Jordan Journal of Modern Languages & Literatures

A Variationist Analysis of the Complementizer ʔinnu in Ammani Arabic

2025-07-23T12:48:05+03:00

This study explores the realization of the complementizer ʔinnu in Ammani Arabic employing
modern quantitative methods of the variationist approach. It examines the effect of some extra-linguistic
and linguistic factors (age, gender, education, type of matrix, definiteness, specificity, word order, subject
type and factivity) on the realization or omission of the complementizer in AA. The results reveal that the
variable realization of the complementizer ʔinnu in AA is linguistically conditioned. The omission of the
complementizer ʔinnu is subject to some linguistic constraints including the type of the preceding matrix
and the word order of the embedded clause within ʔinnu. These factors play a statistically significant role
in its realization/omission. Moreover, the results show that the social factors turned out to be statistically
insignificant in constraining overt and null complementizer in AA.
Keywords: Variation sociolinguistics; Complementizer Omission; Ammani Arabic; Social and linguistic
constraints; Variant choice.

Writing the Literature Review: Analyzing Texts and Exploring the Context

2025-07-23T13:03:52+03:00

While analysing in-text citations, verbs, and metadiscourse, this study explored supervisors’
perspectives on the writing of literature reviews by Arab doctoral students. The study involved
investigating purposefully 20 literature reviews in two disciplines, namely Applied Linguistics (AL) and
Information Technology (IT) and interviewing five supervisors. Systemic Functional Linguistics was
utilized in analyzing the in-text citations, whereas individual interviews were conducted to retrieve the
supervisors’ perceptions on students’ academic writing. The textual analysis was achieved manually using
tables, whereas mind mapping, a hand analysis, and visual mappings were utilized in analyzing the
interviews. The findings revealed the dominance of integral citations, finite modal operators, and material
verbs ‘processes’. Based on the interviews, Arab doctoral students’ writing was characterized by lacking
the depth of reading and insufficient information on using citations, L2 writing difficulties, and
positioning. Consequently, they need an explicit emphasis on citation use through introducing disciplinespecific
teaching materials.
Keywords: Literature review, Academic writing, Discourse-based interviews, Systemic Functional
Linguistics.

Russian-Ukrainian War Discourse: A Corpus Case Study

2025-07-22T08:46:23+03:00

This paper explores two corpora groups targeting opposing perspectives of newspaper agencies in
the West and the Arab world on the Russian-Ukrainian War. The study analyzes news reports from three
leading media agencies: BBC and CNN (U-Corpus), reflecting Western Ukraine-supporting attitudes, and
Russian Today (RT) as thematic images of Russia-supporting and anti-West standing. The second corpus
group shows the opposition between Al-Jazeera's support for Ukraine and Al-Manar's opposition as the
political opposition in Lebanon. The data is analyzed using AntConc to detect linguistic patterns in
discourses, including lexical and semantic categories. The findings reveal significant differences in the
distribution and frequency of target patterns, indicating distinct types of 'sensational' dimensions and
political images (nationalism, international position, economy, etc.) used to emphasize support or
opposition against its political side in the war. In particular, each corpus maintains lexical consistency in
using linguistic patterns in a specific political dimension.
Keywords: Corpus, Russia, Ukraine, War, News agencies

Las obras exegéticas y el dominio lingüístico: herramientas imprescindibles en el proceso de la traducción del texto coránico

2025-07-22T08:36:15+03:00

El presente estudio aborda dos factores fundamentales que deben ser considerados por el traductor del texto coránico, ya que la falta de cualquiera de ellos puede ocasionar un deterioro significativo en la transferencia del significado requerido a otros idiomas, distorsionando así el mensaje del Corán. Estos dos factores son: el primero es el dominio del idioma árabe en su morfología, sintaxis y estilo retórico, y el segundo es el acceso a las obras de exégesis (tafsīr) confiables para llegar al significado preciso de las palabras del Corán. En nuestro estudio, destacamos la importancia de estos aspectos y hacemos referencia a algunas traducciones al español de los significados del Sagrado Corán al enfocarnos en estos dos factores.

Palabras claves: Exégesis, El Corán, traducción, interpretación, literalidad.

