roni henkin | Ben Gurion University of the Negev (original) (raw)

Papers by roni henkin

Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

Communication strategies used for conversational repair in Negev Arabic are examined here in a 17... more Communication strategies used for conversational repair in Negev Arabic are examined here in a 170,000-word corpus of intergenerational interviews, with university students interviewing their relatives, over age 55, in the Bedouin community in the Negev, southern Israel. Since the traditional language and narrative style of the elderly are largely unfamiliar to the young generation in terms of lexicon, discourse structure and cultural norms, progressivity was often interrupted for purpose of repair. Other-initiated self-repair sequences were particularly frequent: the student asks a metalinguistic or referent-tracking question, or inquires about past customs, and the interviewee explains; additional turns may contain candidate understanding moves and confirmation, before resuming progressivity of the narrative sequence. Gaps were sometimes mediated by a middle-generation ‘broker’ interlocutor. Conversational repair was found to be frequent in facilitating both intelligibility and co...

Language & Communication

This article analyzes the personal interview styles of Negev Bedouin students, as characterized ... more This article analyzes the personal interview styles of Negev Bedouin students,
as characterized by two dimensions of codeswitching: diglossic (Negev
Arabic–Educated Arabic) and bilingual (Arabic–Hebrew). I focus on
typical patterns of diglossic and bilingual codeswitching at several linguistic
levels. For example, diglossic switching at phonological and morphological
levels is common, subject to order hierarchies and resulting in hybrid forms;
but bilingual phonological and morphological switching do not occur independently
of lexical switching. Mixed morphology is frequent in both diglossic
and bilingual codeswitching. Syntax is not commonly switched in
either the diglossic or bilingual dimensions, and is usually of the matrix language,
Negev Arabic, as are system morphs (such as the article, prepositions,
and pronouns). Switching at lexical and phraseological levels is the
most common process in both dimensions, with content words or phrases
(nominal, adjectival, prepositional and verbal) and discourse markers most
frequently switched. This highly flexible and dynamic style, with the speakers
maneuvering skillfully along the diglossic and the bilingual scales, is acquired
through exposure to high education and intense language contact.

Oriente Moderno, 2000

... Page 12. 70 RONI HENKIN (29ML) gal: yd bint, gdlat:I wallah, gal ilha: wen mlaggyin almhilldt... more ... Page 12. 70 RONI HENKIN (29ML) gal: yd bint, gdlat:I wallah, gal ilha: wen mlaggyin almhilldt hodallal gdlat: bijuw swayyih. ... (She) said, "Yes". (He) said to her, "Where have these lo cals gone?" (She) said, "(They) will come soon". (He) said, "Tell me the truth". ...

Pragmatics, 1998

This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the N... more This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the Negev Desert (South Israel). The analysis showed some striking stylistic differences, on both developmental and genre-related grounds. Adults, narrating tribal legends in a stylized, performed idiom. used distinct styles for the textual levels of orientation, plotline, and direct speech; the children told folktales and anecdotes in a relatively undifferentiated, near-conversational style. Adults set out from a concrete, non-past stage and shifted to a past plotline; whereas the childrens folkloristic openings, in the distant past, drifted to a concrete, relived present. There were significant differences in rhetorical means for perspectivizing, information packaging. connectivity, and tempo control. The children's narrative style was found to be much "flatter" and less evaluative than the adults, in keeping with developmental findings. However, some of the older children dis...

Literacy Studies, 2014

This chapter was designed to promote our understanding of the triangulation, in Arabic, of langua... more This chapter was designed to promote our understanding of the triangulation, in Arabic, of language, orthography and reading. We focus on topics in the structure of the Arabic language and orthography that pertain to literacy research and practice. It is agreed that the development of basic reading skills is influenced by linguistic (mainly phonological and morpho-syntactic) and orthographic variation among languages. Therefore, the chapter devotes particular attention to these aspects of the linguistic structure of Arabic and to the way this structure is represented in the Arabic orthography. Further, in light of the importance of oral language processing skills in the acquisition of reading, the chapter also discusses Arabic diglossia: it describes the linguistic distance between Colloquial or Spoken Arabic and Standard or Literary Arabic, the primacy of Standard Arabic linguistic structures in the written form of the language, and the effect of this on several linguistic processes in literacy acquisition.

Israel Studies in Language and Society

... Israel Studies in Language and Society 169 The Cognate Curse in Negev Arabic: From Playful Pu... more ... Israel Studies in Language and Society 169 The Cognate Curse in Negev Arabic: From Playful Punning to Coexistence Conflicts1 Roni Henkin 'As ... ice cream', migraß 'a plot of land', and noun phrases designating institutions like bi∫ a leumi 'social security'and kupat-olim 'clinic ...

Studies in Language

The Arabic prepositions min and ʕan in their prototypical spatial use relate to the Source domain... more The Arabic prepositions min and ʕan in their prototypical spatial use relate to the Source domain, translating as ‘(away) from’. In many contemporary dialects ʕan is absent or limited to secondary, non-spatial meanings. In Traditional Negev Arabic, however, both prepositions are used complementarily. The proto-scene of ablative min is a Figure (F) exiting from a 3-dimensional Ground (G)-source, with ‘containment’ and ‘boundary-crossing’ typical components of the scene. The preposition ʕan prototypically fulfils a separative function, denoting separation from a Source with no relevance to dimensions, and has developed secondary modal functions. Both also have perlative functions and may appear in static scenes. Only min heads prepositional complexes, where it typically restores the nominal origin of the following element as a bounded region. So ‘min behind the house’ may denote ‘in the back zone of the house’; these complexes characterize multiple axes, when F crosses G’s path.

