International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation
The International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (ISSN: 2617-0299) is a double-blind peer-reviewed, monthly, open-access journal published by Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development. It publishes high-quality articles across the breadth of linguistics, literature and translation research. With its uniquely broad coverage, all articles are free to access across the globe, allowing authors to share their research and maximise its impact. The journal is led by expert international editorial board members who take an objective approach to peer review, ensuring each research paper is reviewed and evaluated on its own scholarly merits and research integrity. Publishing your work in the International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation means you will receive prompt and reliable publishing and a global platform for your research to reach its full potential. The journal is published in both online and print versions.
Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development
Copilot’s English Translation of Contrastive Emphatic Negation in Arabic Discourse: An Analytical Study
This study explores how AI, vis Microsoft Copilot (MC) translates Arabic contrastive emphatic negation (CEN) expressions, types of translation errors and translation strategies used. Analysis of a sample of 436 Arabic CEN expressions using a variety of negative particles showed that MC gave 65% correct translations of CEN expressions in the sample. MC gave more correct translations of expressions with a single negative particle than correlative conjunctions as لا ... ولا neither … nor, when the structure has a transparent rather than an underlying meaning, when negation is literal, and structurally simple (الكبير مش الصغير the big stand, not the small one; الكيف وليس الكم quality, not quantity; عاجلا غير آجل sooner not later). On the contrary, MC made semantic and syntactic errors as failure to understand and convey the meaning of idiomatic expressions and equivalent set idioms/phrases, difficulty with polysemous words, rendering faulty lexical choices, faulty structure and faulty wording, faulty choice of negative particles, faulty use of articles, and equivalents with faulty part of speech and derivatives. MC failed when the negation is idiomatic, culturally loaded, polysemous, or pragmatically marked. Nevertheless, CEN expressions were easier for MC to translate than zero-expressions, Gaza-Israel war terminology, Arabic grammatical terms used metaphorically, expressions of impossibility, Arabic folk medical terms with om and abu, Arabic abu-brand names using different prompts, and metonymic abu and umm animal and plant names. As in prior studies by the author, MC tended to translate word for word, rather than giving the fixed English equivalent or an accurate semantic equivalent (Finally, not lastly for أخيرا وليس آخرا rather than last but not least; دون كلل أو ملل without fatigue or boredom instead of tirelessly. Faulty translations demonstrated that MC’s weaknesses are concentrated in expressions that require recognition of multiword expressions with and idiomatic or metaphorical meaning, accurate particle selection, lexical choice, pragmatic interpretation, cultural competence and semantic inference. The study recommends that translators and students should not take MC translations for granted but should verify and post-edit its output.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Copilot, Arabic-English translation, word-for-word translation, contrastive emphatic negation, Arabic negations particles, Arabic negation devices, Arabic correlative conjunctions, idiomatic expressions, polysemous words.
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Arabic as a Carrier of Civilization: Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Dimensions
Nobody denies the fact that Arabic is one of the four predominant carriers of civilization to the rest of the world due to its unique characteristics in the phonological, syntactic, and literary qualities. This status is fundamentally rooted in the language’s intrinsic characteristic, not merely a product of historical circumstance. Through analyzing the language system, the study demonstrates how the phonological system of Arabic, with its emphatic and guttural consonants, contributed to its resilience and phonetic distinctness. Then, the study investigates the syntactical framework of the language, emphasizing the derivative richness of its root-based morphology and its capacity for logical accuracy, which made it an ideal means for law, science, and philosophy. Finally, the study explores its unparalleled literary features, from the superior impact of the Holy Qur’an to the sophisticated traditions of poetry and prose, cultivating a great intellectual culture. By drawing on evidence from linguistics, literary criticism, and history, this study demonstrates that the distinctive structural properties of Arabic have functioned as a fundamental driver in transmitting and enduring preservation of a global civilization.
Arabic, Carrier of Civilization, Linguistics, Literature, Culture
Linguistic Diaspora in Leila Sebbar’s Je ne Parle pas la Langue de mon Père
This paper examines Leïla Sebbar's autobiographical narrative Je ne parle pas la langue de mon père as a critical exploration of linguistic diaspora and postcolonial identity. Through close textual analysis, the study investigates how Sebbar's inability to speak Arabic—her Algerian father's native language—represents not merely a communicative gap but a profound rupture in cultural inheritance and self-formation. Drawing on Marianne Hirsch's theory of postmemory, the paper analyzes how linguistic absence functions as a form of inherited trauma that shapes diasporic subjectivity across generations. The analysis unfolds in three sections: first, situating Sebbar's experience within the historical context of French colonial language policies in Algeria that systematically marginalized Arabic; second, examining the emotional and psychological dimensions of linguistic loss as manifested in feelings of guilt, fragmentation, and cultural dislocation; and third, exploring how Sebbar transforms this absence into narrative resistance by appropriating French—the colonizer's language—to articulate silenced histories and reclaim hybrid postcolonial identity. The paper demonstrates that Sebbar's memoir challenges essentialist notions of linguistic authenticity while revealing how literature can serve as a site of testimony and cultural reclamation in the aftermath of colonial trauma.
