Journal of Al_Anbar University for Language and Literature

This research aims to analyze the linguistic discourse used in pediatric dental clinics from a cognitive-pragmatic perspective, with a focus on how the dentist interacts with the child within a therapeutic context that requires effective communication and precisely targeted linguistic strategies.
The study relies on the framework of Speech Act Theory as a central analytical tool to deconstruct the types of discourse used by dentists—particularly directives, commands, and questions—in light of the shared knowledge between the dentist and the child.
The research addresses the pragmatic characteristics of medical discourse in terms of language simplification, mitigation strategies, and the construction of reassurance for the child, all of which contribute to facilitating the therapeutic process and achieving positive interaction.
The theoretical aspect is based on concepts from cognitive pragmatics, while the applied part relies on the analysis of real conversational samples from pediatric dental clinics, aiming to uncover the effective linguistic mechanisms in creating successful communication.
The study concludes that pragmatic linguistic discourse plays a pivotal role in enhancing the relationship between the dentist and the child and in preparing a more responsive therapeutic environment.
The theoretical aspect of the study is grounded in the concepts of cognitive pragmatics, while the applied aspect is based on the analysis of real conversational samples from pediatric dental clinics, in addition to the design of a field questionnaire distributed among a number of dentists specialized in pediatric dentistry. The purpose was to monitor their orientations and practical experiences in linguistic interaction with children.
The research findings revealed a high level of pragmatic awareness among some dentists in employing child-directed discourse, and highlighted the importance of linguistic style in reducing anxiety and motivating the child to cooperate. The conclusions also showed that adopting well-considered linguistic strategies contributes to creating a more responsive and successful therapeutic environment and enhances the effectiveness of the dentist-child relationship.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, where the body becomes the central point of reference and signification, the representation of experiences in texts is no longer mental or abstract. It is delivered to readers through its incarnation within the body that becomes the medium on which such painful experiences as discrimination, violence, racial relegation, and intergenerational trauma are reminisced and inscribed. The current study aims to explore the field of Somatics; the investigation of bodies. It examines the body as a principal site of meaning and perception. It also aims to inspect the way the idea of pain is materialized phenomenologically in the body as a lived experience. This noticeably appears in the poetry of Emtithal Mahmoud and Jasmin Kaur, where the body of people of color, mainly women, becomes a source of resistance against oppression while recording the severe scars of the racist encounter. Methodologically, this study adopts the qualitative method, integrating a close reading with textual and visual analysis of the selected data, where Mahmoud deals with pain from a bodily perspective, relying heavily on poetic written verses, whereas Kaur carries the idea of pain to the real corporality of the page, employing visual elements within the text. The study concludes that perceiving, acting, and thinking are somatically formed by the body which is not merely a vessel through which painful experiences can pass, but the very condition that makes such experiences fathomable

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aim(s): This study seeks to shed light on one aspect of Suzanne Stetkevych’s efforts in studying pre-Islamic poetry by examining her critical reading of the two famous Dāelleiyyah poems of al-Nābighah al-Dhubyānī, as presented in the first chapter of her book “al- Qasida wa al- Sulta”. ”. It aims to assess how effectively her reading illuminates the text and to provide a critical evaluation of her interpretation
Methods: his study adopted the descriptive-analytical method. It first outlined the main contours of Stetkevych's reading of the two poems, a reading based on the application of anthropological theories to pre-Islamic poetry. Subsequently, the study presented critical observations regarding the interpretation offered by Stetkevych..
Results:. The study concluded that Stetkevych demonstrated a clear ability to read pre-Islamic poetry with depth and insight. However, she faced challenges in applying anthropological theories to this type of poetry.
Conclusions: Stetkevych's attempt to apply anthropological theories resulted in unconvincing interpretations and overlooked elements that might contradict her reading

Objectives: This study examines the growing use of Iraqi colloquial language as a distinctive dialectal feature in Iraqi novels written for Arab readers. Within the transformations characterizing postmodern writing, many authors attempt to present public voices in their full social and cultural depth. However, the increasing use of colloquialism can sometimes become detrimental, rendering certain expressions disconnected from the literary text and distancing it from its aesthetic literariness especially when such usage lacks deliberate pragmatic purpose to support communication.
Methodology: Accordingly, this study seeks to demonstrate that colloquial language, grounded in cultural associations and vocabulary, carries significant historical and spatial referential dimensions. Three Iraqi novels were selected, each representing a distinct cultural environment. The analysis proceeded through three dimensions: (1) norms and references related to Iraqi dialectal features, (2) the function of communicative speech acts, and (3) the pragmatic aspects of the selected texts.
Results: A descriptive pragmatic methodology was employed, supported by comparative and interpretive approaches where relevant, given the bilingual nature of the novels, which incorporate both Standard Arabic and Iraqi colloquial speech.
Conclusion: The study concludes that many expressions in Iraqi colloquial Arabic reflect semantic developments that diverge from established lexical norms. Furthermore, the use of colloquial dialect may challenge the effective realization of certain speech acts.

