Journal of Basra researches for Human Sciences

This study presents a detailed acoustic analysis of Iraqi Arabic stop consonants. These sounds have been investigated but with few studies tackling their acoustic properties. The study investigates stops produced by eleven male Iraqi Arabic speakers. The target items are monosyllabic words containing long vowels with stops at two word positions, initial and final. The investigations included: 1- auditory and visual analyses of spectrograms for the realisations of stops in both word positions; 2- VOT of these stops; 3- F1 and F2 frequency at onset, midpoint and offset of vowels neighbouring the stops, compared with F1 and F2 of the same vowels produced in isolation. Results showed that: 1- in initial position, voiceless stops are realised with a burst or a number of bursts released into aspiration and/or friction before the start of the adjacent vowel, voiced stops are realised with a number of bursts and releases into the voicing of the adjacent vowel; 2- in final position, stops start with a closure followed by a release of voicing in the voiced and friction and/or aspiration in the voiceless; 3- IA has a negative VOT in voiced stops and a positive one in voiceless ones; 4- at onset and offset most stops have a lowering effect on F1 values suggesting a more close quality; at the three positions, stops have a lowering effect on F2 except for /t, d/ which show a rising effect for all positions.

This study investigates Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, which develops a kind of analysis of human values and reality, examines and criticises the complex workings of the inner life. In her narrative, Woolf portrays life itself through the positions of patriarchy and matriarchy in the family. The main concern of this study is to explore To the Lighthouse in relation to the concepts of patriarchy and matriarchy. This study suggests, therefore, that in order to understand those concepts more fully, an attention is needed to be paid Feminist theory since Woolf’s understanding of history and narrative is intimately bound up with ways of thinking about women. Moreover, she intended her fiction to address the great problem of the true nature of women. In this novel, she uses her skills to good account: making many literary techniques such as the contrast of ‘fact’ to ‘vision’ and the stream of consciousness in order to invest in the inner personae of her characters.

Al-Shanasheel buildings are a unique and important cultural and social physical heritage landmark of the city of Basra. This style of construction has historical roots that simulate the ancient Iraqi civilization. However, they are now threatened to become extinct as a result of several reasons, including the immigration of their original owners because of the wars and economic problems witnessed by the city. Nevertheless, Basra still has residential neighborhoods that retain their original Al-Shanasheel that date back to the Ottoman age, as well as Al-Shanasheel houses that belong to subsequent eras, which are an extension of the architectural and decorative styles of the past eras. From this perspective, this study is conducted to shed light on this physical style that reflects the clear understanding of the habitants of the city and the parameters of their geographical environment in its various elements that are reflected on the physical form of Al- Shanasheel buildings, passing through etymology and the buildings’ styles over various periods of the history of the city. The study relied on several resources and journals, perhaps the most important of which are the excavations, drawings, and the shapes included in them.

This study aims at discussing the registral variations in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. For centuries, white colonizers exploited the black native Africans by destroying their humanity and culture showing them as savages and cannibals. So, the Africans were shown as struggling with illiteracy and savagery, the white Man was busy with the idea of colonization and fortune. This study is about the registral variations in the speech of the White Man(US) and that of the African(THEM). The colonizer- colonized discourse in the novel shows the European thinking of himself to be a civilized human being while the African is shown to be savage and humiliated man. He is unable to express himself through language.