Zouhair Maalej - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Zouhair Maalej

 The institution should give priority in its strategic planning and budgeting processes to the a... more  The institution should give priority in its strategic planning and budgeting processes to the achievement of its institutional and educational objectives;  Throughout the institution, leadership at all levels is committed to planning and managing processes for continuous quality improvement, based on the results of the processes of inquiry, evaluation and assessment;  The institution, and its component parts, should implement review processes which may lead to the revision of their stated purposes, structures, and policies.

Problems relating to the teaching of English in Tunisia are understudied. Apart from a few studie... more Problems relating to the teaching of English in Tunisia are understudied. Apart from a few studies here and there (e.g. Degachi, 1994), a systematic study similar to the one undertaken by Kharma & Hajjaj (1989) mostly for Gulf students is nowhere to be found. This paper purports to investigate one particular slice of these problems, namely, determination inherent to the use of central determiners in Tunisian students’ written performance. The paper’s findings rest on a case study of university students’ compositions. The corpus on which this case study is based involves 251 full-size essays (of approximately 300 words) written both at home and in class, and selected at random over a period of two years amongst second year university students of English. Analysis has revealed pairs of matching patterns, which account for the majority of students’ inappropriate use of determination in English. As the data demonstrate, students tend to activate their native language competence (Arabic in this case) while producing written work in English to make up for inchoate or inadequate knowledge of English grammar and discourse. Apart from translating literally from SL, which requires the adoption of a contrastive rhetorical approach in TEFL, the results of this inquiry into students’ inappropriate use of definite and indefinite constructions drew me to the conclusion that something should be done to remedy this situation by focusing on both the quantity and quality of teaching in our English departments in Tunisia.

Lakoff (1996: 97) argued that the Subject-Self distinction is between the Subject as a “locus of ... more Lakoff (1996: 97) argued that the Subject-Self distinction is between the Subject as a “locus of judgment, will, and empathy” and the Self as a “locus of physical properties, social roles, real-world actions.” The current article tries to reconstruct the concept of selfhood in Tunisian Arabic (TA) through linguistic evidence, arguing for a Self-Soul metaphor, where the Self is the locus of rationality, judgment, and ethical behavior and the Soul is the locus of worldly concerns and errors. Functioning as a parallel folk model to the three-tier reflexive model, the cultural model of the selfhood in TA unfurls as three sub-models and their ensuing conceptual metaphors that show little overlap with the religious model of the self.

This paper undertakes the study of the language of advertising via the consideration of about six... more This paper undertakes the study of the language of advertising via the consideration of about sixty-five billboards in the main avenues of the Greater Tunis area, Tunisia. Ignoring paralinguistic features that accompany language in many forms of publicity (e.g. image and graphology), many of them, quite unsurprisingly, use a mixture of language varieties, which is indicative of the linguistic versatility of the country in this post-colonial period. On closer linguistic investigation, ads of this kind rely for persuasion on many strategies ranging from phonology, syntax, to code-mixing.

The paper offers a cognitive semantic analysis of figurative giving in Tunisian Arabic (TA), usin... more The paper offers a cognitive semantic analysis of figurative giving in Tunisian Arabic (TA), using Lakoff’s (1982, 1987) Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM). The treatment of GIVING in TA, one of the dialects of Arabic, will consist in the following. First, in terms of its frame semantics (Fillmore 1975, 1982; Fillmore et al. 2003), GIVING prototypically involves a GIVER with a GIVEE in the metaphoric transfer of a GIVEN. In less prototypical cases, the frame includes another participant called for the purposes of the article, SPEAKER, when the speaker is different than the GIVER. Second, according to whether GIVING benefits the GIVER or the GIVEE, GIVING involves participants in the image-schematic structure that corresponds best to the nature of their interpersonal relations, with the GIVER acting either as a benefactive or malefactive agent depending on the type of GIVING. Third, in terms of its metaphoric model, GIVING is the product of a mapping between the concrete act of giving objects by transferring them through the socio-physical space and the transfer of abstract categories in the mental space. Last, GIVING fundamentally foregrounds one member of a more complex act involving not just giving but also taking, which shows GIVING as a part-whole metonymy. The semantics of GIVING in TA, thus, shows the following domains: Interpersonal domain (COMMUNICATING IS GIVING and INTERACTING WITH OTHERS IS GIVING THEM A BODY PART), Emergence domain (EMERGING IS GIVING), Enablement domain (ENABLING IS GIVING), Schematic interaction domain (INTERACTING WITH OBJECTS IS GIVING THEM SOMETHING), Human interaction domain (INTERACTING WITH OTHERS IS GIVING THEM A HUMAN BEING), and the Cursing domain (CURSING IS GIVING AN EVIL/BAD THING).

Human Cognitive Processing, 2011

In Tunisian Arabic (TA), ‘heart’ is the most productive body part term in the conceptualization o... more In Tunisian Arabic (TA), ‘heart’ is the most productive body part term in the conceptualization of emotions, cultural values, character traits, and mental faculties (Maalej 2004, 2008). Next in productivity is the outer body part 3ayn ‘eye’. The eye offers the following imaginative configurations: (i) image schema-based metaphors, (ii) metonymy-motivated metaphors, (iii) metaphors, and (iv) metonymies. The goal of the chapter is to show how TA embodies the mind via a cultural ‘eye’ model in the conceptualization of various mental faculties (knowing, understanding, thinking, speaking), physical states (sleep, death, passage of time), emotions (love, desire, anger, guilt, envy), character traits (ambition, greed, naivete, insolence), and cultural values (respect and hospitality). The findings point to the dominance of metaphors and image schemas in the conceptualization of experience embodied through 3ayn ‘eye’ in TA, and the prevalence of culture-specific embodiment, i.e. embodiment that is not universally attested.

