Papers by Prof. Ahmad Al-Harahsheh
Traduction et Langues
Ideology is a critical term in the domain of translation. This study aimed at identifying the ide... more Ideology is a critical term in the domain of translation. This study aimed at identifying the ideological implications behind the translator’s lexical choices in Qutb’s Milestones into English. It also investigated the ideological, cultural and religious impacts that affect the flowing of meaning for the target audience. The sample of the study was Sayyid Qutb’scontroversial Islamic book ‘Milestones.’ The book was considered a manifesto of Muslim fanaticism in the eyes of the West. Two translated versions of the book were examined; one version was translated in 1981 by Cedar Rapids (publisher) and the other was translated in 2006 by A.B. al- Mehri. The study compared and analyzed the translator's lexical choices. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework was applied to provide a critical analysis of the hidden ideologies, socio- cultural context, power inequalities and implied meanings between the Source Text (ST) and the translator’s choices of words in the Target Text (TT). ...
Traduction et Langues
This study sets out to investigate the usability of Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) – in translating S... more This study sets out to investigate the usability of Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) – in translating Sheikh Jassim Al Thani’s poetry into English, which is an example of Nabati poetry. The study was conducted on two groups of MA graduates in translation studies: Qataris and non-Qataris. The approach used in this study is process-oriented, and therefore it illuminates the strategies that translators use to overcome challenges during the translation process. The analysis of the translation of the selected expressions is based on Gerloff’s (1986) model of coding translation strategies. Selecting different translation strategies by each group demonstrates the nature of the encountered challenges. These challenges vary, as some are linguistic, while others are cultural. Finally, the study concluded that the employment of TAP in the process of translation is effective, guide translation specialists and help them to overcome any linguistic or cultural problems.
International Journal of Arabic-English Studies
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..
An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)
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. تتناول هذه الدراسة الوظائف اللغوية وانواع أسلوب المقابلة في القرءان الكريم وترجمتها للإنجليزية. وتكونت عينة الدراسة من أثنتين وثل...
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.
Masculine Grammatical Gender Markers Used by Young Jordanian Women to Refer to Themselves
The International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies, 2022
A Study of Linguistic Techniques in the Language of the Internet and Mobile Telephones
A Study of linguistic techniques in the language of the internet and mobile telephones، للحصول عل... more A Study of linguistic techniques in the language of the internet and mobile telephones، للحصول على النص الكامل يرجى زيارة مكتبة الحسين بن طلال في جامعة اليرموك او زيارة موقعها الالكتروني
in Jordanian Spoken Arabic
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Silence and Politeness in Jordanian Society
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...
The Walls Are Talking:, Gender Differences In The Thematic Content Of Latrinalia In Jordanian Universities
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.
A Gender Differences Study of Color Names in Rural Jordanian Arabic
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...
Anti-Language in Jordanian Spoken Arabic: A Sociolinguistic Perspective
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.
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.
3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 2019
This study aims to investigate if self-translation is a true interpretation of a Source Text (ST)... more This study aims to investigate if self-translation is a true interpretation of a Source Text (ST) into a Target Text (TT), or if it is in fact a rewriting process. The study examines Haikal's self-translation of a book titled 'Autumn of Fury: The Assassination of Sadat'. This self-translation is used as an example due to the modifications and changes made by Haikal, and examines to what extent the translator is faithful to his ST (English version). For the purpose of this study, fifteen examples have been selected from Haikal's version of Autumn of Fury. They are then analysed and compared to their Arabic translations (TT), and the differences are highlighted and discussed. The selected examples include words, phrases, sentences, and sometimes whole paragraphs. The study relies on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a theoretical framework to uncover the hidden ideologies and attitudes behind the modification, manipulation, or rewriting of the ST into Arabic. These examples are analysed from linguistic, political and ideological perspectives. The study finds that Haikal's self-translation of Autumn of Fury into Arabic was actually a rewriting process rather than a translation process, and that a new book is almost recreated out of the original.
JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN LINGUISTICS, 2014
The study of silence has not got much concern in the Arab world in general and in Jordanian Arabi... more The study of silence has not got much concern in the Arab world in general and in Jordanian Arabic in particular. The purpose of the current study is to seek to understand the practice and perception of silence in casual conversation in Jordanian society. Twelve dyadic conversations were conducted for 30 minutes each. The participants were 24 university students at Yarmouk University (Jordan-Irbid): twelve males and 12 females. They were categorised into two main groups: friends and strangers. Ninety seconds are analysed from the beginning, the middle, and the end of each conversation. The theoretical framework of this study draws on Turn-Taking system, ethnography of communication Speech Act Theory and Grice's Conversational. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that silence is functional and meaningful in Jordanian society. It also has different interpretations in different contexts depending on the relationship between the interlocutors, the conte...
The present paper aims at shedding light on semantic and syntactic challenges that Arab translato... more The present paper aims at shedding light on semantic and syntactic challenges that Arab translators encounter when translating news reports from English into Arabic and vice versa. Thirty one graduate students were asked to translate three political texts from Arabic into English and three texts from English into Arabic. The theoretical framework chosen for this study draws on linguistic approach to translation. The results of the study show that translators encountered semantic and syntactic challenges when rendering political news reports into the Target Language.
US-China Foreign Language, 2013
Discourse markers are functional and meaningful in discourse, as they orient the interlocutors to... more Discourse markers are functional and meaningful in discourse, as they orient the interlocutors to comprehend the meaning communicated in discourse as a whole. This study aims at studying the pragmatic functions of the Arabic term Tayyib and its cognate Tabb and its translatability in JSA (Jordanian Spoken Arabic). The data analyzed consisted of 18-videotaped dyadic conversations, each conversation lasted for 30 minutes. Discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and relevance theory were employed as a theoretical framework for this study. The study concludes that the discourse marker tayyib and its cognate tabb are functional, and convey ten pragmatic functions in JSA.
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.
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Papers by Prof. Ahmad Al-Harahsheh