Lebanese Arabic Conversational

Lebanese Arabic Conversational Question 1: Describe a â€Å"conversational routine† from a language other than English (but not a greeting). Include some detail on how it may vary and the situations in which it is appropriate. Then discuss in some depth how this routine reflects cultural assumptions or values. Language: the Mirror of Cultural Values Introduction Having a deep faith that culture is the way of life of people or in other words what crafts their â€Å"lifestyle,† beliefs, customs and practices, a person attains that the language articulated by the people possess culture embedded traits learnt since childhood. That is why language is a very essential component in culture because it reflects the important cultural assumptions and values of a society. Lebanese is a language with a rich vocabulary that includes a large number of cultural keywords; these key words are words that reflect cultural values, beliefs and even history. Therefore this paper will be focusing and accessing a particular Lebanese Arabic conversational routine, where one can learn about a particular culture by studying its language, moreover clearly noticing the presence of cultural assumptions and values in it. Cultures Impression on Language Language is highly influenced by the culture of the speaker and they seem inseparable. Language is what Kramsch and Widdowson () say â€Å"expresses cultural reality†¦. made up of signs that in them have cultural value †¦. Speakers view their language as a symbol of their social identity.† Thus I depend on their quote that â€Å"language symbolizes cultural reality† Being aware that culture is a very complex issue, with many different definitions. Defining culture is far beyond the aim of this paper, but for this purpose it will suffice to quote a few definitions to point to the main elements of the relevant senses of the word here in this essay. Culture is defined by Frow and Morris (1993 cited in June 2002 Center for cultural research) as the â€Å"the whole way of life of a social group †¦.. it is a network of representations texts, images, talk, codes of behavior and narrative structures †¦. shaping every aspect of social life.† Another usage in the Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary stressing the social aspect of culture and defines it as 5 a/b:â€Å"the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b:the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also :the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time.† Considering the above, cultures language reflects the things that are important in that culture and judging on Sapirs (1956 cited in wikepedia) hypothesis that culture is â€Å"to a large extent built upon the language habits of the group,† below I will give a simple introduction to the Lebanese culture in order to explain the culture embedded language . Lebanese Background Lebanon has accumulated thousands of years of culture in its 1042 m2 of land because of hundreds of empires having passed by its lands and with each passing the people grasped the essence of their knowledge. Also its people were migrating to western countries because of political upheavals and the Civil War. Affirming this Dr Mora () declares that cultural values are formed from â€Å"environmental adaptations, historical factors, social and economic evolutions and contact with other cultural groups.† It would need a more in depth study of the Lebanese culture. Nevertheless, here is a rough and ready introduction to some of there customs/cultural norms. As indicated in Khalidi and Mcllorys Culture Dictionary (2003), Lebanon is a small country that has its basis on religion. It is made up of Christians, Muslims, and Armenian and their various factions. Hence it is made up of many communities and all in all has 18 recognized dominant religions and despite 4000 years of occupation we arent wiped of the map (Medley 2007). Depending on experience and Medley (2007), Lebanese people are extremely sociable people in streets and at home. Also, they are identified as a â€Å"collectivistic culture† (based on Triandas definition cited in Neuliep 2000a) due to religious facets (Ayyash 2001) and because you are never alone in your burdens. Emphasizing that every one knows everyone, we convey closeness, respect and conciliation through physical touching unlike the West (Ronowiez 1995 and Wierzbicka 2003) and we tend to treat all unrelated people as family because to us family is the â€Å"nucleus of culture.† So you can be addressed by the strange taxi man at the airport as â€Å"uncle.† Proclaiming the sensibility of warmth and kindness are the most striking features in our country and especially in our language because our vocabulary is ample with thanks and blessings reflecting the blessings of God. Looking at it from this religious angle, the Lebanese tend to be like this because they are to be judged on their behaviors later in the Afterlife. Looking into another matter, it should be noted that the Arabic language Fos ha is used in legal matters, parliamentary issues, news reports, biblical references and the Quran and official speeches etc. because the language was closely linked with Islam in the past. This supports and is based on what Bessley (1998) stated, â€Å"many language communities adopt their standard orthography more or less by historical accident.† On the contrary, most Lebanese use a modern Lebanese dialect in daily conversations, bulletin boards, shop titles, internet chatting etc. and dont speak the language they write, which dramatically differs from Fos ha (Medley 2007). Below I will demonstrate in the conversational routine per se this modern spoken Lebanese vernacular. Conversational Routines In the field of linguistics the term routine refers to a â€Å"formulaic utterance† used in certain ordinary situations (greetings, parting, thanks, apologizes etc.) that can be as short as an utterance to as long as a phrase (UNE Course notes). Upon this definition, then one can state that a conversational routine is when a certain word or phrase is commonly used and soon becomes a habit. And as time goes, more and more of these routines are thought up and applied. In every culture, there are several, but the actual number is too great to be counted. The Lebanese culture has allowed the use of many conversational routines. Some examples are: Yaani = I mean Ya aami = Uncle or hey Yii ya allah = Oh! My God Mashi = ok or walking Ya zalameh = Yo! Man Yalla = coming or ok! Inshallah = hopefully Habiibii = lover or my beloved Shoo = what These are all words and phrases used in peoples daily lives and on a regular basis. Integrating conversational routines such as these and others helps reveal the Lebanese â€Å"ethnic and hybrid† identity stated by Tabar (2007). Succeeding this, I will exemplify the conversational routine â€Å"Walla† in its different contexts/meanings in five different dialogues and uncover its impinging religious and cultural elements. Other conversational routines are also used here, but I will stress on one to be concise. Note that I have attempted to Romanize the Lebanese Arabic into English phonetics instead of Arabic scripts to represent the Lebanese vernacular of Arabic and the abbreviations below imply the following: First Speaker (S1) and Second Speaker (S2). 1st usage: S1: â€Å"Laykee habiib sheftee shou sar la Hilda? Ya haram, rahet aala al mestashfa.† (Honey, Did you see what happened to Hilda? Poor Hilda, She was hospitalized.) S2: â€Å"Shoo, Walla! Leish? shou sar?† (What? Really! Why? What happened?) 2nd usage: S1: â€Å"Khalast darssak, ya sabii?† (Did you finish your studies boy? S2: â€Å"Walla, drasset kolou.† (I swear by God, I finished all my studies.) 3rd usage: An incident where a child accidentally falls and the observer says: â€Å"Wa-allah yehmeek† meaning ‘And God protect you. 4th usage: S1: â€Å"Btekhidinee aala al souk?† (Will you take me shopping or to the mall?) S2: â€Å"Walla, inshallah aaboukra.† (I promise, hopefully tomorrow.) 5th usage: When someone is hosting you with a drink or appetizer and you refuse shyly by saying: â€Å"La wallah† meaning â€Å"No thank you.† I have demonstrated from personal experience the usages of â€Å"Walla† as: ‘Really, ‘I swear, ‘I promise, ‘God protect, and ‘No thanks and there are many more functions. Equally interesting and stimulating, Peeters (2002) reviewed Traversos (2002) analysis of the word ‘Walla in the spoken Arabic. In her line of research, she examines how it â€Å"underscores the complexity of the relationship between language and cultures† and shows not only what Arabic grammarians see as a â€Å"corroboration device i.e. emphatic marker meaning ‘by God but â€Å"operating as a grammaticalized discourse particle comparable to the English particle such as ‘really and ‘truly (Wierzbecka cited in Peeters 2002.) Peeters (2002) adds that it is a â€Å"key word† like Wierzbeckas ‘a la` â€Å"because of it frequent use and its cultural specificity† (cited in Peeters 2002.) Similarly to Tabars (2007) study of the word ‘Habiib it has a common core with ‘Walla that is they both refer to a form of bonding between the speakers â€Å"on a basis of ethnicity or religion.† This theory also applies that when Arab origins use these terms they reveal a sense of â€Å"closeness† illustrating the ethnical element and friendship/family nature of the Lebanese Arab cultures. Overall, a conversational routine can be used everywhere. It doesnt exactly have a specific place to be put in, but a clue on how to use them according to the Lebanese would be that most express exclamations, surprises, frustrations, anger etc. and if not, then their second most common use would be to fill up a place where you have nothing to say or when you are trying to think of something to say. Rationalizing on what Thorton (1988:26 cited in Language and Cultures) proposed then we should not ask â€Å"what culture is but what culture does† to our language. In conclusion, this paper bought to light that the cultural norms of the interlocutors language are exposed through it. And that this intertwined relationship between language and culture aimed to point that they largely depend on each other to reflect and determine the cultural assumptions and values of a specific social culture in order to address and build a better understanding world for all.