linguistic diaspora, postcolonial identity, postmemory, colonial language politics, hybrid subjectivity
Dance Imagery in Dancing at Lughnasa from the Perspective of Anthropological Ritual
Dance serves as the central trope in Brian Friel’s celebrated play Dancing at Lughnasa. This study analyzes the cultural and social functions of dance through the framework of anthropological ritual. Three distinct forms of dance within the play exhibit ritualistic characteristics: the five sisters’ tap dance in the kitchen represents a temporary transcendence of daily constraints and a release of carnivalesque; the waltz shared by Michael’s parents functions as a ceremonial affirmation of matrimonial bonds; and Father Jack’s African dance signifies his acceptance, appreciation, and assimilation into indigenous cultural practices. These ritualistic dances serve psychological, emotional, and communal healing roles, encapsulating Friel’s appeal for acknowledging cross-ethnic commonalities and advancing multicultural integration within contemporary Irish society.
Dancing at Lughnasa, dance, ritual, multicultural integration
Voicing the Past, Scripting the Future: Folklore Adaptation in Teacher Education
This study aimed to analyze the transformation of a South Sumatran folktale into a drama script as a pedagogical model in teacher education. Amidst the challenges of globalization that threaten the survival of oral traditions, higher education plays a critical role in reviving cultural heritage and ensuring its relevance to the younger generations. This study employed a qualitative approach with a case study design. Data collection took place in two stages: a focus group discussion (FGD) with cultural stakeholders to obtain the cultural mandate, and a comparative textual analysis of the folktale Putri Berambut Putih or White-Haired Princess (hypogram) and a drama script written by student teachers in the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Sriwijaya. Data analysis used an intertextual framework that combines Riffaterre's theories (expansion and conversion) with Pradotokusumo's (modification and excerption). According to the findings, expansion and modification processes dominate the transformation of drama scripts. Students enrich the plot by incorporating elements of humor and social critique (such as corruption and social media), as well as changing the language and characters to make them more relevant to modern audiences. Conversion is used to adapt the narrative to the technical constraints of theatrical performances. The excerption maintains the original story's conflict structure and moral values. The primary conclusion of this study is that literary transformation in teacher education is more than just a creative writing exercise; it is an active cultural preservation strategy in accordance with the cultural mandate of South Sumatran cultural stakeholders. This process enables prospective teachers to "voicing the past" and "scripting the future" by bridging traditional values into contextual and innovative media.
Copyright (c) 2025 Khotamar Kusuma Dinata, Nurhayati Nurhayati, Mulyadi Eko Purnomo, Ernalida Ernalida https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Elective Affinity and the Domestication of Islamic Discourse in English Translation
The translation of Quran provides access to the Word of Allah for non-Arabic speakers. This study explores the role of how elective affinities, a term made popular by Goethe and Max Weber, guide the translators’ choices in four translations of the Quran, i.e. George Sale (1734), Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), Abdullah Usuf Ali (1934) and M.A.S. Abdel Heleem (2004/2010). The study focuses on Surat Al-Baqara (Chapter 2), and draws on Lawrence Venuti’s domestication/foreignization dichotomy. Using elective affinities as an explanatory farmwork, the study adopts a close comparative, hermeneutic analysis of key Quranic concepts. The paper argues that translators’ lexical, stylistic and interpretive choices are not merely linguistic but reflect deep ideological, theological and cultural resonance between their worldviews and the dominant epistemic norms of the Anglophone target culture. The findings reveal four distinct domestication profiles: Sale’s Protestant-Orientalist domestication, Pickthall’s foreignized content in Biblical English aesthetics (stylistic domestication), Yusuf Ali’s universalist moralist domestication fed by early 20th century interfaith and Victorian ethics, and Abdel Haleem’s contemporary academic domestication that prioritises clarity and post-9/11 apologetic concerns. The findings also show that such domesticating tendencies can enhance readability and familiarity but they often entail semantic shifts and doctrinal flattening, and at times imply subordination of the Quranic concepts to target culture’s theological expectations. This study fills an underexplored gap in Translation studies, definitely unexplored in the translation of Quran. It offers a nuanced understanding of how ideological presuppositions give shape to the transmission and reception of sacred discourse in English.
A Hermeneutic Approach to the “Rebirth” of a Classic: Translator’s Subjectivity in Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf
Over the centuries-long translation practice of the Old English epic Beowulf, the modern English translation by the Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney is regarded as a classic "rebirth" of the epic. However, prior studies of his translation focus on partial discussions of cultural identity or translation strategies. It lacks a systematic interpretation of the translator's subjectivity under a unified theoretical framework. Therefore, backed by George Steiner's hermeneutic translation theory, this paper employs its four-step analytical framework — trust, aggression, incorporation, restitution, to interpret Heaney's translation practice combined with close reading and case studies. The study finds that Heaney creatively integrated Irish dialect vocabulary (e.g., "thole", "bawn"), modernized syntactic structures, simplified Old English compound words, and compensated for alliteration and cultural terms. Through these strategies, his translation not only faithfully recreated the epic style, but also infused the translation with Irish cultural traits, strengthening a cultural dialogue between Britain and Ireland. The paper demonstrates that translator's subjectivity is not a deviation from the source text (ST). Rather, it is the core factor enabling a classic to achieve "creative transformation" and "modern rebirth". Therefore, this paper provides a new interpretive path for Beowulf translation research. What’s more, it offers the practice for utilizing translator's subjectivity to achieve the cross-cultural "rebirth" of Chinese literature translation.
