scholarly journals Development of maximally reusable grammars: Parallel development of Hebrew and Arabic grammars

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Arad Greshler ◽  
Livnat Herzig Sheinfux ◽  
Nurit Melnik ◽  
Shuly Wintner
Keyword(s):  
Shared Resources ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Parallel Development ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Basic Infrastructure ◽  
Degree Of Similarity ◽  
Modern Standard

We show how linguistic grammars of two different yet related languages can be developed and implemented in parallel, with language-independent fragments serving as shared resources, and language-specific ones defined separately for each language. The two grammars in the focus of this paper are of Modern Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic, and the basic infrastructure, or core, of the grammars is based on "standard" HPSG. We identify four types of relations that exist between the grammars of two languages and demonstrate how the different types of relations can be implemented in parallel grammars with maximally shared resources. The examples pertain to the grammars of Modern Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic, yet similar issues and considerations are applicable to other pairs of languages that have some degree of similarity.

scholarly journals Modal Existential Constructions in Modern Standard Arabic

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Ahmad Hamad Khatatneh
Keyword(s):  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Existential Constructions ◽  
Universal Properties ◽  
The One ◽  
Modern Standard

Modal existential wh-constructions can be associated with three different types of structures, namely, wh-constructions, existential constructions, and modal constructions, but also have their own unique features. Idiosyncratic though it may look, the structure is characterized cross-linguistically by several shared properties. In this paper, we aim to examine in detail the properties of these constructions in Modern Standard Arabic. We show that MECs in Modern Standard Arabic share the defining and universal properties found in MECs cross-linguistically. Furthermore, we find that MSA’s MECs differ in three tendencies, namely; the relative nature of the wh-word in MSA, syntactic transparency and sluicing confirming the assumption that a relativization strategy, as opposed to the interrogative strategy found in plenty of other languages, is the one available for MECs in Modern Standard Arabic. We argue that these differences are also related to the [Spec, FP] position occupied by the wh-word.

scholarly journals Attraction Effects for Verbal Gender and Number Are Similar but Not Identical: Self-Paced Reading Evidence From Modern Standard Arabic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Tucker ◽  
Ali Idrissi ◽  
Diogo Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Sentential Context ◽  
Cue Weighting ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Attraction Effects ◽  
Degree Of Similarity ◽  
Modern Standard

Previous work on the comprehension of agreement has shown that incorrectly inflected verbs do not trigger responses typically seen with fully ungrammatical verbs when the preceding sentential context furnishes a possibly matching distractor noun (i.e., agreement attraction). We report eight studies, three being direct replications, designed to assess the degree of similarity of these errors in the comprehension of subject-verb agreement along the dimensions of grammatical gender and number in Modern Standard Arabic. A meta-analysis of the results demonstrate the presence of agreement attraction effects in reading comprehension for gender and number on verbs. Moreover, the meta-analysis demonstrates that these two features do not behave identically: gender effects are larger and occur later relative to number attraction effects. These results challenge models of agreement that predict agreement features to be equipotent and show that real-time models of agreement require modifications in the form of cue-weighting in order to account for these differential results.

scholarly journals Is Modern Standard Arabic A Good Language for Subtitling?

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Abdelouahab ELBAKRI ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Standard Form ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Modern Standard

Subtitles tend to use a standard form of language for the sake of clarity and accessibility to different types of viewers regardless of their idiosyncrasies. However, the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in subtitling may not always achieve this objective. This article aims at arguing that MSA hinders the subtitler’s task as it does not provide them with the tools that might enable them to carry out their mission efficiently. It provides evidence that the problem is not exclusively connected to the specificity of subtitling as a constrained translation or to the ideological motives that engender manipulation. It concludes that MSA manipulates subtitlers as the linguistic options it offers are very limited if not sometimes inexistent. These restrictions and scarcities of options manipulate translators and push them in turn to manipulate their translations.

The effects of motivation on processing instruction in the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Ayah Farhat ◽  
Alessandro Benati
Keyword(s):  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Modern Standard

The present study investigates the effects of motivation and processing instruction on the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement. The role of individual differences (e.g. age, gender, aptitude, language background and working memory) on the positive effects generated by processing instruction has been investigated in the last few years. However, no previous research has been conducted to measure the possible effects of motivation on L2 learners exposed to processing instruction. In addition, a reasonable question to be addressed within the processing instruction research framework is whether its positive effects can be generalised to the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and the Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) motivation questionnaires were used to capture different variables that influence motivation in order to create the two different groups (high and low motivated). In this experimental study, forty-one native English school-age learners (aged 8–11) were assigned to two groups: ‘the high motivated group’ (n = 29): and the ‘low motivated group’ (n = 12). Both groups received processing instruction, which lasted for three hours. Sentence-level interpretation and production tasks were used in a pre-test and post-test design to measure instructional effects. The learners were required to fill in gaps in both written and spoken mode for the activities. The study also included a delayed post-test administered to the two groups four weeks later. The results indicated that both groups improved equally from pre-test to post-test in all assessment measures and they both retained the positive effects of the training in the delayed posttests. Processing instruction was proved to be the main factor for the improvement in performance regardless of the learner’s level of motivation.

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