Junction in English and Arabic: Syntactic, discoursal and denotative features - James Dickins

Junction in English and Arabic: Syntactic, discoursal and denotative featuresJames Dickins1, Corresponding Author Contact Information, a, E-mail The Corresponding AuthoraSchool of Languages, Maxwell Building, University of Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, United KingdomReceived 30 August 2007; revised 24 February 2009; accepted 1 September 2009. Available online 12 November 2009.AbstractUsing Standard Arabic original texts and idiomatic English translations, this paper considers syntactic, discoursal and denotative similarities and differences between English and Arabic in respect of junction. In order to define the basic analytical scope, a composite definition of ‘sentence’ is developed, integrating grammatical, semantic and punctuational/intonational criteria. It is argued for both English and Arabic that the adjunction–disjunction distinction is properly syntactic, but that disjunction–coordination is perhaps better understood as a semantic cline. The relationship between thematic structure, mainness–subordination and grounding is investigated. While English typically backgrounds rhematic subordinate clauses, with disjuncts more likely to be foregrounded than adjuncts, Arabic readily allows foregrounding of rhematic subordinate clauses. The Arabic disjuncts Image (‘id) and Image (View the MathML source) ‘since, as’ may display discoursal independence beyond that possible for a foregrounded subordinate disjunct rheme in English. While English standardly requires both main coordinate clauses to be foregrounded, Arabic allows either clause to be foregrounded or backgrounded. Denotative differences are illustrated by the greater capacity of Arabic adjunct-heads Image (View the MathML source) and Image (ila ‘an) ‘until’ for denotative independence from their main clause than English ‘until’. Discoursal and denotative factors may interact to produce Arabic coordinate-clause types which are strikingly unlike English ones.

ScienceDirect - Journal of Pragmatics : Junction in English and Arabic: Syntactic, discoursal and denotative features

James Dickins. in press.

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Bare nominals, information structure and word order

Publication year: 2009
Source: Lingua, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 16 December 2009
Murad, Salem

Existentially interpreted bare nominals in English have been argued to be in focus; generic bare nominals, topical. In distributional terms, these nominals distribute more freely as compared to, e.g. Romance bare nominals. Arabic bare nominals pattern with the latter in interpretation and distribution. This paper proposes that Arabic bare nominals, which can only be interpreted existentially, are foci, on a par with their English counterparts, and that this plays a key role in their licensing. More importantly, the present paper seeks to derive the surface differences seen in the distribution of these nominals in Arabic and English from deeper differences between these two languages in the focus system facts and word order possibilities. Arabic has a freer word order, but is more constrained in its focus system. The reverse holds in English, a fact that explains why English bare nominals are more freely distributed than their Arabic counterparts.

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"Desiring Arabs" - the debate is going on

New reactions to Joseph Massad's controversial book (Desiring Arabs)

Reset - Dialogues on Civilizations | Human Rights
(by Ghassan Makaram, Helem co-founder)










http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah6sxjndq9qq_411hmndsxdx
(by Dror Ze'evi, author of Producing Desirei)


http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10467.php

Source: Brian Whitaker's Blog entry: http://www.al-bab.com/blog/blog0912a.htm#orientalism_in_reverse

See my former posts here and here

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Rudolf Pell Gaudio. Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic African City

A rich and engrossing account of 'sexual outlaws' in the Hausa-speaking region of northern Nigeria, where Islamic law requires strict separation of the sexes and different rules of behavior for women and men in virtually every facet of life.

• The first ethnographic study of sexual minorities in Africa, and one of very few works on sexual minorities in the Islamic world
• Engagingly written, combining innovative, ethnographic narrative with analyses of sociolinguistic transcripts, historical texts, and popular media, including video, film, newspapers, and song-poetry
• Analyzes the social experiences and expressive culture of ‘yan daudu (feminine men in Nigerian Hausaland) in relation to local, national, and global debates over gender and sexuality at the turn of the twenty-first century
• Winner of the 2009 Ruth Benedict Prize in the category of "Outstanding Monograph"
• Chapter 1: Introducing ‘Yan Daudu.
  Chapter 2: People of the Bariki.
  Chapter 3: Out in the Open.
  Chapter 4: Women’s Talk, Men’s Secrets.
  Chapter 5: Playing with Faith.
  Chapter 6: Men on Film.
  Chapter 7: Conclusion: Lost and Found in Translation.
  Epilogue: May God Keep a Secret.
  
