- Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland
- Adjectives, Arabic Syntax, Modern Standard Arabic, Syntagma, Syntagme Nominal, Literary translation, and 14 moreTranslation, Arabic Dialects, Modern Arabic Literature, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Arabic Literature, Moroccan Arabic, Arabic Maghrebi dialectology, Arabic Language and Literature, Arabic Dialectology, Arabic Language, Arabic, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Moroccan Dialect, and Arabic Prose Literatureedit
The paper attempts to present a diachronic view of some syntactic constructions with the Arabic elative. The point of departure is its early stage in Classical Arabic. Since then, it has undergone substantial development,... more
The paper attempts to present a diachronic view of some syntactic constructions with the Arabic elative. The point of departure is its early stage in Classical Arabic. Since then, it has undergone substantial development, resulting in modern syntactic uses unknown to traditional Arabic grammarians. Of special interest are the historical trajectories of and semantic relations between the three constructions conveying the meaning of the superlative that are in current use in Modern Written Arabic: (i) elative + indefinite singular noun in the genitive (e.g.akbaru madīnatin), (ii) elative + definite plural noun in the genitive (e.g. akbaru l-muduni), and (iii) elative used as an attribute of a definite noun (e.g. al-madīnatu l-akbaru) – all of them translatable as ‘the largest city’, but different from each other in certain respects. A tendency to create symmetry can be observed in the system of the syntax of the elative used in adjectival attribution on the one hand and the manner of expressing a gradation comparative-superlative by means of the same syntactic construction (adjectival attribution) differing only in (in)definiteness, on the other hand. In addition, a construction only marginally attested in CA, viz. elatives following the pattern C1uC2C3ā + definite plural noun in the genitive, turns out to be used widely in MWA. Its plural counterpart, C1uC2C3ayāt, is an innovation whose expansive usage, especially in the journalistic style, can be attributed to the tendency of disambiguation.
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When a work of European literature is translated into Arabic, the language of a predominantly Islamic culture, terms referring to Arabs as a peopleor Muslims as a religious community, the name of Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam,... more
When a work of European literature is translated into Arabic, the language of a predominantly Islamic culture, terms referring to Arabs as a peopleor Muslims as a religious community, the name of Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam, etc., cease to be foreign and exotic, to become local and familiar. The present analysis of contemporary Arabic translations of Dante’s La Divina Commedia, Cervantes’ Don Quijote and Scott’s Ivanhoe, shows that these elements are not always simply returned to their native culture if the original text represents them in a negative, Eurocentric way, which can even be considered blasphemous by Muslims, but are subject to more or less significant ideologically motivated transformations. Instead of straightforward restitution to the native culture, what takes place is a kind of annexation of texts which consists in replacing the negatively portrayed “Other” by a positively, or at least neutrally, represented “We.” Such manipulations may be explicit, i.e. signalled in footnotes, or tacit. In some cases, anti-Islamic passages become even sympathetic towards Islam when translated into Arabic. In this way the authors of Arabic translations liberate the texts from the dominating Western perspective and adapt them to their own vision of the world. What appears as manipulation and censorship from the “Western” point of view may be perceived in an entirely different manner inside the Arabo-Islamic culture, for instance as a correction of obvious factual errors.
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Although Moroccan Arabic, like other Arabic dialects, except for Maltese, has no codified spelling standard, it is used in writing by native users with an increasing frequency. Authors who write texts, of various types, in this dialect in... more
Although Moroccan Arabic, like other Arabic dialects, except for Maltese, has no codified spelling standard, it is used in writing by native users with an increasing frequency. Authors who write texts, of various types, in this dialect in Arabic script employ, often inconsistently, their own spelling rules which may, generally speaking, be pronunciation-oriented or morphological, follow the orthography of Standard Arabic or be aimed at distancing oneself from it. Describing how Moroccan Arabic is written involves specific methodological difficulties. One of them concerns determining a phonetic form of a given written expression (which may first require the identification of the particular variety of Moroccan Arabic it is written in), since many graphies allow more than one pronunciation. An important methodological issue is choosing the unit of description, which may be letters in their basic forms or in ligatures, letters with or without vocalization signs, etc. Another choice that needs to be made concerns the type of relations to be described; in research to date, Moroccan Arabic graphy has been generally studied in terms of relations 'sound-letter' (representational approach), whereas it seems worthwhile to attempt a description taking into account relations between letters as well as their meaning-differentiating properties (distinctivity approach). These and other problems are illustrated with examples taken from literary texts written partly or entirely in Moroccan Arabic.
