Native Arabic Speakers Research Articles

Al Samātu Al Lughowiyyatu Lil Arobiyyati Fil Ma’had Al Islāmi Dirōsatu Hālati Fi Ma’hadi Al ‘Ashri Bil Indōnῑsiyyā

This research aims to describe the characteristics of the Arabic language used in Pondok Pesantren Modern Alhasyimiah Darul Ulum Sipaho. The study encompasses five main aspects: fluency in Arabic, the structure of the language employed, the influence of the mother tongue on language usage, literal translation, and proposed solutions. The research methodology employed is a qualitative descriptive approach with data collection through interview and observation. Data is subsequently analyzed using deduction and description methods. The findings of this study reveal that Pondok Pesantren Modern Alhasyimiah Darul Ulum Sipaho places a strong emphasis on fluency in the Arabic language as a crucial aspect of Arabic language proficiency. However, the teaching of language structure is somewhat limited, resulting in various structural errors in everyday Arabic communication. Additionally, the influence of local languages or dialects on Arabic language usage is present, yet a practical approach to Arabic language instruction boosts students' confidence in communication. The phenomenon of literal translation in Arabic also underscores the importance of contextual understanding in foreign language use. As a solution, the pesantren offers supplementary training programs, interaction with native Arabic speakers, and the promotion of active Arabic language use in daily life. The results above imply the importance of emphasizing contextual understanding and active use of the Arabic language in daily life, as well as the need for a practical approach to teaching language structure to enhance everyday communication in Arabic.

Semantic dementia in Arabic: An assessment of Arabic word reading within sentences

Introduction Language impairments have not yet been fully explored in native Arabic speakers with semantic dementia (SD). The aim of this paper is to describe the impairments in language in two Saudi Arabians with SD and to determine if their word reading within a sentence context would result in incorrect responses. Methods Two patients with semantic dementia (one with right > left and the other with left > right temporal involvement) underwent a reading assessment in Arabic. Patients were asked to read a series of words within a sentence context in which the correct reading of the word was dependent on the context of the sentence. Thirty-four sentences were designed in which 17 Arabic homographs were used. The same homograph would occur in two separate sentences, in which the pronunciation and meaning would differ between sentences. Patients were also assessed using five other sentences that contained irregular pronouns of high frequency. Eighteen healthy controls were used as reference. Results Both patients made errors in reading the target Arabic homographs; this was more pronounced in the patient with left > right variant of SD. The patient with right > left variant of SD also suffered from prosopagnosia. Conclusion Correct reading of Arabic words within the sentence context may be impaired from semantic language impairments in semantic dementia. The role of comprehension in the correct reading of words in Arabic sentences is important.

Arabic Toxic Tweet Classification: Leveraging the AraBERT Model

Social media platforms have become the primary means of communication and information sharing, facilitating interactive exchanges among users. Unfortunately, these platforms also witness the dissemination of inappropriate and toxic content, including hate speech and insults. While significant efforts have been made to classify toxic content in the English language, the same level of attention has not been given to Arabic texts. This study addresses this gap by constructing a standardized Arabic dataset specifically designed for toxic tweet classification. The dataset is annotated automatically using Google’s Perspective API and the expertise of three native Arabic speakers and linguists. To evaluate the performance of different models, we conduct a series of experiments using seven models: long short-term memory (LSTM), bidirectional LSTM, a convolutional neural network, a gated recurrent unit (GRU), bidirectional GRU, multilingual bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, and AraBERT. Additionally, we employ word embedding techniques. Our experimental findings demonstrate that the fine-tuned AraBERT model surpasses the performance of other models, achieving an impressive accuracy of 0.9960. Notably, this accuracy value outperforms similar approaches reported in recent literature. This study represents a significant advancement in Arabic toxic tweet classification, shedding light on the importance of addressing toxicity in social media platforms while considering diverse languages and cultures.

