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of melatonin on estrus induction and reproductive performance of TALESHI EWES in non-breeding season (February to April). Sixty non-pregnant and non-lactating EWES (2-4 years old and 37±5 kg BW) were randomly allocated into four groups (n=15/group). Control group did not receive any treatment. In the second group, EWES received CIDR and PMSG and the third group were treated by melatonin, CIDR and PMSG. The fourth group, EWES received only melatonin implant at the base of ear. In the third and fourth groups, EWES received melatonin, 11 days after separation of rams from the flock (0 day) and in groups two and three, CIDR were inserted on day 45. On day 59, at the time of CIDR withdrawal, PMSG (500 IU) were injected (i.m). On day 60 rams were introduced to the flock. In groups two and three, interval between ram introduction and estrus were reduced (P<0.05). In group four, interval between ram introduction and estrus took 43 days however, this effect was not statistically different with control group. Estrus percentage in second and third groups were significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). Lambing efficiency, prolificacy and lambing rate in treatment groups were significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). It is concluded that implantation of melatonin with CIDR and PMSG treatment can induce estrus and increase reproductive performance of TALESHI EWES in nonbreeding season.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of estradiol in short–term treatment with Controlled Internal Drug Release (CIDR) and Pregnant Mare's Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG) on estrus induction, estrus synchronization, observation period between CIDR withdrawal and estrus, lambing efficiency, prolificacy and lambing rate. Thirty six nonlactating and nonpregnant TALESHI EWES (2-4 years old) were randomly allocated to three groups (n=12/group). Estrus was synchronized with intravaginal insertion of CIDR devices containing 0.3g of progesterone for 7 days. At the time of CIDR removal, PMSG (360 IU) was injected (i.m) to all EWES. The Control EWES (Con) did not receive estradiol benzoate (EB) and others were injected EB (1.5mg) on days 7 (EB7) and 8 (EB8) of the experiment, respectively. A higher number of estrus detected in EWES received EB on days 7 and 8 compared to the control group (P<0.05). Observation period between CIDR withdrawal and estrus in EB7 treatments was significantly lower than Con and EB8 treatments (p<0.05). Estrus in EB7 and EB8 EWES was synchronized better than the control group. Lambing efficiency, prolificacy and lambing rate did not statistically change between the treatment groups. It was concluded that injection of EB, 24 hours after CIDR removal (EB8), without reducing reproductive performance, is an effective method of estrus synchronization.