Objective: This article seeks to provide an objective and analytical review of (Iraqi Women’s Journeys - A Cultural Study) by critic Fadhil Aboud Al-Tamimi, to identify and analyze the most important critical opinions of the author, and to comment on them in a manner consistent with the subject of the book under study.
Methods: The article followed a methodology based on an objective analytical review of the work, through analyzing the author’s critical opinions and identifying their cognitive and contextual references, through deconstruction and analysis.
conclusion: This study concludes that this work demonstrates the author’s scientific knowledge of what travel writing requires, its limits, and its foundations, as well as his (the author’s) cognitive awareness of the limits of this transitional literature, which begins with a starting point and ends with a return.
Results: The study identified the most important starting points of travel literature, and its most important goals, which are to observe the other through the lens of the traveler, given that this literature is a spatial literature based on moving from one place to another, and observing the other culturally, socially, historically, and intellectually, that is, to identify the forms of culture as the common denominator among peoples.

This paper explores the intersections of youth, technology, and civil liberties in Cory Doctorow’s "Little Brother" (2008), a more recent dystopian novel in which youth agency is prominently featured in a surveillance-centric world. Utilizing a qualitative methodological framework with textual analysis, this study uses theoretical perspectives on surveillance studies, digital rights and liberties, and critical dystopian theory as tools with which to examine how themes of surveillance technology, youth resistance, and civic participation in this work are represented. However, this paper contends that in "Little Brother", technology is represented as simultaneously facilitating social control and providing tools of empowerment, representing through these themes and representations the double-edged ability of digital technology within society. “Marcus Yallow” as protagonist also embodies within his actions and roles in the work this double-pronged ability or capability of youth in defending against overreach in society in an honest, pragmatic, and tech-savvy manner. "Little Brother" is also clearly critical of “post-9/11″ security policies, through which it contends the real cost in human liberties resulting from emergency “homeland security” policies, while at the same time providing, as a work, an educational mediation as a pedagogical tool through literature towards digital or technology-specific literacy and consciousness. Thus, in bridging through this, both literary analysis with oppositional analyses on contemporary sociopolitical issues at work in this manner, this paper argues that this in fact has important relevance in fostering through dystopian literature contemporary awareness of contemporary social justifiably contested technology-driven issues on surveillance, digital rights, as well as work-based technology-specific examples.

Positive attitudes are considered a major attribute that influence how well someone learns a language. In light of this, the present study focuses on how first-year EFL university students’ attitudes change due to the use of the inductive approach to teaching grammar. The data-gathering instrument was via a five-point-Likert-attitude scale, which was designed to provide a more wholistic perspective on the change process. Its psychometric properties were established; so, in its final version, it was composed of 23 items that address various aspects related to grammar and its learning. As for the study sample, it comprised 42 students enrolled at the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Industries Techniques Engineering, Technical Engineering College of Mosul, Northern Technical University for the first course of the academic year 2025-2026. To proceed, EFL students’ attitudes were measured before-and-after exposure to the independent variable, viz. the inductive approach. Initially, it was found that those students possess positive attitudes towards grammar learning, then after being instructed by the inductive approach, these attitudes increased as revealed by the data analysis of the scale; in addition to insignificant influence of the examined gender variable upon their attitudes towards English grammar. The results of the study demonstrated that nurturing positive attitudes towards grammar learning is contingent largely upon employing effective teaching method that can transform a dull subject into an entertaining one, full of engaging activities to optimize pedagogical effectiveness. On the basis of these results, some suggestions and recommendations were proposed.

