Journal of Arabic Language & Literature

Abstract Cultural imperialism extends beyond military and economic domination, operating instead through the control of culture, language, memory, and representation, thereby consolidating dominant discourses and undermining the identity of subjugated societies. Sahar Khalifeh’s novel Rabi Ḥār (2004), which portrays the life of a Palestinian family in the ‘Ain al-Marjan refugee camp, reflects the complex interrelationship between territorial occupation, cultural domination, and identity crisis. Using a descriptive-analytical method and drawing on Edward Said’s theoretical framework of culture and imperialism, this study examines the lived experience of colonial domination, symbolic power, and the representation of cultural resistance in Palestinian narrative literature. The study investigates the mechanisms through which Palestinian fiction represents domination and resistance, with particular emphasis on Rabi Ḥār. Given the ongoing occupation and the persistent identity crisis in Palestine, alongside the absence of equitable narratives, Palestinian fiction has evolved into a living testament to the Palestinian lifeworld and collective memory. Therefore, examining its potential for cultural resistance and identity redefinition is critical. The findings show that Khalifeh represents domination over space and territory through spatial construction and symbols such as the fence, barbed wire, and the checkpoint. Through polyphony, internal focalization, and multi-layered characterization, she further reveals the consequences of domination: identity fragmentation, generational conflict, and individual crisis. Language, media, and consumer culture are similarly portrayed as instruments of symbolic domination. In contrast, the critical rereading of history, the revival of memories of lost places, the transmission of familial narratives, the recording of lived experience, and the reclamation of language transform narrative into an act of resistance. Thus, Rabi Ḥār itself becomes a site of cultural resistance against colonial erasure and enforced historical forgetting.

Abstract Cultural semiotics is a branch of semiotics that studies systems of signs and symbols in their cultural and social context. This branch focuses on how meaning is produced and circulated in cultures and how signs (linguistic, visual, behavioral, material) are used to represent values, beliefs, and collective identities. Yahya Samawi’s works, especially the epic “Al-Taqtak”, are considered an extension of the poetic modernism movement in this country and other Arab countries due to the literary and artistic phenomena contained in it, in addition to Samawi’s deep connection with the history and cultural and religious heritage of Iraq. This connection with heritage has prompted the poet to use various symbols and signs in his poetic works and to give them concepts and references through which he expresses his suffering in exile, exile, and his attachment to the land, in addition to his stance on the symbols of some politicians and rulers at the level of the homeland and the nation. The aim of this research is to extract and explain some cultural signs present in this epic. Now the main question is how cultural semiotics can help the audience understand the hidden angles of this epic and what function it can have. The analytical-descriptive method has been used to answer this question. The findings of this research indicate that "Malhama al-Taktak" is a historical document that tells the narrative of the marginalized people instead of the official narrative and elevates a simple device, namely (Taktak), to the level of a myth and is an indirect tool of criticism and attacks corruption, occupation, and religious violence through symbols And to eliminate corruption and tyranny, it calls on the people to unite for the revolution to bring Iraq to prosperity, prosperity, wealth, and freedom.

Abstract Abstract
Analyzing how novels are translated has received great attention in the last two centuries. Translation and translation criticism theorists have proposed various methods for translation analysis, the most important of which is the theory of Wiene and Darbelne. In this study, considering the importance of translation criticism, the translation of the novel "Taghreeb al-Qafiir" was analyzed and evaluated. Such studies can provide translators with the knowledge of translation models and theories so that they can provide appropriate translations. Based on the descriptive-analytical method, Masoumeh Fateminia's translation of the book "Taghreeb al-Qafiir" by Zahran al-Qasimi was analyzed and analyzed based on the theory of Wiene and Darbelne, and the quality of the translation of this novel was examined. The results showed that the translator sometimes used methods such as word-for-word translation and borrowing to bring his translation closer to the source language, and sometimes used other techniques such as balance and change of expression to bring his translation closer to the target language. The translator's complete familiarity with the culture and language of the source text and the culture and language of the target text has led to the presentation of a familiar translation, and shows that the conscious use of translation theories, especially the Wiene and Darbelne models, can play a fundamental and decisive role in improving the quality of the translation of contemporary Arabic novels into Persian, reducing the cultural gap between the two linguistic communities, increasing the Persian-speaking audience's perception of the stylistic nuances of the original text, and expanding comparative studies in the field of fiction.