Highlights:

1. Advanced knowledge of Arabic linguistics is essential for accurately translating the Qur’anic text.

2. Consulting reliable tafsīr sources is crucial to uncover the intended meanings of Qur’anic verses.

3. Literal and indirect translations often result in serious distortions of the Qur’anic message.

4. Translators must understand Islamic creed and jurisprudence to interpret complex Qur’anic content.

5. Qur’anic translations should be produced by specialized teams under institutional supervision.

The Use of Verbal Violence Metaphors Toward Indonesian Female Politicians on X Social Media

2025-07-22T09:13:32+03:00

This paper aims to analyze the use of verbal violence metaphors on X social media (formerly Twitter) toward three Indonesian female politicians. As a social media that provides an accesible medium of expression, X is often used to perpetrate verbal violence using metaphorical devices. The data were collected from online comments on the X accounts @detikcom, @kompascom, and @KompasTV. The results showed that the verbal violence metaphor was used to insult or demean female politicians. The verbal violence metaphor toward female politicians consisted of metaphors for the domains of animals, metaphysical creatures, and physical objects. These metaphors were intended to deny human uniqueness and human nature as a form of X users' anger and disgust toward female politicians. The metaphor of verbal violence against female politicians was intentional because female politicians are considered to be violating existing cultural boundaries or norms, as Indonesian culture is still steeped in patriarchal ideas.

Keywords: Metaphor, verbal violence, female politicians, political discourse, X.

Highlights:

1. The metaphors of verbal violence toward female politicians can be categorized into three main categories: metaphors of verbal violence in the domain of animals, physical objects, and metaphysical creatures.

2. The metaphor of verbal violence committed toward female politicians shows that X users have insulted and degraded female politicians in the form of animalizing or going beyond animalizing female politicians.

3. The metaphor of verbal violence toward female politicians is used to show X users' anger and disgust toward female politicians.

4. In Indonesian culture which more often uses indirect expressions in communication, the use of metaphors to delegitimize female politicians is often used to construct and reproduce ideology and propaganda.

5. The metaphor of verbal violence against female politicians was intentional because female politicians are considered to be violating existing cultural boundaries or norms, as Indonesian culture is still steeped in patriarchal culture

Le sacré des idéologies politiques de la modernité en mode carnavalesque dans L’insoutenable légèreté de l’être de Milan Kundera

2025-07-22T09:32:03+03:00

Le présent travail s’interroge sur les rapports que l’imaginaire Kunderien entretient avec les utopies politiques. Par le pouvoir cathartique de l’ironie, l’auteur déconstruit les idéaux révolutionnaires des idéologies de la modernité. C’est ainsi que dans L’insoutenable légèreté de l’être il prend ses distances avec les rituels commémoratifs, entre autres la Grande marche. Le mode carnavalesque de cette tradition révèle l’aspect farcesque de l’idéal révolutionnaire qui est condamné à l’échec malgré les discours propagandistes qui cherchent à mythifier la marche. Cette tradition de la fête qui a hanté l’imaginaire politique de l’homme moderne est devenue une simple parodie qui nourrit les penchants lyriques de l’homo utopicus nostalgique de l’idéal perdu. Au lieu de proclamer leur liberté, les manifestants sont mus par « le désir mimétique » (Roy 2011, 40) qui les transforme en « masse ». C’est ce que Kundera désigne par l’ère de « l’imagologie» (Kundera 2016, 99) dans laquelle la propagande dilue toute forme de singularité.

Mots-clés : idéologie- propagande-modernité-imagologie-carnavalesque.

Patronage, Ideology, and Manipulation in MEMRI’s Translations on the 2023 Gaza War

2025-07-22T11:04:23+03:00

This study investigates the role of patronage, manipulation and ideology in the media translation of news headlines provided by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) about the Gaza war in 2023. The study also examines the reasons and motives behind MEMRI’s selection of news for translation. To conduct this study, the researchers follow Lefevere’s concepts of patronage, manipulation, and ideology in translation to analyze the translation of news headlines. Fourteen translated news headlines about the Gaza war in 2023 published by MEMRI, in addition to fourteen non-translated news headlines by MEMRI, were collected and analyzed. The results showed that MEMRI uses omission, addition, and rewriting in its translation of news headlines to reshape the meaning of the original headline. The study also reveals that MEMRI uses selectivity in its choice of news headlines to be translated, which can be attributed to the organization’s ideology and orientations.

