A web-based interface to calculate phonological neighborhood density for words and nonwords in Modern Standard Arabic

The availability of online databases (e.g., Balota et al., 2007) and calculators (e.g., Storkel & Hoover, 2010) has contributed to an increase in psycholinguistic-related research, to the development of evidence-based treatments in clinical settings, and to scientifically supported training programs in the language classroom. The benefit of online language resources is limited by the fact that the majority of such resources provide information only for the English language (Vitevitch, Chan & Goldstein, 2014). To address the lack of diversity in these resources for languages that differ phonologically and morphologically from English, the present article describes an online database to compute phonological neighborhood density (i.e., the number of words that sound similar to a given word) for words and nonwords in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). A full description of how the calculator can be used is provided. It can be freely accessed at https://calculator.ku.edu/density/about.

Effects of Language Variety and Word Availability in Commercial Advertisements on Listener’s Lexical Recall

Commercial advertisements in Arabic-speaking regions tend to alternate between dialectal Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, but it is not yet clear whether language variety has any impact on listener’s lexical recall. Insight into this issue should help enterprises design their commercial advertisements in a linguistically intelligent manner. This study addresses two questions: 1) How does language variety (dialectal vs. standard) affect listener’s lexical recall in commercial advertisements? 2) Do listeners recall words that have appeared in dialectal advertisements better than those that did not appear in advertisements using the same variety? Fifteen Saudi participants responded to a forced-choice memory test with 24 yes-no questions (3 per advertisement) asking participants to report whether they heard a specific key word in eight advertisements that utilized different language varieties. The findings show that Arabic speakers tend to perceive both Modern Standard Arabic and dialectal Arabic in commercial advertisements similarly, but tend to recall the presence of a key word in an advertisement better than its absence. Future research may increase the sample size and examine more Arabic varieties.

A Descriptive Analysis of Non-obligatory Shifts in Three Disney Animated Films Dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic

This qualitative quantitative descriptive-analytical study aimed to describe the non-obligatory shifts employed in three English Disney animated films dubbed into MSA by applying Toury’s (1995/2012) normative model and shifts introduced in the course of his applied case studies. The researcher described and analyzed preliminary, initial and operational norms (non-obligatory shifts) employed on the level of three textual segments: the lexical-semantic, the stylistic, and the prosodic. The researcher compared those shifts with the original choices in the English versions of three selected Disney animated films. In the light of Toury’s theory (1995/2012), the current study investigated the hypothesis that the accepted socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms of the Arabic culture directed the choices of the non-obligatory shifts chosen by the Arabic dubbers of English Disney animations dubbed into MSA. This investigation was conducted in application to three case studies, namely, Tangled (2010), Frozen (2013) and Big Hero 6 (2014). In order to decide the most frequently used shifts in the process of dubbing, the frequency rate of each non-obligatory shift was calculated to determine the highest frequently used shift. The study came to the conclusion that there is a direct relationship between the non-obligatory shifts (operational norms) applied during dubbing on the one hand and the socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms imposed by the target culture on the other hand. Those target culture norms governed not only the operational choices but also the preliminary choices of the three selected Disney animated films dubbed into MSA. Affected by the preliminary and operational norms, Arab dubbers’ tendency towards producing acceptable rather than adequate translations decided the initial norms.

'What Has Been Written Upon the Forehead, the Eye Must See': An Arabic-Jewish Author Between Baghdad and an Israeli Transit Camp

As an integral part of Arab society since the pre-Islamic period, Jews participated in the making of Arabic literature. We know of prominent Jewish poets such as al-Samawʾal ibn ʿᾹdiyāʾ in the sixth century A.D. and Ibrāhīm ibn Sahl in al-Andalus in the thirteenth century. During the first half of the twentieth century, Arabic literature in fuṣḥā (standard Arabic) written by Jews witnessed a great revival, especially in Iraq and Egypt, but this revival was cut short as a casualty of Zionism and Arab nationalism and the conflict between them. We are currently witnessing the demise of Arabic literature written by Jews; the Arabic language among Jews will probably remain mostly a tool of the military establishment and the intelligence systems as encapsulated in the dictum 'know your enemy' instead of being a medium for coexistence and knowing the Other. The article concentrates on the literary activities of one of the most talented Iraqi-Jewish authors, Shalom Darwīsh (1913-1997), whose promising anticipated literary future in Arabic literature encountered a deadlock following the aforementioned exclusion of Jews from 'Arabness'.

Effects of Language Variety and Word Availability in Commercial Advertisements on Listener’s Lexical Recall

Commercial advertisements in Arabic-speaking regions tend to alternate between dialectal Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, but it is not yet clear whether language variety has any impact on listener’s lexical recall. Insight into this issue should help enterprises design their commercial advertisements in a linguistically intelligent manner. This study addresses two questions: 1) How does language variety (dialectal vs. standard) affect listener’s lexical recall in commercial advertisements? 2) Do listeners recall words that have appeared in dialectal advertisements better than those that did not appear in advertisements using the same variety? Fifteen Saudi participants responded to a forced-choice memory test with 24 yes-no questions (3 per advertisement) asking participants to report whether they heard a specific key word in eight advertisements that utilized different language varieties. The findings show that Arabic speakers tend to perceive both Modern Standard Arabic and dialectal Arabic in commercial advertisements similarly, but tend to recall the presence of a key word in an advertisement better than its absence. Future research may increase the sample size and examine more Arabic varieties.

A Descriptive Analysis of Non-obligatory Shifts in Three Disney Animated Films Dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic

This qualitative quantitative descriptive-analytical study aimed to describe the non-obligatory shifts employed in three English Disney animated films dubbed into MSA by applying Toury’s (1995/2012) normative model and shifts introduced in the course of his applied case studies. The researcher described and analyzed preliminary, initial and operational norms (non-obligatory shifts) employed on the level of three textual segments: the lexical-semantic, the stylistic, and the prosodic. The researcher compared those shifts with the original choices in the English versions of three selected Disney animated films. In the light of Toury’s theory (1995/2012), the current study investigated the hypothesis that the accepted socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms of the Arabic culture directed the choices of the non-obligatory shifts chosen by the Arabic dubbers of English Disney animations dubbed into MSA. This investigation was conducted in application to three case studies, namely, Tangled (2010), Frozen (2013) and Big Hero 6 (2014). In order to decide the most frequently used shifts in the process of dubbing, the frequency rate of each non-obligatory shift was calculated to determine the highest frequently used shift. The study came to the conclusion that there is a direct relationship between the non-obligatory shifts (operational norms) applied during dubbing on the one hand and the socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms imposed by the target culture on the other hand. Those target culture norms governed not only the operational choices but also the preliminary choices of the three selected Disney animated films dubbed into MSA. Affected by the preliminary and operational norms, Arab dubbers’ tendency towards producing acceptable rather than adequate translations decided the initial norms.