Hermeneutic translation theory; Seamus Heaney; Beowulf; Translator's subjectivity; Classic "rebirth"
Copyright (c) 2025 YUE YI GUO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Listening Comprehension in English-Chinese Interpreting: Problem Triggers and Intensive Linguistic Training
listening comprehension in English-Chinese interpreting is quite challenging for Chinese students. Prior interpreting research often focuses on memorization, note-taking, interpreting techniques, and production abilities, while to some extent neglecting listening comprehension. Additionally, problem triggers in listening comprehension are often discussed with a focus on increased training rather than their underlying causes and specific countermeasures. From both interpreting practice and teaching, it has been found that problem triggers in listening comprehension are largely due to insufficient bilingual proficiency of beginners, thus those triggers in this study are discussed from the perspective of phonetics, lexicons, and syntactic structures. To improve students’ listening comprehension, particularly in English, it is essential to strengthen linguistic competency through intensive linguistic training such as summary exercises, sentences retelling, and the combination of practice quantity and quality. Besides, using AI for pre-listening preparation and application of interpreting techniques are crucial to language enhancement training. The practical methods and examples provided aim to offer a reference for improving both the listening comprehension and English-Chinese interpreting guidance.
English-Chinese Interpreting, Listening Comprehension, Problem Triggers, Intensive Linguistic Training
Copyright (c) 2025 Lianya Xing https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Investigating Difficulties Faced by Iraqi EFL Learners in Pronouncing the Letters 'ng' in Different Positions of English Words
The enhancement of undergraduate oral proficiency and communicative competence represents a crucial aspect of the English language learning process. This study investigates the pronunciation difficulties of Iraqi learners of English as a foreign language at the undergraduate level in producing the English letter sequence ng in various phonological environments. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed. Data are collected from 245 undergraduate students at University of Baghdad who were tested on the pronunciation of 20 target words representing four phonetic realisations of ng: /ŋ/, /ŋɡ/, /nɡ/, and /ndʒ/. Their responses are analysed in terms of accuracy rates, with results presented in tables and percentages. The findings indicate that Iraqi students consistently struggled with the correct pronunciation of ng, with error rates often exceeding 65% across several word items. Words such as longish, language, ingredient and ranger proved most problematic, stemming from several factors, including orthographic confusion, limited awareness of morphological structure, difficulties with stress placement and syllable division, and insufficient pedagogical support.
Pronunciation difficulties, Iraqi EFL learners, Letter sequence ng, L1 interference, Phonological and morphological interaction
From Engagement to Stance Shifting: A Functional Linguistic Account of Power Deconstruction in Workplace-themed Stand-up Comedy
This study explores how Chinese workplace-themed stand-up comedians employ linguistic resources to negotiate stance and subtly engage with institutional power through humor. Drawing on a revised Engagement framework within Appraisal Theory, the analysis focuses on dialogic positioning in routines that combine personal narrative, social commentary, and audience interaction. The corpus consists of 21 performance segments from King of Comedy: Stand-up Season, featuring comedians from diverse occupational backgrounds. A tentative contribution is the identification of Institutional Recontextualization as a potential genre-specific engagement resource, which involves the ironic redeployment of authoritative or bureaucratic discourse to create alternative evaluative frames. The findings suggest that performers combine Institutional Recontextualization with conventional engagement strategies to enact stance shifts in workplace-themed stand-up comedy. Four recurrent patterns were observed in the data: Identity Reconstruction, Value Inversion, Responsibility Displacement, and Collective Alignment, which help comedians negotiate speaker roles and engage audiences in implicit critiques of workplace hierarchies. Although based on a limited dataset, the findings suggest that comedians achieve subtle critiques of workplace power by deploying engagement resources to shift stance. It further suggests that moderated humor and reflective stance-taking may enhance student engagement and wellbeing in educational contexts.
Stance Shifting; Power Deconstruction; Appraisal Theory; Workplace-themed Stand-up Comedy; Humor
Exploring the integration of CAT into translation programmes at Saudi universities
Important issues are yet to be explored regarding computer-assisted translation (CAT) integration into translator training programmes in the Saudi context. In this study, we sought to explore the realities of CAT integration into translator training programmes at Saudi universities by examining the characteristics of the CAT courses offered, trainers’ perspectives on using CAT activities in non-CAT translation courses, and the challenges encountered. We tried to profile these issues through reviewing translation programme study plans and CAT course descriptions, and collecting interview data from eight translation faculty members working at five Saudi universities. The results indicate the lack of CAT courses in a considerable number of undergraduate translation programmes. Besides, the available CAT courses in both the undergraduate and postgraduate translation programmes lack the sufficient training or a practical part. The interviewed faculty members were found unwilling to integrate CAT-based activities into non-CAT translation courses. Their reported obstacles to the effective CAT integration include the limited time, students’ non-responsiveness, and the unavailability of required applications. These results indicate the need for reforming CAT teaching practices and integrating CAT more effectively into translator training programmes.
