Idiomatic false friends in English and Modern Standard Arabic

Al-Wahy, Ahmed Seddik

doi:10.1075/babel.55.2.01wah

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This particularly applies to cases of manipulation and creative use of PUs, where both principles are in operation. Elsewhere (Al-Wahy, 2009), it has been suggested that Arabic calques from English may diverge semantically from their English sources, leading to idiomatic false friends. Here, it is shown that the opposite can also be true; borrowing set phrases can result in phraseological synonymy in the borrowing language, where phrases with different forms have the same meaning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lexical Variation in Arabic Phraseological Units Calqued from English: An Explanatory Approach

Al-Wahy

2019

Textual Turnings: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal in Eng

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Contrary to the long-standing view that regards fixedness as one of the defining features of phraseological units (PUs), investigation of authentic texts suggests that PUs display a higher degree of variability than was generally assumed. The present paper aims to classify and provide explanations for the types of lexical variation in Modern Arabic PUs that have been calqued from English. It shows that calqued PUs display types of lexical variation that are different from those displayed by original PUs. The study also argues that explanations that are restricted to only one branch of linguistics cannot fully account for the types of variation found in Arabic calqued PUs and that an approach that combines both linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects can provide a more appropriate explanatory tool for such variation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lexical Variation in Arabic Phraseological Units Calqued from English: An Explanatory Approach

Al-Wahy

2019

Textual Turnings: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal in Eng

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“…Nevertheless, the phenomenon of FFs does exist between these two languages, which is due to the process of lexical borrowing that takes place between Arabic and English. Al-Wahy (2009) states that "though English and Arabic are not genetically related languages, cultural contact between the two languages has led to the presence of false friends of different types, both lexical and idiomatic" (p. 103). In Arabic, there are some loanwords which represent pairs of FFs with their English counterparts.…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…FFs are classified in the literature from different points of view (Al-Wahy, 2009;Beltrán, 2006;Chamizo-Domínguez, 2008;Veisbergs, 1996;Yaylaci&Argynbayev, 2014). Semantically speaking, and according toVeisbergs (1996: 628-29),FFs can be divided into three main groups:i) false friends proper, ii) occasional or accidental false friends, and iii) pseudo false friends.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

False friends and lexical borrowing: A linguistic analysis of false friends between English and Arabic

Al-Athwary¹

2021

Dil Ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi

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This theoretical study aims at raising awareness of the existence of lexical false friends (FFs) in English and Arabic as genetically unrelated languages. It also provides a general categorization for FFs from a semantic point of view. A sample of more than fifty FF pairs is examined by contrasting their form, pronunciation and meaning. The analysis reveals that English Arabic FFs are of two types: Chance FFs (occur by coincidence) and semantic FFs(exist via lexical borrowing), the former being more frequent than the latter. This taxonomy is in line with those introduced by Chamizo-Domínguez (2008) and Roca-Varela (2015). Semantic FFs can be total (due to semantic shift, ellipsis, or figurative extension) or partial (through the process of semantic narrowing). Chance FFs are more problematic in the sense that they cause various degrees of embarrassment and confusion due to the fact that some constituents of FF pairs involve taboo and offensive words. Thus, such lexical FFs are considered potential agents that may create misunderstanding, miscommunication and confusionamong L2 learners.

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“…They are defined as set phrases in two languages that have the same literal meaning but differ as regards their idiomatic meaning or their sociolinguistic and stylistic features [1].…”

Section: What Are False Friends Between German and Russian Today?mentioning

confidence: 99%

English Multi-word Expressions as False Friends between German and Russian: Corpus-driven Analyses of Phraseological Units

Nefedova¹

2017

Proceedings of the Conference EUROPHRAS 2017 - Computational and Corpus-Based Phraseology: Recent Advances and Interdisciplinar

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Abstract. In this paper we outline the issue of borrowing multi-word expressions from English into German and Russian. It is established which forms of borrowed multi-word expressions (original or translated ones) predominate in contemporary German and Russian. The сorpus-driven analysis of functioning of English multi-word expressions in the German and the Russian press has revealed direct borrowings and calques. The majority of the multi-word expressions borrowed from English into German over recent decades are direct loans, where as multi-word expressions borrowed from English into Russian are still calques. Uncommon direct loans in Russian often belong to professional or youth slang. In this case direct loaned multi-words expressions from English are considered in German and Russian as stylistic false friends. Direct loaned multiwords expressions can rarely have semantic differences in both languages and be semantic false friends. The text corpora comparative study helps identify semantic and stylistic false friends and provides examples for a German-Russian and Russian-German dictionary of false friends, which are represented in this paper.

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Idiomatic false friends in English and Modern Standard Arabic

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Lexical Variation in Arabic Phraseological Units Calqued from English: An Explanatory Approach

Lexical Variation in Arabic Phraseological Units Calqued from English: An Explanatory Approach

False friends and lexical borrowing: A linguistic analysis of false friends between English and Arabic

English Multi-word Expressions as False Friends between German and Russian: Corpus-driven Analyses of Phraseological Units

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