Keywords: MEMRI translations, Gaza war, Ideology, Arabic, Patronage, Re-writing, Manipulation, Media translation, October 7 events.

Highlights:

1. This study has investigated the role of patronage, manipulation, and ideology in influencing the translation of news headlines, reshaping discourse and aligning readers' perception with the patron’s ideology.

2. The examples discussed show that MEMRI's translators opted for certain translation strategies that facilitated the process of (re)writing and manipulating the news headlines released by Arabic sources.

3. The analysis also showed that MEMRI rewrites news headlines, replacing them with titles that provoke readers' reactions and lead to different interpretations of the original headlines.

4. MEMRI’s ideology is clearly reflected in the process of translating news headlines and its selective approach to news headlines to be translated.

5. MEMRI’s selective approach to choosing news headlines constructs a specific narrative for the Western world.

Staging M/Othering in Susan Glaspell’s The Verge: A Semiotic Reading

2025-07-22T11:46:36+03:00

This paper studies the links between psychoanalytic approach, language, and the construction of gender in Susan Glaspell’s play The Verge (1921), with specific reference to the French feminist psychologist Julia Kristeva’s theory of 'semiotics', which examines the female subject’s confusing relation to the Symbolic Order from a feminist perspective. Kristeva suggests that semiotics signifies otherness; and through rhythms and a play of language, the connection to the pre-Oedipal is evoked. This language, which is linked to the mother’s body, breaks through and disrupts ordered symbolic discourse. The very nature of semiotic language is juxtaposed with the abstract Law, which orders the symbolic, yet both exist in the signification of language. This paper shows that a return to the semiotic (as a feature of both subject and text) in The Verge could be an approach to challenge traditional literary representations and overturn prevailing social constructs of femininity.

Keywords: Susan Glaspell, Julia Kristeva, French Feminism, American Theatre, Semiotics, Motherhood.

Chronicles of Psychological Resilience: A Study of Geraldine Brooks’s Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague and Mohamed Diab Ghazzawi’s Love in the Time of Corona

2025-07-22T12:00:24+03:00

The paper aims to analyze the texts of Geraldine Brooks’s Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague and (2001) Ghazzawi’s poetry collection Love in The Time of Corona (2021) as outlines of people’s responses to pandemics. This is reached through relying heavily on the theories of trauma and psychological resilience. The former refers broadly to experiences of fear and uncertainty that can be extremely stressful, while the latter is, generally conceived to be the way people positively respond to such stressful situations. The theoretical framework of this paper addresses trauma, people’s different responses to traumatic events, the definition of resilience, and the factors that help people be resilient. Eventually, this paper aims to highlight the role of literature in informing people how to react when faced with pandemics such as corona virus. It concludes that both texts, two different literary genres written by opposing genders, portrayed traumatic experiences that ended positively through adopting some coping mechanisms. Each text shows different sets of protective factors against potentially traumatic events, but in general, social support, religious/ spiritual commitment, making meaning of life, hardiness, and solution seeking are the most common means to show psychological resilience.

Keywords: COVID-19, Corona, Resilience, Trauma, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Love in the Time of Corona.

Highlights:

1. The paper uniquely compares two distinct literary genres (a novel and a poetry collection) from different cultural contexts (English/Australian and Arabic/Egyptian) written by authors of different genders, focusing on their portrayal of pandemic responses.

2- The paper can be seen as a primary contribution demonstrating how literature (both prose and poetry) serves as a valuable guide, informing readers on how to react and build resilience during pandemics like COVID-19.

3- The paper contributes the insight that the use of dark humor, specifically identified in the Egyptian poetry collection, reflects a distinct cultural coping strategy (attributed to Egyptians) for dealing with adversity.

4- The paper is a trans-disciplinary study as it employs psychological theories of trauma (experiences of fear, uncertainty, stress) and resilience (positive adaptation to adversity) as its core theoretical framework to analyze literary texts.

5- The paper underscores that resilience is not uniform; individuals react differently to the same trauma due to varying innate traits, circumstances, and perspectives, advocating for patience and a non-judgmental approach.

