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"Semitic languages Negatives."
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Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic
In Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic Ambjörn Sjörs describes the grammar of verbal negation in a wide selection of Semitic languages with an emphasis on the historical change of negative expressions.
eBook
How Do Arab Tweeters Perceive the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Language reflects several cognitive variables that are grounded in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. This paper examines how Arab populations reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter over twelve weeks since the outbreak. We conducted a lexicon-based thematic analysis using corpus tools, and LIWC and applied R language’s stylo. The dominant themes that were closely related to coronavirus tweets included the outbreak of the pandemic, metaphysics responses, signs and symptoms in confirmed cases, and conspiracism. The psycholinguistic analysis also showed that tweeters maintained high levels of affective talk, which was loaded with negative emotions and sadness. Also, LIWC’s psychological categories of religion and health dominated the Arabic tweets discussing the pandemic situation. In addition, the contaminated counties that captured most of the attention of Arabic tweeters were China, the USA, Italy, Germany, India, and Japan. At the same time, China and the USA were instrumental in evoking conspiracist ideation about spreading COVID-19 to the world.
Journal Article
Definiteness at the syntax-semantics interface: testing the acquisition of English articles by Kuwaiti Arabic speakers in relative clause contexts
The present study investigates the acquisition of English articles in relative clause contexts by L1 Kuwaiti Arabic speakers. We propose a testing instrument designed to evaluate the use of the definite and indefinite articles in restrictive relative clauses, focusing on the impact of L1 transfer effects. Specifically, we test four conditions involving definite and indefinite nouns modified by restrictive relative clauses, with or without an overt relativizer “that”. The participants (
N
= 117) were divided into four proficiency levels, ranging from low intermediate to advanced learners of English, and completed a forced-choice elicitation task with 24 test items. Findings show a facilitative L1 transfer effect in the acquisition of the definite article, with a higher accuracy rate in advanced learners, whereas the indefinite article proved to be a greater learning challenge due to the lack of morphological realization in Kuwaiti Arabic. Optionality, observed in indefinite contexts, highlights the persistent difficulty that L1 Arabic speakers face in acquiring L2 English article distinctions at the syntax-semantics interface. These findings suggest that while learners can converge towards target-like grammar, transfer effects and limited positive and negative evidence in input delay the process, with significant pedagogical implications for ESL teaching in Arabic-speaking contexts.
Journal Article
Emotion Metaphors We Live by: A Cognitive Study of Metaphors With Body Parts in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic
This study investigates how metaphors with body parts used in colloquial Jordanian Arabic are constructed and communicated to express emotions. This study, grounded in conceptual metaphor theory frameworks, used a thematic approach to analyze a dataset of 110 metaphors. The data collection period extended from October 4th to December 27th, 2024. The data analysis revealed six themes that were central to emotions in colloquial Jordanian Arabic. These themes included anger, shame, happiness, pride, sadness, and fear. They emphasized the importance of body part metaphors in constructing different emotions in colloquial Jordanian Arabic. The findings showed that several categories of conceptual metaphors, including orientational, structural, behavioral, and ontological, were employed in the linguistic expressions of these metaphors. These conceptual metaphors contribute to the construction of positive and negative emotions. Moreover, our findings revealed several conceptual patterns for linguistic metaphors, including body parts and expressing emotions. By providing insight into the construction of conceptual metaphors with body parts that articulate different emotions, this study contributes to a greater understanding of how metaphors can help express complicated emotions.
Journal Article
Revisiting Reinhardt
One of the earliest thorough descriptions of any spoken variety of Arabic, Reinhardt’s Ein arabischer Dialekt gesprochen in ‘Oman und Zanzibar attests to numerous examples of a grammatical particle, šei/šy/ši, functioning as an existential particle, an interrogative, and a negator as well as a disjunctive/distributive or partitive/quantifier. Its functioning as a negator in Omani Arabic is now rare, but existential, polar interrogative, and disjunctive/distributive or partitive/quantifier šay/še/ši continue as such. As an existential particle, it is used more often in negative existential predications than it is in the affirmative. The latter more often use the widespread existential particle fī. That phenomenon conforms to expectations about the operation of negative existential cycles. Together, Reinhardt’s and more recent observations provide evidence for reflexes of grammatical ši in Omani Arabic likely arising through borrowing from the so-called Modern South Arabian languages, which possess reflexes of an analogous particle śī/śē that perform all of the functions as those that šay/šē/šī performs in Omani Arabic and other southern peninsular Arabic varieties.