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When a work of European literature is translated into Arabic, the language of a predominantly Islamic culture, terms referring to Arabs as a people or Muslims as a religious community, the name of Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam, etc.,... more
When a work of European literature is translated into Arabic, the language of a predominantly Islamic culture, terms referring to Arabs as a people or Muslims as a religious community, the name of Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam, etc., cease to be foreign and exotic, to become local and familiar. The present analysis of contemporary Arabic translations of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Cervantes’ Don Quijote and Scott’s Ivanhoe shows that these elements are not always simply returned to their native culture if the original text represents them in a negative, Eurocentric way, which can even be considered blasphemous by Muslims, but are subject to more or less significant ideologically motivated transformations. Instead of straightforward restitution to the native culture, what takes place is a kind of annexation of texts which consists in replacing the negatively portrayed ‘Other’ by a positively, or at least neutrally, represented ‘We’. Such manipulations may be explicit, i.e. signalled in footnotes, or tacit. In some cases, anti-Islamic passages become even sympathetic towards Islam when translated into Arabic. In this way the authors of Arabic translations liberate the texts from the dominating Western perspective and adapt them to their own vision of the world. What appears as manipulation and censorship from the ‘Western’ point of view may be perceived in an entirely different manner inside the Arabo-Islamic culture, for instance as a correction of obvious factual errors.
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In Modern Standard Arabic constructions with cardinal numerals over ten in which the noun denoting the counted object follows the numeral, e.g. al-ḫamsūna ǧundiyyan ‘the fifty soldiers’ (as opposed to al-ǧunūdu l-ḫamsūna‘idem’), the noun... more
In Modern Standard Arabic constructions with cardinal numerals over ten in which the noun denoting the counted object follows the numeral, e.g. al-ḫamsūna ǧundiyyan ‘the fifty soldiers’ (as opposed to al-ǧunūdu
l-ḫamsūna‘idem’), the noun is indefinite singular. When a property of the object counted is to be expressed by means of an attribute: an adjective, participle, or a relative clause, it agrees with the noun in gender, but agreement
in the three remaining categories, i.e. number, case and definiteness, may be distributed between the noun and the
numeral. The present study analyzes examples of such constructions found in contemporary journalistic texts. Four agreement configurations are distinguished, out of which three were described by Classical Arabic grammarians, while one is non-classical. In some instances, due to the syncretism of declension forms, agreement in case is indeterminate. The analysis of the examples shows that apart from variation in agreement that can be observed with some types of the qualifier, the choice of a particular agreement configuration depends on phraseology and/or the lexico-syntactic properties of the qualifier: whether it is a proper adjective, a nisbaadjective, a participle, or a relative clause.
l-ḫamsūna‘idem’), the noun is indefinite singular. When a property of the object counted is to be expressed by means of an attribute: an adjective, participle, or a relative clause, it agrees with the noun in gender, but agreement
in the three remaining categories, i.e. number, case and definiteness, may be distributed between the noun and the
numeral. The present study analyzes examples of such constructions found in contemporary journalistic texts. Four agreement configurations are distinguished, out of which three were described by Classical Arabic grammarians, while one is non-classical. In some instances, due to the syncretism of declension forms, agreement in case is indeterminate. The analysis of the examples shows that apart from variation in agreement that can be observed with some types of the qualifier, the choice of a particular agreement configuration depends on phraseology and/or the lexico-syntactic properties of the qualifier: whether it is a proper adjective, a nisbaadjective, a participle, or a relative clause.
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Like other Arabic dialects, Moroccan Arabic has no codified spelling standard. Authors who write it in Arabic script in literary, journalistic or advertising texts employ, often inconsistently, their own rules that may be, generally... more
Like other Arabic dialects, Moroccan Arabic has no codified spelling standard. Authors who write it in Arabic
script in literary, journalistic or advertising texts employ, often inconsistently, their own rules that may be, generally
speaking, phonetically oriented or follow the model of the orthography of Standard Arabic (fuṣḥā). This paper presents
spelling tendencies identified in a corpus of printed literary works that have not yet been described in previous research. They
concern marking gemination and assimilation, the word-initial ʔalif, the spelling of the hamza, the spelling of the word-final -a in various parts of speech, and marking vowels by means of matres lectionis. The analysis shows that variation in spelling
Moroccan Arabic in Arabic script is strong, some tendencies can, however, be identified.
script in literary, journalistic or advertising texts employ, often inconsistently, their own rules that may be, generally
speaking, phonetically oriented or follow the model of the orthography of Standard Arabic (fuṣḥā). This paper presents
spelling tendencies identified in a corpus of printed literary works that have not yet been described in previous research. They
concern marking gemination and assimilation, the word-initial ʔalif, the spelling of the hamza, the spelling of the word-final -a in various parts of speech, and marking vowels by means of matres lectionis. The analysis shows that variation in spelling
Moroccan Arabic in Arabic script is strong, some tendencies can, however, be identified.