  
  
  http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405152524,descCd-tableOfContents.html
   

Samar Habib. Islam and Homosexulity (contents)

Alexandrie Bazar. New Book by Patrick Poivre'Arvor

http://www.editions-menges.com/automne-hiver-2009/alexandrie-bazar-le-roman-dune-ville/pages/?new_lang=1

Maria Golia. Photography and Egypt.

Photography and Egypt

Maria Golia

Egypt immediately conjures images of the pyramids, the temples and the Sphinx in the desert. Early photographs of Egypt took these ancient monuments as their primary subjects, and these have remained hugely influential in constructing our view of the country.

But while the photography of Egypt and its monuments by foreigners has been well-documented, until now comparatively little has been known about the early days of photography among Egyptians themselves. Photography and Egypt redresses the balance: as well as considering images taken by early explorers, for the first time Maria Golia presents a wide range of photography made by Egyptians, of Egyptians, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

The author examines how photography was employed for propaganda purposes, including depictions of celebrated soldiers, workers and farmers; and how studio-based photography was used to portray the growing Egyptian middle class. Today’s young photographic artists, Golia reveals, use the medium to celebrate everyday life and to indict political and social conditions, with photography bearing witness to history – as well as helping to shape it.

Illustrated with a rich, sometimes surprising variety of images, many published for the first time in the West, Photography and Egypt is the first book to relate the story of Egypt’s rapport with photography in one concise and highly readable account.

A long-time resident of Cairo, Maria Golia has published fiction and nonfiction including Cairo: City of Sand (Reaktion Books, 2004).

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Cairo: City of Sand by Maria Golia

Cairo
City of Sand

Maria Golia

'a magnificent, multidimensional, eloquent and, above all, intelligent portrait of one of the world’s most enigmatic places.'
– Sunday Times

'packed full of observations of enduring worth . . . She writes with wit, immediacy, intimacy and humor.'
– Times Literary Supplement

'I was half way through Golia's book [when] the enormity of the challenges faced by the ordinary Cairene . . . struck me, a Cairene, full force.'
– Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo

'Is it possible for a foreigner living in Cairo, even for many years, to know the soul of this city? . . . you will be astonished when you read Maria Golia’s book.'
– Sabah El-Kher magazine, Cairo

'the extent of Golia's insider status really shows . . . not just regarding matters specific to Cairo, but to matters of Egyptian-ness in general.'
– Beirut Daily Star

'astonishingly astute, skillfully critical and deeply empathetic.'
– Daily Star, Egypt

'written with compassion and understanding in brisk descriptions sprinkled with shrewd insights.'
– Middle East Journal

Cairo is a 1,400-year-old metropolis whose streets are inscribed with sagas, a place where the pressures of life test people's equanimity to the very limit. Virtually surrounded by desert, sixteen million Cairenes cling to the Nile and each other, proximities that colour and shape lives. Packed with incident and anecdote Cairo: City of Sand describes the city's given circumstances and people's attitudes of response. Apart from a brisk historical overview, this book focuses on the present moment of one of the world's most illustrious and irreducible cities.

Cairo steps inside the interactions between Cairenes, examining the roles of family, tradition and bureaucracy in everyday life. The book explores Cairo's relationship with its 'others', from the French and British occupations to modern influences like tourism and consumerism. Cairo also discusses characteristic styles of communication, and linguistic mêmes, including slang, grandiloquence, curses and jokes.

Cairo exists by virtue of these interactions, synergies of necessity, creativity and the presence or absence of power. Cairo: City of Sand reveals a peerless balancing act, and transmits the city's overriding message: the breadth of the human capacity for loss, astonishment and delight.

Maria Golia writes fiction and non-fiction. She's lived in Rome, Paris and Fort Worth, Texas, and is a long-time resident of Cairo.

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Exhibition Cairo

More at
The Arabist
 or directly at http://www.thetownhousegallery.com/

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Rowson. 2008. The Traffic in Boys: Slavery and Homoerotic Liaisons in Elite ‘Abbasid Society (Abstract)

Rowson, Everett K. 2008. The Traffic in Boys: Slavery and Homoerotic Liaisons in Elite ‘Abbasid Society.
Middle Eastern Literatures 11: 193-204.