The derivation of direct and indirect scalar implicatures in L1 and L2

Pragmatic inference, which examines how words rise in a context, is a crucial aspect of human communication and has been widely studied. This paper aimed to address the gap by focusing on direct (DSIs) and indirect (ISIs) scalar implicatures, which are examples of pragmatic inferences that emerge based on scaled informativity. Although DSIs and ISIs share a common derivation mechanism, they exhibit superficial differences that may impact their processing. To investigate this, a covered box test was conducted on a group of thirty native Arabic speakers learning English at Mutah University in Jordan. Results showed that participants had no difficulty computing both types of scalar implicatures (SIs) and tended to provide more pragmatic interpretations than logical ones. DSIs and ISIs seem to share the exact mechanism of derivation, even though indirect scalar implicatures drew fewer generation rates compared to direct ones. Additionally, the use of ‘partitive of’ had no significant effect on the derivation rates of either type of SIs. The study offers recommendations for future research in this area.

Adapting the Verbal-Guise Technique: A STEM-Focused U.S. Campus Community’s Attitudes Toward Nonnative Englishes

ABSTRACT This study evaluates attitudes toward nonnative Englishes among students, faculty, and staff at a STEM-focused U.S. university. The study utilizes the verbal-guise technique: Participants listened to and rated three summaries of the same short story as told by native speakers of U.S. English, Chinese, and Arabic. This adapted verbal-guise methodology allows for the inclusion and analysis of grammatical and lexical features—in addition to phonological features—in speaker recordings. Results reveal preferential bias in favor of native-speaker U.S. English, yet each nonnative English speaker was rated significantly differently. The native Arabic speaker was rated as less likeable and competent than the native Chinese and English speakers, while also receiving higher ratings in speech similarity and pleasantness than the native Chinese speaker. Participants’ attitudes toward and confidence with intercultural communication moderated ratings of the nonnative Englishes: Participants with more positive attitudes and greater confidence rated the native speakers of Chinese and Arabic higher on variables including speech pleasantness and willingness to interact. Findings suggest ways to improve attitudes toward nonnative Englishes on college campuses—STEM-focused campuses, specifically.

Utilizing acoustic methods to investigate word-boundary vowel sequences in one Arabic-Spanish contact situation

In the modern world, the globalized nature of both Arabic and Spanish has led to distinct contact situations in different countries. This investigation focuses on word-boundary vowel sequences, which are typically realized as hiatuses or diphthongs in native Spanish speakers. By contrast, native Arabic speakers will not utilize diphthongs across word boundaries, instead preferring to lengthen one vowel or produce a glottal stop (Mohamed 2020).This investigation examines how these distinct strategies are reconciled in the contact situation of Moroccan immigrants to Spain by utilizing acoustic methods to identify and qualify the bilingual approach to word-boundary vowel sequences. This investigation compares monolingual Spanish speakers (n = 3) to two groups of L1 Arabic (Arabic-dominant and Spanish-dominant, n = 7) in Alicante, Spain. Participants completed a language survey, a reading task, and a sociolinguistic interview. All linguistic tasks were recorded and analyzed acoustically on Praat (Boersma & Weenink 2023) utilizing the waveform and spectrogram to identify the strategies utilized to resolve the phonological boundaries. Results from Spanish-dominant bilinguals differ from previous studies in Puerto Rico (Mohamed, 2020), suggesting that this language contact situation differs in Spain and opening up new avenues for study in this area.

Validation of the Arabic Version of Medication Regimen Complexity Index Among Older Patients Validation of the “MRCI-Arabic”

