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Investigating technical terms of vehicle spare parts used in the mechanics' jargon in Saudi Arabic (SA) and Yemeni Arabic (YA) has received scant attention. The current study, therefore, is an attempt to shed some light on the topic. The aim is to identify the strategies used for creating equivalents in vehicle spare parts vocabulary and to pinpoint the most salient variations between the two dialects in this jargon.

More than 250 terms of vehicle spare parts were collected and analyzed qualitatively. Each list contains nearly 125 items. They were gathered from two main resources: semi-structured interviews with vehicle mechanics, and written lists from spare parts dealers in both countries.

Three main strategies are found at work: lexical borrowing (from English and French), metaphor and loan translation. Direct borrowing is the most influential strategy where loanwords represent nearly one-third of the data, the majority of which is from English. Metaphorical extensions and literal translations also have an important role to play in the process of spare part naming. While the two dialects share common practices in terms of literal translation, they are characterized by many differences with regard to lexical borrowing and metaphors.

The study approaches an under-researched topic that is related to the mechanic's jargon in Arabic and leaves the door open for further research. The findings of this study may be used as guidelines for Arabic academies and those who are concerned with translating and studying technical terms in the field of mechanical engineering.

This study aims to identify and measure the lexical gap between the old and young generations in the Jizani dialect and determine the causes of that gap.

A 20-item questionnaire was distributed randomly among 104 participants. Next, 12 participants were selected and interviewed. SPSS software was used to analyse the quantitative data from the questionnaire. The data elicited from the interviews was qualitatively analysed, considering age and gender factors.

The major findings revealed that a lexical gap between old and young language speakers in the Jizani dialect exists. The gap between young females and the older generation was greater than that between young and old males. Some old words are likely to disappear in the coming decades. Social media, which is a time-consuming and word-borrowing medium for young people, was one of the reasons, besides the tendency of females to use prestigious words.

This study attempted to find the differences between the vocabularies of old and young speakers. If it does exist, is it significant? What are the reasons for this lexical gap? This will help other researchers and dialectologists register the old words before they die out and try to bridge that lexical gap.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phonological metathesis phenomenon in the early speech of Arabic-speaking children. Based on analysis of a longitudinal data from 11 children's speech, the study mainly aims at investigating (1) the characteristics/nature of the phonological metathesis process in early child speech and (2) how it is different from adult phonological metathesis. The study explores the causes behind the metathesis phonological process in child speech.

This paper explored the phonological metathesis phenomenon based on a longitudinal study of 11 monolingual Arabic speakers of Yemeni-Ibbi Dialect (YIA) and cross-linguistic data from various languages.

The data analysis showed that metathesis phenomenon in child speech has several characteristics. It occurs at an early age, at 2 years and decreases with age. It was found that metathesis occurs mostly in disyllabic and trisyllabic words or more complex syllabic words, but metathesis rarely occurs in monosyllabic words in children's speech. The results indicated that unlike metathesis in adult speech, metathesis in children's speech occurs in undeliberate, slow, fast speech. The study explored that adjacency of sounds with similar phonological features, the ease of pronunciation, or the sonority effect are the motivations that trigger metathesis phenomenon to occur in child speech.

In the literature, the metathesis phonological process has got a little attention from researchers, and this is due to the rare cases of metathesis and the inconsistency of cases and the occurrence of metathesis. However, there is no consensus among the researchers about the causes of emergence and the occurrences behind the metathesis process. However, this study argues that the metathesis process has unique characteristics in child speech in comparison to adult speech and that there are some causes for metathesis to occur in human speech particularly in children's data such as adjacency of sounds with similar phonological features or sonority effect.

This article studies the particle qad in standard Arabic (SA) and Asiri Arabic (AA). In SA, qad is pronounced as [qæd], whereas in AA it is pronounced as [q?d] and written as qid. Qad in SA is different from qid in AA regarding its functional use and syntactic distribution. Accordingly, the study discusses the semantics and selection properties of qad/qid.

Contrasting analyses are presented to verify which syntactic analysis better suits extended projection principle (EPP) extension, and tree structures are provided to elucidate ongoing problematic configurations and to provide solutions.

The SA particle qad has three functions: (1) a probability modal, as in may or might; (2) a perfective auxiliary, as in have, has and had; and (3) indicating emphatic purpose, as in do, does and did. Contrariwise, qid in AA has two meanings: (1) have, has and had (perfective auxiliary); and (2) the past tense of the English copula was/became (a linking verb). Given this background, there has been a debate in the syntax literature about whether qid/qad is an adverb. The current article provides evidence indicating that qid and qad are not adverbs.

The study is limited to the analysis of qid in Asiri dialect. Further research needs to be done on the different branches of the Asiri dialects according to the tribe. Sometimes, tribes have different sound for some words. There is not any literature review found on the Asiri dialects in the designated area of study; the particle qid.

The study can be counted towards the Asiri linguistic heritage in documenting the syntactic and semantic properties of qid particle. The study contributes to the linguistic field of the Arabic language and its varieties.

The study offers a general review of the linguistic background of Asir region. The study introduces the reader to qad particle in SA and holds a comparison between the two researched versions of qad in SA and qid in AA.

The paradoxical analysis between qad and qid on all levels is presented (semantics, functional use, selection properties and level of configuration (EPP)). Also, it introduces the particle qid in AA as it was never investigated before.