The objectives of this study are to investigate Stephen King's Carrie's bullying topic and how it affects the protagonist as well as to evaluate Carrie's psychological pain brought on by social and familial persecution. The study also seeks to investigate the ways in which trauma affects Carrie's conduct and personality development throughout the novel. In addition to that, it draws attention to the story's link between social isolation and negative outcomes. To fulfill these objectives, this study adopts the themes of pain and bullying in Stephen King's Carrie using a qualitative approach based on textual analysis. It centers on Carrie White, the protagonist who faces social and psychological challenges. It also requires carefully reading key passages in the novel that depict emotional abuse at home and bullying at school. The impact of these events on Carrie's personality and behavior is examined from a psychological and sociological perspectives. The major findings show that King tries to show the danger of bullying on both the victimizers and the victimized. The study concludes the tragic end when Carrie uses telekinetic power to kill all the people who hurt her. So, King shows the horrific effects of bullying and suffering on the oppressors and the oppressed as well.

This research aims to study the representation of women’s identity, marriage and independence in Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House (1879) and Lucas Hnath’s play A Doll’s House, Part 2 (2017). Through comparative analysis, the research demonstrates how these two plays establish a continuous feminist dialogue across distinct historical periods. Employing a comparative literature methodology informed by feminist literary critique and existentialist feminist theory, the analysis is grounded in Simone de Beauvoir’s perspectives on female subjectivity. The study examines character development and thematic continuity in both plays through close textual analysis, with particular focus on Nora, Torvald, Anne-Marie, and Emmy. Ibsen presents Nora’s departure as a radical act of self-awakening that challenges nineteenth-century patriarchy and marriage law. In contrast, Hnath explores the aftermath of Nora’s decision and the complexities of female independence, including its emotional consequences, ethical considerations, and the influence of legal frameworks. The sequel complicates the notion of liberation by illustrating how a woman’s pursuit of freedom and rights is often trivialized by men. The findings suggest that freedom in both plays is not a permanent state but an ongoing process negotiated within social constraints and moral responsibilities. Collectively, these texts remain pertinent to contemporary discussions of marriage, independence, and women’s rights.

In spite of the diverse functions of repetition in discourse having been tackled in prior literary studies, the current research offers a great interest to continue exploring various sorts of repetition, but in another perspective, i.e. in texts of the Prophetic Traditions (henceforth PTs). The study aims to in-depth investigate repetition and its rhetorical functions so as to explain how and why the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ ⟮Prayer and peace be upon him⟯ has used such very significant linguistic devices in discourse. These devices have an impact on the recipient as they transform the role of listener from being attentive and perceptive to being conceived of the idea, then implementing it. Descriptive approach based on qualitative method has been followed to analyse verbal and semantic repetitions in 30 PTs. The findings show the rhetorical purposes behind using verbal and semantic repetitions in the PTs, as a means for calling to Islam and delivering the principles of preaching. It can be concluded that the use of such repetitions in the PTs has expanded and gained a new meaning. Repetition in the PTs is intentionally made to achieve and enhance many rhetorical functions like persuasion.

This research examined the potential similarities and differences between Arabic speakers and French speakers in how they employ euphemisms in different formal and informal situations. Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs), designed for both languages, were used to collect data. The DCTs included three main situations: death, cancer, and bodily functions, and each situation had three scenarios with different statuses. The sample consisted of 30 Algerian PhD students enrolled at the University of Jordan and 30 native French speakers working at the French Cultural Institute in Al-Luweibdeh, Amman, Jordan. Both were consistent (i.e., 15 males and 15 females). The collected data were analyzed and interpreted based on some classifications of euphemistic expressions. The French data were first translated into English, allowing researchers to apply Warren's (1992) classification and additional strategies proposed by Allan and Burridge (1991). Results showed that participants used more understatement when the taboo topic was cancer in formal situations. Conversely, overstatements were divided between situations involving reporting about the illness or requesting permission from a higher-status audience to go out. Figurative expressions were used in contexts involving the death of a relative or a friend, especially in the Arabic data, where they appeared more often than in the French data, since Arabic is a rhetorical language. In the French data, it was observed that not all strategies were used and that taboos are less restricted subjects to discuss. In other words, Arabic speakers used direct communication rather than indirectness, unlike their French counterparts, who preferred indirect approaches.
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This article explores trauma-related eating disorders in Nervous Conditions (1988) by Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga. Previous colonial criticism of the novel sheds light on the protagonist, Tambu, and her coming of age in colonial Zimbabwe. A pivotal issue in the text overlooked by scholars is Tambu’s cousin, Nyasha’s eating disorder. With its central focus on the character of Nyasha, the research seeks to present an in-depth analysis of the consequences of domestic abuse on pubescent females in an oppressive patriarchal culture. The article examines Nyasha’s anorexia as emblematic of her rebellion against the dominant patriarchal system that denies her agency and forces her into silence. This self-destructive form of protest, the study demonstrates, is, paradoxically, a means of survival and control within this authoritative environment. By situating Nyasha’s case within the frame of trauma theory, the article seeks to offer an original insight into the discussion of traumatic eating disorders in African women’s writing. Feminist and postcolonial critical views are integrated within the analysis since Nyasha’s trauma is inextricably linked to the unstable political climate of her community. The research concludes that Nyasha’s self-starvation is a language of resistance to the subjugation she endures in her native Shona culture.