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Units of an Arabic text can be Romanised and Polonised in various ways. Due to the peculiarities of Arabic, neither transliteration, consisting in preserving letter-to-letter correspondence, nor transcription, understood as representing... more
Units of an Arabic text can be Romanised and Polonised in various ways. Due to the peculiarities of Arabic, neither transliteration, consisting in preserving letter-to-letter correspondence, nor transcription, understood as representing pronunciation, fulfil practical needs in the case of this language. In what is called ‘Polish simplified transcription’, a system used in Arabic studies in Poland, three components can be distinguished: transcriptional, transliterational, and a third one termed here ‘uniformizational’ (the use of conventionally established forms of words). The norms of Polish simplified transcription delineated in this paper are analysed with respect to the priniciples of Polish spelling and Polish phonetics.
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AGAINST (MISUSING) TRADITION: NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S NOVEL THE FALL OF THE IMAM In her 1987 novel Suqut al-Imam (The Fall of the Imam) Nawal El Saadawi presents and criticizes the reality in an unnamed theocratic state which has many... more
AGAINST (MISUSING) TRADITION: NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S NOVEL THE FALL OF THE IMAM
In her 1987 novel Suqut al-Imam (The Fall of the Imam) Nawal El Saadawi presents and criticizes the reality in an unnamed theocratic state which has many similarities to Egypt.
She deals with the problem of misusing tradition to oppress women. The sources of tradition, which usually are texts, can be divided into three layers: religious, secular (AraboIslamic) and Egyptian pre-Islamic. Intertextual references to these old texts and traditions show constant sources of women’s oppression which has various changing forms. Tradition is fixed as constant, but is challenged by at least two factors: the passage of time and Bint Allah, the novel’s main character. The opposition constant vs. changing is shown in the author’s literary technique: some events are repeated and assume various anifestations,
some characters change into others, both evil and God have more than one face.
In her 1987 novel Suqut al-Imam (The Fall of the Imam) Nawal El Saadawi presents and criticizes the reality in an unnamed theocratic state which has many similarities to Egypt.
She deals with the problem of misusing tradition to oppress women. The sources of tradition, which usually are texts, can be divided into three layers: religious, secular (AraboIslamic) and Egyptian pre-Islamic. Intertextual references to these old texts and traditions show constant sources of women’s oppression which has various changing forms. Tradition is fixed as constant, but is challenged by at least two factors: the passage of time and Bint Allah, the novel’s main character. The opposition constant vs. changing is shown in the author’s literary technique: some events are repeated and assume various anifestations,
some characters change into others, both evil and God have more than one face.
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Polish translation of the introduction to Amina Wadud book "Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam" (2006)
Polish translation of a chapter from Elizabeth Grosz book 'Volatile Bodies' (1994)
Polish translation of a novel by Elias Khoury (Lebanon).
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 360 pp.
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 360 pp.
Polish translation of a book by Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya).
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 364 pp.
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 364 pp.
Polish translation of a novel by Rabee Jaber (Lebanon).
Publisher: Biuro Literackie (Wrocław); 225 pp.
Publisher: Biuro Literackie (Wrocław); 225 pp.
Polish translation of a book by Khaled Al Khamissy (Egypt).
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 254 pp.
Publisher: Karakter (Kraków); 254 pp.
Polish translation of a novel by Juan Marsé (Spain).
Publisher: Znak (Kraków); 203 pp.
Publisher: Znak (Kraków); 203 pp.
Polish translation of a novel by Margaret Atwood (Canada).
Publisher: Znak (Kraków); 478 pp.
Publisher: Znak (Kraków); 478 pp.
In recent decades, Moroccan Arabic, the Arabic dialect traditionally serving as a vehicle of informal oral communication in Morocco, has been increasingly often used by its native speakers in writing. Written Moroccan Arabic dominates... more
In recent decades, Moroccan Arabic, the Arabic dialect traditionally serving as a vehicle of informal oral communication in Morocco, has been increasingly often used by its native speakers in writing. Written Moroccan Arabic dominates electronic communication and has penetrated into the domains previously reserved for Standard Arabic: media, advertising and printed belles lettres. In these functions, it is primarily written in the Arabic script, to which this book is dedicated. Because, unlike Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic has no spelling standards (orthography), its users who write it down create and apply, quite inconsistently, their own individual spelling systems. The Moroccan Arabic graphic macrosystem which these make up is therefore unstable and permeated with variational heterography, consisting in a given phonetic word being represented by various graphic words, termed variational heterographs. The linguistic description of one of its types – qualitative variational heterography (the other types being linear and quantitative) – presented in this book is based on an extensive corpus of literary texts published in print in the years 1991-2012. By discussing an ample selection of pairs of heterographs illustrating variation between graphs (letters), the author shows which elements of written Moroccan Arabic are subject to qualitative variation, while by identifying general principles underlying particular spellings, he explains the reasons for this phenomenon. He also proposes a classification of graphs used in this graphic macrosystem into graphemes.