AHMAD AL-HARAHSHEH - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by AHMAD AL-HARAHSHEH

Onomázein Revista de lingüística filología y traducción, 2022

This research aims at studying the cohesion and coherence shifts in Jabra's translation of Shakes... more This research aims at studying the cohesion and coherence shifts in Jabra's translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet in Arabic. A translator is a mediator between the source text (ST) and the target readers who expect an adequate and a coherent translation of the ST. The shift of cohesion and coherence can disrupt the continuity of the target text (TT). The sample of the research consisted of 172 lines taken from different acts and scenes involving potential problems in cohesion and coherence from Shakespeare's Hamlet, translated by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra. Blum-Kulka's approach of cohesion and coherence shifts in translation was employed as a theoretical framework. The data analysis was based on meaning shift and explicitness shift in discourse and their effects on the continuity and understanding of the TT. The study concluded that the shift of cohesion and coherence in translation does not only affect the continuity of thoughts and events but disrupts the understanding of the target readers as well.

The study aimed to investigate the linguistic functions, patterns and translation of chiasmus in ... more The study aimed to investigate the linguistic functions, patterns and translation of chiasmus in the Quran. The sample of the study consisted of 32 different verses from the Quran accompanied with four reliable translations of the Quran, namely Palmer, Arberry, Pickthall and Yusuf Ali to examine how these chiasms translated into English. The study relied on Nida’s (1964) formal approach to translation as a theoretical framework. The study concludes that there are five chiastic patterns in Arabic in the Quran: double-chiasm (AB- BA), tripartite-chiasm (ABC-CBA), quad-chiasm (ABCD-DCBA), quintuple-chiasm (ABCDE-EDCBA) and hexa-chiasm (ABCDEF-FEDCBA). These chiasms are contrasted in the same verse or in the following verse. In addition, all the translators rendered chiasms literally in the Quran to maintain the form and the content of the message in English

The International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies

The Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2013

The International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies, 2022

In Western societies, silence has been the focus of the studies in the last two decades. However,... more In Western societies, silence has been the focus of the studies in the last two decades. However, it has not been studied to such an extent in the Arab World. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the employment of silence as a politeness strategy in casual conversation in Jordanian Arabic. Twelve dyadic conversations were conducted for 30 minutes each. The participants were 24 university students at Yarmouk University (Jordan): 12 males and 12 females. They were grouped into two main groups: friends and strangers. Ninety seconds were analysed from the beginning, the middle, and the end of each conversation; these extracts were chosen randomly. The theoretical framework of this study draws on ethnography of communication, politeness theory and Sack et al’s (1974) turn- taking model. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that silence can be used as a positive politeness strategy to avoid confrontation and to save face.

Consecutive interpreting (CI) requires a lot of parallel cognitive and affective processes, which... more Consecutive interpreting (CI) requires a lot of parallel cognitive and affective processes, which are challenging for the interpreter who has to deal with them concurrently . This study focuses on the problems trainee interpreters encountered intheir CI sessions. An analysis of the strategies they used to weigh whether they have been successful in completing their task is also given. The sample of the study consists of 50 senior students of Translation enrolled in CI course (English-Arabic) in the Fall Semester 2018/2019 at the Translation Department at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The Source Text (ST), which was divided into one-minute period for each time, was given to students for interpretation and then the Target Text (TT) was recorded. Most of the challenges encountered by trainee-interpreters were linguistic problems, memory problems, note-taking and reproducing the ST into the TL. It is imperative therefore that interpreter training should be as effective as possible and inte...

Based on a sociolinguistic perspective, the present study aims to shed light on gender difference... more Based on a sociolinguistic perspective, the present study aims to shed light on gender differences in the color-naming system in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (henceforth JSA). Though the connotations of colors have been examined from semantic, pragmatic and psychological viewpoints, this study tackles the phenomenon from a sociolinguistic view in JSA. The participants of the study were 80 young Jordanians (40 women and 40 men). The participants were given the color spectrum wheel , and were asked to write down the names of the colors they can perceive and distinguish in Arabic. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the Linguistic Relativity Theory, in particular the Domain-Centered Approach. The study concludes that there are gender differences in the color naming system in JSA, as Jordanian young women employ more color names than young men do. In addition, young women associate the names of terms with socially familiarized objects such as fruits, vegetables and sweets, i...

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences, 2016

This paper aims at studying Islamic texts written by non-Muslims and translated by Muslim student... more This paper aims at studying Islamic texts written by non-Muslims and translated by Muslim students; to investigate the translators‟ ideology on these texts. Three Islamic texts written by non-Muslims were translated by 49 undergraduate students at Yarmouk University, Translation Department, as home assignments. CDA method is employed as a theoretical framework for the contemporary study, as it is an influential tool in exploring the employment of ideology in translating religious texts. The paper concludes that Muslim translators are unconsciously influenced by their religious, social and cultural ideologies when they translate text into Arabic.