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers Essay

In Emily Dickenson’s poem, Hope, she uses poetic device’s to describe hope as being like a bird. Birds are usually symbolized as being courageous and having a free soul to roam the skies. Therefore to compare hope to being like a bird was a wise choice for Dickenson because those who choose to be hopeful will have a necessity to have courage deep within them. Dickenson begins her poem with this vague statement that â€Å"Hope is the thing with feathers† (line 1). She refers to feathers as being like the feathers of a bird. As she continues on the second line, she states that the bird â€Å"perches in the soul† (line 2). This could best be explained that just as a bird rests upon a perch, hope can as well rest or perch deep in the soul. Dickenson uses imagery of the bird to show how hope can be perceived by the naked eye. In lines three through four, the bird â€Å"sings the tune-without the words/ and never stops at all† (line 3-4). These lines explain that even though the human eye may not be able to see hope in a physical aspect, they can sure believe that it is there and that feeling hope is indeed possible. One can never stop hoping and never the less, living a life without hope would inevitably be difficult. Dickenson metaphorically describes what it would be like if a person were to annihilate hope from their lives. Beginning with lines five through eight she states â€Å"And sweetest in the gale is heard/ and sore must be the storm/ that could abash the little bird/ that kept so many warm† (lines 5-8). The reasoning behind this statement is that the one who demolishes hope will never feel it and will continue to have feelings of negativity and sorrow. In comparison to this, the bird in the storm is just like the one with no hope and constant negativity. The storm would be considered the negativity and the bird would be considered the people who are brought down by these negative actions. These actions can cause the little bird to be abashed. In other words, it may bring sorrow to the people around. Dickenson uses a metaphor of the bird when she states that â€Å"[It] kept so many warm† (line 8). Physically it would be impossible for â€Å"hope† to keep anything warm; however, mentally making one feel warm is possible. Hope is a free quality to have that never asks of anything in return. In the last few stanzas of Dickenson’s poem, she writes about how the bird has never asked anything from her. In line 12, it says that the bird never asked a crumb of her. Again this can mean that asking anything in return is out of the question when dealing with the feeling of hope. It was available to her within the â€Å"chillest land/ and on the strangest sea† (lines 9-10). Anytime someone needs reassurance of hope, it is accessible to them and will always be there for them. Hope exists in everyone. Dickenson may be trying to portray to her readers that anything can be accomplished if hope is present. She advises to keep hope close and to admire it for as long as possible to pursue ones high hopes and dreams. Breaking down Dickenson’s poem resulted in a better understanding of what she was trying to portray. Metaphorically, Dickenson uses the bird to resemble hope. Hope belongs in our souls and is eternal, just as she says how the bird perches in our soul and never stops singing. Even in the harshest conditions, the bird continues to sing. Finally, Hope remains in the soul always and asks for nothing because it is free. Hope can be narrowed down to being classified as a gift from God.