6- The paper concludes that literature provides a deeper, more humane, compassionate, and sincere understanding of pandemic experiences and resilience, surpassing the insights offered by purely scientific or statistical approaches

Tracing Heideggerian Authentic Existence in Willa Cather’s “Neighbor Rosicky”

2025-07-22T12:19:34+03:00

“Neighbor Rosicky”, a short story by Willa Cather, exemplifies Heidegger's concept of authentic existence. This study explores the Heideggerian features of authenticity in the character of Anthon Rosicky, drawing from Heidegger's "Being and Time." Rosicky is portrayed as someone at peace with the world, embracing life with serenity and dying with tranquility. He does not evade choice and makes decisions without regret. Satisfied with his destiny, he remains mindful of different possibilities in the world. Rosicky does not allow himself to be consumed by the mundane aspects of everyday life, enjoying each moment without being bound by the past or overly concerned about the future. Unlike many other characters in literature, he does not experience self-fragmentation, as he knows how to mend the holes to avoid destruction. This study provides a detailed analysis of how Cather's story embodies Heidegger's philosophy of authenticity and offers insights into the nature of human existence.

Keywords: Heidegger, authenticity, Bohemian, Circumspection, Epiphany

Authentic Heroism Beyond Applause:
- Anton Rosicky represents Heideggerian authenticity by living a deeply ethical, quiet life devoted to meaningful work and human connection—eschewing fame, recognition, or applause. His heroism is found not in grand gestures but in his integrity and genuine being-towards-death.
Living for Life's Sake, Not Reward:
- Rosicky embodies the Heideggerian principle of living authentically, not for social validation but for the intrinsic value of life itself. He finds fulfillment in everyday activities like farming and family life—pursuing life, not performance.
Symbol of Human Rebirth & Anti-Vegetation:
- His migration from urban to rural life symbolizes a spiritual and existential rebirth. This transformation critiques modern urban alienation and promotes a return to grounded, life-affirming rhythms, avoiding existential stagnation (vegetation).
Dissemination of Hope as Ethical Philosophy:
- Rosicky’s demeanor disseminates hope, joy, and simplicity—all vital ethical tenets. His life is a model of how human beings can preserve goodness in the face of hardship, offering a hopeful counter to postmodern despair.
Positive Detachment Enhancing Empathy:
- Rosicky’s detachment is not apathy, but a deliberate emancipation from ego and negativity, allowing him to empathize more fully with others and live a more meaningful, caring life. This resonates with Heidegger’s concept of circumspection and kenosis (self-emptying).Best Regards, Dr. Jafari Langroudi

Cartographic Aspects of the Representation of Demonization and Colonialism in Shakespeare’s The Tempest

2025-07-22T12:27:22+03:00

This paper examines Shakespeare's The Tempest through the lens of cartography to explore the themes of demonization and colonialism and how they can lead to the dehumanization of non-western people. It also focuses on the process of reducing non-Europeans, particularly Muslims, to subhuman status. Previous academic studies on Shakespeare's The Tempest have not sufficiently examined the geographical and cartographic elements underlying the play's investigation of demonization and colonization. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to examine the geographical connections and cartographic complexities, as well as the complex depiction and consequences of demonization and colonization in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Tackling the enigma of Prospero's Island by systematically examining the literary cartographic framework of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, it became apparent that Ibiza is the island that inspired Shakespeare. The authors support their claim by providing pertinent evidence corresponding to Shakespeare's depictions and descriptions of Prospero's Island.

Keywords: Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Cartography, Colonialism, Demonization, Ibiza, Representation

Highlights:

1- This paper argues that the island in Shakespeare's The Tempest is not fictional but is based on the real-world Mediterranean island that is called Ibiza. This argumentation challenges previous interpretations that often linked the setting to the New World.

2- It employs the lens of literary cartography innovatively to perform a systematic analysis of the play's geographical clues, spatial relationships, and historical context. It further links between the characters and the plot with real-world geography and historical events, including the history and topography of Ibiza.

3- It suggests that the demonization of Caliban is not merely an allegory for the people of the New World; rather, it is directed explicitly at Muslims from North Africa and Spain. It examines the play within the context of the larger historical confrontation that has occurred between Europe and the Islamic world.