 The institution should give priority in its strategic planning and budgeting processes to the a... more  The institution should give priority in its strategic planning and budgeting processes to the achievement of its institutional and educational objectives;  Throughout the institution, leadership at all levels is committed to planning and managing processes for continuous quality improvement, based on the results of the processes of inquiry, evaluation and assessment;  The institution, and its component parts, should implement review processes which may lead to the revision of their stated purposes, structures, and policies.

Problems relating to the teaching of English in Tunisia are understudied. Apart from a few studie... more Problems relating to the teaching of English in Tunisia are understudied. Apart from a few studies here and there (e.g. Degachi, 1994), a systematic study similar to the one undertaken by Kharma & Hajjaj (1989) mostly for Gulf students is nowhere to be found. This paper purports to investigate one particular slice of these problems, namely, determination inherent to the use of central determiners in Tunisian students’ written performance. The paper’s findings rest on a case study of university students’ compositions. The corpus on which this case study is based involves 251 full-size essays (of approximately 300 words) written both at home and in class, and selected at random over a period of two years amongst second year university students of English. Analysis has revealed pairs of matching patterns, which account for the majority of students’ inappropriate use of determination in English. As the data demonstrate, students tend to activate their native language competence (Arabic in this case) while producing written work in English to make up for inchoate or inadequate knowledge of English grammar and discourse. Apart from translating literally from SL, which requires the adoption of a contrastive rhetorical approach in TEFL, the results of this inquiry into students’ inappropriate use of definite and indefinite constructions drew me to the conclusion that something should be done to remedy this situation by focusing on both the quantity and quality of teaching in our English departments in Tunisia.

Lakoff (1996: 97) argued that the Subject-Self distinction is between the Subject as a “locus of ... more Lakoff (1996: 97) argued that the Subject-Self distinction is between the Subject as a “locus of judgment, will, and empathy” and the Self as a “locus of physical properties, social roles, real-world actions.” The current article tries to reconstruct the concept of selfhood in Tunisian Arabic (TA) through linguistic evidence, arguing for a Self-Soul metaphor, where the Self is the locus of rationality, judgment, and ethical behavior and the Soul is the locus of worldly concerns and errors. Functioning as a parallel folk model to the three-tier reflexive model, the cultural model of the selfhood in TA unfurls as three sub-models and their ensuing conceptual metaphors that show little overlap with the religious model of the self.

This paper undertakes the study of the language of advertising via the consideration of about six... more This paper undertakes the study of the language of advertising via the consideration of about sixty-five billboards in the main avenues of the Greater Tunis area, Tunisia. Ignoring paralinguistic features that accompany language in many forms of publicity (e.g. image and graphology), many of them, quite unsurprisingly, use a mixture of language varieties, which is indicative of the linguistic versatility of the country in this post-colonial period. On closer linguistic investigation, ads of this kind rely for persuasion on many strategies ranging from phonology, syntax, to code-mixing.

The paper offers a cognitive semantic analysis of figurative giving in Tunisian Arabic (TA), usin... more The paper offers a cognitive semantic analysis of figurative giving in Tunisian Arabic (TA), using Lakoff’s (1982, 1987) Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM). The treatment of GIVING in TA, one of the dialects of Arabic, will consist in the following. First, in terms of its frame semantics (Fillmore 1975, 1982; Fillmore et al. 2003), GIVING prototypically involves a GIVER with a GIVEE in the metaphoric transfer of a GIVEN. In less prototypical cases, the frame includes another participant called for the purposes of the article, SPEAKER, when the speaker is different than the GIVER. Second, according to whether GIVING benefits the GIVER or the GIVEE, GIVING involves participants in the image-schematic structure that corresponds best to the nature of their interpersonal relations, with the GIVER acting either as a benefactive or malefactive agent depending on the type of GIVING. Third, in terms of its metaphoric model, GIVING is the product of a mapping between the concrete act of giving objects by transferring them through the socio-physical space and the transfer of abstract categories in the mental space. Last, GIVING fundamentally foregrounds one member of a more complex act involving not just giving but also taking, which shows GIVING as a part-whole metonymy. The semantics of GIVING in TA, thus, shows the following domains: Interpersonal domain (COMMUNICATING IS GIVING and INTERACTING WITH OTHERS IS GIVING THEM A BODY PART), Emergence domain (EMERGING IS GIVING), Enablement domain (ENABLING IS GIVING), Schematic interaction domain (INTERACTING WITH OBJECTS IS GIVING THEM SOMETHING), Human interaction domain (INTERACTING WITH OTHERS IS GIVING THEM A HUMAN BEING), and the Cursing domain (CURSING IS GIVING AN EVIL/BAD THING).

Human Cognitive Processing, 2011

In Tunisian Arabic (TA), ‘heart’ is the most productive body part term in the conceptualization o... more In Tunisian Arabic (TA), ‘heart’ is the most productive body part term in the conceptualization of emotions, cultural values, character traits, and mental faculties (Maalej 2004, 2008). Next in productivity is the outer body part 3ayn ‘eye’. The eye offers the following imaginative configurations: (i) image schema-based metaphors, (ii) metonymy-motivated metaphors, (iii) metaphors, and (iv) metonymies. The goal of the chapter is to show how TA embodies the mind via a cultural ‘eye’ model in the conceptualization of various mental faculties (knowing, understanding, thinking, speaking), physical states (sleep, death, passage of time), emotions (love, desire, anger, guilt, envy), character traits (ambition, greed, naivete, insolence), and cultural values (respect and hospitality). The findings point to the dominance of metaphors and image schemas in the conceptualization of experience embodied through 3ayn ‘eye’ in TA, and the prevalence of culture-specific embodiment, i.e. embodiment that is not universally attested.