CAT; translation technologies; translation applications; translator training; Saudi universities
Graduate – Level Research Papers Across Academic Departments: A comparative Analysis
This study Investigates the lexical diversity, sentence structures and modality embodied in graduate-level research abstracts across various academic departments. These abstracts have been written by graduate students enrolled in the University of Hilla and affiliated to the following departments: Nursing, Medical Physics, Radiology and Ultrasound, and Anesthesia. It endeavors to unravel concomitant linguistic features that grant franchise to each field of specialty. Such an approach is a handy tool that furnishes insights into the linguistic peculiarities of each discipline.
Research papers, , lexical diversity, modality. Sentence structures
Effective use of AI applications to enhance Saudi EFL learners’ writing ability: A study at the tertiary level
The increasing application of artificial intelligence (AI) in education provides new possibilities to facilitate second language (L2) writing development. Nevertheless, limited research has investigated the potential of AI-driven writing aids to expand the writing performance of Saudi EFL learners at the tertiary level. This research analyzes the effects of AI tools, Wordtune and Grammarly, on academic writing among Saudi university students and examines how these tools can be deliberately integrated as part of structured writing instruction. Using quantitative data, 62 students participated, with a group in each gender category assigned as an Experimental Group (EG) using AI tools and a Control Group (CG) following old methods. Descriptive Statistics, Independent-samples t-tests, and Regression Analysis in SPSS were conducted to compare pre- and post-writing tests, assessing changes in content development, coherence, cohesion, and grammatical accuracy. The EG achieved higher scores than the CG, with improvements in content development (57.40-75.20), coherence (55.60-74.10), cohesion (54.80-73.20), and grammatical accuracy (53.90-72.50). Independent t-tests showed extremely significant differences (p < 0.001) with large effect sizes (d=1.31–1.34), and regression analyses confirmed AI exposure as a strong predictor of writing performance (R²=0.68; β=0.32–0.34). The effects of AI were consistent across genders. Overall, the result indicates that pedagogically integrated AI writing tools can effectively enhance Saudi EFL students' academic writing, support their independence, confidence, and overall writing competence while overcome limitations of conventional instruction.
Artificial Intelligence, Saudi Tertiary Education, AI-Assisted Writing Tools, Writing Proficiency, Lexical Development, Academic Writing, Grammarly
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Present Situation of the Manipuri Meitei Language : A Study of the Socio-Cultural Aspects of Bangladesh
This article aims to highlight the real context of the Manipuri Meitei language that exists in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been known as a monolingual country since its independence in 1971.Manipuri Meitei, like other indigenous community, must adhere to the country’s multilingualism. After learning their mother tongue, Meitei people begin to communicate with the local Bengali community in which they live. Furthermore, throughout the academic phase, Meitei pupils need to study basic Bangla and English as well. In recent days, Multilingualism has become a threat to Meitei indigenous community. In a situation, this study involves finding out the historical background of the Manipuri Meitei language community in Bangladesh and how their language has been associated with their culture, arts, and literature beyond multilingualism. Furthermore, the researcher tried to investigate the attitude of Meitei different aged group generations of using Bangla and English in their daily life conversation. In this research, the researcher follows qualitative methods by doing some interviews and FGD (Focus group discussion).
Meitei language, Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Indigenous language, Meitei generation.
“Always Hungry: The Short Story as Cultural and Narrative Space in Anzia Yezierska’s Fiction”
This essay examines the short fiction of Anzia Yezierska. It argues that her literary imagination finds its most compelling realization in the short story, a form uniquely suited to the intensity, brevity, and culturally hybrid perspective of her work. Her narratives explore the immigrant Jewish woman’s struggle for cultural integration and personal emancipation, articulating a persistent tension between Old World deprivation and New World promise. Central to this study is the concept of “hunger,” both literal and symbolic, as a driving force in Yezierska’s prose, reflecting her characters’ spiritual, emotional, and aesthetic desires. The essay situates her writing within the broader context of early twentieth-century American realism and modernist experimentation, highlighting how the short story form enables her to navigate the constraints of her hybrid identity, linguistic innovation, and socio-cultural marginality. Ultimately, Yezierska’s stories are presented as a distinct narrative niche, a concentrated space where memory, desire, and cultural translation converge, producing a voice both intensely personal and resonant with collective experience.
Anzia Yezierska; hunger; short story; Hungry Hearts; Children of Loneliness
Copyright (c) 2025 Simona Porro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Translation Strategies of Cultural References in an Animated Film
This research focuses on the analysis of the translation strategies employed in the Spanish version of the screenplay of the film Coco (Disney-Pixar, 2017), based on its original English text. The aim of this study is to analyze the translation strategies used in the adaptation of Coco’s screenplay from English into Spanish, in order to identify, classify, and evaluate the cultural references according to Newmark’s typology, and to determine how these translational decisions preserve, adapt, or transform the representation of Mexican culture in the target version. In other words, it examines how cultural references related to Mexican traditions—such as the Day of the Dead, music, offerings, and religious symbols—are transferred to the Spanish-speaking audience. This study seeks to provide a critical perspective on translation decisions that favor the preservation of cultural identity versus those that opt for adaptation, thus contributing to the field of audiovisual and cultural translation. The research follows a qualitative, descriptive, and analytical approach, and its corpus consists of selected fragments from the original English screenplay of Coco and their equivalents in the Spanish translation, containing relevant cultural references. The findings aim to contribute to the field of translation studies and intercultural research by offering a critical analysis of how Mexican cultural values are represented and conveyed in a globally distributed film.
