- An established researcher in the field of psycholinguistics and language acquisitionedit
Purpose. Following the hypothesis of shared cognitive mechanisms between language and music, the present study investigates the interconnection between musical orientation and language processing operations in Broca’s area, namely verbal... more
Purpose. Following the hypothesis of shared cognitive mechanisms between language and music, the present study investigates the interconnection between musical orientation and language processing operations in Broca’s area, namely verbal retrieval. The researchers replicated Taylor & Dewhurst’s (2017) study by applying a perceptual task of four types of words in Arabic to Jordanian university students spanning a wide range of musical orientations. Methods. The participants are musicians with different levels of musical training and non-musicians who vary in their musical interests. A T-test was applied to the results of musicians and non-musicians. Furthermore, a Kruskal-Wallis test was carried out to reveal significant differences within groups. Moreover, paired comparisons were conducted to find out significant differences between the four word types regardless of the participants’ musical background. Results. First, verbal memory was enhanced by musical training where musicians, ...
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Purpose. This paper examines the pragmatic functions of wa, the most frequently used discourse marker in the daily interactions of speakers of Jordanian Arabic (JA). Procedure. The principal researcher built with the help of a research... more
Purpose. This paper examines the pragmatic functions of wa, the most frequently used discourse marker in the daily interactions of speakers of Jordanian Arabic (JA). Procedure. The principal researcher built with the help of a research assistant a small-size corpus from conversations and talks presented by Jordanian TV and Radio Jordan in JA. The recordings ran for 194 minutes and covered multiple aspects of Jordanian life and culture such as traffic and safety, water and agriculture, education, tourism and environment, health, mountaineering and social topics. The recordings were transcribed for analysis by two of the four researchers and verified by the other two. The transcripts comprised 20660 words with 1229 instances of wa. To identify the pragmatic functions of wa, the researchers worked in groups of two and screened and examined independently a different 50 percent of the transcribed data and proposed their own list of identified functions along with at least two illustrativ...
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This paper discusses the Berber language situation in Algeria in a language policy and planning context. It comprises two main parts. The first provides a general account of the linguistic profile of Algeria coupled with a historical... more
This paper discusses the Berber language situation in Algeria in a language policy and planning context. It comprises two main parts. The first provides a general account of the linguistic profile of Algeria coupled with a historical context of the Berber language and Algerian Arabic. In order to develop a deeper understanding of the present issue, the second section is devoted to the Berber language planning, and the socio-political context of its recognition as the second official language alongside Arabic. In accordance with Hornberger’s (2006) Integrative Framework, the study provides a critical examination of the Berber language planning process, i.e., corpus and acquisition planning, and explores the challenges language planners are facing.
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Based on a sample of 75 Jokes extracted from YouTube clips which belong to a comic program called ‘A Joke Off-hand’, different Jordanian male age-groups are shown to highly welcome, appreciate, and interact with joke telling in public.... more
Based on a sample of 75 Jokes extracted from YouTube clips which belong to a comic program called ‘A Joke Off-hand’, different Jordanian male age-groups are shown to highly welcome, appreciate, and interact with joke telling in public. The topics of jokes are varied, mainly involving hash-addict (26.66%), marriage (16%), body defects (6.66%), and school (6.66%) jokes. The total absence of political jokes and the very few sexual and religious jokes (two instances each) may be ascribed to Jordanians’ relatively conservative attitude towards exposing such sensitive themes publically in addition to being aware of censorship as reported by the program’s presenter in a TV interview. Jordanian jokes are shown to be influenced by the jokester’s age, which is clearly reflected in the structure and sophistication of the joke. In terms of linguistic resources, the bulk of the jokes (85.33%) follows human logical reasoning based on conversational implicature, which can readily travel into Engli...