This article surveys passivization in TALESHI dialect. This dialect is common in some areas of the Guilan province. This dialect, i. e TALESHI dialect, is divided into three different branches which are called central, northern and southern TALESHI dialects. The methodology which is used in this research is field and library research. Because the language data are driven through a field study and the author goes into the people and selects thirty native speakers of Sehsar village. These native speakers mostly are forty years old or more; construing that they are not affected by the neighboring dialects which are spoken around them. The author interviews these thirty native speakers of Sehsar, who mostly reside in the village of Sehsar. He records their speech and selects the items which are applicable for the purpose of this research. It should be mentioned here that, the framework and the literature of this article take great advantages of other written works which have appeared before. The dialect which is surveyed here, is of southern type which is spoken in Sehsar village. This dialect is the only means of communication among the people of this village. From linguistic perspective, this dialect has two different case systems which are called nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive case systems. Nominative-accusative case system is the one in which the subjects of the intransitive and transitive verbs behave similarly and these two subjects are not differentiated by any case marker; hence, the object of the transitive verb is different. In an ergative-absolutive case system, it is the reverse, that is, the subject of a transitive verb behaves differently from both the subject of intransitive verb and the object of the transitive verb. In other words, in this case system, the object of a transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb behave similarly. This case is shown by case marker in ergative languages. In TALESHI dialect, ergative case is shown by the case marker <– i >. Regarding these two case systems, this article focuses mainly on how passivization is done in these different systems which are called nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive and both exist in this dialect. Afterwards, based on the evidence gathered in a field study, it is tried to answer these questions as well: Does passivization exist in this dialect which is of southern type? And how it is done in these two different case systems? Do these different case systems apply different methods of passivization, or they apply the same method? Do passivization and ergativity coincide in the same structure? The results of this research, which are obtained after analyzing the language data gathered through a field study, show that passivization exists in this dialect and it is commonly done by omitting the agent from the sentence while the object of the verb moves to the position of the omitted subject and the verb agrees with this dummy subject. In instances of passivization, by omitting the subject, the morpheme <-ina> which means follows the object which occurs in the subject position. The author believes that in this kind of passivization, the emphasis is on the object with which the verb is accomplished and as different morphemes are in action in this process of passivization, he calls this process a complex passivization; but in some cases, the agent is kept, but its position is changed and it attaches the object. Although the subject is kept and it comes after the object, it goes through some changes and represents a third singular or plural pronoun. That is the subject appears as <-ə š > or <– š un>. The choice depends on the context in which they occur. These two morphemes need a past tense and perfect aspect to occur and this context is a prerequisite for occurring the ergative case. Based on what is said, it can be concluded that this type of passivization along with ergativity requires a similar context to occur. The other point is, only in such cases passivization can coincide with ergative-absolutive construction, where the agent is present in the sentence. This finding contradicts thast of Atlamaz (2012) which claims ergativity does not occur in a passive structure, in other words, these two structures do not coincide in a structure. Hence, in cases where the agent is absent, ergative construction is absent too.

The TALESHI prefixal verbs, because of the multiplicity of the prefixes, fulfil a wide range of functions. This very fact makes it possible for the TALESHI speakers to express the various concepts and sentences by using the same verb. In different contexts, these prefixes give different meanings to the verbs. In this article, at first the TALESHI prefixal verbs are classified through identifying their positions in several examples, then the different meanings of the prefixes in each group are examined. According to our classification, seven prefixes existed in TALESHI. Of these, the majority have preserved their specific meanings. There are, however, some prefixes which have lost their original meanings.

This paper aims to provide a typological account of nominal and predicative possession constructions in TALESHI. It follows the typological framework of ‎ Aikhenvald (2013), where different attested strategies for the expression of nominal ‎ and predicative possession along with their corresponding functions are touched on. As far as nominal possession constructions in ‎TALESHI are concerned, four strategies are used to exhibit the relationship of ‎ possessor and possessee in a noun phrase: a.juxtaposition, a possessor ending in a ‎vowel precedes the possessee; b. possessor can be marked by number-sensitive oblique case-markers (i- for singular and -u for plural), or alternatively, replaced by ‎ six different possessive pronouns, c. marking the possessee with a pronominal ‎ pertensive clitic along with related information on number and person of the possessor; d.‎ both possessor and possessee may be marked. This is done by replacing the possessor with the suppletive pronoun of ǝštan and the attachment of a pronominal ‎pertensive clitic to the possessee. Just like nominal possession, predicative possession in TALESHI is also expressed in different types of constructions, including ‎ native existential and copular constructions where the characteristics of the so-‎ called H-constructions are evident. In Mâsâli, a borrowed possessive verb of dâšte' to have' is also attested.

Although TALESHI and Tati of Khalkhal are two dialects that have affected each other in various levels, the degree of this effect in different places are not the same. In fact the very closeness of the two dialects has been a major reason for impossibility of drawing clear borderlines between them. It happens that Tati varieties can be seen in the heart of TALESHI districts, or TALESHI varieties are found in the center of Tati districts. Askestan and Asbu, as villages of Shahrood region of Khakhal, are located on the way Talesh-Shahrood, being tightly linked with Talesh, but unfortunately this fact has been neglected in linguistic researches.This article postulates that Askestani and Asbui, in spite of the dominant belief, are varieties of TALESHI. This claim is supported by focusing on linguistic characteristics of Tati and TALESHI, the history of the interrelation between the two dialects, geographical parameters of the area, as well as the phonological, morphological, and lexical examples.

