Sumaya Daoud

Aim. The present research explores the cognitive principles that underlie the selection of negation types in Jordanian Arabic (JA) while expressing futurity. Methods. Data was collected by asking speakers of Jordanian Arabic to perform an acceptability judgement task by rating according to a 5-point Likert scale the three negation types: preverbal (*mā*), postverbal (*…š*), and bipartite (*mā…š*). Results. Findings have shown a strong preference for preverbal negation with the proclitic mā, as opposed to the discontinuous (bipartite) negation construction with mā …… š which was consistently rated as the least acceptable, particularly when combined with the lexical future marker bedd- Postverbal negation with the enclitic …š was slightly less acceptable, while the discontinuous (bipartite) negation construction with mā …… š was least favored by the participants. Analysis of participants’ responses indicated that this preference is driven by verbal and cognitive economy; speakers favored forms that offer better processing efficiency and articulatory simplicity. This, in turn, challenges the phonologically based explanation for negation preference, as the preference forpreverbal negation was high even with labial initial verbs. Conclusions. The study provides evidence that the choice among negation types in Jordanian Arabic (JA) is neither arbitrary nor purely pragmatic; instead, it is governed by cognitive constraints of economy and processing efficiency. A significant preference for preverbal negation over bipartite negation was identified. It was established that the use of preverbal structures ensures early polarity identification and reduces working memory load, whereas bipartite structures increase processing complexity. These findings align with the Uniform Information Density (UID) hypothesis, confirming the influence of cognitive principles on syntactic choice across typologically diverse languages. The research demonstrates that processing efficiency principles are fundamental to speech production and take priority over phonological constraints. An exception occurs when bipartite negation is utilized to fulfill the pragmatic function of emphasis. Regarding language change, it is substantiated that preverbal negation is more resistant to transformation, while more complex bipartite structures are vulnerable to reduction. The author concludes that cycles of language change reflect underlying cognitive preferences for structures optimal for cognitive processing.

The Holy Quran contains 29 chapters (Suras) that start with disjointed letters, a phenomenon that has long been a matter of debate in Quranic exegesis. To contribute to understanding the mysterious nature of these letters, this paper examines them from a phonological and phonetic perspective. Specifically, the study compares three chapters that start with a single disjointed letter in the Holy Quran. The three chapters were analyzed at the phonemic, syllabic, and prosodic word levels. Results show that these three chapters share many features, which align with the fact that they begin with a single disjointed letter. Moreover, the two chapters that start with similar consonants, namely Sad and Qaaf, which start with an obstruent, are more similar to each other than to Chapter Nun, which begins with the sonorant /n/. These results reveal that the three letters could not have been chosen arbitrarily. This constitutes a strong case against many revisionist theories. Future research should extend the analysis to other Quranic chapters, both with and without disjointed letters, to corroborate the findings of this study.

This study employs a quantitative analytical descriptive approach to explore the attitudes of two Jordanian communities toward code-switching (CS). The first community lives in the United States (a migrant community), while the second community resides in Jordan (a native community). Data were collected using an online questionnaire and the attitudes of these two communities were compared with respect to their sense of identity, religion, communication efficiency, and audience design. The study also examines the influence of self-perceived language proficiency, the direction of CS, and gender on the positivity or negativity of individuals’ attitudes toward CS. The study pays particular attention to the use of CS as a polite or impolite behavior in different contexts. The findings of this study indicate that both groups have relatively similar attitudes toward CS in terms of communication efficiency, topic, audience design, and politeness. However, the migrant community has an overall more positive attitude toward CS in terms of religion and sense of identity, particularly when language proficiency is taken into account.

Since the 2014 World Englishes report on English in Poland, the country has undergone shifts in education, politics and immigration. In this article, we summarize the key themes that have emerged in recently published research on English, including its use in everyday life, its impact on the Polish language, and its status and role in the Polish educational system, including K‐12 and higher education. We also discuss the impact of shifting national politics on the status and attitudes toward English in contemporary Polish society. In particular, we show how the growing neo‐nationalistic movement and the heated public debates on gender and sexuality play out in English language classrooms. We conclude the article with a discussion of future trends in English language use, teaching and learning.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the influence of integrating Turnitin peer-marking feature on students’ performance in a writing task within an English course. In addition, it seeks to elucidate the students’ perspectives on their experience with the Turnitin peer-marking feature. To achieve these objectives, a quasi-experimental design was utilized to assess the impact both before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the implementation of Turnitin peer-marking feature. Following this, the participants were prompted to write reflection papers articulating their insights concerning their experience with the peer-marking feature. Employing a mixed-method design of quantitative and qualitative methods, the study endeavors to achieve a comprehensive view of the efficacy of employing technology-mediated peer review has an impact on improving students’ writing skills, and how it is perceived by the intended users.

This study examines how the phonetic realisation of the phoneme /sˤ/ and its orthographic form ص is surfacing as the variant [s] in speaking and as س in writing in Ammani Arabic (AA), which is a variety of Jordanian Arabic (JA), and how this relates to language variation. We look at instances where certain Ammani Arabic speakers, particularly females, pronounce and write words containing /sˤ/ ص as [s] س, despite both /sˤ/ and /s/ being phonemes in JA in general and in AA in particular. We used a quantitative corpus-based approach, where we obtained written data from Facebook, and elicited spoken tokens and qualitative data through interviews. Our findings reveal that females in our two corpora [spoken and written] use and prefer [s] and س more than males, and our interviews revealed that female interviewees also prefer this pronunciation and writing. We suggest that the use of [s] س instead of [sˤ] ص by females can be seen as a direct index for femininity within their community of practice, and that this pronunciation/writing can indirectly index female gender in daily conversations and on social media websites, based on orders of indexicality (Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication 23. 193–229).

The purpose of the current study is to explore listeners’ perception of accented speech in terms of confidence and intelligence. To this end, three groups of listeners were asked to rate speakers of English with various accent strengths based on a 9-point scale in terms of accent magnitude, confidence and intelligence. Results show that the two Jordanian listener groups, unlike the English listeners, reacted similarly toward Jordanian-accented speakers of English. Overall, the three groups tended to link accentedness with perceptions of confidence and intelligence. The findings of this study have significant implications for advocating a tolerant attitude toward speakers of English as a foreign language in the fields of education, employment opportunities, and social justice. It is suggested that stereotyping speakers as inferior in terms of qualities such as confidence and intelligence reflects established listener’s bias rather than lack of speaker’s intelligibility.

Despite growing criticisms of native-speakerism in English Language Teaching (ELT), the ‘native speaker’ concept is still used in the recruitment of teachers (Mahboob & Golden, 2013; Ruecker & Ives, 2015). This study critically evaluates the impact of native-speakerism on ELT hiring practices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To identify qualifications desired by employers and to document the role of the ‘native speaker’ criteria, 53 online job advertisements are analysed. The data are analysed using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand what characteristics, knowledge, and skills are discursively legitimized in the advertisements. Our results suggest that the ‘native speaker’ is indeed used as a model against which ELT applicants in the UAE are benchmarked. Because native-speakerism reflects a knower code orientation, which downplays specialized knowledge and skills, we argue that to challenge discriminatory hiring practices, employers should place more emphasis on teachers’ language proficiency and relevant knowledge and skills.