4- It draws parallels between the play's characters and real historical figures. For instance, it compares Prospero to King Jaume I of Aragon. It links Caliban's character to the Muslim leader Mujahid al-Amiri, providing a new historical dimension to the character analysis

5- It demonstrates how Shakespeare skillfully wove together geography, history, and religious themes. He uses a form of "cartographic demonization" to encode the prejudices and fears of his era regarding the Islamic world into the play to reinforce its colonial narrative

The Trueba House: A Feminist Fortress in Allende's The House of the Spirits Magic Realist World

2025-07-22T13:27:38+03:00

This article explores how Isabel Allende employs the techniques of magic realism in The House of the Spirits to transform the traditionally limiting space of home into a site of empowerment for women. The novel's female characters are initially confined to the domestic sphere, yet they gradually subvert the boundaries between the public and private realms, ultimately challenging the patriarchal order. The novel's depiction of the Trueba house, with its labyrinthine architecture and supernatural occurrences, blurs the boundaries between natural and supernatural worlds. Such a blurring reflects the ways in which female characters transcend the confines of the domestic space. Clara's psychic abilities and the house's sentient nature disrupt canonical views of females’ passivity and domesticity. This article contributes to the body of critical literature on Allende's work, highlighting the novel's innovative use of magic realism to reshape the domestic sphere as a site of female power and resistance. While previous scholars have explored the gendered dynamics in Allende's novels, this study offers a fresh perspective on the role of the house as a metaphorical and supernatural agent of empowerment.

Keywords: Domestic Space, House, Isabel Allende, Magic Realism, Resistance.

Highlights:

Reframing Squid Game as a Work of Magical Realism
The paper offers a novel interpretation of Squid Game not merely as dystopian fiction, but as a contemporary magic realist narrative, highlighting how its surreal elements function within a coherent aesthetic and ideological framework.
Uncovering the Capitalist Logic Behind Childhood Games
It demonstrates how the series transforms familiar children’s games into deadly spectacles, using this transformation to critique capitalist structures that commodify innocence, leisure, and life itself.
Mapping the Evolution of Systemic Violence Across Three Seasons
By analyzing all three seasons, the study reveals how the series expands from localized critiques of Korean economic injustice to a planetary narrative of globalized neoliberal control, framed through recurring surreal motifs.
Introducing the Concept of Planetary Magic Realism
The paper advances the concept of "planetary magic realism" to describe how surreal aesthetics in Squid Game are mobilized across borders, cultures, and ideologies—turning capitalism itself into a global mythic structure.
Positioning Squid Game within a Transnational Media Tradition
It situates the series alongside other global texts like Black Mirror, Alice in Borderland, and The Platform, contributing to scholarly discourse on how magical realism in visual media serves as a tool for ideological resistance and socio-political critique.

New Wine in Old Bottles: Angela Carter’s Feminist Revisionary Fairy-Tale Narratives of “Beauty and the Beast” and “Snow White”

2025-07-22T13:33:46+03:00

This paper examines Angela Carter’s revisionary fairy-tale narratives of “Beauty and the Beast” and “Snow White” to demonstrate the marginalization of women's role in the traditional fairy-tale narratives. This paper evaluates how Carter questions, subverts, and reconstructs meanings crystallized by the traditional patriarchal fairy-tale narratives. It considers Adrienne Rich’s concept of revisionism to show how it employs intertextuality, parody, metafiction, narrative displacement, delegitimization of the tale, and the carnivalesque as postmodern strategies for rewriting traditional tales. Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride” and “The Snow Child” are analyzed to show how feminist revisions question, subvert, and reconstruct the crystallized meanings of patriarchal traditions.

Keywords: Angela Carter, Feminism, Postmodernism, Revisionary Fairy-tale Narratives.

