A Students’ Magazine by the English and Translation Department

Fingerprinting machines delay

students from classes

Students demanding more gates and more

machines.

Digital journalism bogs down

print media

Do you have what it takes to be a journalist?

Learn how to write in

Japanese

The basics of Japanese

orthography

EThos

2

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nhancin

g L

inguis

tic E

xp

ress

ion a

nd

Tra

nsm

itti

ng C

ult

ure

”

The English and Translation Department

Coffee Break at Effat

Clubs At Effat - A Student Venture 4

Students Delayed From Their Classes 8

A Conversation with the new Effat SG President 9

Ethics of Journalism 10

LITERARY BITES

A Bookworm’s Online Heaven 11

“The Hunger Games” Boovie review 12

Book Blabber: “A Thousand Splendid Suns” 13

Cafe Terrace At Night 14

LING WING

Linguistics Connects 15

Turkish Language and Identity 16

Writing In Japanese 17

The Sea of Pearls 18

3

A Message from the Chair: Dr. Sanna Dhahir

Having a new issue of EThos has always been a source of deep

satisfaction to me, for each of these issues brings along a fresh layer of

Effat students’ accomplishments. Student activities and achievements

are indeed an integral part of our University’s rapid growth and ad-

vancements, witnessed everywhere around campus: in new facilities

rising right in front of our eyes; in classrooms full of eager individuals

wanting the best for themselves and their future; in various student

clubs that seek, above all, to complement Effat’s plan for a holistic edu-

cation; in new accreditation efforts that set out to consolidate the quality

of education and boost the name of our institution; and, importantly, in

faculty members who are forever desirous to give their best to the noble

profession of directing to the light of knowledge all those who seek it.

For the first issue of 2013, we have presented you, dear reader,

with a revamped image of Ethos Magazine. In this issue we celebrate the

great magic of literature, linguistics, and translation through various sec-

tions. Ethos Magazine is not only a magazine for the English and Transla-

tion Department. It is for all of Effat University students. In our section of

cover story we tackle very important issues and project the voice of the stu-

dents. I’ll end my message with a quote I hold dear “Journalism is literature

in a hurry.” Matthew Arnold.

We hope you find the articles of this issue useful and enlighten-

ing. We’re welcoming creative students to contribute their original po-

etry, prose or essays for the magazine. I’d like to mention that for the

future issues we are introducing a new section called “Effat Squirrels”

where you can squeak about whatever is on your mind! Blabber and

squeak to us and we’ll give your words a platform! The cool part is that

anyone can report for us! So, if you are interested, please don’t hesi-

tate to contact us through e-mail or in person.

At Ethos we value creativity, and hope to evolve this student magazine

into a long term success of Effat University

Editorial: Afnan Linjawi & Sumayya Naseem

4

Clubs at Effat: A Student Venture

Health And Fitness Club:

When asked about the club, Shaima explained that ―Health and Fitness Club was found to alter lives for the

benefit of the community and improve our understanding of health and fitness (and) to make it our lifestyle

rather than it being just a destination.‖ She also believes that by impacting a single individual, it‘s possible to

impact an entire society.

When asked about the challenges she might face, she says ―It‘s inevitable to achieve great things without fac-

ing difficulties.‖ Describing her current challenge, she adds, ―The continuity and the success of the club is a

challenge in itself, and the bigger challenge is to make health and fitness a lifestyle that every individual

should be privileged to have.‖

Amongst her aspirations for the club are goals like contributing to the community as a helping hand, spreading

Islamic values among students to live healthy lives, promoting integrity and the spirit of cooperation and driv-

ing students to achieve through mental and physical positive energy.

As for what Effat students should expect from Health and Fitness Club, Shaima hints, ―There will be many

activities, campaigns, competitions and more during this semester. I won't talk about it. It will be a surprise!‖

Leader: Shaima AlBugami

Major: IS

Level: Sophomore

Clubs are at the heart of Effat University‘s student activities. The Clubs at the university are one of the three

Student Organizations at the Student Life Office with the other two being the Student Shura and the Student

Government. With well over 20 clubs, one would wonder what the clubs are up to for the academic year of

2013-2014. Let‘s see what the club leaders have to say.