Copyright (c) 2025 Claudia Castañeda Gracía, Martha Alicia Vela Gámez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Morocco’s Football Diplomacy and Soft Power Projection: Reading Morocco Through The Guardian
This article presents evidence of the role of sports diplomacy in advancing national image, soft power, and foreign policy objectives through examining Morocco’s performance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This study argues that sporting events, particularly successful ones, can enhance the country’s symbolic and political capital. The article develops its own view of soft power through sport’s achievement by winning the hearts and minds of foreign audiences worldwide. This matches Morocco’s cultural diplomacy, which aims to spread the nation’s image/ reputation beyond borders, especially nowadays when there is fierce competition for public opinion through soft power instruments. This study assumes that international relations are subject to ongoing changes, and small nations can use their intangible capital to consolidate their international position.
The Syntax of Unaccusative Verbs in Moroccan Arabic: A Minimalist Approach
The present paper explores the syntax of unaccusative verbs in Moroccan Arabic (MA) within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Program (MP). The study aims to delimit the gap in the literature concerning the analysis of unaccusative verbs in the context of MA. The primary objective of this research is to apply the VP split hypothesis to account for unaccusative verb constructions. The findings reveal that unaccusative verbs can appear in locative inversion constructions and expletive-insertion structures but cannot undergo passivization. Furthermore, the Split-VP hypothesis provides an appropriate account for these constructions and the alternating SVO orders of MA. Semantically, unaccusative verbs take one internal theme argument in their thematic grid. This internal argument originates within VP, where it receives nominative case, and remains in VSO order. To derive the SVO order, the theme argument moves to spec-TP to satisfy the EPP feature of T. Therefore, the study provides insights into the syntactic structure of unaccusative verbs in MA, which can supply information for comparative syntax in future research.
Unaccusative, unaccusativity hypothesis, the Minimalist Program, VP-split hypothesis, nominative case, Moroccan Arabic
Clinical Supervision in Education: A Formative Framework for Enhancing Instruction and Professional Development
Pursuing professional development is a fundamental goal for every teacher. This can be achieved through various avenues, including attending and participating in conferences, workshops, and seminars, conducting action research, or engaging in peer observation, among others. Within this process, supervision also plays a fundamental role. Traditional educational supervision models were predominantly summative, primarily focusing on controlling teachers and making judgmental decisions about their performance. However, the limitations of this approach created a need for a more formative model, leading to the development of clinical supervision. Accordingly, it is the intent of this paper to underscore the significance of this approach to supervision in the field of education, focusing on its theoretical tenets that serve as a foundation for enhancing the quality of instruction. This paper stresses the formative nature of clinical supervision through adopting a cyclical approach encompassing five key phases: the pre-observation conference, classroom observation, analysis, post-observation conference and post-conference analysis. By so doing, clinical supervision prioritises the enhancement of quality instruction and supports teachers’ professional development, rather than identifying faults or issuing criticism.
Clinical supervision, educational supervision, professional development, supervisory cycle
AI-Human Writing Divide: Pedagogical Considerations
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has rapidly transformed the panoramic landscape of academic writing by defying the traditional ideas of authorship and creativity. This study examined the linguistic distinctions between AI-generated and human-written persuasive essays by analyzing five texts from each category. Utilizing computational tools like AntConc and UAM Corpus tool, along with qualitative methods, the study investigated key features of writing: lexical diversity, sentence complexity, nominalization, and the use of modals, epistemic, and discourse markers. Results indicate that human-written texts (HWT) demonstrated significantly higher lexical diversity, as measured by Type-Token Ratio (TTR), suggesting richer and varied vocabulary. Contrastingly, AI-generated texts exhibited a lower TTR but showed higher lexical diversity in keyword analysis, stressing methodological differences in assessing vocabulary richness. Sentence complexity analysis revealed that AI-generated essays tend to have longer sentences with more complex syntactic structures, while human texts contain a greater number of shorter sentences, indicating a more direct communication. Nominalization patterns differ between two corpora: human writers used process nominalizations, highlighting focus on actions and processes relevant to the nature of persuasive essays, while AI-generated texts preferred quality nominalizations, stressing attributes and descriptions. Furthermore, this study also found out that AI-generated texts overused the two modals ‘can’ and ‘must’ compared to human texts. In contrast, human writers used a broader range of epistemic and discourse markers, which made their essays natural and had a nuanced expression of certainty, source attribution, and argument coherence. These findings emphasize the need for language teachers to emphasize the flexible and context-appropriate use of linguistic markers, expand students’ modal verb repertoire, and deepen their understanding of nominalization types to enhance sophistication in academic writing. This study also highlights the importance of nurturing creativity and critical thinking in writing instruction in light of AI’s growing role. In conclusion, the AI-Human writing divide presents both challenges and opportunities for academic writing instruction.
