Browsing results for Habib Sandy
Published on July 28, 2020. Last updated on July 28, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2019). NSM substantives: the Arabic and Hebrew exponents of six simple, universal concepts. International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 5(2), 188-207.
Open access
Abstract:
Of all the substantives, only six are regarded by the NSM approach as being simple and universal. These six substantives are realized in English by means of the words I, you, someone, something, people, and body. While proving their simplicity is evidenced by the fact that they cannot be defined further using simpler terms, proving their universality requires identifying them in as many languages as possible. This paper aims to do so in three Semitic languages, which are Jish Arabic, Standard Arabic, and Hebrew, and demonstrates that these six concepts indeed have exponents in these three languages.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on July 28, 2020. Last updated on July 28, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2020). Heaven and hell are here! The non-religious meanings of English heaven and hell and their Arabic and Hebrew counterparts. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 149-165). Singapore: Springer.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_8
Abstract:
The religious meanings of English heaven and hell, Arabic الجنة aljanna and الجحيم jahannam الجحيم, and Hebrew גן העדן gan eden and גֵיהִנוֹם geyhinom have been explored in previous work. The aim of the present chapter is to throw light on their non-religious meanings, which turn out to be identical across the three languages. The six words are explicated using the simple, universal terms of the NSM approach. This results in explications that are easily understood and readily translatable into all languages, giving cultural outsiders an insider’s view of these concepts.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aljanna الجنة, (E) gan eden גן העדן, (E) geyhinom גֵיהִנוֹם, (E) heaven, (E) hell, (E) jahannam الجحيم
Published on July 25, 2020. Last updated on January 26, 2022.
Habib, Sandy (2020). The exponents of eleven simple, universal concepts in three Semitic languages. International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 6(1-2), 68-90.
Open access
Abstract:
The NSM theory makes the claim that there are 65 concepts that are simple and universal; these concepts are called semantic prime. Their simplicity is proven by the fact that they cannot be defined via simpler terms, while their universality is proven by finding their exact equivalents in as many geographically and genetically different languages as possible. In this paper, I identify the exponents of eleven semantic primes in three Afroasiatic languages: Standard Arabic, Jish Arabic, and Hebrew.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 27, 2019. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2018). Heaven and hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. RASK, 48, 1–34.
Open access
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to devise a cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural place terms. To achieve this objective, six supernatural place concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a seven-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold. First, it eases the task of explicating supernatural place concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it makes it easier to compare related supernatural place concepts from different languages. Third, it unveils the devices that are embodied in the structure of supernatural place concepts and that enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aljanna, (E) gan eden, (E) geyhinom, (E) heaven, (E) hell, (E) jahannam
Published on April 2, 2018. Last updated on July 26, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2017). Dying for a cause other than God: Exploring the non-religious meanings of martyr and shahīd. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 37(3), 314-327.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2017.1298395
Abstract:
This paper looks into the non-religious meanings of English martyr and its near Arabic equivalent شهيد shahīd. It compares and contrasts them and provides an explication of each, using NSM. Both concepts refer to a person who was killed. Both are hailed for sacrificing their lives. To be called a martyr, a person has to have been killed for adhering and fighting for a higher cause, such as peace, the environment or their country; this person can be from any country and of any ethnicity. To be called شهيد shahīd, on the other hand, a person must have been killed on political grounds only and has to have been an Arab living in an Arab country.
The two explications are built out of mostly simple and universal words. This means that they are easy to comprehend and translatable into any language. Their translatability grants cultural outsiders access to their exact meaning.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) martyr, (E) shahīd شهيد
Published on May 16, 2017. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2017). The meanings of ‘angel’ in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. In Zhengdao Ye (Ed.), The semantics of nouns (pp. 89-119). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198736721.003.0004
Abstract:
This chapter explores the meanings of English angels and its Arabic and Hebrew near-equivalents. Using the NSM framework, semantic analysis is carried out, and an explication is constructed for each term. The results show that there are similarities and differences between the three concepts. The similarities include, among other things, the categorization of the three non-human beings and their good nature. The differences appear mainly in the conceptualization of the hierarchy among these beings, their visual representations/appearances, and relation to people. As the explications are constructed from simple, universal human concepts, they are translatable into any language, and thus accessible to cultural outsiders.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) angel, (E) mal`akh מַלְאָך, (E) malāk ملاك, (T) Arabic, (T) Hebrew
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on July 26, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2014). Dying in the cause of God: The semantics of the Christian and Muslim concepts of martyr. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 34(3), 388-398.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2014.898223
Abstract:
Martyrdom is unquestionably an important concept in the discourse of Christianity and Islam. This religious concept challenges the minds of many people, particularly because it calls believers to adhere to their beliefs even if they are tortured to death. Notwithstanding, countless martyrs populate the historical accounts of these two monotheistic religions.