Bulletin of The School of Oriental and African Studies-university of London, 1992

The category of participle (P) usually includes at least two distinct paradigms. The terms for th... more The category of participle (P) usually includes at least two distinct paradigms. The terms for these vary, as it is not easy to determine the often language-specific nature of the opposition encoded in them. Temporal- ‘aspectual’ terminology is widely applied, giving present or ‘imperfect’ or progressive Ps as opposed to past, preterite, or ‘perfect’ Ps. An alternative popular opposition in many a linguistic tradition is of active vs. passive Ps. To avoid commitment to any of these nomenclatures, I use neutral formal terms: PI and P2.In order to establish the place of P in the verbal system of a given language, the relevant verbal-syntactic categories of that particular system must first be isolated. For this, I define the following components of indicative verbal systems in non-aspectual languages.

Journal of Semitic Studies, 1994

... But twofold repetitions are also common in many imitative stock-expressions, eg, Hebrew child... more ... But twofold repetitions are also common in many imitative stock-expressions, eg, Hebrew child language papm-papm (car horn), tut-tut (train), tuk-tuk &amp;amp;#x27;knock knock&amp;amp;#x27;, and ga-ga (duck); there is no reason for it not to be so in Negev narrative imperatives, as we saw in examples (iv ...

This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the N... more This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the Negev Desert (South Israel). The analysis showed some striking stylistic differences, on both developmental and genre-related grounds. Adults, narrating tribal legends in a stylized, performed idiom. used distinct styles for the textual levels of orientation, plotline, and direct speech; the children told folktales and anecdotes in a relatively undifferentiated, near-conversational style. Adults set out from a concrete, non-past stage and shifted to a past plotline; whereas the childrens folkloristic openings, in the distant past, drifted to a concrete, relived present. There were significant differences in rhetorical means for perspectivizing, information packaging. connectivity, and tempo control. The children&amp;#39;s narrative style was found to be much &amp;quot;flatter&amp;quot; and less evaluative than the adults, in keeping with developmental findings. However, some of the older children displayed global text organization, using diverse cohesive means typical of the folktale. This may show these children to be more sensitive to global genre structure than to local rhetorical means.

Th is paper con t ras ts na tu ra l o ra l na r ra t i ves o f Bedou in adu l t s and ch i l d re... more Th is paper con t ras ts na tu ra l o ra l na r ra t i ves o f Bedou in adu l t s and ch i l d ren (ages 8 I I ) i n t h e N e g e v D e s e r t ( S o u t h I s r a e l ) . T h e a n a l y s i s s h o w e d s o m e s t r i k i n g s ty l i s t i c d i f f e rences , on bo th deve lopmenta l and -eenre re la ted g rounds . Adu l t s , na r ra t i ng t r i ba l l egends in a s t y l i zed , pe r fo rmed id iom. used d i s t i nc t s t y les fo r t h e t e x t u a l l e v e l s o f o r i e n t a t i o n , p l o t l i n e , a n d d i r e c t s p e e c h ; t h e c h i l d r e n t o l d f o l k t a l e s a n d a n e c d o t e s i n a r e l a t i v e l y u n d i f f e r e n t i a t e d , n e a r c o n v e r s a t i o n a l sty le. Adul ts set out f rom a concrete, non-past stage and shi f ted to a past p lot l ine; w h e r e a s t h e c h i l d r e n ' s f o l k l o r i s t i c o p e n i n g s , i n t h e d i s t a n t p a s t , d r i f t e d t o a c o n c r e t e . r e l i v e d p r e...

Evidentiality as a typological category pertains to the source of information from the speaker&#3... more Evidentiality as a typological category pertains to the source of information from the speaker's point of view without specifying it. This information may be conveyed as non-witnessed, inferred or surprising (mirative), among other possibilities. Evidentiality strategies and mirativity strategies are usually secondary extensions of other primary functions, such as resultativity. These strategies may be grammatical, syntactic or discursive, and I also include here lexical items with no other function. In Traditional Negev Arabic, as spoken by elderly Bedouin in Southern Israel, grammatical evidentiality was noted in 1992. Since then, however, evidentiality in Arabic has only been recognized in some peripheral dialects in contact with evidential languages. This study analyses the interaction and pragmatic-rhetorical effects of three strategies for evidentiality and mirativity in oral narrative texts in Traditional Negev Arabic: a grammatical strategy via the evidential participle;...

Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

Language & Communication

Oriente Moderno, 2000

Pragmatics, 1998

Literacy Studies, 2014

Israel Studies in Language and Society

Studies in Language

Bulletin of The School of Oriental and African Studies-university of London, 1992

Journal of Semitic Studies, 1994

This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the N... more This paper contrasts natural oral narratives of Bedouin adults and children (ages 8- 11) in the Negev Desert (South Israel). The analysis showed some striking stylistic differences, on both developmental and genre-related grounds. Adults, narrating tribal legends in a stylized, performed idiom. used distinct styles for the textual levels of orientation, plotline, and direct speech; the children told folktales and anecdotes in a relatively undifferentiated, near-conversational style. Adults set out from a concrete, non-past stage and shifted to a past plotline; whereas the childrens folkloristic openings, in the distant past, drifted to a concrete, relived present. There were significant differences in rhetorical means for perspectivizing, information packaging. connectivity, and tempo control. The children&amp;#39;s narrative style was found to be much &amp;quot;flatter&amp;quot; and less evaluative than the adults, in keeping with developmental findings. However, some of the older children displayed global text organization, using diverse cohesive means typical of the folktale. This may show these children to be more sensitive to global genre structure than to local rhetorical means.