Abstract Ecriture feminine is a mode of literary expression and narration that foregrounds women’s lived experiences, identity, emotions, voice, and agency, thereby representing the world from a feminine perspective. It can manifest itself through the thematic, linguistic, and narrative features of a literary work. In this context, Sahar Khalifeh, a prominent Palestinian woman novelist, devotes attention in her novel “Abbad al-Shams” to social issues, especially the situation of Palestinian women under occupation. She portrays the Palestinian women’s awakening to their own capabilities and, in doing so, challenges the notion of female weakness. Employing a descriptive-analytical method, this study examines the most prominent manifestations and features of ecriture féminine in “Abbad al-Shams”. The findings indicate that the use of Standard Arabic, female agency and the assertion of female roles, women’s body writing, taboo and offensive words, the expression of complaint and dissatisfaction in female discourse, linguistic intensifiers, the expression of women’s emotions and feelings, indirect directives, and tag questions are among the most significant manifestations of feminine writing in the novel. Through the dialogues, the author portrays the oppression of Palestinians by the occupiers, as well as the subjugation of women by men. Linguistic intensifiers in Sunflowers appear through repetition, words such as 'very' and 'never,' imperative verbs, and emphatic syntactic structures, including the absolute object (Maf'ul Mutlaq) and various forms of oaths. In contrast, women’s writing in this novel emerges through female polyphony, emotional language, and the representation of women’s psychological states. This approach transforms women from objects of narration into subjects with their own voices and critical perspectives. Furthermore, women’s experiences intertwine with concepts such as homeland, occupation, and resistance, ultimately contributing to a critique of society’s patriarchal structure.

Abstract Within Fraser’s theoretical framework, discourse markers are grammatically diverse lexical expressions that carry a procedural meaning and establish relations between propositions. Due to its precise emphasis on propositional relations and its suitability for Arabic textual analysis, Fraser’s model serves as the analytical framework of this study. The chapter on “Prohibition” in Kifāyat al-Uṣūl by Akhund Khorasani was selected as the corpus because of its high density and diversity of discourse markers. The study aims to demonstrate the usefulness of Fraser’s framework in clarifying the process of legal reasoning and identifying patterns of argumentative language in uṣūlī–jurisprudential texts.

The research adopts a mixed qualitative–quantitative approach using a descriptive–analytical method based on library sources. A total of 1,206 discourse markers were identified and coded using MAXQDA software. After analyzing representative samples, frequency distributions and patterns of discourse marker use were examined to identify the argumentative structure of the chapter on “Prohibition.”

The findings reveal that wa, ḥaythu, bi-ʿibārah ukhrā (“in other words”), bal iḍrāb, thumma, mithl/ka/kamā, and immā wa aw function as elaborative discourse markers. The markers lakin, bal, and the construction wa-in serve as contrastive markers used in refinement, negation, and replacement of rulings. The markers fa, lām, and li-dhālik operate as inferential markers, while ḥīnaʾidhin functions as a temporal marker. The results indicate a direct relationship between frequency and distribution patterns. The predominance of elaborative markers reflects the explanatory and expository nature of the argumentative structure in the “Prohibition” chapter. The close distribution of contrastive and inferential markers demonstrates a strong connection between disputation and inference in uṣūlī argumentation, whereas temporal markers play a comparatively limited role in the text.

Abstract The central concern of the present study is to investigate how meaning is reproduced in the short story Ma‘rad al-Juthath (The Corpse Exhibition) through the interaction between narrative structure and the representation of social actors. To achieve this objective, Hoey’s Problem–Solution Pattern and van Leeuwen’s Social Actor Representation framework were employed simultaneously in order to examine both the narrative organization of the text and the representation of characters in the process of meaning construction. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical method within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The data were collected from the story and categorized according to Hoey’s four-stage pattern: Situation, Problem, Response, and Evaluation. Subsequently, the representation strategies of social actors were examined within each stage.The findings indicate that, in the first stage (Situation), the narrative prepares the ground for the acceptance of the dominant worldview by foregrounding and positively appraising actors affiliated with al-Jama‘a (the Group). In the second stage (Problem), the victims of violence are represented through indetermination and impersonalization, which reduces their individuality and social visibility. In the third stage (Response), violence is reconstructed as a logical and effective solution through strategies of rationalization, expertization, and the redefinition of concepts such as peace, education, and knowledge. In the final stage (Evaluation), members of al-Jama‘a are represented and judged through positive appraisal and activation, whereas any form of doubt or opposition to the Group is evaluated negatively.Overall, the four stages of narrative processing operate in a way that contributes to the naturalization and rationalization of violence. Therefore, Ma‘rad al-Juthath does not merely narrate violence; rather, it reproduces a discourse in which violence is established as a necessary and legitimate practice within the text’s system of meaning