AI, ChatGPT, writing, writing pedagogy, corpus linguistics, lexical diversity, sentence complexity, nominalization, modals, discourse markers
Copyright (c) 2025 Aisah Jamayesah Hadji Jamel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cultural Challenges in Audiovisual Translation-A case Study of Humour in Sitcoms
Translating humor in sitcoms presents unique challenges due to the cultural, linguistic, and contextual layers that shape comedic meaning. In popular series like Friends, The Oﬀice, and How I Met Your Mother, jokes often rely on sarcasm, wordplay, or cultural references that do not easily transfer across languages. By comparing English dialogue with Arabic subtitles, this study investigates the strategies used to handle humor such as literal translation, adaptation, and omission and evaluates their effectiveness in retaining the comic effect. The analysis reveals that while simple phrases can survive translation, jokes grounded in cultural or tonal nuance often lose their impact. Subtitlers must navigate audience expectations, censorship limitations, and technical constraints while attempting to preserve both meaning and humor. These findings emphasize the translator’s role as a cultural mediator and underscore the need for creative flexibility and intercultural awareness in audiovisual translation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fatima Abdulahi Hamid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Comparative Study of Six Chinese Translations of The Old Man and the Sea: From the Perspective of Literary Retranslation
In recent years, the retranslation of literary classics has become increasingly prevalent, and The Old Man and the Sea serves as a notable example. Among nearly three hundred Chinese translations of Hemingway’s novella, Sun Zhili — a distinguished scholar and practitioner of translation — contributed a new version that invites serious reflection. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of Sun’s translation and five representative earlier versions, focusing on three dimensions: linguistic comprehension, stylistic recreation, and cultural transmission. The study aims to identify both the similarities and differences among the six versions, with particular attention to how Sun’s translation surpasses its predecessors. The findings suggest that Sun’s retranslation embodies his pursuit of perfection, illustrating both the essential characteristics and intrinsic demands of retranslation in literary classics.
retranslation of literary classics; The Old Man and the Sea; comparative study of translations; Sun Zhili
Copyright (c) 2025 Mengyao WANG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Dialogue of Pessimism as a Linguistic Structure of Desire: A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Reading of the Babylonian Text
This study examines The Dialogue of Pessimism—presented here in the researcher’s own translation—from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective. It argues that mythological and early literary texts serve as spaces that reveal the early mechanisms of the unconscious as articulated by Freud and Lacan. Through an analysis of the repetitive dialogue between the master and the servant, the study demonstrates how desire operates within a closed linguistic circle that exposes the impossibility of its fulfillment. Thus, the Dialogue of Pessimism is reinterpreted not merely as a satirical or pessimistic work but as a linguistic structure embodying Lacan’s notion of desire as metonymy. تسعى هذه الدراسة إلى مقاربة النص المعروف بـ«حوار التشاؤم البابلي» -وهو من ترجمة المؤلف ويَرِد نصّه في متن البحث- من منظور التحليل النفسي اللاكاني، بوصفه نصًا يكشف عن البنية الرمزية للرغبة واللاوعي في الفكر الرافدي القديم. ينطلق البحث من فرضية أن النصوص الميثولوجية والأدبية القديمة تمثّل فضاءً مبكرًا لتجلّي آليات اللاوعي كما نظر (لاكان) إليها، إذ عدّ اللغة وسيطًا أساسًا بين الذات والرغبة. ومن خلال تحليل البنية الحوارية المتكرّرة بين السيد والعبد، يبيّن البحث أن الرغبة في النص تتحرك ضمن دائرة لغوية مغلقة تُظهر استحالة الإشباع ووعي الإنسان بالعدم. وبذلك يُعاد فهم النص لا بكونه نتاجًا ساخرًا أو تشاؤميًّا فحسب، بل بوصفه بنيةً لغويةً تُجسّد المفهوم اللاكاني للرغبة بعدّها كنايةً تنتج عن نقصٍ أزلي في الذات.
Desire, Mythology, Freud, Language and Psychoanalysis, Jacques Lacan, Mesopotamia, Slave and Master, The Big Other, metonymy, point de capiton
The Relationship between Free Will and Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in Sister Carrie
This paper explores the relationship between free will and the concepts of centrifugal and centripetal forces in Theodore Dreiser's naturalist novel, Sister Carrie. As a work of naturalism, which is defined as an "extension or continuation of Realism with the addition of pessimistic determinism," the novel suggests that external forces severely curb a person's free will. The protagonist, Caroline Meeber (Sister Carrie), is presented as a submissive and passive character whose actions are mostly reactions to external forces, demonstrating the pessimistic feature of naturalism. Carrie is argued to possess a centrifugal force, which is a "mode of writing with a strong need to represent movement" and allows her to meet others and acquire traits that assist her personally. Her centrifugal nature, driven by a desire for material possessions and social power through "conspicuous consumption," makes her willing to be shaped by those who can satisfy her needs. Conversely, Hurstwood possesses an inherently centripetal force, which represents "the need to establish strong centers that serve as magnets for certain characters" and causes him to try and achieve his goals on his own terms. He seeks to attract characters with centrifugal force, like Carrie, often imposing himself to achieve the responses he desires. The characters' interactions are shown to be influenced by a variety of internal and external forces, including sexuality, a train, the rain, money, and winter.