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Conceptual Metaphors are part of human cognition and are essential to human knowledge and experience. The study reported here examines the COVID-19 conceptual metaphors underlying the metaphoric language employed by Jordanian government... more
Conceptual Metaphors are part of human cognition and are essential to human knowledge and experience. The study reported here examines the COVID-19 conceptual metaphors underlying the metaphoric language employed by Jordanian government officials during two periods in 2020, namely from February to May and September to December. To this end, a corpus of official statements (n=213) reported in Al-Rai ‘The Opinion’, an Arabic daily mainstream newspaper, was collected and analyzed using the Cognitive Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003). Identified conceptual metaphors are categorized under the following eight source domains: warfare, container, ocean, journey, natural phenomenon, examination, animal, and sport. A comparison of the frequency of these metaphors in each period is established. The analysis reveals that warfare and container metaphors have the highest frequency in both periods followed by ocean and journey. The percentage of the other four domains is less than five percent. Conceptual metaphors subsumed under the frequent domains, namely, warfare, container, ocean, and journey are further examined and discussed following Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black 2004). The results show that during the first period, the priority given by the Jordanian government was to focus on convincing people of the restrictive measures which suspended freedom. Therefore, warfare has dominated the scene. However, as the crisis progressed, the container metaphors took over. This study may assist government agencies to use the right metaphors to impact the public opinion and win the masses to their stands.
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""Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written... more
""Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen sentences, each containing a word that is normally suffixed with –ship or –hood. The subjects are asked to judge whether each sentence is error-free or faulty. If they decide that a certain sentence is erroneous, they are requested to identify the error and then correct it. The findings indicate the subjects do not find the semantics of –ship harder than that of –hood. It seems that the variation in accuracy scores is ascribed to the subjects' familiarity or unfamiliarity with particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can bAbstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen sentences, each containing a word that is normally suffixed with –ship or –hood. The subjects are asked to judge whether each sentence is error-free or faulty. If they decide that a certain sentence is erroneous, they are requested to identify the error and then correct it. The findings indicate the subjects do not find the semantics of –ship harder than that of –hood. It seems that the variation in accuracy scores is ascribed to the subjects' familiarity or unfamiliarity with particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can be taken as an indication of the acquisition of the proposed constraints.""
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This paper explores the most frequently used strategies by Jordanian Facebook users when commenting on the death anniversary status of Wasfi al-Tal, a former prime minister of Jordan, who was assassinated in 1971. The corpus comprises 530... more
This paper explores the most frequently used strategies by Jordanian Facebook users when commenting on the death anniversary status of Wasfi al-Tal, a former prime minister of Jordan, who was assassinated in 1971. The corpus comprises 530 comments. The findings reveal the use of nine strategies, e.g., praying for God’s mercy, praying for God’s mercy annexed to wishing the deceased an abode in paradise, praying for God’s mercy in combination with highlighting the uniqueness and unforgettability of the deceased, among others. The findings also uncover that while some Facebook death anniversary related strategies were similar to those associated with offering condolences in general, some other strategies appeared to be solely used for this death anniversary.
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This study examines love and beloved metaphors from the cross-cultural perspective of Jordanian Arabic (JA) and English. The conceptual models suggested by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) and Kövecses (2014) and force dynamics proposed by... more
This study examines love and beloved metaphors from the cross-cultural perspective of Jordanian Arabic (JA) and English. The conceptual models suggested by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) and Kövecses (2014) and force dynamics proposed by Talmy (1988) are adopted as the theoretical frameworks for this study. The data was collected from contemporary songs by Jordanian and English-speaking artists. Unlike previous comparative studies on love and beloved metaphors, this study demonstrates that source domains found in JA songs such as pain/suffering, sadness, weakness, wound, stupid endeavour, cruelty and deadly force also exist in English songs to conceptualise love. It is argued that while the use of these source domains in JA is expected as they form part of the prototypical cognitive model of love or the love matrix in JA, they could be viewed as nonprototypical in English. The analysis also revealed certain JA culture-specific source domains used to conceptualise the object of love...