The prominence of cultured slave women in early ‘Abbasid Baghdad, as objects of sale,
gift, infatuation, and scandal, is well known, not least from a famous monograph about
them by al-Jahiz. Less attention has been paid to a similar situation obtaining with regard
to slave boys. Numerous anecdotes testify to this phenomenon, however, and a
preliminary analysis of the available material suggests that the ‘traffic in boys’ developed
in imitation of that in slave women, sometime after the public expression of homoerotic
sentiment in general had come to be accepted. The parallelism is nevertheless imperfect,
due to several complicating factors, including the possibility of eunuchs serving as an
object of erotic attraction as well as lingering resonances of an earlier paternal rather than
erotic stance adopted by gentlemen toward their valets.

Thomas Dworzak - Photos of Taliban

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&ALID=2TYRYDIT12AL&CT=Album

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Desiring Arabs - New book review by Katia Zakharia

IngentaConnect Desiring Arabs

Desiring Arabs

Author: Zakharia, Katia¹

Source: Arabica, Volume 56, Number 6, 2009 , pp. 603-608(6)

Publisher: BRILL

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Bazzi, Arab News and Conflict

Samia Bazzi.

Arab News and Conflict

A multidisciplinary discourse study

The Arab-Israeli struggle is not only a struggle over land, but a struggle over language representations. Arab reporters as well as politicians believe that their political discourses about the Middle East conflict are objective, accurate, and credible. Arab News and Conflict critically examines the role of language in the representations of events and ideologies found in news media.Drawing on socio-political-linguistic approaches combined with real-case studies, the author offers a unique discourse analysis model for analysing politically sensitive language in the media. The focus in this study is on the Arab media discourse in times of conflict with Israel and the US, spanning the years 2001 to 2009. Using rich examples from outspoken Arab media outlets, the study explores ideological and language facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict.This book is compelling reading for students and researchers of media and cultural studies, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, and translation. It is of equal interest to political analysts, political speakers, journalists, and news editors who need to understand more about the ideological function of the language they use or the political-journalistic-linguistic nexus of power.Table of contentsAcknowledgements 1. Introduction Part I: Approaches to media discourse 2. A semiotic approach 3. An ideological approach 4. A critical discourse analysis approach Part II: A model of analysis: Analysing Arab media discourse 5. Analysing the contextual factors 6. Analysing text strategy Part III: Translation and media 7. Media translation and conflict Discussion References Index

John Benjamins: Book details for Arab News and Conflict [DAPSAC 34]

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Paoli - Generative linguistics and Arabic metricsB

Generative linguistics and Arabic metrics

Bruno Paoli, Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Damascus, Syria

The classical theory of Arabic metrics has been reinterpreted numerous times in a variety of theoretical frameworks, notable among them Metrical Phonology (Prince 1989 & Schuh 1996) and Optimality Theory (Golston & Riad 1991), which we briefly examine to show that they do not permit an adequate account of the structure of Arabic verse-patterns. The analyses that have been proposed, by simply reinterpreting classical analyses, suffer from the same failings as the classical theory, whose descriptive adequacy (or inadequacy) is never discussed. To these failings we can add the problems inherent in the basic presuppositions of these theories (hierarchical organisation of meter, constituency and, above all, binarity), whose relevance (their explanatory power) and universality deserve to be seriously questioned. Finally, it is shown that a detailed descriptive analysis of actual instances of classical verse-patterns in terms of free and fixed metrical positions reveals a system which relies on principles and constraints that consistently depart from the classical framework and should thus serve as the basis for future analyses of Arabic meter.

In: Aroui, Jean-Louis and Andy Arleo (eds.), Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms: From language to metrics and beyond. 2009. xiv, 428 pp. (pp. 193–208)

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Middle East Online : Syria’s gays, lesbians fight discriminationQuee

Middle East Online

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Al-Rujulah: Male and Masculinities in Modern Sudanese Narrative Discourse

Oladosu, Afis Ayinde. 2009.

Al-Rujūlah: Male and Masculinities in Modern Sudanese Narrative Discourse. Hawwa 7: 249-270.

The purpose of this paper is, first of all, to explore that which is essentially male/masculine in Afro-Sudanese culture and once explored, to reach deeper into its discursive portrayal in modern Sudanese narrative discourse. The paper uses a number of representative short stories written since the early thirties in northern Sudan as sites of inquiry. Drawing from existing studies on the male in the East and the West, the paper examines the representation of male and masculinity in modern Sudanese narrative discourse using the following as strategies: gender conflicts and politics, intra-gender paradoxes, the male as satire and allegory, and the male as a myth.