The use of measure terms can be socially and culturally determined, as every speech society may h... more The use of measure terms can be socially and culturally determined, as every speech society may have its own unique measure terms. This study aims to shed light on the sociolinguistic usage of measure terms in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA). The researcher collected the data from everyday conversations in the rural dialect of the north of Jordan. The participants of the study were 15 men and women who were in their fifties and sixties. The ethnography of communication and Interactional Sociolinguistic (IS) approaches are adopted as the theoretical framework for this study. The study concluded that measure terms in JSA are culturally and socially inherited and transmitted, and Jordanians tend to use body parts (i.e. finger, hand, foot and leg related expressions) as measure terms for heights, lengths and weights.

Discourse Studies, 2015

This article studies the Conversation Analysis (CA) of self-initiated repair structures in everyd... more This article studies the Conversation Analysis (CA) of self-initiated repair structures in everyday conversations in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA). It aims to cast light on self-initiated repairs practised by Jordanians. The data were collected in 2010; 18 dyadic-videotaped conversations totalling about nine hours, mixed and single-sex, were conducted at Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan. The data analysed include 1595 self-initiated repairs. The CA approach is employed as a theoretical framework for this study. The findings of this research indicate that Jordanian speakers practise 10 self-initiated repair structures, namely, expansion, hesitation, replacement, repetition, abort and restart, abort and abandon, insertion, deletion, meta-repair and modify order.

International Journal of English Linguistics, 2013

This paper focuses on employing CDA method in studying Arabic political discourse in general, and... more This paper focuses on employing CDA method in studying Arabic political discourse in general, and the translatability of figures of speech of Khalid Mashaal's political speeches in particular. This paper also supports the notion that linguistic theory and CDA are useful in studying the translation of political discourse. Three political speeches of Mashaal were translated into English; CDA was used as a theoretical framework to analyze these speeches. The study found that these speeches are full of figures of speech, and the translatability of them into English is problematic, because the translated version lost the flavor of emotiveness that SL text had. This paper also suggests some strategies for translators to overcome these obstacles in translation.

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2014

Studying the differences between men and women's language has been the obsession of many sociolin... more Studying the differences between men and women's language has been the obsession of many sociolinguists recently. This study aims to investigate the gender differences between men's and women's language in Jordanian Spoken Arabic. It studies both genders' conversational styles and phonological variations. Twelve dyadic conversations (mixed and same-sex) were conducted at Yarmouk University (Jordan) each conversation lasted for 30 minutes. The theoretical framework for this study draws on sociolinguistics, Conversation Analysis and politeness theory. The findings of the study indicate that Jordanian women and men have different linguistics styles that distinguish their gender in conversations , and women are more linguistically conservative than men.

دراسات - العلوم الإنسانية والاجتماعية, 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore gender differences in the thematic content of Jordanian m... more The purpose of this study is to explore gender differences in the thematic content of Jordanian male and female latrinalia. A total of 483 inscriptions have been collected from 24 toilets in two different Jordanian universities. 356 inscriptions are collected from the males’ toilets and 127 from the females’ toilets. The following themes have emerged from the data: tagging, romance, sex, degradation, alliance, philosophy, sports, complaints, and school. The data also reveals consistent gender variation in the latrinalia inscriptions collected from the toilets. The quantitative and qualitative analysis suggests that tagging and sex have been the most common themes in the males’ latrinalia, whereas romance and alliance have been the most common themes in the females’ latrinalia. In addition, the least common themes of the males’ latrinalia are philosophy, alliance, and school, whereas the least common themes of females’ latrinalia are sex, degradation, complaints and sports. Further research on this topic is recommended.

دراسات - العلوم الإنسانية والاجتماعية, 2020

This paper examines the metaphorical and vocative uses of animal names in Jordanian Spoken Arabic... more This paper examines the metaphorical and vocative uses of animal names in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA) to address people, either abusively or affectionately, thereby communicating the attitudes and feelings of the speakers toward their addressees. The results of the study are based on a survey that contained 44 animal names which were distributed to100 undergraduate students (50 males and 50 females) at Yarmouk University, Jordan. This study is qualitative in nature. The participants were asked (a) to determine if they use the animal name to address a male or a female, (b) to determine the pragmatic meanings attached to these animals, (c) to give the syntactic structures in which they use these names, and (d) to describe real situations in which these names are used in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (JSA).The study concludes that animal vocative structures are usually used as human invectives. The study also reveals that Jordanians attribute animal names to humans based on the following aspects: Appearance, Behaviour, Intelligence, and Character. The study suggests that linguists should consider such aspects when conducting pragmatic studies about speech conversations in JSA. This study highlights a significant pragmatic feature of JSA.

دراسات - العلوم الإنسانية والاجتماعية, 2017

Based on a sociolinguistic perspective, the present study aims at shedding light on gender differ... more Based on a sociolinguistic perspective, the present study aims at shedding light on gender differences in colornaming system in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic (henceforth CJA). Though the connotations of colors have been examined from semantic, pragmatic and psychological viewpoints, this study tackles the phenomenon from a sociolinguistic view in CJA. The participants of the study were 80 young Jordanians (40 women and 40 men). The participants were given the color spectrum wheel (**) and were asked to write down the names of the colors they can perceive and distinguish in Arabic. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the Linguistic Relativity Theory, in particular the Domain-Centered Approach. The study concludes that there are gender differences in the color naming system in CJA, as young Jordanian women employ more color names than young men do. In addition, young women associate the names of terms with socially familiarized objects such as fruits, vegetables and sweets in order to distinguish between them.