Topics in SFL: Studies in the Arabic Language2011There is a very rich and extensive SFL description of Arabic in a PhD thesis by Mohamed Ali Bardi (mohamedali_bardi@yahoo.com), completed 2008. Title: "A Systemic Functional Description of the Grammar of Arabic". The work was carried under Christian Matthiessen's supervision at Macquarie Univeristy. The description includes all the three metafunctions (THEME, MOOD, TRANSITIVITY). Abstract: here. 2010Ashraf Fattah has recently completed a Ph.D. at the University of Westminster in London. Embedded in a systemic functional framework, his PhD research was a study of one of the translation-specific features of Arabic translations, namely explicitation. Among other things, it reveals a tendency of explicitation features to cluster in various metafunctional environments, with the overall effect of reducing vagueness or complexity, avoiding ambiguity, and enhancing comprehensibility. It also analyses conjunction, clause-complexing (including shifts in taxis and nesting), embedded expansion, internal (circumstantial) augmentation and de-metaphorization shifts in Arabic translation. Abstract: here. Added 2011 by Ashraf Abdul Fattah: In this corpus-based study, you will find an introductory section on clause types and functional elements in the clause from a systemic functional perspective, including the use of Interpersonal Adjuncts (Mood and Comment) as a grammatical environment, not necessarily the most common one, for the realization of modal assessment (Section 2.2.4.2). Other grammatical means for realizing modality are also highlighted with interesting examples from the corpus (e.g. metaphorical realization of modality and the use of modalized embedded nominal clauses), with variations in the value and orientation of modality. The intention behind this fairly cursory, yet revealing, introduction, was largely to set the scene for the ensuing chapters dealing with the main subject of the study, namely clause complexing and conjunctive explicitation in Arabic translated and non-translated texts written by the same authors. Some emphatic modal constructions (including explicitly objective constructions) were incidentally found to be markedly more common in the translated texts (Section 6.3 Reinforcement). Contact me for a copy of the thesis: averroes@sky.com From around 2000:Talaat Pasha I am now preparing for a proposal for my Ph.D thesis. I am interested
in how language is used to affect people's ideology - particularly in
the political discourse and media in general.
I want to analyze two corpuses of texts from Arabic and English
newspapers dealing with same events and see how the same event is
represented differently on the lexicogrammatical system (
transitivity, theme and thematic progression).
Christian Matthiessen: As far as I know, there isn't really much
systemic work on Arabic. Professor Y. Aziz has presented some work,
e.g. on Theme -- but that was in the 1980s, before the Gulf War (he
used to be in Iraq; I think he might have moved now).
Aziz, Yowell Y. 1988. “Cohesion in spoken Arabic text.” In Erich H.
Steiner and Robert Veltman (ed.), Pragmatics, discourse and text: explorations in
Systemic Semantics. London: Frances Pinter. 148-157.
I studied Arabic back in Sweden and know a bit about the grammar of
Modern Standard Arabic (the contemporary version of Classical Arabic),
so I might be able to give some helpful pointers. There are also of
course general typological issues where I might be able to help a
little and strategies for moving into a new language (since I have had
experience in one way or another with Akan, Arabic, Chinese, French,
Japanese, Vietnamese etc.).
Arabic would be very interesting indeed to model systemically, so I
would certainly encourage the student. One of the challenges will
obviously be one of complexity management -- of finding functionally
motivated ways of staging the development of the account so that the
complexity doesn't become overwhelming. (For instance, the grammar of
word rank [morphology] is an interesting area of Arabic, with challenging
features (and for a systemic-like treatment of morphology, Dick
Hudson's work on Beja would be a helpful reference), but it might
be easier to delay the modelling of this.)
Chris Cleirigh: there is a paper in paul tench (ed) studies in
systemic phonology by Djafar Eddaikra & Paul Tench called the
pharyngealisation system in algerian spoken arabic. though it's not
grammar, it may be a place to start.
Dr Djafar Eddaikra is at Departement d'Anglais, Institut des Langues
Etrangeres, University of Blida, Blida, Algeria;
Dr Paul Tench: Centre of Applied English Language Studies, University of Wales,
College of Cardiff, PO Box 94, Cardiff CF1 3XE, Wales.
Bill Greaves: Try Afaf El-Menoufy at Cairo University. She works in
English, but should know of Arabic people. She was one of Michael
Halliday's first Ph.D.'s.
Rob Veltman: Jim Martin, I think, has an interesting element in 'The
meaning of features in systemic linguistics', in which he draws
attention to the paradigmatic, featural orientation of SL (as opposed
to the linear one of structural traditions) via an analysis of the
Hebrew verb paradigm. It is possible to reinterpret the diagram and
associated paradigm in terms of Arabic. Source Halliday & Fawcett ed. (1987).
Also, in Steiner & Veltman eds. (1988) there is a contribution by Yowell
Aziz (pp.148-157) 'Cohesion in spoken Arabic texts'. Yowell was at the time
at Mosul University, Iraq and maybe someone for your student to contact.
Michael Hall: I am an MA (Applied Linguistics) student at Melbourne
University, and an ESL/LOTE teacher (Arabic and Spanish). I am
currently writing up a description of Transitivity in Arabic, part or
all of which I intend to submit as an MA thesis in 6 months time. If I
can find enough interested people (even 3 or 4 would do for a start) I
would like to help establish some kind of Arabic Systemics network or
association. I'm sure the people are out there - there are over 220
million Arabic speakers in the world, many of whom study linguistics -
but the difficulty is in establishing contacts. It seems that the Arab
universities are not yet well integrated into the E-mail/Internet
system (I've only just connected myself). Anyway, I would be happy
for any future enquiries regarding Arabic to be directed to me. I have
established a mailing list and bibliography of SFL-related
publications and research and look forward to the establishment of an
Arabic Systemics group.
Michael Suggests contacting: Linda Rashidi and Afaf Almenoufy.
(He had an Arabic SFL page up and running on the Web. But its long
since dissapeared.)
Martin Davies: I have been looking for the name of YOWELL AZIZ, and -
as you can see! - I have now found it. He is, or was, at the
University of Mosul, Iraq, and has been working on a systemic
description of Arabic for some years now, giving papers on it whenever
he could get to an SF congress. Anyway, the last address I have is,
if you want to try, is simply Dr. Yowell Aziz, English Department,
Mosul University, Iraq.
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