Purpose. The study reported here aims to identify and classify the pragmatic functions of the frequently used idiomatic expression Yalla, literally ‘let’s’, in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA). Method. The data were collected from 145... more
Purpose. The study reported here aims to identify and classify the pragmatic functions of the frequently used idiomatic expression Yalla, literally ‘let’s’, in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA). Method. The data were collected from 145 university students (males and females) enrolled in different specialisms at two higher education institutions, viz., the University of Jordan and Jadara University. All participants are native speakers of Jordanian Spoken Arabic; their ages ranged from 18 to 22 years. They were divided into three groups; 14 participants gave the data in the mini questionnaire stage which was used to guide and inform proper data collection, 86 completed the extended data collection questionnaire and 45 undertook the acceptability agreement/ judgment task. Results. The study reveals that Yalla conveys 23 pragmatic functions: showing approval / acceptance, signaling the start of an action, spreading enthusiasm, suggesting, commanding/ ordering someone, expediting/ urging, e...
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This paper reports the findings of a contrastive analysis of acronymization as a word-formation process in both English and Arabic. In particular, the paper attempts to provide answers to the following questions: 1. What are the... more
This paper reports the findings of a contrastive analysis of acronymization as a word-formation process in both English and Arabic. In particular, the paper attempts to provide answers to the following questions: 1. What are the mechanisms of acronym formation in both English and Arabic? 2. What are the contexts in which acronyms are used in English and Arabic? The analysis of the data shows that while the two languages share a number of formation mechanisms, each tends to spare certain mechanisms for its own use. The analysis also shows that acronyms in Arabic are less frequent and more context-restricted than they are in English. The paper attributes this observation to cultural, scientific and linguistic variables.
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Purpose. The study reported here aims to investigate the commonest communicative categories and subcategories of graffiti written inside Jordanian public transport vehicles. Method. The researchers collected 1,410 tokens of graffiti from... more
Purpose. The study reported here aims to investigate the commonest communicative categories and subcategories of graffiti written inside Jordanian public transport vehicles. Method. The researchers collected 1,410 tokens of graffiti from six Jordanian cities, viz., Amman, Madaba, Irbid, Zarqa, Salt, and Jerash. The data which were collected from public transport vehicles included 1000 handwritten graffiti tokens and 410 custom-made stickers. Specifically, the data were collected from large and small buses as well as service and yellow taxis that lined up in main bus stations and bus stops available in front of hospitals, universities, malls and close to traffic circles. Then the categories and subcategories of graffiti were identified on the basis of their content. Results. The analysis reveals eight communicative categories, viz., personal, interpersonal, philosophical, religious, offensive, political, humorous, and sports. The analysis also reveals thirteen subcategories, viz., na...
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Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for each gender. Many linguists... more
Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for each gender. Many linguists and sociolinguistics believe that because male and female have different life experiences, the way the two genders speak and write will differ. The question of identifying such differences has exercised linguistic researchers for decades. The studies of difference in the language used by males and females have mainly focused on phonological and lexical differences in their spoken medium and informal writing such as student essays, personal letters and electronic messaging. The language used in novels, plays and poetry seems to be an area which so far has not been thoroughly elucidated. This paper explores and examines the general beliefs whether professional authors, particularly literary writers, could perceive and identify any linguistic difference...
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The study reported here explored the HIV/AIDS-related lexicon in two mainstream Arabic dailies in Jordan over a period of 21 years. Throughout the time period, the most frequently used term to refer to HIV/AIDS was al-eidz, the Arabicized... more
The study reported here explored the HIV/AIDS-related lexicon in two mainstream Arabic dailies in Jordan over a period of 21 years. Throughout the time period, the most frequently used term to refer to HIV/AIDS was al-eidz, the Arabicized acronym for 'AIDS'. Both Jordanian and Western media tended to emphasize the role of religion and social values in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The data also showed a significant attitudinal shift, over time, towards HIV/AIDS. This was evident in the gradual disappearance of the negative attributes, e.g. ‘plague of our time’, which were used intensively in the earlier stages to describe HIV/AIDS and people living with it. It was also clear in the slogans used to mobilize the public and other stakeholders to act against the disease. Finally, the study suggested that future research examine the portrayal of HIV/AIDS in the lexicon of tabloids and broadcast and electronic media.
