The area northeast of Mosul, a collection of villages with varying
topography and terrain, is k... more The area northeast of Mosul, a collection of villages with varying
topography and terrain, is known for being a mosaic of ethnic and
religious minorities. The village of Mērgī, the focus of interest in this
paper, is one of the historical Christian settlements in the area, located
on the southern foot of the Mount Maqlūb. Based on a fieldwork
carried out in 2022 in Mērgī, this article investigates the linguistic
situation in this village and carries out comparisons with the other
well-documented related dialects in the vicinity.
The purpose of the present paper is to give first notes on the yet-undiscovered qǝltu-dialects sp... more The purpose of the present paper is to give first notes on the yet-undiscovered qǝltu-dialects spoken in the towns of Ṣīnīya, Bēǧi, and Širqāṭ near Tikrīt. With the exception of the very few notes on the dialect of Bēǧi in Jastrow (1994, 1989, 1983), these dialects have so far remained unnoticed in the literature. It is therefore the objective of this paper to shed more light on the historical and linguistic situation of the dialects spoken in these three towns. The data used here were gathered partly by questioning locals on their own speech and partly by discussing their tribal heritage with some local notables.
In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the role of Iraqi tribes as an inevit... more In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the role of Iraqi tribes as an inevitable political player and a safety valve after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The present paper aims to explore the widely used tribal terminology in the Šrūgi area; each term will be supported by a wealth of discussion and illustrative examples. In addition to my basic knowledge of the tribal terms in the Šrūgi area, I utilized as informants the local experts on tribes in some parts of the area. In order to enrich this paper, I have also conducted visits to some rural areas, where I have done interviews and group discussions with randomly selected informants such as tribesmen and older people who are usually considered a storehouse of knowledge about tribal lineage, rites, and terms.
This paper introduces the heretofore undescribed urban dialect of Kbēse west of the Euphrates. Th... more This paper introduces the heretofore undescribed urban dialect of Kbēse west of the Euphrates. The dialect is spoken in the oasis of Kbēse, a subdistrict of the district of Hīt, which so far remained unknown to linguists in the field of Arabic dialectology. The dialect is similar in many aspects to the ones spoken in Hīt and ʿĀna. However, unlike the dialects of Hīt and ʿĀna, and like most urban dialects on the Euphrates, the dialect of Kbēse is a non-autochthonous dialect that originated and developed outside the subdistrict.
The purposes of this paper are threefold. The first and the most general purpose is to provide an... more The purposes of this paper are threefold. The first and the most general purpose is to provide an update of Ingham's analysis of the southern lexical features that is based on data gathered more than forty years ago (Ingham 1973). On this basis, I will reconsider the lexical link postulated by Ingham (2009: 101, 2007: 577) between the southern gǝlǝt-dialects, on the one hand, and the dialects of the Gulf Coast, on the other hand. The second purpose is to reconsider the hitherto maintained lexical frontiers of the southern continuum suggested by Ingham (1994), discussing a range of items that so far have always been treated as 'southern', though they are common in both gǝlǝt-and qǝltu-dialects of Iraq. The third purpose involves proposing the notions šrūgi and non-šrūgi as a new and efficient way of splitting the gǝlǝt-dialects into two different groups. At the end of this paper, a list of the šrūgi lexical features is given.
EXPLORING THE CONVENTIONALIZED DIRECTIONAL GREETINGS WITH ''WHERE'' IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GILIT DIA... more EXPLORING THE CONVENTIONALIZED DIRECTIONAL GREETINGS WITH ''WHERE'' IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GILIT DIALECTS AREA.
Qasim Hassan
University of Basra
Abstract: Many studies have shown that in some cultures questions like 'Where are you going?' and 'Where are you coming?', or even 'Where are you?' do not necessary demonstrate that the initiator is really interested to know where the other party is actually going to, coming from, or where he is, but they are simply types of conventionalized directional greetings amongst people in some language communities (Firth 1972, Keenan 1976, Gregor 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Hoem 1993, Duranti 1997, Enfield & Comrie 2015; to name but a few). In the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq, however, 'Where are you?' and related greetings ('Where?' greetings, henceforth) are deeply rooted and remained strong throughout the years, although with some signs of softness due to the partly urbanization of these dialect communities, among other reasons. The aim of this study is to identify for the first time some of the key features and uses of the greeting questions in the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq. The data on which this study is based come from the author's daily observations of his own speech community as well as from recorded conversations with inhabitants in the remote southeastern rural
areas.