This study researches four films series of the John Wick franchise from a mixed-methods perspective by combining Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) and quantitative content analysis to explain how power is constructed and reinforced in the film series. The films in John Wick franchise are John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). The High Table is a fictional secret council that controls the entire global assassin underbelly. The different semiotic modes in the films are represented by a myriad of symbols, such as gold coins, blood oaths, the seal of the Adjudicator, the Continental Hotel, and enforcers. As the Critical Multimodal Analysis is concerned with the symbols' construction of power and ideology, the study provides a systematic way of examining the semiotic functions from the visual, the aural, and the narrative in the Wick four film series. The quantitative content analysis focuses on empirically demolishing the symbols by counting how many times they occurred, how they occurred, and the importance of the symbols in the narrative. The findings show the ideology of the myth of feudal surveillance commodification and mystique obscene capitalism and critique neoliberal institutional capitalism. This study’s contribution to media studies by marrying the qualitative and the quantitative methods of research to handle socio-political critique semiotics in popular cinema.

This study focuses on how the situation in Iraq after the conflict has influenced the attitude toward language and contributed to the development of the social and the national identity. Using a mixed-method research design, consisting of survey data (n=200) and interviews and focus group discussions that will be undertaken in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Erbil, the study explains the perception and use of Arabic, Kurdish or English by Iraqis in their daily and institutional life. Quantitative findings indicate that Arabic has the most identity association (M = 3.50), which signifies belonging together and continuity of its culture, and English is the most prestigious (M = 3.48), which means the desire to modernize and to be in touch with the world. Kurdish has remained a powerful emblem of regional pride and ethnic pride albeit at the national level. According to qualitative results, the language in Iraq is simultaneously both a uniting and dividing factor, as language can be a vehicle of reconciliation but also the source of political and historical memories. Utilizing the Language Ideology Theory and Identity Negotiation Theory, the paper points out the ways in which the Iraqis in the post-conflict period have developed with hybrid linguistic identities which incorporate both heritage and modernity. The results are relevant to the general sociolinguistic and post-conflict research because it can be argued that the national integrity may be enhanced by means of national-level multilingual policies, and the linguistic diversity could be used to build peace.

Imam Khamenei delivered a televised address titled "The Third Televised Message to the Iranian People After the Zionist Entity's Attack." Given his religious and political stature, this study aimed to analyze his speech to identify the strategies employed, their application, and the objectives sought through them. The researcher utilized a descriptive-analytical approach, beginning by clarifying the concept of discourse and its relationship to pragmatics. The study then explained the types of discourse, focusing on political discourse and exploring the methods of employing and selecting rhetorical strategies. Finally, it examined the specific rhetorical strategies used in the address. The study concluded that the speaker was highly skilled in employing rhetorical strategies, utilizing them with precision and demonstrating a profound understanding of the context in which he spoke. One of the most significant findings was that the speaker employed a solidarity strategy to garner public support for the government and the military. Likewise, the sender used the persuasive strategy with the recipient (the people) to convince him of his ideas, beliefs, and doctrines, and the sender used the directive strategy and employed it to guide the recipient to do what the sender wanted and to leave what he forbade him from doing

This study examines selected temporal expressions in Classical Arabic and Ancient Hebrew within a comparative Semitic framework, drawing on evidence from the Qur’an and the Old Testament as primary linguistic corpora. It addresses the lack of a semantic comparison that clarifies similarities and differences in the meanings and functions of temporal terms in both languages, despite their shared Semitic roots.
The research analyzes the literal and figurative meanings of these expressions and their textual roles through a comparative semantic approach based on lexical fields. The terms are classified into major fields (day, night, eternity, time-span) and minor ones (hour, moment, time, appointment), supported by parallel textual evidence.
The findings show shared basic meanings but divergent semantic developments: Arabic contexts tend to emphasize directive meanings, while Hebrew contexts highlight historical and ritual dimensions. The study concludes that temporal concepts play a central role in shaping meaning and defining the human–divine relationship in both traditions.
It recommends further comparative semantic studies to deepen understanding of linguistic and semantic interaction among Semitic languages.