The medication regimen complexity index is widely used in clinical practice and many studies, to assess the complexity of medication regimens. The goal of this study is to validate the medication regimen complexity index-Arabic (MRCI-Arabic) version among older patients. Methods: This methodologic study was conducted in older patients (≥ 65 years old) who were native Arabic speakers at a community pharmacy located in Istanbul, Turkey. After the translation and cultural adaptation process finished, medication regimens of 30 patients were evaluated for test-retest reliability three weeks apart by the rater who was a native Arabic speaker. The inter-rater correlation was calculated in study population (n =100). The link between the number of medications and the score of medication regimen complexity was used to assess convergent validity. The difference in the score of pharmaceutical regimen complexity in stratified age groups was used to examine discriminant validity. Results: The inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the MRCI-Arabic total scale and its subsection were extremely high (Spearman’s rho ranged from 0.996 to 1; p <0.001). There was a strong and positive correlation between the total MRCI-Arabic score and the number of medications (r = 0.830; p < 0.001), the number of chronic diseases (r = 0.641; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The Arabic validation of the MRCI is a validated tool that can be used by native Arabic-speaking healthcare professionals to determine the complexity of their patients’ medication regimens.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Arabic Version of the Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire-Revised to Assess Footedness in Arabic-Speaking Adults.

The goal of this research is to translate and analyze the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire-Revised (WFQ-R). Two native Arabic speakers created separate forward translations, which were then merged. Two different multilingual translators were used to translate it back into English from the synthetic version. Experts were gathered for a discussion on how to improve the localization and adaptation processes. A group of specialists was convened to analyze the localization and modification procedures. We now have the Arabic version of the WFQ-R which is "WFQ-R-Ar". Two hundred and ninety Arabic-speaking adults over the age of 18 were surveyed to evaluate the WHQ-R-Ar's characteristics (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity). The WFQ-R-Ar had no collisions with the ground or the sky. The factor analysis showed that the construct validity of the WFQ-R-Ar was dependent on a single factor. The WFQ-R-Ar also has excellent internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.93. The reliability of the examinations was examined, and it was found to have an intraclass correlation value of 0.94. The WFQ-R-Ar may be relied on to provide accurate results when used to evaluate footedness in Arabic-speaking society.

Vowel Blindness and Gender: The Case of ESL Learners at the University of Jeddah

Because vocabulary knowledge is considered the building block of language learning, any difficulties concerned with vocabulary can harm the overall vocabulary acquisition process. Literature suggests that native Arabic speakers struggle to notice vowels while reading English texts. This can result from the differences between L1 and L2 linguistic systems or the negative transfer of L1 processing routines to the L2 in their attempt to process the L2 forms. This study investigates this problem and whether gender affects this phenomenon or not. It used a test on Twenty-eight participants to examine the effect of gender on vowel blindness, which type of vowels (short or long vowels) are more problematic, and the kinds of vowel spelling errors that are easily noticed when processing vowels. The results showed that gender does not affect vowel blindness in a significant way. In other words, the overall results showed that the role of gender cannot be considered to have a significant effect. Thus, male and female students both struggled to deal with short vowels equally. However, males also showed difficulties regarding the long vowels. The research also revealed that missing vowel spelling errors are salient and more likely to be noticed while processing vowels for both genders.

The impact of L2 English on choice perception, interpretation, and preference for L1 Arabic speakers

AbstractThis article compares risk tolerance of native Arabic speakers under two language contexts: their first language (L1 Arabic) and their foreign language (L2 English). We aim to evaluate whether thinking in a foreign language actually reduces the negative effects of cognitive biases, such as loss aversion and mental accounting, on financial decision-making. Toward this aim, we conducted two experiments in which the risk tolerance levels of 144 participants were evaluated across four different types of decision-making problems: the Asian disease problem, the financial crisis problem, the discount problem, and the ticket/money lost problem. In study 1, we adopted Keysar et al.’s (2012, Psychological Science, 23, 661–668) experiment to test the effect of L2 on framing effects associated with loss aversion, and in Study 2, we adopted Costa et al.’s (2014, Cognition, 130, 236–254) experiment to test the effect of L2 on framing effects associated with mental accounting biases. We found that individuals were risk-averse for gains and risk-seeking for losses when presented with choices in their L1, but were almost unaffected by framing manipulation under the L2 condition. When it came to mental accounting, however, framing effects were nearly absent in both L1 and L2 conditions. In our investigation, we examined various potential factors that could explain the foreign language effect on decision-making. The primary factor that appears to account for this linguistic phenomenon is the heightened cognitive and emotional distance experienced when using an L2.