Keywords: southeastern Iraq, gilit dialects, greetings, directional greetings, Leave-taking.
Abstract: For many years now, the interest of linguistic research in greeting behaviors is growin... more Abstract: For many years now, the interest of linguistic research in greeting behaviors is growing exponentially (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Berg 1991, Ebsworth, Bodman & Carpenter 1996, Duranti 1992a, 1997, Bustorf 2005, among many others). There is, however, common agreement that greeting patterns differ markedly from culture to culture. South Iraqi Arabic (henceforth in this paper SIA) shows a variety of greeting patterns, but unfortunately no considerable research has so far been dedicated to the traditional greeting behavior in this area of the gilit dialects. For sociolinguistic reasons, greetings in spoken SIA differ radically in length and intensity from all other dialect areas of Iraq. Length and intensity of greetings, especially among people of the same sex, can be seen by the repetitive exchange of the synonymous greeting patterns. The aim of this paper is to examine some aspects of the sociolinguistic behavior of the synonymous repetition of greetings in SIA, paying special attention to the nonredundancy of such repetitive exchange of social greetings. The data come from the observation of people's conversations in the southern gilit dialect area as well as from recordings of some dialogues of public and private gathering in some houses of influential people such as tribal shaikhs and well-known religious authorities.
The question of what is the difference between borrowing and code-switching has attracted the att... more The question of what is the difference between borrowing and code-switching has attracted the attention of scholars far and wide and gave at the same time rise to a plethora of publications in order to draw a boundary between these two terms. In the most recent of these publications (Grosjean 1982, Poplack & Meechan 1995 & 1998; to name but a few), it has been often argued that borrowings are donor-language items that are integrated in the grammar of the recipient language at a community level, while code-switches take place at individual level and they retain the grammar of the language from which they derive. However, the current political and economic uncertainties in various regions of the world have been found to cause mass refugee movements to conflict-free places, where contact between newcomers and locals usually lead to some kind of linguistic interinfluencing. The current study discusses the contact-induced German-origin lone lexical items used by Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees in Germany. It is the aim of this study to show whether or not these lexical items can be considered as code-switches or established borrowings. The data I am analyzing come from spontaneous and elicited conversations of the first and second wave of Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees and asylum seekers to Germany as well as from online-and paper-pencil-questionnaires.
In order to meet their needs and perceptions, the children's early words have their origin Mama a... more In order to meet their needs and perceptions, the children's early words have their origin Mama and Papa are acquired by German-born preschool children, who are commuting between Iraq and Germany. The study will be primarly contrastive in nature and focuses mainly on the characteristics of these parental terms in two different language communities. Furthermore, light will also have to be shed on this less researched and discussed issue by touching upon the learning challenges and difficulties of the kinship terms in Iraqi-Arabic and how could they be overcome. The data come from the author's daily observation of his German-born children, a four-years-old daughter, and a boy, who is three years old. In order to supplement and enrich the study, I conducted interviews with parents and their children that I personally know.
The area northeast of Mosul, a collection of villages with varying
topography and terrain, is k... more The area northeast of Mosul, a collection of villages with varying
topography and terrain, is known for being a mosaic of ethnic and
religious minorities. The village of Mērgī, the focus of interest in this
paper, is one of the historical Christian settlements in the area, located
on the southern foot of the Mount Maqlūb. Based on a fieldwork
carried out in 2022 in Mērgī, this article investigates the linguistic
situation in this village and carries out comparisons with the other
well-documented related dialects in the vicinity.
The purpose of the present paper is to give first notes on the yet-undiscovered qǝltu-dialects sp... more The purpose of the present paper is to give first notes on the yet-undiscovered qǝltu-dialects spoken in the towns of Ṣīnīya, Bēǧi, and Širqāṭ near Tikrīt. With the exception of the very few notes on the dialect of Bēǧi in Jastrow (1994, 1989, 1983), these dialects have so far remained unnoticed in the literature. It is therefore the objective of this paper to shed more light on the historical and linguistic situation of the dialects spoken in these three towns. The data used here were gathered partly by questioning locals on their own speech and partly by discussing their tribal heritage with some local notables.
In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the role of Iraqi tribes as an inevit... more In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the role of Iraqi tribes as an inevitable political player and a safety valve after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The present paper aims to explore the widely used tribal terminology in the Šrūgi area; each term will be supported by a wealth of discussion and illustrative examples. In addition to my basic knowledge of the tribal terms in the Šrūgi area, I utilized as informants the local experts on tribes in some parts of the area. In order to enrich this paper, I have also conducted visits to some rural areas, where I have done interviews and group discussions with randomly selected informants such as tribesmen and older people who are usually considered a storehouse of knowledge about tribal lineage, rites, and terms.