IngentaConnect Al-Rujulah: Male and Masculinities in Modern Sudanese Narrative D...

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Joseph Massad

http://www.resetdoc.org/EN/Massad-interview-gay.php

Homosexuals in the Arab world? They have been “invented” by the West. In his book Desiring Arabs, Joseph Massad, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin and an associate professor at Columbia University, attempts to follow the process through which the gay movement, born in the USA, has resulted in and tried to impose a homosexual identity on those Arabs who entertain relations with people of their own sex. A process that according to Massad, follows the tracks of western imperialism.

Massad’s viewpoint has infuriated a number of gay organisations, which have accused him of homophobia. His ideas however go well-beyond ideological slogans and he takes into account the complexity of social and economic transformations that have taken place in the West and that, in turn, have influenced the East’s intellectual framework. A number of critics have seen in his work the continuation, in the field of sexuality, of the ideas expressed by Edward Said in his famous Orientalism. This is an Orientalism of sexuality.

Nota bene: I don't believe a single word.

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The Equity is in the Circle - Let's buy Egypt

How much would it cost to buy Egypt? 7 trillion, according to…a very comprehensive art project. You can see the prospectus here, or read all about  Jordanian artist Oraib Toukan’s project, and other work on display at the recent Istanbul Biennale.

The Equity is in the Circle

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Medieval Arab Lesbians and Lesbian-Like Women

Amer, Sahar¹

Source:

Journal of the History of Sexuality; May2009, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p215-236, 22p

Document Type:

Article

The article discusses the significance of the medieval Arab lesbians and lesbian-like women Europe. Various scientific explanations on lesbianism in the medieval Arabic tradition are explored. According to the author, medieval Arab lesbianism was believed to be the caused of itching in women's labia which can only be comforted by rubbing against other women's labia. Ninenth-century Muslim philosopher al-Kindi has compared lesbianism to a vapor that condensed and generates in the labia heat wherein an itch could only be dissolved and become cold through orgasm and friction.

EBSCOhost: Medieval Arab Lesbians and Lesbian-Like Women

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Poetics and Eros in Early Modern Persia: The Lovers' Confection and The Glorious Epistle by Muhtasham Kashani - Iranian Studies

Poetics and Eros in Early Modern Persia: The Lovers' Confection and The Glorious Epistle by Muhtasham Kshnī 

Author: Paul Losensky - Paul Losensky is currently an Associate Professor in Central Eurasian Studies and Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington.^a

Affiliation:

a Department of Central Eurasian Studies and Comparative Literature, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

DOI: 10.1080/00210860903306036

Publication Frequency: 5 issues per year

Published in: Iranian Studies, Volume 42, Issue 5 December 2009 , pages 745 - 764

The poet Muhtasham Kamacrshamacrnī (d. 1588) is today known primarily for his strophic elegy on the martyrdom of Imam Husayn at Karbalamacr, but such devotional poems make up only a tiny fraction of large oeuvre. Far more substantial are two works of a very different tenor, Nuql-i 'Ushshamacrq (The Lover's Confection) and Risamacrla-yi Jalamacrliyya (The Glorious Epistle). Using an innovative combination of prose and poetry, these works tell the story of the poet-narrator's stormy affairs with, respectively, an upper-class courtesan and a footman attached to a nobleman's house. As part of the larger literary movement known as the maktab-i vuqumacr' or “realist school,” these purported autobiographical accounts of Muhtasham's amorous adventures reveal a sophisticated culture of eros and desire that differs strikingly from the usual representations of the state of literature and the arts under Shah Tahmamacrsp. After situating these works in their historical, literary, and cultural contexts, the article turns to a close analysis of an extended passage from each work to show how Muhtasham integrates lyric poetry, narrative, and setting to depict the pursuit of desire in the urbane world of early modern Persia.

