This thesis is a corpus-based study of two spoken academic corpora in English as the (foreign) medium of instruction (EMI) context. The first corpus is compiled of transcripts of academic lectures by non-native speakers (NNS) from an EMI medical college in Saudi Arabia. To compare the data, a second corpus is compiled of similar transcripts by native speakers (NS) taken from the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus. The first part of the research qualitatively and quantitatively investigates the use of English discourse markers (DMs) on two levels: Structural (e.g. okay, so, because) and Interactional (e.g. okay?, I mean, any questions?). Structural DMs are found to function frequently as Topic Initiators, Topic Developers, Summarizers, and Closers, and occur more frequently in NS lectures' discourse. Interactional DMs, which function as Confirmation Checks, Rephrasers and Elicitors, are found to occur more frequently in the NNS lectures. This thesis demonstrates that the uses of DMs by the NS and NNS lecturers are affected by discourse context, pedagogic goals, personal lecturing styles, interaction with students and the need to create a conducive learning environment. The second part explores the use of Arabic discourse markers (ADMs) in the NNS lecture discourse on similar Structural and Interactional levels. Interactional ADMs (e.g. ya3ni {means}, mufhoom? {understood}) have a higher overall frequency than Structural ADMs (fa {so}, laanu {because}). The third part of this thesis explores the pedagogical functions of English-Arabic code-switching (CS) in the NNS lectures. When the purpose of CS is to make meaning clearer and convey knowledge more efficiently, it is not a language barrier but an effective communicative strategy. The data shows that CS is used mainly in seven roles in the NNS lecture discourse: (1) solidarity, (2) reiteration, (3) elaboration, (4) topic, (5) elicitation, (6) checking comprehension and (7) classroom management.

This thesis provides a thematic comparative review of some of the English translations of the Qur'an, including the works of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Asad, Taqiuddin Hilali and Muhsin Khan, and Zafarlshaq Ansari/Sayyid Mawdudi. In this study, a new and unique approach is used to review and compare these translations along with their commentaries. They are reviewed based on the following four Qur'anic themes: Injunctions, Stories, Parables, and Short Chapters. These are some of the key themes where the Qur'an translations, especially the ones with commentary, often differ from each other and can be assessed objectively. For each theme, three to four examples are taken as samples from the Qur'an, and they are studied from different points of view. For example, the translation of the verses with injunctions will be reviewed for their relative emphasis over the letter versus the spirit of the law, consideration of jurisprudence knowledge, overall objectives of Islamic law, issues of this age, and impact of the translator's environment. This approach is intended to identify further requirements for offering more accurate and more communicative translations of the Qur'an in the English language.

When an ancient Near Eastern city was besieged and looted the statues and cultic appurtenances of the gods were often confiscated by the conquerors. Their loss was more than a heavy blow to the defeated people: the statue was the god‘s representation on earth and watched over and protected the city so his abandonment of his city was thought to have a lasting devastating effect. From the point of view of the conqueror the statue could be used not only as a tool of intimidation but for bribery and a crude form of diplomacy and as propaganda for his might and glory. In this thesis the history of the phenomenon of godnap is explored for the first time and there is also an investigation of related problems in religion and cultural history. At the outset a detailed investigation of the numinous character of an ancient Mesopotamian statue is given including an account of the ritual that imbued it with this divine quality. Special attention is given to Marduk of Babylon and the episodes in which even he found himself the victim of theft. The thesis includes an excursus on evocatio and parallels between Hittite and ancient Roman practices are drawn.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the cultural background of Matthew’s dream narratives and in particular to try and establish whether the literary practice underlying them is closer to that of OT or Graeco-Roman literature. This will be done by looking at the ways in which the dreams were remembered and transmitted, analysing the text in search of “memory patterns”, devices used in oral and semi-literate societies with the aim of helping people remember a poem or a narrative. Many of these techniques use sound (e.g. alliteration, assonance and rhythm), but some engage with the structure of the material; occasionally an image might be applied to aid memory. Thereafter dream reports from a variety of other ancient sources will be analysed to reveal the memory patterns which underlie them. Subsequently the results will be compared, with attention focused on the few devices which are culturally specific and elsewhere noting the frequency with which devices are used as authors typically express themselves. The outcome will be to identify the cultural background within which the Matthean dream narratives emerge. The thesis will take the following shape. After an introductory chapter, there will be the literature review, followed by a chapter on methodology. The method used in the analysis of dream narratives is new and will provide a novel interpretive approach to this section of Matthew. Chapters on memory, orality and rhetoric, Matthew, and a comparison of his text with dream narratives in other literature will follow. Finally there will be a conclusion. In this thesis I argue that the Matthean narratives have greater affinity to Jewish material and OT in particular than to Graeco-Roman literature. The data gathered in the course of research also allows for other comparisons. Of particular interest are comparisons between the writers of OT and those of Hellenistic background and between Josephus and both the groups just mentioned. Several contributions are made to scholarship. Arguably the greatest of these is the methodology employed in the thesis. I also introduce the concept of ‘translation distortion’, which affects memory where an account of the past is originally expressed in a different language. I introduce comparison of Matthew’s use of oral sources with similar use in Herodotus and Pausanias, the latter living in the second century CE and his work rarely applied to NT studies.

This collation of 8 of von Soden's manuscripts is a companion work to my earlier investigation into his manuscripts. A similar division of this thesis is employed, with the nucleus in sections III, IV & V. Section III, with the general and individual descriptions of the MSS involved, is an attempt to bring together in one place all the known details about the history, the format, the scribe, the script and any other relevant material. Section IV contains the Synoptic Collation of the Group in Acts and the Catholic Epistles. Section V is itself divided into six parts and is concerned with the singular and subsingular readings. The conclusion is that neither can logically be separated from one another as the interrelationship of individual MSS is far more complex than von Soden makes evident.