Tanacetum balsamita locally called Shahesparam is an aromatic plant that grows widely in Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Due to the widespread use of T. balsamita as a pain killer and relief of inflammatory based disorders in Iranian folk medicine and considering the high content of essential oil in T. balsamita aerial parts, we were prompted to investigate the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties of T. balsamita essential oil (TBEO) for the first time. The carrageenan-induced Paw Edema was used for inflammation evaluation in rat, and hot-plate method was used for pain assessment in mice. Different doses of TBEO were administered. Morphine and Mefenamic acid were used as the standard drugs in anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory evaluation tests, respectively. TBEO (100 mg/kg) showed significantly anti-nociceptive activity in hot-plate test. The anti-inflammatory activity of TBEO was found to be more than mefenamic acid. The studied oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The major component of the oil was characterized as carvone (39.8%) which might be responsible for the observed activities. The results suggested that TBEO possessed biologically active constituents that had significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects which support the ethno-medicinal claims of the plant application in the management of pain and inflammation.

Resumen Este estudio fue un intento de examinar la realización de los estudiantes iraníes del acto de discurso de condolencia en inglés y comparar su realización con los patrones de realización de los hablantes nativos de inglés. El estudio también se interesó en investigar si la realización por parte de los estudiantes iraníes de inglés de la ley del discurso de condolencia está asociada con su nivel de competencia en la segunda lengua. Con este fin, se aplicó una Prueba de Finalización del Discurso a 82 estudiantes universitarios iraníes en inglés. Los participantes fueron divididos en tres niveles de dominio del idioma (niveles elemental, intermedio y avanzado) basados en sus calificaciones en el Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). Para las comparaciones de línea de base, los estudiantes de EFL también recibieron la versión traducida del mismo DCT en persa, y el DCT inglés se administró a 20 hablantes nativos de inglés americano. Los datos fueron analizados con base en el esquema de codificación de Elwood (2004). Los resultados revelaron que los estudiantes iraníes de inglés tenían acceso a las mismas estrategias de condolencia que los nativos ingleses, aunque diferían en las fórmulas semánticas, contenido o formas que adoptaron para formular sus expresiones de condolencia. Además, se encontró que el nivel de competencia en segunda lengua estaba asociado con la realización por parte de los estudiantes iraníes de la ley de discurso de condolencia.

Abstract This study was an attempt to examine Iranian EFL learners’ realization of the condolence speech act in English and to compare their realization with English native speakers’ (NSs) realization patterns. The study was further interested in investigating whether Iranian EFL learners’ realization of the condolence speech act is associated with their level of L2 proficiency. To this end, a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was administered to 82 undergraduate Iranian EFL students in English. The participants were divided into three levels of language proficiency (elementary level, intermediate level, and advanced level) based on their scores on the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). For baseline comparisons, the EFL learners also received the translated version of the same DCT in Persian, and the English DCT was administered to 20 NSs of American English. The data were analyzed based on Elwood’s (2004) coding scheme. The results revealed that Iranian EFL learners had access to the same condolence strategies as English NSs, yet they differed in the semantic formulas, content, or forms they adopted to formulize their condolence expressions. In addition, level of L2 proficiency was found to be associated with Iranian EFL learners’ realization of the condolence speech act.