Journal Article
The effect of pretranslation techniques in developing EFL students' translation ability
Purpose English as a foreign langauge (EFL) students find it difficult to apply the theoretical knowledge they acquire on translation in the practical world. Therefore, this study explored if training in pretranslation techniques (PTTs) (syntactic parsing) as suggested by Almanna (2018) could improve the translation proficiency of Yemeni EFL students. Moreover, the study also assessed which of the PTTs the intervention helped to develop.Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a primarily experimental pre- and posttests research design, and the sample comprised of an intake class with 16 students enrolled in the fourth year, Bachelor in Education (B.Ed), Hadhramout University. Six participants were also interviewed to gather the students' perceptions on using PTTs.Findings Results showed that students' performance in translation developed significantly (Sig. = 0.002). All the six PTTs showed development, though subject, tense and aspect developed more significantly (Sig. = 0.034, 0.002, 0.001 respectively). Finally, the study reported students' positive perceptions on the importance of using PTTs before doing any translation tasks.Originality/value One of the recurrent errors that can be noticed in Yemeni EFL students' production is their inability to transfer the grammatical elements of sentences from L1 (Arabic) into L2 (English) or the visa versa. The researchers thought though translation is more than the syntactic transmission of one language into another, analyzing the elements of sentences using syntactic and semantic parsing can help students to produce acceptable texts in the target language. These claims would be proved or refuted after analyzing the experiment result of the present study.
Journal Article
Pharmacovigilance in focus: a study on pharmacy students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Saudi Arabia
Background
Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is a cornerstone of successful pharmacovigilance programs. Pharmacy students must acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute effectively to these systems.
Aim
This study aimed to evaluate pharmacy students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia.
Methods
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using a validated, self-administered questionnaire. The survey comprised four domains: demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to pharmacovigilance. Participants included fourth- and fifth-year pharmacy students and interns from King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. A pilot test was conducted, and internal reliability was confirmed (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.844).
Results
Of 359 invited students, 329 responded (91.3% response rate). Knowledge scores increased with academic level: Level 7 (6.07), Level 8 (5.37), Level 9 (6.38), Level 10 (6.19), and interns (6.42). Attitude scores ranged from 4.16 in Level 8 students to 5.62 in Level 9 students, with practice scores remaining low across all levels, reflecting limited educational exposure to ADR reporting. The Kruskal–Wallis test revealed significant differences in knowledge and attitude scores (
p
= 0.042 and
p
< 0.001, respectively), but not in practice (
p
= 0.305).
Conclusion
The findings emphasize the need to enhance pharmacovigilance education through workshops, dedicated modules, and clinical ADR reporting exercises to improve students' preparedness in ensuring medication safety.
Journal Article
Knowledge, attitude, and practice of evidence-based medicine among resident physicians in hospitals of Syria: a cross-sectional study
Background
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is to integrate the best research evidence with our clinical expertise, circumstances, and unique values of our patient. However, there are no studies about using EBM in clinical practice among resident doctors in Syria. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the self-reported knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of EBM by resident doctors throughout different teaching hospitals in Syria.
Methods
The study is a cross-sectional. A self-reported online questionnaire was used to collect data about KAP of EBM from 214 resident physicians working in secondary and tertiary teaching hospitals. The study was conducted between September 2021 and February 2022. All data were analyzed using SPSS, and non-parametric statistical tests were used to identify the correlation between different variables and make the necessary comparisons.
Results
Two hundred and fourteen physicians responded to the questionnaire with a response rate of 85.6%. The overall mean scores of KAP of EBM were 59.2, 74.3 and 53.9%, respectively. The participants displayed a low level of awareness of resources and statistical terms used in EBM. The most well-known resources for residents were Up To Date and PubMed. Among the participants, pediatric residents achieved the highest score in practicing EBM, while family medicine residents scored the lowest score.
Conclusion
The overall impression about the KAP of EBM among Syrian residents was as following: weak awareness, neutral attitude and poor practice of EBM. Training workshops should be set up to teach residents the skills needed to move from opinion-based practice to evidence-based practice.
Journal Article
How Polite can Impoliteness be? A Jordanian Gendered Perspective
Contrary to the abundance of research on politeness in many languages, little research has been done on impoliteness, for, unlike politeness, impoliteness is essentially unmarked and, hence, defies direct observation. This study, which is informed by the work of Culpeper (1996, 2005, 2011), Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987), and Holmes (1995, 2008, 2013), attempts to examine impoliteness from a gender perspective. The data were collected from an equally divided sample of 100 male and female adults (age 20-79 years) from different regions of Jordan by means of a 31-item checklist of potentially impolite behaviors. The findings revealed an effect for gender as, despite evident similarities, male and female respondents manifest differences in their perceptions of what constitutes (im)polite behavior. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.
Journal Article