scholarly journals The Syntax of Yes/No Questions in Modern Standard Arabic

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Haroon Nasser Alsager
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Feature Checking ◽  
Modern Standard

Interrogative structures have been investigated in wide range of languages including but not limited to English, Italian, French, and Mandarin Chinese. Thus, this paper presents an analysis of the syntactic structure of yes/no questions based on feature-checking analysis (i.e., [Q], phi-features, [T], [Polarity], and EPP). First, I briefly discuss the feature-checking analysis in the declarative clauses in Modern Standard Arabic. Then, I analyze the interrogative structure in main clauses (hal, ʔa-) and in embedded clauses (idhaa) in MSA. Finally, this paper displays and discusses the findings showing that there are three types of feature-checking in yes/no particles in Modern Standard Arabic.

scholarly journals Nominal Constructions in Modern Standard Arabic With Reference to English

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Ali Hussein Hazem ◽  
Waleed Younus Meteab
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Modern Standard

The aim of this study is to investigate nominal constructions of modern standard Arabic in terms of their types, their patterns and selectional restrictions and compare them with their counterparts in English so as to arrive at points that will be productive for pedagogical and translation purposes. The analysis of the data focuses on morphsyntactic processes to see in order to show the constructions morphologically as one word nominal or syntactically as a group of nouns in nominal positions. The objective of this study is to provide an account on a specific syntactic structure with special reference to English, in efforts to promote the importance of modern standard Arabic studies as an appropriate mean to better understand the standard and formal form of a language. The study concludes with the investigation as well as the main conclusions reached and offers a suggestion for further studies.

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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