The History of Mahayana Buddhism Essay - 1118 Words

Mahayana Buddhism originated in India and is believed to be associated with some of the oldest known existing branches of Buddhism. The temple our group visited was devoted to this philosophical way of thinking, and its practices. More than half of all Buddhist practitioners participate in the Mahayana tradition, making it the largest major tradition of Buddhism existing today (Statistics on Buddhism). In the course of its history, Mahayana Buddhism spread from India to various other Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Tibet and Mongolia (Mahayana Buddhism). The Eastern States Buddhist Temple of America, Inc., founded in 1962, is the oldest Chinese (Mahayana) Buddhist temple on the eastern coast of the United States. It was†¦show more content†¦Appropriately, it was named the â€Å"Eastern States Buddhist Temple of America, Inc.† The choice of 64 Mott Street was dictated not only by the fact that this is a convenient place for Chinese Buddhists to gather eac h week, but also because Mrs. Ying saw a particular need in Chinatown. What she saw was many elderly Chinese men sitting on the sidewalk all day and drinking coffee. These men were laborers from China who planned to leave their family for perhaps one or two decades, then return to their home and family. What they did not count on was the communist revolution. That war essentially scattered their family all over China and thus terminated all their communications with their family members. Now that these men are old and retired, they have neither a Chinese home to return to, nor have they gotten sufficiently Americanized to consider United States their new home. So they sit all day on the sidewalk and drink coffee and chat and wait. 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Film Adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex Essay - 971 Words

â€Å"You are your own enemy† (Guthrie, Oedipus Rex, 22:43). In the film adaptation of Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex† (1957), Sir Tyrone Guthrie portrays the characters as truth seekers that are ignorant when trying to find King Laius’ murderer. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud’s hypothesis of Sophocles’ work introduces us to â€Å"The Oedipus Complex† (1899) which states that as we’re young we grow infatuated with our opposite sex parent and feel resentment towards our same-sex parent. These two pieces have adapted mirror like meanings of Sophocles’ tragic play. Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Sigmund Freud explore this through the use of ethos, irony, social distance, and the visualization of state of mind in order to show the manifestation Oedipus undergoes†¦show more content†¦In the same way, Sigmund Freud hypothesizes that the reason Oedipus tends to be so ignorant and ignore the truth is because his unconscious is t rying to protect him from bringing up past feelings for his mother. Freud asserts this idea by studying his patients that lead him to believe that the psyches urge to love the opposite sex parent â€Å"has not changed for many thousands of years† (Jacobus 477). Oedipus decisions to ignore the accusations against him are just a defense mechanism of the unconscious because as human beings grow older we are conditioned to know that loving the opposite sex parent is morally incorrect. Therefore, Oedipus’ strong desire to seek the truth is what leads him to his ironic downfall. Sir Tyrone Guthrie makes sure that everyone who has information belonging to the murder of King Laius or Oedipus true parents comes to Oedipus rather than him seeking the information. This shows how all the answers are being fed to Oedipus but he does not make any sense of it. Creon foreshadowed Oedipus downfall when he explained that â€Å"time alone shows a just man, though a day can show a nameâ €  which led to Oedipus gauging out his eyes for the wrong doing he did (Guthrie, Oedipus Rex, 33:13). Sigmund Freud would recall this from his patients having unresolved feelings for their parents that led them to get sick or self-inflict themselves, like Oedipus, as punishment. Though, Freud’s patients have also â€Å"†¦imagined themselves killingShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesthrough practice. Any approach to developing management skills, therefore, must involve a heavy dose of practical application. At the same time, practice without the necessary conceptual knowledge is sterile and ignores the need for flexibility and adaptation to different situations. Therefore, developing competencies in management skills is inherently tied to both conceptual learning and behavioral practice. The method that has been found to be most successful in helping individuals develop management