2018 Modern Languages and Literatures Publications and Grants

Aïtel, Fazia. “Kabylgeria or How to Write Algeria.” Expressions Maghrébines, vol. 17, no. 2, 2018, pp. 15-32.

Aïtel, Fazia and Valérie K. Orlando, editors. Expressions Maghrébines: L'Exilé, l'étranger et l'autre dans les œuvres de Nabile Farès, vol. 17, no. 2, 2018.

Frangieh, Bassam. “Hanna Mina: Pioneer of Social Realism in Modern Arabic Literature.” Banipal, Magazine of Modern Arab Literature, issue 63, 2018, pp. 177-181.

Frangieh, Bassam. “Hanna Mina: The Sailor Who Never Dies.” Banipal, Magazine of Modern Arab Literature, August 28, 2018.

Frangieh, Bassam. An Introduction to Modern Arab Culture. Cognella Academic Publishing, 2018.

Abstract: Over the course of thirteen chapters, readers learn about the emergence and influence of Islam in Arab culture, religious and ethnic minorities within the Arab world, the critical role of family in Arab life, and the origin and evolution of the Arabic language. Dedicated chapters provide an introduction to the religion of Islam and the Qur'an, and an exploration of Islamic communities throughout the ages. Additional chapters explore Arab poetry, literature, music, values, and thought, revealing the impact of major artworks and their creators on Arab life and tradition. The final chapters address the Arab Spring, the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, and contemporary challenges and opportunities. An Introduction to Modern Arab Culture introduces readers to aspects of Arab culture while demonstrating how these facets intertwine to create a unique tapestry of identity, experience, and history. The book is well suited to courses in Middle East culture and history, politics, thought, literature, religion, and language, and courses in sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies.

Frangieh, Bassam K. and Julie S. Ahn, translators from Arabic. “Sherif Hetata ‘The Military Prison’ Excerpts from the Memoir.” Banipal, Magazine of Modern Arab Literature, August 28, 2018.

Kim, Minju. “From Connective to Final Particle: Korean Tunci ‘or’ and Cross-Linguistic Comparisons.” Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 135, 2018, pp. 24-38.

Abstract: This study demonstrates that the Korean connective tunci "or" has developed into a sentence-final particle, which carries varied discourse functions, expressing a) suggestions, proposals, requests, and offers, b) threats and criticisms and c) free choice and indifference. Final tunci first emerged as a suggestion marker from its connective use and this function remains its primary function. Using 240 hours of Korean TV drama data, this study elucidates the emergence process of these discourse functions of final tunci, which has not yet been properly researched. This study also demonstrates that final tunci has reached an advanced stage of grammaticalization based on its high frequency of use and its prosodic feature of final lengthening. Building on previous studies on turn-final uses of English or and Swedish eller "or", this study argues that in turn-final position, tunci, or, and eller share a core function: they can relax the preference organization in conversational interactions and allow the addressee to utter a dispreferred response more freely. This is a new "intersubjectified" function that the connectives do not have when they combine two conjuncts.

Kim, Minju. “When Topic Meets ‘And’: Development of Conditional and Prohibitive Constructions in Korean.” Discourse and Cognition, vol. 25, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-30.

Abstract: Unlike European languages which utilize auxiliary verbs, in Korean and Japanese, many modal expressions developed from bi-clausal constructions which include conditional markers. Using diachronic and synchronic corpus data, this study investigates the development of deontic modals -myen an toy and -ese-nun an toy 'should not' and demonstrates that although periphrastic, they also followed the cross-linguistically attested common developmental path (e.g., English must) from possibility to necessity. Based on evidence from cross-linguistic studies and Korean historical data, this study proposes that a) the conditional construction expressing possibility -myen mot-hA-li was the erstwhile form of -myen an toy and b) this transformed to a marker of deontic necessity in the context of a warning with a focal shift to the protasis and a generalization of the apodosis. Drawing on the similarities between myen and ese-nun, this study examines how the combination of the Korean topic marker -nun and the basic temporal concept 'and' (-ese and -mye) could engender the conditional meanings. This study refutes the proposal that myen emerged as conditional skipping the temporal stage and supports Koo (1989) and others who propose that the combination of temporal meaning and topic contributed to the emergence of the conditional myen.

Kim, Minju and Susan Strauss. “Emergent Multiplicities of Self- and Other-Construction in Korean Workplace-Based Television Dramas.” Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 137, 2018, pp. 19-36.

Abstract: The Korean language contains a complexly intricate system of self-and other-reference marking that serves to designate multiple aspects of socio-cultural symmetry and asymmetry involving speakers, addressees, hearers, overhearers, and referents. In this article, we use a database of TV workplace-based contexts and analyze the intricately creative ways in which interactants position themselves vis a vis their interlocutors, with fine-grained, incrementally gauged bits of gap-creating and gap-effacing discourse, through the use or non-use of honorific markings We demonstrate, through an appeal to Positioning Theory and Indexicality that these fine-grained linguistic indicators of emergent multiplicities of self-and other-construction serve as metaphorical scalar points on the sociometer of interpersonal interaction. We uncover discursive tension within these interactional contexts whereby informal interpersonal relationships leak into the more formal workplace background. Having used data based on a workplace environment, we find elements of language choice that index the intrinsic institutional hierarchy, in addition to discursive features that index other aspects of the relationships, such as prior acquaintance, as well as varying degrees of intimacy, expertise, sarcasm, coercion, and so forth.

Valencia, Norman. “Media, Politics, and the Representation of Reality in Bernardo Carvalho’s Reprodução (2013).” Chasqui. Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana, vol. 47, no. 2, 2018, pp. 162-175.

Abstract: In this paper, I conduct one of the first in-depth analyses, in English, of Reprodução, a novel by Bernardo Carvalho, one of Brazil's most well-respected contemporary authors. Throughout the text, its characters display a unique worldview that is completely informed by the internet and social media. As we advance in the narrative, we realize that these forms of global communication, which were supposed to be ideal channels for knowledge and political tolerance, can create subjects with deeply biased and intolerant views. In this sense, Carvalho's novel is an incisive critique of the political expectations that human beings had for contemporary communication technologies and of their actual, dystopic, results in our societies.

Valencia, Norman. “Una Estética del Secreto: Violencia, Historia y Exclusión Femenina en Los Ejércitos de Evelio Rosero.” Modern Language Notes, vol. 33, no. 2, 2018, pp. 368-387.

Abstract: This paper examines the interaction between Evelio Rosero's 2007 novel, Los Ejércitos, and a defining aspect of Colombia's recent history: the hegemony of president Álvaro Uribe's political discourse. Using Ernesto Laclau's definitions of populism, Jacques Rancière's links between politics and aesthetics, and Clare Birchall's concept of an "aesthetics of the secret," my paper argues that the novel's secrets allow for new insights into Colombia's recent political situation, especially regarding the vulnerable situation of women.