Naturalism, Free Will, Centrifugal Force, Centripetal Force, Determinism, Sister Carrie, Conspicuous Consumption, External Forces
Copyright (c) 2025 Saleh Aljumah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Translation of English and Arabic “Sleep” Terms and Formulaic Expressions by Artificial Intelligence: A Comparison of Copilot and DeepSeek
This study examined how Microsoft Copilot (MC) and DeepSeek (DS) translate sleep terms vs formulaic expressions from English to Arabic and Arabic to English, compared MC and DS’s translations, identified the percentage of accurate equivalents, types of errors made, the translation strategies used, and AI translation error causes. Analysis of 130 English sleep terms, 91 English sleep formulaic expressions and 110 Arabic terms and formulaic expressions revealed that MC and DS rendered 91% correct equivalents to English sleep idioms, 79% and 71.5% correct equivalents to English formulaic expressions respectively as She wept herself to sleep بكت حتى نامت, and 48% and 49% of the Arabic terms and formulaic expressions respectively as نوم قلق restless sleep. The most common translation strategy was literal, word for word translation as غرق في النّوم He drowned in sleep, instead of he is fast asleep); نمت كالقتيلة I slept like the dead instead of slept like a log. DS gave an explanation or annotation following the equivalent in 14% and MC in 3% of the Arabic items as inطار النَّومُ من عينيه Sleep flew from his eyes (couldn't sleep). The tendency to Arabic sleep items literally based on surface meaning because is due to an AI default literal translation strategy. AI systems tend to flatten nuance. Higher percentages of correct equivalents to English sleep items were given in this study than medical terms, zero-expressions, expressions of impossibility, Gaza-Israel War terminology, Arabic grammatical terms used metaphorically, Abu & Umm medical folk terms, Abu brand names and Abu & Umm metonymic animal and plant folk names. English-Arabic translation was easier than Arabic-English translation due to training bias, as most AI models are trained on English-dominant corpora, with English-Arabic translation receiving more attention and refinement than Arabic-English translation. Additionally, Arabic-English translation is less represented in the AI corpora, especially for domain-specific or idiomatic content, leading to lower performance. The study gives recommendations for enhancing Arabic idiom recognition and disambiguation by AI models, adding Arabic dictionaries, such as Almaany Dictionaries, to the AI corpora and for translators to make the best use of AI in translation.
Copilot translation, DeepSeek translation, AI translation, sleep terms, sleep idioms, English-Arabic translation, Arabic-English translation, literal translation, AI translation strategies, AI translation errors
Cultural Nuances in Translation: A Critical Examination of Language, Meaning, and Identity
Translation should not be understood as just a mechanical reproduction of words between languages; the process is very cultural as it is negotiating meaning, and identity, power across language and social borders. The paper explores the focal position of cultural nuance in translation, where it is believed that effective translation must entail cultural competency as well as linguistic competence. The paper identifies areas of fidelity and reception of translations through an interdisciplinary approach that taps into the various areas of linguistics including translation, sociolinguistics, and intercultural communication. It methodology is founded upon comparative textual analysis of idioms, case studies of text translation errors in global marketing, and critical discussion about machine translation. Canonical political models, such as dynamic equivalence developed by Nida, domestication and foreignization by Venuti, and Skopos theory claims proposed by Vermeer, are presented with the recent exchange of ideas on gender inclusivity and translation applications based on AI. Case studies also illustrate that mistranslations have caused commercial, diplomatic and ideological effects and what the translator needs to have is a mediator of cultures and not a linguistic technician who is neutral. The conclusions indicate that translation cannot exist out of culturally specific issues of cultural identity, power relations, and ethical responsibility. The paper will conclude by highlighting the necessity of training in translation to focus more on cultural competency and request increased fine-grained collaboration between human translators and new works of technology.
Cultural translation, Semantic equivalence, Identity and language, Localization, Transcreation
Challenges of Incorporating Implicit Meanings of Omitted Sentences When Translating the Holy Qur’an
This study investigates the complex challenges of translating omitted declarative, coordinative, and conditional sentences in the Holy Qur’an, focusing on the retrieval and accurate rendering of their implicit meanings in English. While ellipsis (ḥadhf) is a well-documented rhetorical device in Arabic, its syntactic and semantic implications remain underexplored in Qur’anic translation studies. By analyzing selected verses across three prominent English translations—Abdel Haleem, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, and Saheeh International—the study examines translators’ awareness, interpretive strategies, and the impact of their choices on semantic fidelity and theological accuracy. Findings reveal significant variation in the treatment of ellipsis, highlighting the difficulty of conveying nuanced meaning without explicit syntactic cues. Non-native translators occasionally outperform native speakers, demonstrating that methodological rigor and exegetical insight often outweigh intuitive proficiency. The study underscores the critical role of contextual and rhetorical understanding in translating Qur’anic ellipsis, advocating for a systematic framework that preserves both the semantic depth and rhetorical elegance of the original text.