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This study explored the acquisition of metaphorical expressions by Jordanian EFL learners at the University of Jordan. In particular, it investigated EFL learners' ability to comprehend and produce metaphorical expressions in English... more
This study explored the acquisition of metaphorical expressions by Jordanian EFL learners at the University of Jordan. In particular, it investigated EFL learners' ability to comprehend and produce metaphorical expressions in English and whether using their conceptual and linguistic knowledge of their first language i.e. Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA) would assist them in comprehending and producing metaphorical expressions in English. The study adopted a contrastive model to compare and contrast metaphors in both English and JSA. The model consisted of six types of metaphor classified according to: (1) correspondence of conceptual metaphor and linguistic expression between the two languages (2) whether the conceptual metaphor and linguistic expression are culture-specific (opaque) or universal (transparent). On the basis of this model, the authors designed a multiple-choice test to assess the subjects'recognition of the metaphorical expressions and a completion test to measu...
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Identification and Correction of Lexical Errors: A Problem for Jordanian\ Arab EFL Teachers
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The main objective of this paper is to examine the emergence and development of wh-questions in two Jordanian Arabic-speaking pre-school children. Specifically, it investigates (1) how these children interact with wh-questions; which... more
The main objective of this paper is to examine the emergence and development of wh-questions in two Jordanian Arabic-speaking pre-school children. Specifically, it investigates (1) how these children interact with wh-questions; which questions they find easier and thus earlier to acquire and why, and finally (2) what symptoms one can identify as characteristics of the intra-stage development of such questions. The data of the study are a subset of a large body of a longitudinal audio-taped corpus collected by the principal author, who happened to be a psycholinguist and the children’s grandparent, on the basis of three-day, weekly sessions over a period of five years. The recordings were made in the family home environment during routine activities, mainly after dinner, and mostly in the presence of family members. The findings reveal the acquisition of wh-questions is a complex process that supports a general cognitive maturity model interpretation. The acquisition of wh-questio...
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Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for each gender. Many linguists... more
Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for each gender. Many linguists and sociolinguistics believe that because male and female have different life experiences, the way the two genders speak and write will differ. The question of identifying such differences has exercised linguistic researchers for decades. The studies of difference in the language used by males and females have mainly focused on phonological and lexical differences in their spoken medium and informal writing such as student essays, personal letters and electronic messaging. The language used in novels, plays and poetry seems to be an area which so far has not been thoroughly elucidated. This paper explores and examines the general beliefs whether professional authors, particularly literary writers, could perceive and identify any linguistic difference...
تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تفحص الدور الذي يمكن أن تلعبه اللغة الأم (اللغة العربية) في تقويم الاستيعاب القرائي في اللغة الأجنبية (اللغة الانجليزية)، وتعرض النتائج التي خلص إليها الباحثان من خلال استخدام نسختين من اختبار قرائي أحدهما صيغت أسئلته... more
تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تفحص الدور الذي يمكن أن تلعبه اللغة الأم (اللغة العربية) في تقويم الاستيعاب القرائي في اللغة الأجنبية (اللغة الانجليزية)، وتعرض النتائج التي خلص إليها الباحثان من خلال استخدام نسختين من اختبار قرائي أحدهما صيغت أسئلته باللغة العربية، والأخرى باللغة الإنجليزية، أثر لغة الاختبار على تحصيل مجموعة تتألف من ستين طالبا من طلبة المرحلة الثانوية في الأردن في الاستيعاب القرائي في اللغة الإنجليزية. وبعد تلقى الطلبة دروسا تناولت مادة قرائية وتمارين في كتبهم المقررة مشابهة لتلك التي تم تضمينها في الاختبار، أعطيت مجموعتان نفس الاختبار القرائي مع فارق واحد هو ان أسئلة الاختبار كانت باللغة الإنجليزية بالنسبة للمجموعة الأولى وباللغة العربية بالنسبة للمجموعة الثانية. وقد أشارت نتائج الدراسة إلى أن الطلبة الذين تم اختبارهم بواسطة اللغة العربية قد تفوقوا في التحصيل على نظرائهم الذين تم اختبارهم بواسطة اللغة الإنجليزية. ومع ذلك فقد دلت النتائج على أن أداء الطلبة ذوي المستوى المتقدم في التحصيل القرائي في المجموعتين قد تساووا في أدائهم بغض النظر عن لغة الاختبار الذي أجابوا عنه. وع...