Assessing change in syntactic features of Hebrew written by native Arabic speakers: a longitudinal study

Much of the theorization in Second Language Acquisition is based on findings in unrelated language dyads, with English as L1 or L2. We focus on two closely related languages, Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew is the majority language in Israel, taught in Arab minority schools mostly by L1 Arabic-speaking teachers. We explore the persistence of very common syntactic errors in Hebrew of Arab high-school students, and the correlation between persistence, interference and developmental errors. From a longitudinal corpus of Hebrew essays written by 22 Arab 11th graders, and a year later in 12th grade, the six most frequent syntactic error categories were isolated. Statistical analysis showed interference to be involved in the vast majority of the errors that also persisted most, whereas almost all the improvement over the year was in developmental errors with no interference. This contradicts a common claim that interference, initially predominant, decreases over time with relation to developmental errors. We found prepositions to be particularly problematic, especially in errors involving interference, but these were no more persistent than others. We conclude that more research on syntactic interference in the acquisition of closely related languages would benefit SLA theory, as our findings differ from many typically attested patterns.

Challenges of Translating Slang Expressions in American Song Lyrics of the 21st Century into the Arabic Language

Slangs are phrases that have strong roots in the culture of a given social and cultural stratum; translating them is challenging. Slang is a kind of daily socio-linguistic manifestation that emerges from a particular socio-cultural or socio-economic group's efforts to codify its members' ideology or mental projections. Slang refers to a language or set of words that are widely used but seldom defined. This study is an Arabic translation of slang used in 21st-century American songs. The research also examines how the slang was translated and the attributes that made them practical communication tools. Arabic speakers learning American English will benefit most from this concentration on slang and its context. The analysis is carried out through the thematic analysis method based on an apparent qualitative study. Twenty (20) slang terms borrowed from 21st-century American pop songs were adapted to be translated into Arabic. The study's data consists of slang expressions in the song lyrics of two American hip-hop/rap singers, Eminem and Wiz Khalifa. Marshal Mathers II by Eminem (2013) and Khalifa by Wiz Khalifa (2016) were picked as the only albums by each artist. To communicate with native Arabic speakers, the researcher modified the English-Arabic Translator used for superficial translation. Functional equivalents, social equivalents, modulations, substitution, and paraphrases are the main translation strategies adopted in translating the selected slang into formal Arabic. Based on the thematic evaluation, it was discovered that paraphrasing is the most effective strategy for translating American slang into Arabic. Consequently, the research shows that the meanings of slang terms are affected by context and situational variability. The conclusion is that slang plays a significant part in a conversation. To utilize it fully, learners must be familiar with their contexts and interpretations.

Accessing Deverbal Nouns in L1 and L2 Arabic: A Masked-Priming Experiment

The current study examines how non-native speakers process deverbal nouns of Arabic. Unlike Indo-European languages, the word-formation process in Arabic occurs in a discontinuous manner. The root morpheme (carrying the core semantic information) interlocks in the word pattern morpheme (which holds the phonological and morpho-syntactic information). Research on Arabic shows that Arabic native speakers decompose derived and inflected (deverbal nouns and verbs) complex words during lexical processing. Priming studies on word processing did not appear to have consistent findings on whether L2 speakers decompose or fully list the complex forms; Using a masked-priming experiment, this study examined whether native and non-native speakers of Arabic decompose derived words, particularly, deverbal nouns in real-time. We tested a group of L1 Turkish /L2 Arabic learners and L1 Arabic speakers on six experimental conditions in which the relationship between prime and target is either morphological, orthographic, or semantic. The results indicated priming effects in the morphological conditions for native speakers, but not for non-native speakers. This shows that native speakers decompose deverbal nouns into their word patterns and root morphemes whereas non-native speakers list them as whole forms during online processing. These findings support the claim that L1 and L2 use different strategies in real-time processing of derived words.

Gender representation in animal-related proverbs: Algerian vs. Jordanian Arabic.