Poetics and Eros in Early Modern Persia: The Lovers' Confection and The Glorious Epistle by Muhtasham Kashani - Iranian Studies

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Forbidden Love, Persianate Style: Re-reading Tales of Iranian Poets and Mughal Patrons - Iranian Studies

Author: Sunil Sharma - Sunil Sharma is Assistant Professor of Persianate and Comparative Literature at Boston University.^a

DOI: 10.1080/00210860903306044

Publication Frequency: 5 issues per year

Published in: Iranian Studies, Volume 42, Issue 5 December 2009 , pages 765 - 779

The patronage system at the Mughal court drew many Safavid poets and men of learning to India who interacted with Indians at various levels. In an unusual case, the young Iranian poet 'Urfī's attachment to his patron, Prince Salīm (later Emperor Jahamacrngīr), was interpreted by some as more than merely professional and the poet's death at a young age gave rise to speculations of intrigue. Mughal princesses were also actively involved in the literary scene of the time. In another instance, the association of Princess Zībunnisa, daughter of the Emperor Awrangzīb, with Persian poets was sometimes personal, leading to gossip and scandal about her. It turns out that in both cases stories about the sexual aspects of the relationships between Mughal patrons and Iranian poets arose in the eighteenth century and are more reflective of the concerns of the literary culture of that period. This paper explores the power and gender dynamics of these poet-patron relationships in the context of the general Iranian-Indian tension at the Mughal court and a highly developed and creative tradition of crafting biographical accounts.

Forbidden Love, Persianate Style: Re-reading Tales of Iranian Poets and Mughal Patrons - Iranian Studies

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To be Feared and Desired: Turks in the Collected Works of 'Ubayd-i Zakani - Iranian Studies

To be Feared and Desired: Turks in the Collected Works of 'Ubayd-i Zknī 

Author: Dominic Parviz Brookshaw - Dominic Parviz Brookshaw is Lecturer in Persian Studies and Iranian Literature at the University of Manchester.

Published in: Iranian Studies, Volume 42, Issue 5 December 2009 , pages 725 - 744

This article discusses the representation of Turks in the kulliyamacrt (collected works) of the fourteenth-century poet 'Ubayd-i Zamacrkamacrnī (d. 1371). 'Ubayd is well known for his satirical works (e.g. Mumacrsh u gurba, Akhlamacrq al-ashramacrf), but his courtly poetry (in particular his ghazals and qasīdas) have yet to receive substantial scholarly attention. This study examines the various ways in which 'Ubayd presents Turks in his kulliyamacrt, whether as an object of erotic desire, a figure to be feared on account of his violent nature, or else as a metaphor for the royal patron or other member of the ruling elite of fourteenth-century Shiraz. This article explores the tension that exists in 'Ubayd's works between these various depictions of the Turk, shows how references to Turks in bawdy prose works and other poetic genres (such as rubamacr'ī) can be used to interpret those found in more chaste ghazals, and discusses the possible implications the depiction of the Turk found in 'Ubayd's kulliyamacrt may have for our understanding of references to Turks in the poetry of his contemporaries, in particular Hamacrfiz (d. 1389).

To be Feared and Desired: Turks in the Collected Works of 'Ubayd-i Zakani - Iranian Studies

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Love and Desire in Pre-modern Persian Poetry and Prose

Love and Desire in Pre-modern Persian Poetry and Prose

Special Issue of Iranian Studies (42/5, 2009)

Love and Desire in Pre-modern Persian Poetry and Prose Dominic Parviz Brookshaw Pages 673 – 675 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles	buy now
ARTICLES
	Love Gone Wrong, Then Right Again: Male/Female Dynamics in the Bahrām Gūr–Slave Girl Story Alyssa Gabbay Pages 677 – 692 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles	buy now
	Sexual Occidentation: The Politics of Conversion, Christian-love and Boy-love in ‘Attār Franklin Lewis Pages 693 – 723 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles	buy now
	To be Feared and Desired: Turks in the Collected Works of ‘Ubayd-i Zākānī Dominic Parviz Brookshaw Pages 725 – 744 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles	buy now
	Poetics and Eros in Early Modern Persia: The Lovers' Confection and The Glorious Epistle by Muhtasham Kāshānī Paul Losensky Pages 745 – 764 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles	buy now
	Forbidden Love, Persianate Style: Re-reading Tales of Iranian Poets and Mughal Patrons Sunil Sharma Pages 765 – 779 Abstract | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles

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Sexual Occidentation: The Politics of Conversion, Christian-love and Boy-love in 'Attar - Iranian Studies

Sexual Occidentation: The Politics of Conversion, Christian-love and Boy-love in 'Attr 