Research Interests: Mathematics and Arabic
... Titre du document / Document title. Locative alternation in English and Jordanian spoken Arabic = Alternance locative en anglais et en arabe parlé en Jordanie. Auteur(s) / Author(s). FAREH Shehdeh (1) ; HAMDAN Jihad (1) ;... more
... Titre du document / Document title. Locative alternation in English and Jordanian spoken Arabic = Alternance locative en anglais et en arabe parlé en Jordanie. Auteur(s) / Author(s). FAREH Shehdeh (1) ; HAMDAN Jihad (1) ; Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s ...
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This study aims to examine the figurative devices used in Jordanian Arabic (JA) to conceptualise the emotion of FEAR. It investigates whether FEAR in JA can be conceptualised: (1) universally, on the basis of human embodied experiences;... more
This study aims to examine the figurative devices used in Jordanian Arabic (JA) to conceptualise the emotion of FEAR. It investigates whether FEAR in JA can be conceptualised: (1) universally, on the basis of human embodied experiences; and (2) socioculturally, on the basis of culture specific schemas. The study adopts Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as its main theoretical framework to compare and contrast the similarities and/or differences in the conceptualisations of FEAR in both JA and English. Data are collected from two sources: namely, the comment section on Facebook pages of cinemas in Amman that show horror and thriller movies, and 12 JA native speaker informants. Data analysis of the linguistic metonymical and metaphorical expressions shows that three figurative devices are used to conceptualise FEAR in JA: Conceptual metonymy, conceptual metaphor and conceptual metaphtonymy. Data analysis of the linguistic realisations in JA and English also demonstrate that both langua...
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Shop signs are seen as a reflection of the socio-cultural background of the place in which the shop is located. This paper studies the shop signs in Salt, Jordan because it is one of the most popular cities in the country and it has not... more
Shop signs are seen as a reflection of the socio-cultural background of the place in which the shop is located. This paper studies the shop signs in Salt, Jordan because it is one of the most popular cities in the country and it has not yet been explored adequately. These shop sings are collected from two main streets in two different areas of Salt: Hamzih Prince Street and Al Hamam Street. A digital camera is used to capture the shop signs on these streets. In addition, the study examines the shop signs using both quantitative and qualitative measures. It focuses on the language choice, the arrangement of languages and the linguistic features of these signs, i.e. phonetic, morphological, semantic, and syntactic. In addition, it studies the pragmatic functions of these shop signs. The study concludes that Salt is a conservative and traditional county in Jordan.
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This study provides a contrastive critical discourse analysis of the speeches of the Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations General Assembly regarding the Gaza War... more
This study provides a contrastive critical discourse analysis of the speeches of the Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations General Assembly regarding the Gaza War (2014). The analysis explores the representation of the “Self” and the “Other” in relation to the war. Van Dijk’s ‘Ideological Square’ theory is adopted to explore the group polarization of Us versus Them dichotomy. Moreover Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar is utilized in the analysis to study how the polarization of the “Self” and “Other” is constructed via particular grammatical transitivity choices. The results indicated that the representation of the “Self” and “Other” in the speeches reflects two different opposing ideologically-governed perspectives on the Gaza conflict. Both speakers present the “Self” as ‘strong’, ‘human’ and ‘honorable’ in contrast to the “Other” that is deemed to be a ‘dire threat’ and an ‘agent of destruction’.
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In the realm of language acquisition due attention was given to some linguistic areas like phonology and syntax probably at the expense of others such as pragmatics. The aim of this paper is to explore the age at which Algerian... more
In the realm of language acquisition due attention was given to some linguistic areas like phonology and syntax probably at the expense of others such as pragmatics. The aim of this paper is to explore the age at which Algerian Arabic-speaking preschoolers acquire the maxims of the Cooperative Principle developed by Grice (1975), and the order in which these maxims are acquired. Data were elicited from 36 children between the ages of 3 and 5 years who were required to make acceptability judgment of statements uttered in a puppet video-show to indicate their adherence to or violation of the Cooperative Principle. The results of the study have shown that the Cooperative Principle emerged in preschoolers at the age of 3 years where they were able to identify the Cooperative Principle violation. However, their performance improved with age. The results have also demonstrated that preschoolers acquire the maxim of relevance first, followed by the maxim of quality, the maxim of manner and...
