This study investigates sociolinguistic variation and change in the dialect of Ha’il city, a dialect that belongs to the Najdi type of dialects, especially Northern Najdi. Two traditional linguistic features of Ha’ili Arabic (HA) are examined: the realisation of the feminine ending (ah) and realisation of the feminine plural suffix (a:t), in relation to three social factors: age (Younger, Middle-aged, Older), gender (Male, Female) and levels of contact (High, Low) with people from different dialectal backgrounds. Raising of the feminine ending -ah is defined as: fronting and raising of short /a/ to /ɛ/ or /e/. In traditional Ha’ili Arabic, /a/ is raised unconditionally in all environments even after guttural and emphatic sounds (Abboud, 1979). The results, however, show progressive lowering of the (ah) variable, constrained by social and linguistic factors. Younger female speakers especially those with high level of contact lead the change toward the innovative and supra-local variant [a], while older speakers, even those with high level of contact, maintain the use of the traditional variant [e] at a very high rate (96%). Women are slightly ahead of men in using [a]. Such gender patterning can be interpreted in relation to the fact that there is no negative social meaning associated to the use of the two variants. Regarding the second variable (a:t), /t/ in the feminine plural suffix -a:t can be lenited to /h/ or /j/ in HA. According to previous research (Abboud, 1964 and Ingham, 1982, 2009), lenition of /a:t/ is linguistically conditioned by the following environment. It is promoted pre- pausally and when the following word begins with a consonant, but it is precluded when followed by a vowel across word boundary. The results show that the innovative variant [a:t] is highly favoured when it is followed by a vowel across word boundary. Additionally, the number of syllables and the stress on the final syllable appear to have a minimal effect on the realisation of (a:t). All the younger speakers, except low contact female speakers, use the innovative variant categorically, while the older speakers use it at a rate of 52%. Concerning gender, men are found to lead the change in using [a:t] than women. This gender pattern is explained with reference to men’s social interaction, mobility and to the overt stigmatisation associated with the use of the traditional variants [a:j] and [a:h] by male speakers. Overall, a progressive levelling out of local/marked features in HA has been observed in favouring the innovative features found in the emerging supra-local variety in the central region of Saudi Arabia.

This thesis consists of a critical edition of Tuhfat dhawi al-irab fi mushkil al-asma' wa al-nisab by Abu al-Thana' Nur al-Din Mahm-ud b. Ahmad b. Muhammad known as Ibn Khatib al-Dahshah: an alphabetical dictionary which deals with the vocalization of the names and nisbas which occur in the three canonical hadith collections, namely the Sahihayn and the Muwatta' regardless of whether these names occur in the isnads or in the matn of these books. This work is divided into two parts, an introduction and the edition of the text. The first part consists of a biographical account of the author, his works and a review of the previously published edition of the Tuhfah. A study of the work comprising the author's sources, a discussion of his alleged carelessness in copying, his arrangement, the subject and the title of the work is undertaken. A description of the MSS and an account of the method of edition adopted is also given. The second part comprises a critical edition of the Tuhfah, depending on five MSS, with the necessary explanatory notes, indices and bibliography.

This thesis explores how Wang Wei 王維(701-761), a Chinese Tang-dynasty poet, was received and represented through the twentieth century in the Anglophone world and what images of him different translators have created at different times for different readers in the receiving context. Wang Wei, like some of his contemporaries, notably Li Bo 李白(701-762) and Du Fu 杜甫 (712-770), is one of the most translated Chinese poets. The translation and reception of Wang Wei’s poetry have been dominated by emphasis on imagery, landscape, and Zen over the past one hundred years although his poetry also includes other themes. The hypothesis is that Wang Wei was more discussed for his contribution to Chinese landscape art at the beginning of the twentieth century, then began to be connected with Zen Buddhism around the mid-century. In the post-war period and beyond, his nature poetry associated with eco-spirituality has been widely explored. Starting with an introductory chapter, which explores critical debates about Wang Wei’s life and establishes a theoretical framework based on systemic approaches, this thesis will discuss the following elements chapter by chapter: classical Chinese poetry in English translation, Chinese imagery traditions and the development of Imagism, Wang Wei’s poetry about landscape and Zen, and difficulties of and patterns in translating Wang Wei. The concluding chapter will stress that the sustainability of Wang Wei’s poetry in English lies in its constant interactions with various literary, political, and social factors in the polysystem of the target culture. Thus, the translation of a foreign literary figure, like Wang Wei, goes beyond the linguistic and takes into account contextual relationships.

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The present thesis seeks to examine the grammatico-pragmatic problem of translating modality from English into Arabic (two formally and genetically different languages) and vice versa, with the aim of suggesting tentative ways that would tackle such a problem for the Arab translator who finds himself/herself in a situation where only specific choices of TL modal expressions would make the translation acceptable. Translating is regarded, here, as an overall operation performed on two languages - an operation based on a systematic comparison of two linguistic systems and the functions they each perform at a higher level. It is taken to mean a code-switching operation, which implies that a sequence of symbols from one language is substituted for a sequence of symbols in another. This code-switching always operates as a chain with an intervening time occupied by a segment of interpretation during which the intended content is transferred into the target language by the translator. In this study, use is made of concepts and terminology provided by linguistics and translation theory, both of which deal with language as a communicative activity. The research conducted here deals with translation between Arabic and English, with special focus on modality as a linguistic as well as a cultural strategy of communication. Therefore, modality can be constructed in the TL only through overall translation by interpretation where equivalence becomes the translator's memory rather than his/her dictionary. Here, the overall process of translating the modal content thrives best by freeing itself from surface constraints, i.e. constraints imposed by the surface structure of the source text.

This study aims to establish the identity of the Saudi novel, which has been hitherto neglected by scholars whether Saudi or non-Saudi; to consider the emergence and development of tho Saudi novel during the past sIxty years (1930-90) and the reasons for these; to investigate the peculiarities of the Saudi novel as well as the influence on it of the International novel, and the novel in other Arabic-speaking countries; to examine the factors that have led to the growth of the novel as a literary form in Saudi Arabia since the fifties; and appraise the 'artistic" development that has taken place In the novel itself, and in individual novelists since that time.