Mobility in a Globalized World: A Study of Migration and Deterritorialization in Cristina Henriquez’s The Book of Unknown Americans

2025-07-23T11:16:05+03:00

Human mobility (or ‘velocity’) is one of the most common concepts employed in the era of globalization. Such mobility gives rise to what the scholar John Noyes called ‘modern nomads’: tourists, athletes, dancers, students, migrants, and others. This article discusses one of the most obvious forms of human mobility in the postmodern, globalized age: migration. The United States of America (the U.S.A.) is the land of immigrants that assimilates people and helps them to integrate despite ethnicity, race, culture, and gender. Cristina Henriquez’s novel The Book of Unknown Americans (2014) depicts attempted assimilation, focusing on migrants who cross the borders and reterritorialize in the U.S.A., to achieve their dreams. However, the U.S.A. mostly fails for dreamers. The protagonists find that they have lost their identities, dreams, and their abilities to cope in any territories. They are forever deterritorialized, with a permanent sense of exile.

Keywords: Deterritorialization, Globalization, Migration, Mobility, Nomad.

Highlights:

Immigration struggles: protagonists face cultural, emotional deterritorialization, and feel as nomads in the American society.

Identity crises: protagonists are nostalgic to their formal life and unable to fit in the cosmopolitan U.S.A., the land of immigrants.

Globalization dark face: despite the promises of prosperity, cultural intermingling and cohesion, globalization leads to alienation and nomadism.

Racial tension: constant movement mandated by globalization increases self-conscious about race, identity, and heritage .

U.S.A. mostly fails for the dreamers.

Social Changes in the Emirati Feminist Fiction over the Last Decade: A Thematic Narrative Analysis

2025-07-23T11:20:57+03:00

This paper explores the social changes in the Emirati feminist fiction published over the last decade
with a selection of five Emirati novels, focusing on the circumstances of their publications and the
societal diseases addressed in the context of these novels, i.e. the struggle between traditional values and
the demands of modern life and the perceived loss of tranquility and simplicity. Utilizing thematic
narrative analysis, this study furnishes a confirmation of the role played by the novel in identifying the
negative phenomena and issues that need an end by the Emirati people. Through this detailed approach,
these negative phenomena and issues are discussed from socio-psychological, historical, and technical
perspectives. Highlighting the selected five Emirati novels’ ties with societal problems and ills, the
analysis emphasizes their continuing relevance in current discussions about individuality and awareness
of societal problems. The piece of research not only is an invitation to rethink conventional perceptions
but also aims to enrich our understanding of Emirati fiction's legacy as a pivotal figure in contemporary
Arab literature.
Keywords: Changes, Creativity, Emiratis, Feminism, Narration.

Highlights:

This paper explores the social changes in the Emirati feminist fiction published over the last decade with a selection of five Emirati novels.
Emirati feminist fiction explores a wider range of human emotions and viewpoints. It delves beyond a purely objective understanding of life, recognizing the rich tapestry of culture, art, and personal experiences that shape us.
The examined novels reveal three distinct trends in social transformation.
The scope and nature of this paper requires utilizing a feminist approach as it focuses on the gender inequality between men and women in Emirati society as it is shown in the selected works.
Utilizing thematic narrative analysis, this study furnishes a confirmation of the role played by the novel in identifying the negative phenomena and issues that need an end by the Emirati people.

Les écrits d’Alain Robbe-Grillet en Irak : présence problématique et impact mineur

2025-07-23T12:24:45+03:00

Cette recherche se propose d’examiner, selon les stratégies de la réception des œuvres littéraires, l’accueil des écrits de Robbe-Grillet en Irak. Il s’agira de son livre Pour un nouveau roman et ses romans traduits en arabe. L’œuvre de Robbe-Grillet a connu, en Irak, deux phases d’accueil différent: les écrits du Pape du Nouveau Roman ont éprouvé, d’abord, une période de réception plutôt favorable de la part du milieu intellectuel irakien. Cette phase, que représente notamment son ouvrage Pour un nouveau roman, n’a pas duré longtemps pour les raisons soulignées ci-dessous. Après la parution des traductions de ses romans en Irak, l’œuvre de l’auteur connaîtra une phase de réception réservée sinon froide du côté de l’ensemble des écrivains irakiens. Ce changement de réception, qui n’a jamais été traité dans les études consacrées à Robbe-Grillet en Irak, a de nombreuses raisons dont la traduction qui y a joué un rôle primordial.

Mots-clés : Robbe-Grillet en Irak, Nouveau Roman, réception, traduction et réception, roman irakien.