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The main objective of this study is to explore the factors that affect the absence of the glottal stop [ʔ] and as a result, the resurfacing of the standard Arabic Qaf variable [q], in certain lexical items of young Ammani females who... more
The main objective of this study is to explore the factors that affect the absence of the glottal stop [ʔ] and as a result, the resurfacing of the standard Arabic Qaf variable [q], in certain lexical items of young Ammani females who associate themselves with the Jordanian Arabic madani ('urban') dialect of which [ʔ] is a predominant feature. In particular, the study explores why this absence occurs from the perspectives of the speakers themselves in relation to their own language choices. Empirical data are collected through the use of a closed questionnaire and a focus group discussion. The findings reveal that one of the major factors for the resurfacing of [q] is related to the influence of family dialect and social networks and not because the target words are of a religious or formal origin, as once they might have been attested in the speech of older generations.
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"Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for each gender. Many... more
"Gender plays a crucial role in the lives of human beings. From the moment of birth, the two genders are
taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for
each gender. Many linguists and sociolinguistics believe that because male and female have different
life experiences, the way the two genders speak and write will differ. The question of identifying such
differences has exercised linguistic researchers for decades. The studies of difference in the language
used by males and females have mainly focused on phonological and lexical differences in their spoken
medium and informal writing such as student essays, personal letters and electronic messaging. The
language used in novels, plays and poetry seems to be an area which so far has not been thoroughly
elucidated. This paper explores and examines the general beliefs whether professional authors,
particularly literary writers, could perceive and identify any linguistic differences in Arab male and
female novelists' style of writing. Ten Arabic-speaking Jordanian writers, five males and five females,
are asked to express their opinions with regard to such difference. The results are in conformity with
the findings of international gender studies, thus providing further support to the claim that the
difference between male and female styles of writing is more of a truth than a myth."
taught to follow different codes of behaviour that are compatible with the societal roles stipulated for
each gender. Many linguists and sociolinguistics believe that because male and female have different
life experiences, the way the two genders speak and write will differ. The question of identifying such
differences has exercised linguistic researchers for decades. The studies of difference in the language
used by males and females have mainly focused on phonological and lexical differences in their spoken
medium and informal writing such as student essays, personal letters and electronic messaging. The
language used in novels, plays and poetry seems to be an area which so far has not been thoroughly
elucidated. This paper explores and examines the general beliefs whether professional authors,
particularly literary writers, could perceive and identify any linguistic differences in Arab male and
female novelists' style of writing. Ten Arabic-speaking Jordanian writers, five males and five females,
are asked to express their opinions with regard to such difference. The results are in conformity with
the findings of international gender studies, thus providing further support to the claim that the
difference between male and female styles of writing is more of a truth than a myth."
Abstract: The paper is intended to be a contribution to lexicographical research. In particular it reports on the findings of an exploratory study on how dictionaries treat binomials, e.g. bread and butter, bolts and nuts, etc. A set of... more
Abstract: The paper is intended to be a contribution to lexicographical research. In particular it reports on the findings of an exploratory study on how dictionaries treat binomials, e.g. bread and butter, bolts and nuts, etc. A set of 40 binomials from a preliminary larger list of pairs are selected on the basis of their frequency of occurrence in the British National Corpus (BNC).
These binomials are looked up in five paper-based dictionaries: three monolingual (English- English) and two bilingual (English-Arabic). The findings reveal that some of the target binomials are absent from the five dictionaries. Moreover, the 'test' dictionaries show some inconsistency in their treatment of binomials, and, more often than not, fall short of meeting the EFL user needs. The findings point to a weak relationship between a binomial’s
frequency of occurrence and its probability of being listed in a certain dictionary. However, the findings suggest that opaque and conventional binomials have more chances to be listed than transparent ones.