Author: Franklin Lewis - Franklin Lewis is Associate Professor of Persian in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.^a

A

Published in: Iranian Studies, Volume 42, Issue 5 December 2009 , pages 693 - 723

This article explores tales and tropes of conversion, especially conversion engendered by romantic attraction for the religious other, in the poetry of Farīd al-Dīn 'Attamacrr. The plot dynamics of class, gender and confessional adherence are complex, and hold important clues to the poet's theology. One particularly rich example of the encoding of religious and social boundaries can be found in a body of ghazals written about the beautiful Christian boy (tarsamacr-bachcha). The history of this homoerotic sub-genre is traced, and 'Attamacrr's treatment of the theme is explored in juxtaposition not only to earlier authors, but to other motifs of the religious other and of religious conversion, appearing in his own oeuvre, including the narrative of Shaykh San'amacrn with its representation of the Christian girl beloved. The terminology of Christianity and the markers by which 'Attamacrr construes Christian-ness are discussed, and these symbolically amorous encounters with Christianity are analyzed as part of a larger discourse of emasculation which 'Attamacrr constructs around conversion, religious affiliation, and insufficient commitment to spiritual growth. Analysis of the dynamic interplay of markers of gender and class in the tales and topoi dealing with religious conversion or cross-confessional interaction will ultimately afford a perspective into 'Attamacrr's conception of the specific religious traditions juxtaposed to Islam, as well as his beliefs about inter-religious relations.

Sexual Occidentation: The Politics of Conversion, Christian-love and Boy-love in 'Attar - Iranian Studies

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Kiegel-Keicher. 2006. La epéntesis vocálica en hispano-árbe

Kiegel-Keicher, Yvonne. 2006. La epéntesis vocálica en hispano-á rabe y en los arabismos iberorromances. Studia Neophilologica 78: 3-27


Las lenguas iberorromances cuentan con numerosos arabismos le´xicos incorporados
durante la presencia isla´ mica en la Penı´nsula Ibe´ rica medieval. La mayorı´a de estos
pre´stamos fueron transmitidos por vı´a oral: se tomaron del dialecto hispano-a´ rabe o
andalusı´, la variedad del a´ rabe usada en al-Andalus.
La identificacio´ n de la forma etimolo´ gica exacta de los arabismos espan˜ oles,
portugueses y catalanes plantea varios problemas que se deben a las circunstancias
siguientes. Disponemos de pocas fuentes escritas de este dialecto a´ rabe medieval. Los
documentos conservados permitieron la reconstruccio´ n eficaz tanto del inventario
fone´tico como de la morfologı´a.1 Sin embargo, numerosas formas que fueron
reconstruidas como e´timos de arabismos iberorromances no se encuentran
documentadas, ası´ que, en estos casos, la relacio´ n etimolo´ gica queda mera hipo´ tesis.
En cuanto a las formas incluidas en las fuentes surgen otras preguntas. Hay que ser
conscientes de las posibles insuficiencias ortogra´ ficas y tipogra´ ficas de los textos
medievales o renacentistas, ası´ como de las dificultades de la representacio´ n escrita
de un dialecto normalmente limitado al uso oral.

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Bidoun 19 is out

Bernouss - 2009 - Alignment versus Sonority in CCC Structures (Abstract)

Bernouss, Mohammed Rida.  2009. Alignment versus Sonority in CCC Structures: A Paradigmatic Explanation. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de Linguistique: 54: 157-166.

The canonical difference between monosyllabic CCC nouns and verbs is one of the most documented aspects in Moroccan Arabic morphophonology (Harrell 1968; Benhallam 1990a; Bennis 1992; Boudlal 2001; McCarthy 2005; Bernouss 2007b; among many others). Whereas verbs adopt exclusively a CCǝC form, nouns have both CCǝC and CǝCC patterns. 1 I argue that this basic difference can be accounted for by having recourse to two crucial constraints: an alignment constraint (A LIGN-R. [Verb]), which stipulates that syllables must coincide with the right edge of the verb stem, and a sonority condition constraint (S ON-C OND), which fixes the place of the epenthetic schwa in nouns before the most sonorant consonant or between the last two consonants with the same sonority index. The study, couched within Optimality Theory (OT) (McCarthy and Prince 1993a; Prince and Smolensky 1993), is also an attempt to provide an alternative to the analysis of McCarthy (2005), where he argues that the structure of the Moroccan Arabic triliteral sound stem is the result of majority-rules effects. Specifically, I suggest that the sonority condition is not satisfied in verbs because of phonological and paradigmatic reasons (related to the perfective inflectional paradigm of sound triliteral verbs); thus, one needs to refer to inflectional paradigms to explain derivational phenomena. In this respect, I argue in favour of the existence of a paradigmatic contrast constraint that is not subsumed under the usual OT faithfulness and markedness families.

