Arabic-L:LING:New Dissertation
Dilworth Parkinson
dilworth_parkinson at BYU.EDU
Wed May 2 14:16:48 UTC 2007
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-------------------------Directory------------------------------------
1) Subject:New Dissertation
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1)
Date: 002 May 2007
From:reposted from LINGUIST
Subject:New Dissertation
Institution: Northeastern IIllinois University
Program: MA in Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2007
Author: Omaima M. Ayoub
Dissertation Title: Hybrid Identity Construction: A case study of a Sufi
immigrant
Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
Sociolinguistics
Dissertation Director(s):
Richard Hallett
Judith Kaplan-Weinger
Shahrzad Mahootian
Dissertation Abstract:
This study investigates the relationship between language and culture in
the case of a college instructor whose identity is a blend of three
different identities (Sufi Muslim, Arab, and American); each of which is
unique in the way it influences the other identities as well as the
informant's worldviews. The present study explores how an immigrant, who
has been living in the U.S. for eight years, reconciles his three
identities. Thus, the following questions are posed: per this case
study,
how do one's native language and culture influence the construction
of his
hybrid identity as he attempts to acquire the language and culture of
a new
society, and how is this influence reflected in the informant's language
choice and use? The researcher used the following as discourse data:
1) a
lecture and a town-hall meeting in which the informant participated
at his
workplace, and 2) three interviews with the informant. Then, the
interviews, lecture, and town-hall meeting were analyzed with focus on
specific referents (e.g., influential people, Holy Qur'an, etc),
anecdotes,
worldviews, sentences, phrases, and words that made his discourse a
reflection of his Sufi, Arab, and American identities. The findings shed
some light on how an immigrant's native language and culture
influence the
construction of his hybrid identity as he functions in different social
scenes; this hybrid identity develops in correlation with greater
enculturation within American society. The findings also show that, per
this case study, the Sufi and Arab identities tend to dominate the
American
one in these social scenes. Finally, the current study elucidates how a
bilingual's linguistic competence converts to communicative
competence and
thus helps the immigrant function in the new society.
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