TALESHI is one of the Iranian north-western dialects which are spoken on the shore of the Caspian Sea. It has retained some of the ancient phonetic variations. In this study, after a brief description of the TALESHI verb construction, the etymology of 14 verbs of the central TALESHI dialect was investigated. Research data and their transcription were based on the pronunciation common to central TALESHI dialect. In the lexical entry of each verb, first the present and past stem of the TALESHI verbs have been inserted. Then, based on the equivalent or cognate of the word in other Iranian dialects and languages and also in other Indo-European languages, the etymology of the words has been considered and their ancient Iranian and primary Indo-European forms have been reconstructed. Then, based on the evidences from the dialect itself, the derivational structure of the words and the accomplished phonetic changes on their stems has been explained. Also, the historical evolution of TALESHI phonemes in the selected verbs of this paper has been studied from ancient Iranian up to the modern period.

Leptin is secreted mainly by fat, which is involved in energy metabolism and reproduction. Leptin and its receptor (Ob-R) have been detected in human spermatozoa and testis, thus it can be concluded leptin involves in male physiology. The goal of this study was determination of the presence of leptin receptor mRNA in the ram testis, epididymis and spermatozoa by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Ejaculated spermatozoa from ten fertile TALESHI ram were collected by means of an artificial vagina. Testes, placental cotyledons and adrenal glands were obtained from abattoir. Placental cotyledons and adrenal glands were used as the positive control. Epididymal spermatozoa recovery was performed from epididymis. To purify spermatozoa, motile sperm were isolated by the swim-up procedure. Total RNA was isolated from epididymal spermatozoa, ejaculated spermatozoa, adrenal gland and placental cotyledon and then they were purified. The mRNA for the long form (Ob-Rb) and the short form (Ob-Ra) of leptin receptor was detected in testis. RT-PCR analysis of total RNA from epididymal spermatozoa and ejaculated spermatozoa revealed the presence of leptin mRNA in these cells. The mRNA for Ob-Rb was observed in epididymis and epididymal spermatozoa, but the Ob-Ra mRNA was absent. The presence of Ob-Ra mRNA was found in ejaculated spermatozoa, whereas Ob-Rb mRNA did not exist. It can be concluded that the mRNA for leptin receptor is present in ram gonads and spermatozoa.

Some languages, with overt case marking of their direct objects, do not mark all their objects in the same way. They only mark a subset of their objects depending on the semantic and pragmatic features of the objects. This phenomenon is called Differential Object Marking (DOM). Features associated with DOM are the animacy and/or definiteness of the direct objects. This article studies the DOM in three selected modern North-Western Iranian languages, namely Tati, TALESHI and Balochi. Aissen's (2003) optimality-theoretic analysis of DOM based on the two hierarchies of Animacy and Definiteness was used as the theoretical framework for this study. It was concludesd that DOM exists in the languages discussed here and the cut-off point on animacy and definiteness has been shown.

In any language, roots and verb affixes constitute the most basic and important components of a language. The root is an element included in all the words of a lexical family and carries the basic meaning of those lexical items. A verb affix is an element added to the root to form a new meaning.In many new Iranian dialects, verb affixes have been left almost unnoticed, and it will be possible, by the act of deriving roots, to clear up most of their structural and semantic ambiguities. Unlike the root, verb affixes can be easily identified and described. In many dialects, verb affixes act as the base of verb formation and are often derived from a limited number of roots. Tâti, Tâleshi, and Gilaki dialects belong to North-western Iranian languages currently spoken along the coast of Caspian Sea. These dialects which enjoy many old linguistic elements have not been duly studied from a linguistic perspective. In the present paper, firstly the verb roots and affixes of Gilaki, Tâleshi and Tâti, as well as the way of their formation, are taken into consideration, then their relevant similarities and differences are investigated.