Project MUSE - The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique - Alignment versus sonority in CCC structures: A paradigmatic explanation

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Gays en Banlieue : Faut-il en sortir pour s'en sortir ?

Gays en Banlieue : Faut-il en sortir pour s'en sortir ?

Very interesting discussion about the situation of gay "beurs" (youth of Arab descent) in the suburbs of French cities.

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Marc Scialom. Lettre à la prison

We can see what the city of Marseille was like – with its past and present marked by immigration, likewise on the border between reality and fiction – in Lettre à la prison, filmed 40 years ago in Marseille and Tunisia. The film has remained invisible since then because its director, Marc Scialom, a French Tunisian with Italian blood, ran out of money and had to stop filming before he could run off a copy. With voices out of field, it is an atemporal narration that instead follows the interior movements of the leading player, a Tunisian boy who has landed in Marseille and tries to get to Paris. He goes to the station every day but never manages to leave. The words, which are not always connected with the images, compose the story: the young man has come to France to help his brother, accused of killing a French girl with whom he had a relationship. Little does it matter that the accusation is false: back then – as is the case today – he is the perfect culprit.
But the story, the letters that one man writes to the other, are merely fragments, a starting point to reveal much more. The young man’s wanderings through Marseille, composed of harsh angles, diagonal shots with a “cubist” air, tell us about racism, ostracism and mistrust. Men and women view immigrants suspiciously, considering them savages: Arab equals disease and filth. It makes no difference that they were bled first by colonialism and then by post-colonialism: the slums in which they live are dirty, their children dishevelled, barefoot and naked ... There is a compelling feeling of contemporary life, of today’s world, in this film. Indeed, its power lies in not “theorizing” about it but, rather, allowing the contradictions and ambiguity of widespread violence to emerge: the frustration of a horrible deed – the young man throws his dog from the train because a hysterical Frenchwoman is shocked that the animal is peeing – is something that introjects marginality without having processed it into rebellion, making it all the more frightening. Scialom revisits cinéma vérité, but the most surprising aspect is the representation of immigration. The director takes uncommon liberties and perhaps this is what frightened producers at the time. The scene of the young man and a French girl on the reef – she urinating in front of him, he being transformed into all of the men of an aggressive culture without distinction – is extraordinary. The “scandal” of the film is its unconventionality, the fact that it works within a reciprocal imagination, touching on eroticism, sexuality and fantasies. Something that is ever topical in history. (Cristina Piccino, il manifesto, 6 July 2008)

Personne ou presque ne connaît Marc Scialom. Juif italien né à Tunis en 1934, ce cinéaste autodidacte a pourtant gagné un Lion d'Argent à Venise en 1972, avec le court-métrage Exils. Mais son seul long-métrage, Lettre à la prison (1969), n'est jamais sorti dans les salles. Trop onirique pour l'époque (post 68), très demandeuse de Politique. Mêlant prises de vues en noir et blanc tournées à l'arrache dans les rues de Marseille, et extraits d'un court métrage en couleur, Lettre à la prison est un magnifique film-poème sur l'immigration maghrébine. 35 ans plus tard, sa puissance reste intacte.
LETTRE A LA PRISON
Un film de Marc Scialom
Avec Tahar Aïbi, Marie-Christine Lefort, Myriam Tuil
Durée : 1h39

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What I am reading: A Paper about Abu Nuwas by Ewald Wagner.

You'll find most of the original Arabic verses of Abu Nuwas cited in the paper here:

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Wagner, Ewald. 2005. Schrift, Schreiben und Schreiber bei Abu Nuwas. Alltagsleben und materielle Kultur in der arabischen Sprache und Literatur: Festschrift für Heinz Grotzfeld, ed. Thomas Bauer, Ulrike Stehli-Werbeck, Thorsten Gerald Schneider, 341-356. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.