This paper introduces the heretofore undescribed urban dialect of Kbēse west of the Euphrates. Th... more This paper introduces the heretofore undescribed urban dialect of Kbēse west of the Euphrates. The dialect is spoken in the oasis of Kbēse, a subdistrict of the district of Hīt, which so far remained unknown to linguists in the field of Arabic dialectology. The dialect is similar in many aspects to the ones spoken in Hīt and ʿĀna. However, unlike the dialects of Hīt and ʿĀna, and like most urban dialects on the Euphrates, the dialect of Kbēse is a non-autochthonous dialect that originated and developed outside the subdistrict.
The purposes of this paper are threefold. The first and the most general purpose is to provide an... more The purposes of this paper are threefold. The first and the most general purpose is to provide an update of Ingham's analysis of the southern lexical features that is based on data gathered more than forty years ago (Ingham 1973). On this basis, I will reconsider the lexical link postulated by Ingham (2009: 101, 2007: 577) between the southern gǝlǝt-dialects, on the one hand, and the dialects of the Gulf Coast, on the other hand. The second purpose is to reconsider the hitherto maintained lexical frontiers of the southern continuum suggested by Ingham (1994), discussing a range of items that so far have always been treated as 'southern', though they are common in both gǝlǝt-and qǝltu-dialects of Iraq. The third purpose involves proposing the notions šrūgi and non-šrūgi as a new and efficient way of splitting the gǝlǝt-dialects into two different groups. At the end of this paper, a list of the šrūgi lexical features is given.
EXPLORING THE CONVENTIONALIZED DIRECTIONAL GREETINGS WITH ''WHERE'' IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GILIT DIA... more EXPLORING THE CONVENTIONALIZED DIRECTIONAL GREETINGS WITH ''WHERE'' IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GILIT DIALECTS AREA.
Qasim Hassan
University of Basra
Abstract: Many studies have shown that in some cultures questions like 'Where are you going?' and 'Where are you coming?', or even 'Where are you?' do not necessary demonstrate that the initiator is really interested to know where the other party is actually going to, coming from, or where he is, but they are simply types of conventionalized directional greetings amongst people in some language communities (Firth 1972, Keenan 1976, Gregor 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Hoem 1993, Duranti 1997, Enfield & Comrie 2015; to name but a few). In the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq, however, 'Where are you?' and related greetings ('Where?' greetings, henceforth) are deeply rooted and remained strong throughout the years, although with some signs of softness due to the partly urbanization of these dialect communities, among other reasons. The aim of this study is to identify for the first time some of the key features and uses of the greeting questions in the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq. The data on which this study is based come from the author's daily observations of his own speech community as well as from recorded conversations with inhabitants in the remote southeastern rural
areas.
Keywords: southeastern Iraq, gilit dialects, greetings, directional greetings, Leave-taking.
Abstract: For many years now, the interest of linguistic research in greeting behaviors is growin... more Abstract: For many years now, the interest of linguistic research in greeting behaviors is growing exponentially (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Berg 1991, Ebsworth, Bodman & Carpenter 1996, Duranti 1992a, 1997, Bustorf 2005, among many others). There is, however, common agreement that greeting patterns differ markedly from culture to culture. South Iraqi Arabic (henceforth in this paper SIA) shows a variety of greeting patterns, but unfortunately no considerable research has so far been dedicated to the traditional greeting behavior in this area of the gilit dialects. For sociolinguistic reasons, greetings in spoken SIA differ radically in length and intensity from all other dialect areas of Iraq. Length and intensity of greetings, especially among people of the same sex, can be seen by the repetitive exchange of the synonymous greeting patterns. The aim of this paper is to examine some aspects of the sociolinguistic behavior of the synonymous repetition of greetings in SIA, paying special attention to the nonredundancy of such repetitive exchange of social greetings. The data come from the observation of people's conversations in the southern gilit dialect area as well as from recordings of some dialogues of public and private gathering in some houses of influential people such as tribal shaikhs and well-known religious authorities.