This paper examines and defines the Christian and Muslim concepts of martyr and شهي shahīd, respectively. The focus is not on the English word martyr and the Arabic word شهي shahīd as such. The labels have been chosen for the sake of convenience. The explication of martyr represents the concept as perceived by Christians in general, irrespective of their mother tongues. The same goes for the Islamic concept of شهي shahīd. The explication represents the Islamic concept as perceived, not only by Arabic-speaking Muslims, but by Muslims in general. The paper delineates the similarities and differences between the two concepts and provides an NSM explication of each.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) martyr
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2012). Meeting the prince of darkness: A semantic analysis of English the devil, Arabic ashshaytan, and Hebrew hasatan. In Gil’ad Zuckermann (Ed.), Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (pp. 123-160). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Abstract:
In Christianity, he is a fallen angel; in Islam, he is a kind of jinn, and, in Judaism, he is the only being of his kind. This being is known as the devil by English-speaking Christians, as الشيطان ashshayṭān by Muslim Arabs, and as הסטן hasatan by native Hebrew speakers. Notwithstanding the theological differences, the phrase the devil is almost always glossed in dictionaries and translated in books and stories as الشيطان ashshayṭān, in Arabic, and הסטן hasatan, in Hebrew, and vice versa. Consequently, there is good reason to believe that ordinary native English speakers, Muslim Arabs, and native Hebrew speakers would think that the devil, الشيطان ashshayṭān, and הסטן hasatan refer to the same non-human being. To verify this matter, this study explores these three concepts and delineates the similarities and differences between them.
Since the three concepts originate in three different cultures, each concept is analysed and described in a way that would make it understood, not only to cultural insiders, but also to outsiders. To explain the term the devil, for instance, using words such as supernatural and evil might be problematic, especially when such words (1) are themselves no less complex than devil and hence need explication and (2) do not have equivalents or exact equivalents in other languages. As a consequence, not any linguistic analysis can achieve the goals of this chapter. One method that can is the NSM approach.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ashshayṭān الشيطان, (E) devil, (E) hasatan הסטן, (T) Arabic, (T) Hebrew
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on July 26, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2011). Contrastive lexical-conceptual analysis of folk religious concepts in English, Arabic, and Hebrew: NSM approach. PhD thesis, University of New England, Armidale.
Abstract:
The primary aim of this dissertation is to explore a number of religious concepts in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. It is the first detailed study of folk religious concepts from a linguistic vantage point. The concepts included in the study are those behind the English words angels, the devil, God, heaven, hell, martyr, sin, and grace, as well as their Arabic and Hebrew near-equivalents. The theoretical framework is that of the NSM approach.
To lay the groundwork, Arabic and Hebrew versions of NSM are established, which had not been done before. Semantic explications of the target religious concepts are then developed in terms that are both comprehensible to ordinary people and translatable between the three languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew). This allows for easy identification of the similarities and differences among the various concepts in the languages under investigation.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aljanna, (E) Allah الله, (E) angel, (E) ashshayṭān الشيطان, (E) devil, (E) elf, (E) Elohim, (E) fairy, (E) gan eden, (E) geyhinom, (E) ghost, (E) God, (E) grace, (E) hasatan הסטן, (E) heaven, (E) hell, (E) jahannam, (E) khaṭī'a, (E) khesed, (E) khet, (E) mal`akh מַלְאָך, (E) malāk ملاك, (E) martyr, (E) niʿma, (E) nymph, (E) ra', (E) shahīd شهيد, (E) sin, (T) Arabic, (T) Hebrew
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 27, 2019.
Habib, Sandy (2011). Angels can cross cultural boundaries. RASK (International Journal of Language and Communication), 34, 49-75.
Open access
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to explore how ordinary Native English speakers and Muslim Arabs view English angel and its Arabic equivalent malāk, respectively. The two terms are examined and analysed based on linguistic data that show how people from each group understand and use one of these terms in their native language.
The results demonstrate that there are similarities and differences between the two concepts. The similarities include, among other things, (1) the categorization of angels and ‘malāʿika‘ (pl. of malāk), (2) their habitat, (3) their good nature, and (4) their relation with people. The differences are manifested mainly in the conceptualization of these creatures’ (visual) appearances. Being similar to each other, these two concepts may prove to be helpful in promoting cross-cultural communication between ordinary native English speakers and Muslim Arabs. Additionally, the analysis of the two terms can provide cultural outsiders with access to the insider perspective of each term.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) angel, (E) malāk ملاك
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2011). Ghosts, fairies, elves, and nymphs: Towards a semantic template for non-human being concepts. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 31(4), 411-443.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2012.625599
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to devise a semantic template for non-human being terms. To achieve this objective, four non-human being concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a nine-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold. First, it eases the task of explicating non-human being concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it eases the comparison between related non-human being concepts from different languages. Third, it reveals the devices that are embodied in the structure of non-human being concepts and that enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) elf, (E) fairy, (E) ghost, (E) nymph
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2015). Can God and Allah promote intercultural communication? RASK (International Journal of Language and Communication), 42, 77-103.
Open access
Abstract:
This article deals with the concept of English God and its Arabic equivalent Allah. The two concepts are analysed based on how ordinary native English speakers and Muslim Arabs, respectively, use them in their native languages. Additionally, an explication is constructed for each concept. Comparing the explications shows that the two concepts are very similar to each other. The only differences found are as follows: (1) God appears to be perceived as being in the same place to which “good” people go after they die, while Allah is not; (2) God seems to be conceived of as an omnipresent spirit; as for Allah, no linguistic evidence was found to suggest this same idea, and (3) only God seems to have a visual representation, which is that of an old father. Being very similar to each other, these two concepts might prove useful in promoting intercultural communication between native English speakers and Muslim Arabs. In addition, the analysis of the two concepts can provide cultural outsiders with access to an insider perspective on each concept.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Allah الله, (E) God