Qur’anic Translation - Ellipsis (Ḥadhf) - Omitted Sentences -Predicate, Conjunction, and Conditional Structures - Semantic and Grammatical Challenges
Technology's Impact on International Community in American Literature
American literature has always been a mirror to societal relationships, highlighting the impact of different issues on the international community, including the new advancement of Technology. Tracing this representation of society in American literature, this study aimed to assess the representation of Technology and its impact on the international community by exploring key literary texts from each technological evolution. The study employed a thematic analysis approach on 12 seminal literary works selected through purposive sampling with 3 texts from each era from the 1900s to the current digital age. The study findings highlighted the recurring themes from each period representing the impact of Technology on the international society. The most recurring themes included cultural exchange, communication advancement, and social effects on the flow of information. The early literary texts focused on isolation and prejudice, whereas the industrialization-era texts brought mobility and labour exploitation issues in industries. Further, the advancement of mass media influence has brought issues like censorship and information control. In contrast, the modern digital age literature was focused on the virtual worlds, connectivity benefits and drawbacks, highlighting the re-emergence of issues like isolation with rapid cultural exchange and identity crisis. In essence, by analyzing seminal American literary texts, the study has covered the role of Technology from the historical period to the current era, emphasizing international communication. Further, research can focus on the intersection of society, Technology and literature with recent developments. Lastly, the study suggests that policymakers should emphasize the pros and cons of new technological innovations and ensure inclusion, empathy and the well-being of the international community by establishing dynamic and effective cultural exchange programs.
: Cultural Exchange, Prejudice, Literary representation, mobility, isolation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Farhana Tabassum https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Fragile Architecture of Knowing: Madness and Reason in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Purloined Letter
This essay approaches Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) and “The Purloined Letter” (1844) as twin meditations on one enduring and unsettling question: how do we ever come to know anything at all? At first, the two stories seem to stand on opposite shores—one steeped in the feverish shadows of Gothic terror, the other grounded in the crisp precision of reason and deduction. But look again, and the illusion of contrast begins to dissolve. Beneath their surfaces, both works move toward the same unsettling aim: exposing how knowledge is formed and questioning the shaky trust we place in what we believe to be true. Each constructs, then deftly dismantles, the very frameworks of understanding it seems to affirm. In Usher, the house is more than a reflection of a disordered psyche—it is that psyche, alive and decaying. Its cracks, its echoes, and the shifting play of sound and shadow all mirror the narrator’s slow and steady fall into mental collapse. It’s as though his very language begins to tremble under the weight of what it tries to restrain, the sentences faltering in rhythm, surrendering to the same instability he so desperately hopes to master. The prose fractures; perception buckles under its own weight. And in The Purloined Letter, where rationality supposedly triumphs, the victory proves hollow—more performance than proof. The letter’s power resides not in its message but in its ceaseless circulation, while Dupin’s vaunted “method” reads as theater masquerading as science, a graceful choreography of intellect that dazzles precisely because it conceals the void beneath.Drawing on narratology—especially the concepts of unreliability and focalization—this essay brings those tools into dialogue with poststructural and feminist thought to examine how voice, perspective, and gendered silence dictate what can be seen, spoken, or ultimately known. The reader never remains a passive onlooker here; instead, they are quietly pulled into the machinery of interpretation itself. Almost without noticing, they begin sorting through clues, doubting their own perceptions, and feeling the ground of meaning shift—gently at first, yet with an inescapable pressure. When these two tales are placed side by side, the pattern sharpens: Poe’s deep, persistent unease with the act of cognition, with the very labor of knowing, rises clearly to the surface. Thought, in his world, is not a stable edifice but a fragile construction—carefully built, perennially endangered, and always one tremor away from collapse.
Edgar Allan Poe; narrative unreliability; focalization; Gothic architecture; epistemology
Interrogating Native-Speakerism and Linguistic Imperialism in ELT: A Comparative Review
The article reviews the deeply embedded imperialist history in the language-teaching and learning landscape. It critically looks into two identical yet thematically quite disparate articles that reveal the most pressing and talked about concerns around the imperialist institutions since the inception of the idea of linguistic imperialism as well as subconscious subscriptions to secret following of the colonizers’ cultural nuances by non-native teachers and learners through teaching and learning materials made available by the UK and the USA. Recent research (e.g., Pennycook, 2017; Phillipson, 2008) shows that these dynamics continue due to linguistic marketization, in which Western publishers benefit from sustaining "standard" English ideologies. It focuses on age-old topics such as the tendency among non-native learners and teachers to prioritize and perfect phonology, strive for near-native proficiency, and incorporate native culture into their conversations, teaching, and reading. Finally, the wilful evasion of the admission by non-native speaker teachers and students alike to the consequences of being subtly inculcated into Western culture due to the West’s strategic launching of disciplines like TESOL to silently avoid the watch of non-native speakers is discussed with much greater profundity.
native-speakerism; linguistic imperialism; ELT; English as an international language; cultural integrity