Literature on immigrant and ethnic minority entrepreneurship almost exclusively focusses on the west, while neglecting other world regions. This neglect is problematic not only because international migration is on the rise outside the west, but also because it reveals an implicit ethnocentrism and creates particular presumptions about the nature of ethnic minority entrepreneurship that may not be as universally valid as is often presumed. The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic minority entrepreneurship in non-western contexts to critically assess two of these presumptions, namely that it occurs in the economic margins and within clear ethnic community boundaries.

The authors draw on academic literature (including the authors’ own) to develop two case descriptions of ethnic minority entrepreneurship outside the west: the Mennonites in Belize and the Chinese in Cambodia. For each case, the authors describe the historic entrepreneurial trajectory, i.e. the historical emergence of entrepreneurship in light of relevant community and society contexts.

The two cases reveal that, in contrast to characterisations of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in the west, the Mennonites in Belize and the Chinese in Cambodia have come to comprise the economic upper class, and their business activities are not confined to ethnic community boundaries.

The paper is the first to elaborate the importance of studying ethnic minority entrepreneurship outside the west, both as an aim in itself and as a catalyst to work towards a more neutral framework.

This study aims to explore possible ways to promote uptake and integration of climate-smart agriculture (CSA)-Technologies, Innovations and Management Practices (TIMPS) into policy and practice in Nigeria through the development of actionable roadmaps to facilitate the process.

Two hundred and fifty-two stakeholders for the policy discourse and survey were purposively drawn from both government and private agencies, NGOs and community-based associations from the six geo-political zones of the country. Data collection was done using a mixed method comprising questionnaire administration, in-depth interviews and panel discussion. Data collected was summarised using descriptive statistics.

The major findings were lack of existing policies on CSA, lack of farmers’ awareness of CSA-TIMPs, neglect of extension programmes that can help to enlighten farmers on the importance of CSA and insufficient extension personnel to cater for farmers’ needs. Challenges to CSA-TIMPs uptake in Nigeria were: insufficient funding and support by government in programme planning and implementation, policy inconsistencies and poor farmers’ attitude and resistance to change.

This research will facilitate CSA uptake and integration through the provision of data for informed decision and action by the responsible agencies.

Suggested actionable roadmaps across the zones were robust awareness campaign and advocacy on uptake of CSA-TIMPs through e-extension, community TV/radio in local dialects; revitalisation of policy programmes such as monthly meetings should be reintroduced and creation of CSA Departments/Stations in each state; increased budget allocation to a minimum of 10% for agriculture, revitalisation of Researchers-Extension Agents-Farmers Linkage, employment of qualified extension agents and retraining of extension agents.

This study attempts to identify and analyze the pragmatic functions of religious expressions, that is, invocations that include the name of Allah (God), in naturally occurring social interactions in Najdi Arabic, which is spoken in Central Saudi Arabia.

Drawing on the speech act theory and politeness model, an analysis of the data illustrates that religious expressions, in addition to their prototypical religious meanings and uses in everyday interactions, are employed to communicate a wide range of pragmatic functions.

These include signaling the end of a conversation, persuading, mitigating and hedging, showing agreement and approval, reinforcing emphasis, expressing emotions, seeking protection from the evil eye, conveying skepticism and ambiguity, expressing humor and sarcasm, and showing respect and honor. The embedded multifunctional dimension of religious expressions in the present data is interpreted as serving as a politeness marker with which speakers promote both positive politeness (by showing solidarity, claiming common grounds, and building rapport) and negative politeness (by reducing imposition and emphasizing personal autonomy).

This study further highlights the interplay between religion, culture, and language use in Najdi Arabic.

This paper reports a sub-set of results from a mixed-method ethnographic study of literacy among female graduates and undergraduates of a United Arab Emirates public university. With reference to survey data and two in-depth interviews, the paper focuses in particular on the predispositions and preferences of these women with regard to reading and writing in English and Modern Standard Arabic. Employing a New Literacy Studies theoretical framework along with a number of concepts developed by Bourdieu, the paper finds that literacy practices in this context are developing rapidly, influenced by the diverse transnational linguistic marketplaces in which these women grow up. Suggestions are made with regard to possible directions for curricular development in higher education in this region based on the opinions expressed by these young women.

In transnational families worldwide, different family members have varying degrees of mobility, as well as different physical and emotional experiences with relatives and places throughout their lives. For this reason, in recent decades, increasing attention has been placed upon the experiences of migrants' descendants growing up across borders.

Based on data from a multi-sited ethnography and a survey, this chapter explores the experiences of children growing up in Chinese transnational families split between Zhejiang province and their parents' immigration countries, located mainly in Europe. First, it introduces the migration context and methods, presenting the profiles and basic information of the 77 Chinese migrants' descendants who participated in a ‘Roots-seeking Journey’ summer camp held in their family area of origin in China, in 2018. Second, it explores their heterogeneous early childhood paths and conditions, paying particular attention to mobility, care strategies, intergenerational relations and transnational ties. Finally, this chapter introduces the concept of fluid childhoods, and reflects on the key role of care-related mobility and communication technologies in shaping their early life paths and experiences as well as further transnational engagement.

Arabic Across the Curriculum is a broad language support program at Zayed University in the UAE, which has stimulated discussion on several issues concerning Arabic language support in the Arab world in general and in the Gulf area in particular. These issues can be summed up in the following questions: Why do we need to teach Arabic to native Arabic-speaking students? How will Arabic language proficiency help students in their academic and future careers? Which Arabic language skills should we teach native speakers in higher education, and how? What means of assessment and what criteria might be helpful to Arabic programs and instructors?