This study explores the connotative meanings in animal-related proverbs used to describe the behavior of men and women in Algerian and Jordanian societies. A questionnaire with 46 Algerian and 45 Jordanian animal-related proverbs was distributed to 30 native Arabic speakers enrolled at the University of Jordan. The analysis focused on adapted categories with a gender perspective, including inferiority, weakness, stupidity, ill-nature, objectification, ugliness, positivity, and shrewdness. Both Algerian and Jordanian animal-related proverbs exhibited diverse connotative meanings. Women were predominantly associated with derogatory connotations in both languages, portraying characteristics such as weakness, stupidity, inferiority, cunningness, and trickery. Similar characteristics were present in descriptions of men, but women in Arab cultures were consistently depicted as subordinate and denigrated. Conversely, men were portrayed with authority, control, superiority, and strength over women. Additionally, positive depictions included animals like gazelles, peacocks, partridges, cats, and horses to symbolize the beauty of women. Men's positive characteristics, such as strength, courage, and superiority, were associated with horses, camels, and lions. This study highlights the prevalent connotations in animal-related proverbs used to describe men and women in Algerian and Jordanian societies. It reveals derogatory portrayals of women, reinforcing their subordinate status, while men are depicted with authority and power. However, positive representations emerged, attributing beauty to women and highlighting admirable qualities in men. These findings shed light on the complex dynamics of gender portrayal within cultural proverbs, emphasizing the need for further examination of these linguistic expressions.

CARE-SEEKING BEHAVIORS TOWARDS SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA

Introduction: The concept of being infected with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is culturally sensitive in Saudi Arabia. Considering the impact and cost-effectiveness of early diagnosis and treatment, studying the care-seeking behaviors of the Saudi population towards STIs is essential. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate care-seeking behaviors towards STIs and associated factors in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022, including 420 adults aged 18-60, male and female, Native Arabicspeakers, and living in Saudi Arabia. A self-administered, community-based, and computerized questionnairewas constructed by the researchers and distributed via social media. Data analysis was managed using the Statistical Packagefor SocialSciences (SPSS) version 27. Results: A total of 420 participants were included in this study. 77% of respondents were willing to seek care once they suspect having STIs. All socioeconomic factors and perceived barriers were introduced into a logistic regression model that included different variables such as religion, workinghours, income, fear of legal issues, condom protection knowledge, STIs symptomsknowledge,and transmission routesknowledge had significant relationship with willingness to seek healthcare.Furthermore,more than 52% had no obstaclesto report STIs, while the remaining respondents had some obstacles. The three most prominent obstacles werefear of breaching confidentiality (~30%), fear of stigma (~21%), and fear of partnerresponse (~20%). Conclusions: The study showed good-seeking behavior as the majority of the respondents were willing to seek healthcare. However, several factors and obstacleswere foundsuch as religion, workinghours, income, fear of legal issues, condom protection knowledge, STI symptoms knowledge,transmission route knowledge, fear of breaching confidentiality, fear of stigma, and fear of partner and family responses.

Geographic variability in limited English proficiency: A cross-cultural study of cognitive profiles.

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on neurocognitive profiles. Romanian (LEP-RO; n = 59) and Arabic (LEP-AR; n = 30) native speakers were compared to Canadian native speakers of English (NSE; n = 24) on a strategically selected battery of neuropsychological tests. As predicted, participants with LEP demonstrated significantly lower performance on tests with high verbal mediation relative to US norms and the NSE sample (large effects). In contrast, several tests with low verbal mediation were robust to LEP. However, clinically relevant deviations from this general pattern were observed. The level of English proficiency varied significantly within the LEP-RO and was associated with a predictable performance pattern on tests with high verbal mediation. The heterogeneity in cognitive profiles among individuals with LEP challenges the notion that LEP status is a unitary construct. The level of verbal mediation is an imperfect predictor of the performance of LEP examinees during neuropsychological testing. Several commonly used measures were identified that are robust to the deleterious effects of LEP. Administering tests in the examinee's native language may not be the optimal solution to contain the confounding effect of LEP in cognitive evaluations.