The question of what is the difference between borrowing and code-switching has attracted the att... more The question of what is the difference between borrowing and code-switching has attracted the attention of scholars far and wide and gave at the same time rise to a plethora of publications in order to draw a boundary between these two terms. In the most recent of these publications (Grosjean 1982, Poplack & Meechan 1995 & 1998; to name but a few), it has been often argued that borrowings are donor-language items that are integrated in the grammar of the recipient language at a community level, while code-switches take place at individual level and they retain the grammar of the language from which they derive. However, the current political and economic uncertainties in various regions of the world have been found to cause mass refugee movements to conflict-free places, where contact between newcomers and locals usually lead to some kind of linguistic interinfluencing. The current study discusses the contact-induced German-origin lone lexical items used by Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees in Germany. It is the aim of this study to show whether or not these lexical items can be considered as code-switches or established borrowings. The data I am analyzing come from spontaneous and elicited conversations of the first and second wave of Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees and asylum seekers to Germany as well as from online-and paper-pencil-questionnaires.
In order to meet their needs and perceptions, the children's early words have their origin Mama a... more In order to meet their needs and perceptions, the children's early words have their origin Mama and Papa are acquired by German-born preschool children, who are commuting between Iraq and Germany. The study will be primarly contrastive in nature and focuses mainly on the characteristics of these parental terms in two different language communities. Furthermore, light will also have to be shed on this less researched and discussed issue by touching upon the learning challenges and difficulties of the kinship terms in Iraqi-Arabic and how could they be overcome. The data come from the author's daily observation of his German-born children, a four-years-old daughter, and a boy, who is three years old. In order to supplement and enrich the study, I conducted interviews with parents and their children that I personally know.
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Papers by Qasim Hassan
topography and terrain, is known for being a mosaic of ethnic and
religious minorities. The village of Mērgī, the focus of interest in this
paper, is one of the historical Christian settlements in the area, located
on the southern foot of the Mount Maqlūb. Based on a fieldwork
carried out in 2022 in Mērgī, this article investigates the linguistic
situation in this village and carries out comparisons with the other
well-documented related dialects in the vicinity.
Qasim Hassan
University of Basra
Abstract: Many studies have shown that in some cultures questions like 'Where are you going?' and 'Where are you coming?', or even 'Where are you?' do not necessary demonstrate that the initiator is really interested to know where the other party is actually going to, coming from, or where he is, but they are simply types of conventionalized directional greetings amongst people in some language communities (Firth 1972, Keenan 1976, Gregor 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Hoem 1993, Duranti 1997, Enfield & Comrie 2015; to name but a few). In the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq, however, 'Where are you?' and related greetings ('Where?' greetings, henceforth) are deeply rooted and remained strong throughout the years, although with some signs of softness due to the partly urbanization of these dialect communities, among other reasons. The aim of this study is to identify for the first time some of the key features and uses of the greeting questions in the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq. The data on which this study is based come from the author's daily observations of his own speech community as well as from recorded conversations with inhabitants in the remote southeastern rural
areas.
Keywords: southeastern Iraq, gilit dialects, greetings, directional greetings, Leave-taking.
Keywords: Iraqi Arabic, gilit dialects, greeting, synonymous repetition, haptics, šlōnak-sentences.
topography and terrain, is known for being a mosaic of ethnic and
religious minorities. The village of Mērgī, the focus of interest in this
paper, is one of the historical Christian settlements in the area, located
on the southern foot of the Mount Maqlūb. Based on a fieldwork
carried out in 2022 in Mērgī, this article investigates the linguistic
situation in this village and carries out comparisons with the other
well-documented related dialects in the vicinity.
Qasim Hassan
University of Basra
Abstract: Many studies have shown that in some cultures questions like 'Where are you going?' and 'Where are you coming?', or even 'Where are you?' do not necessary demonstrate that the initiator is really interested to know where the other party is actually going to, coming from, or where he is, but they are simply types of conventionalized directional greetings amongst people in some language communities (Firth 1972, Keenan 1976, Gregor 1977, Bach & Harnish 1979, Hoem 1993, Duranti 1997, Enfield & Comrie 2015; to name but a few). In the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq, however, 'Where are you?' and related greetings ('Where?' greetings, henceforth) are deeply rooted and remained strong throughout the years, although with some signs of softness due to the partly urbanization of these dialect communities, among other reasons. The aim of this study is to identify for the first time some of the key features and uses of the greeting questions in the southeastern gilit dialects area of Iraq. The data on which this study is based come from the author's daily observations of his own speech community as well as from recorded conversations with inhabitants in the remote southeastern rural
areas.
Keywords: southeastern Iraq, gilit dialects, greetings, directional greetings, Leave-taking.
Keywords: Iraqi Arabic, gilit dialects, greeting, synonymous repetition, haptics, šlōnak-sentences.