These binomials are looked up in five paper-based dictionaries: three monolingual (English- English) and two bilingual (English-Arabic). The findings reveal that some of the target binomials are absent from the five dictionaries. Moreover, the 'test' dictionaries show some inconsistency in their treatment of binomials, and, more often than not, fall short of meeting the EFL user needs. The findings point to a weak relationship between a binomial’s
frequency of occurrence and its probability of being listed in a certain dictionary. However, the findings suggest that opaque and conventional binomials have more chances to be listed than transparent ones.
"Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen... more
"Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen sentences, each containing a word that is normally suffixed with –ship or –hood. The subjects are asked to judge whether each sentence is error-free or faulty. If they decide that a certain sentence is erroneous, they are requested to identify the error and then correct it. The findings indicate the subjects do not find the semantics of –ship harder than that of –hood. It seems that the variation in accuracy scores is ascribed to the subjects' familiarity or unfamiliarity with
particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can bAbstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen sentences, each containing a word that is normally suffixed with –ship or –hood. The subjects are asked to judge whether each sentence is error-free or faulty. If they decide that a certain sentence is
erroneous, they are requested to identify the error and then correct it. The findings indicate the subjects do not find the semantics of –ship harder than that of –hood. It seems that the variation in accuracy scores is ascribed to the subjects' familiarity or unfamiliarity with particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can be taken as an indication of the acquisition of the proposed constraints."
particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can bAbstract: This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study on how a group of EFL learners at university interact with the semantics of -ship and –hood. The data are elicited through a written task consisting of sixteen sentences, each containing a word that is normally suffixed with –ship or –hood. The subjects are asked to judge whether each sentence is error-free or faulty. If they decide that a certain sentence is
erroneous, they are requested to identify the error and then correct it. The findings indicate the subjects do not find the semantics of –ship harder than that of –hood. It seems that the variation in accuracy scores is ascribed to the subjects' familiarity or unfamiliarity with particular items rather than to inherent difficulty associated with the suffix itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the subjects' correction attempts are not consistent with their attempts to identify errors. Hence, it may be argued that only a high percentage of accurate judgments coupled with a similar high percentage of correction can be taken as an indication of the acquisition of the proposed constraints."
Abstract: The study reported here explored the HIV/AIDS-related lexicon in two mainstream Arabic dailies in Jordan over a period of 21 years. Throughout the time period, the most frequently used term to refer to HIV/AIDS was al-eidz,... more
Abstract: The study reported here explored the HIV/AIDS-related lexicon in two
mainstream Arabic dailies in Jordan over a period of 21 years. Throughout the time
period, the most frequently used term to refer to HIV/AIDS was al-eidz, the Arabicized
acronym for 'AIDS'. Both Jordanian and Western media tended to emphasize the role of
religion and social values in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The data also showed a
significant attitudinal shift, over time, towards HIV/AIDS. This was evident in the
gradual disappearance of the negative attributes, e.g. ‘plague of our time’, which were
used intensively in the earlier stages to describe HIV/AIDS and people living with it. It
was also clear in the slogans used to mobilize the public and other stakeholders to act
against the disease. Finally, the study suggested that future research examine the
portrayal of HIV/AIDS in the lexicon of tabloids and broadcast and electronic media.
mainstream Arabic dailies in Jordan over a period of 21 years. Throughout the time
period, the most frequently used term to refer to HIV/AIDS was al-eidz, the Arabicized
acronym for 'AIDS'. Both Jordanian and Western media tended to emphasize the role of
religion and social values in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The data also showed a
significant attitudinal shift, over time, towards HIV/AIDS. This was evident in the
gradual disappearance of the negative attributes, e.g. ‘plague of our time’, which were
used intensively in the earlier stages to describe HIV/AIDS and people living with it. It
was also clear in the slogans used to mobilize the public and other stakeholders to act
against the disease. Finally, the study suggested that future research examine the
portrayal of HIV/AIDS in the lexicon of tabloids and broadcast and electronic media.