Journal of Basra researches for Human Sciences

Americanah (2013) is a novel written by the Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel focuses on themes of identity, race, and immigration that are experienced by its main character, Ifemelu, a Nigerian young lady who travels to the United States for study. The current study examines the dynamic shift of using code-switching by the characters and the depiction of cultural identity. The study argues that the writer uses code-switching as a narrative technique to mirror the characters’ cultural backgrounds, their identities, and the difficulties they encounter as immigrants. Besides, the study examines Adichie’s varied employment of code-switching as a practice to enrich character depths, to enhance personal bonds, and to highlight thematic elements. The analysis also explores the possible difficulties arising from code-switching, and underlines some instances where linguistic choices mirror broader social tensions in the story. One interesting finding is that code-switching in this novel appears not only as a linguistic practice, but also as a cultural experience like dress choices or possessions. Some characters tend to imitate Americans not only in the way they speak, but also in the way they appear.

Just like everyone can paint, whether it was bad or good, every bilingual can translate. However, not every translation (or painting) has the same quality. One of the reasons behind student translators having different levels of product quality is training/ teaching. Student translator training/teaching is not only about training/teaching them how to translate but how to produce high quality translation. It is based on the belief that untrained/untaught student translators generally produce lower quality translations compared to trained/taught student translators. Translation skills encompass not only linguistic skill (the linguistic expertise), including lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills, but also a professional skill (the expertise in other areas), including cultural, communicative, research, cross-cultural communication, project management, using various CAT programs, openness to others and flexibility, and familiarity with the subject domain skills, that reflect the multifaceted nature of the translation process and it its impact on producing a high quality translation. This study examines the implications of relying solely on training/teaching student translators only linguistically, suggesting that this issue may generally lead to lower quality translations, especially in terms of translating news headlines. However, translation departments around the world often make the significant mistake of focusing exclusively on linguistic skill, neglecting the broader professional skill that is equally essential.
This study is grounded in Van Doorslaer's assumption (2010) that student translators should prioritize not only linguistic skill, but also professional skill to produce high quality translation. It aims to assess whether current translation skills are sufficient to meet the demands of society and the translation market. The findings indicate that while communication methods and technologies advancements, and societal needs have changed, student translators' skills have not kept pace with these changes in translation studies departments around the world, including Iraq. Therefore, a re-evaluation of student translators' skills is necessary to respond to these changes effectively, especially in the light of the creative techniques used in translating news headlines.

This study examines the representation of (non) Arab leaders in ten selected political cartoon images through the lens of Kress and van Leeuwen’s model of visual interactive levels and Martinec and Salway’s framework of image-text relations. The study aims to indicate the power of such images as cultural artifacts reflect societal norms, ideologies, and political contexts, and to demonstrate the relevance of visual and textual frameworks work together in analyzing multimodal texts. The key questions of the study are: How do political cartoon images use visual and textual elements to represent (non) Arab leaders? and what culture differences can be identified in the portrayal of cartoon images about the authority and leadership in Arab and non-Arab leaders? The study reveals that all images exhibit unequal status, with text subordinate to the image, indicating the visual dominance in meaning-making. The study concludes that Arab leaders-oriented cartoon images prioritize authority and tradition, reflecting collectivist and hierarchical culture values, while the non-Arab leaders-oriented cartoon images employ critique and satire, highlighting individualism and democratic ideals. Through this multimodal analysis, the study underscores how visual and textual elements interact to reflect and construct cultural distinctions, offering valuable insights into the semiotics of political cartoon images as a form of cultural communication.

This study deals with Riders to the Sea which examines critically the qualities of Irish life and characters that Synge made attempts to invoke, as well as the distinct qualities that inaugurate this play as one of the most successful Irish play of the 20th Century. However, Synge, whose plays are concentrated on the Irish tales and myths, shows peculiar interest in the life of the Irish peasants who have become characters in his plays. He is one of the playwrights who raise the common Irish idiom to a high dramatic form of expression. Though his plays are essentially set in Irish surroundings, their significance is universal.
The concern of the present study is to shed significant lights on the social, economic and political aspects of Ireland. It comes across the peasant community and focuses on challenge to this society. It also presents the romantic elements in Synge’s life and examines his play in which man shows challenge to nature and shows how characters express challenge to authority which is represented by government, law, family and religion. Hence, natural love is much stronger than authority, and however authority stands powerful and strong, it is defied and challenged by people to whom love is everything, even if they are powerless and defenseless. Consequently, characters defy nature, the sea and fate for a chance to improve the economic stability of the family particularly when they are left with sea which is the only means that provides the islanders with the living needs. Hence, the harsh nature, which caused poverty and need did not make the Irishman submit to his circumstances. Synge succeeds in showing the reality of Aran life and the struggle of man with the merciless sea, on one hand and reflecting “joyful” picture of the Irish people on the other hand.

Significant attention has been paid to the subject of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the field of second/foreign language learning since Deci and Ryan’s production of these concepts. This paper aims to examine the extent to which Iraqi EFL learners are motivated to learn English as a foreign language. The study focuses on identifying the level to which Iraqi EFL learners exhibit intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. The academic motivation scale was handed out to third-stage students, and descriptive statistics were implemented to analyze the findings. According to the results, Iraqi EFL learners are highly motivated to learn English as a foreign language. In addition, it was determined that Iraqi EFL learners are extrinsically motivated and demonstrate a high level of identified regulation through subtypes of extrinsic motivation. This implies that Iraqi learners are learning English because they believe it is important to learn the language for the sake of their external benefits.

Discourse markers play a crucial role in communication. They have a vital role in connecting sentences and utterances making the conversation or talk coherent. This study sheds light on the distribution of discourse markers in communication particularly in educational discourse. It attempts to show the function of some discourse markers, namely: because, but, and so; and how they are distributed in educational settings. The study adopts Shiffrin’s 1987 model focusing on the local and global functions. It is based on the hypothesis that discourse markers display relationships that are local (between adjacent utterances) or global (across wider spans and/or structures of discourse). It adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods in the analysis of data under investigation. The study ends up with the conclusion that discourse markers can be used locally or globally referring back to adjacent utterances or remote ones.