The Influence of L2 English on Attitudes Towards Gender-Neutral Job Titles

This study examines the influence of L2 English on attitudes towards gender-neutral job titles. It aims to determine whether language influences perceptions of job titles. Data were collected via questionnaires from 67 participants aged 18-26 years, comprising American English native speakers, Arabic native speakers, and Kuwaiti learners of English. Results indicate that high-proficiency English learners tend to neutralize job titles instead of assigning gender markers, a behavior which is influenced by their exposure to English and cultural attitudes towards gender equality. Most native English speakers used neutral job titles instead of gender assignments. The two control groups demonstrated a significant difference in their responses, with Arabic monolinguals assigning gender markers based on the dominant gender in a particular profession. Additionally, language background and demographics affected these results. Attitudes towards gender markedness in job titles has received little attention from scholars studying Arabic–English bilinguals. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by exploring attitudes towards gender markedness in job titles.

In/directness in requests and refusals in EFL by multilinguals with L1 Hebrew or Arabic: A linguistic and textual perspective

This study investigated the linguistic and textual features characterizing direct and indirect speech act productions of requests and refusals in English by two multilingual populations: Arabic native speakers for whom English is their L3 and Hebrew is their L2, and Hebrew native speakers for whom English is their L2. Data were collected using a Discourse Completion Task and a background questionnaire. The findings revealed no statistical differences between the groups in the production of either the direct or the indirect mode of request and refusal: both groups preferred the indirect mode for requests and the direct mode for refusals. However, there were differences in the use of linguistic/textual features between direct and indirect requests/refusals within each language group, and differences in the use of features between the language groups within the directness mode. These findings are discussed in terms of cultural influences as well as differences in English proficiency levels.

English pre-fortis clipping by L2 Saudi speakers

The current study is a partial replication of Flege and Port (Language Speech 24(2):125–146, 1981), which examined the production of pre-fortis clipping (i.e., vowel shortening before voiceless obstruents) by Saudi L2 English speakers. In addition, it examined whether language experience operationalized as the length of residence in an English-speaking country, had any positive effect on the production of the pre-fortis clipping by the Saudi L2 English speakers. 16 Saudi L2 English speakers were requested to produce the English vowels /æ/, /ɪ/ and /i:/ in a carrier word, once before the voiceless stop /t/ and once before the voiced stop /d/. The same vowels in the same context were also elicited from a reference group of native English speakers. Similar vowels in a similar context were also obtained in Arabic from Saudi native speakers. A durational ratio of each vowel before /t/ to the same vowel before /d/ was calculated for each speaker in the native and nonnative groups. Similar to the findings of Flege and Port (1981), both the Saudi native Arabic and L2 English speakers showed broadly less durational contrast between the vowels in the two contexts than did the native English speakers. However, the results varied across the three examined vowels. In addition, no significant correlation was found between the length of residence and the L2 speakers’ production.

Writing Skill Learning Strategies among Non- Native Arabic Speakers in Jordan

Objectives: The study sought to determine the most popular writing learning techniques among non-native Arabic speakers in Jordan and whether differences in their use according to factors like gender and academic standing were statistically significant.
 Methods: The researcher created a scale of thirty items, divided into cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective methods, to accomplish the study's objectives. The measure was used with (120) Chinese undergraduate students at Jordanian and Yarmouk universities studying Arabic language and literature.
 Results: According to the study's findings, socio/affective techniques were adopted by high-level pupils more frequently than cognitive and meta-cognitive ones. The findings also indicated that there was a statistically significant difference due to the gender variable on students' rates of socio-affective strategies in learning writing skills, favoring females, and that there was a statistically significant difference due to the study level on their rates of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, favoring third-year students and above, but less favoring second-year students in socio-affective strategies.
 Conclusions: Several recommendations were made in light of the study's findings, including urging non-Arabic speakers to adopt writing skill acquisition techniques, particularly cognitive and metacognitive ones.