5

English and Translation Club:

The English and Translation Club is diverse in its activities and scope, Afnan Linjawi explains: ―The club em-

powers the academic pursuit of the E&T Department. It also acts as a platform for students who aspire to be-

come writers, journalists, or employees in the publishing industry (through our magazine EThos); for students

who wish to become actresses and experience the magic of words into actions as we perform dramatic plays;

and for translation juniors and seniors who would like to have some real experience in translation (by joining

our Translation Unit).‖ Being an active student at the University, owing to the various positions she‘s held as a

responsible student, Afnan wishes to ―add a sense of pride and prestige to the department and give the students

of Effat University and my members alike a chance to be a part of some pioneering projects.‖ Afnan took the

initiative to lead the club and shows great promise for its future under her lead. Her experience at different

student positions at Effat University, including club member, SG assistant, club vice leader, SG Vice Presi-

dent, and currently club leader, has helped Afnan understand how she can manage people in different ways and

she is confident about her acquired skill. When asked about the challenges she finds herself facing, she con-

fessed, ―Finance and Public Relations are my biggest weaknesses and I worry about how I will support my

club. But hopefully I‘ll find the right person who can help me.‖ Talking about her hopes and aspirations for the

club, Afnan points out the nature and scope of the club – ―English and Translation Department Club is a very

new club. Effat university student body should know and understand the importance of translation, literature,

and linguistics towards the betterment of society. Our club is based on talent! We are a group of writers, ac-

tresses, and designers who come together to produce professional, interesting, and enjoyable works and pro-

jects.‖

Clubs at Effat: A Student Venture (continued)

Leader: Afnan Linjawi

Major: E&T

6

Media Club:

Farah Shamrokh is extremely passionate about digital media, film-making and writing. She aspires to be a

novel writer in the future, and explains that the Media Club aims at developing students‘ talents in film mak-

ing. When asked about what the students should expect from the club, Farah Shamrokh replied that they are

working on ―blowing away‖ Effat students‘ minds by creating a song video, a short movie of 10-20 minute

duration and a video clip about some important issue. She encourages students to pursue what their hearts be-

lieve in and to understand that it‘s not easy and simple to achieve great things without putting in a lot of hard

work.

Clubs at Effat: A Student Venture (continued)

The Architecture Club:

Nouf Wazna is the leader of the Architecture Club where the club hopes to link the Architecture department to

the university. The leader hopes to―fulfill our agendas, and prove that Architects will always have the time and

energy to contribute—big or small, we will contribute. In fact, it is the theme of our club this year.‖

Without a doubt Effat University has a lot of hidden talents and leaders who just need a platform to come up

and take charge and build a community of high achieving Effateez. We thank the club leaders who took out the

time from their busy schedules to respond to our interview request, and we wish them great success with their

work. All students have to do is believe in themselves and their capabilities and come out and take part in mak-

ing the most of their time here at Effat.

Leader: Farah

Shamrokh

Leader: Nouf Wazna

Major: Arch

Level: Senior

7

Debate Club:

Rehma Ashgar is a Freshman at Effat University who moved to Jeddah about eight months ago from the US,

where she was born and raised. Her hobbies include playing soccer, swimming, art, cooking, and, of course,

debating. Rehma explains, ―I love debating, and as soon as I heard that there was a debate club at Effat, I knew

I had to be a part of it. Alhamdulillah, I am thrilled to have the honor of being the leader of this club, and I re-

ally look forward to a fun, eventful year! Debating is all about expressing your thoughts and opinions in a logi-

cal and eloquent manner‖. She is experienced when it comes to leading clubs with her prior involvements at

high school and points out that ―it might sound very cliché but with leadership comes much responsibility, and

even though everyone knows of this fact and that I've been a leader in clubs in my high school; I've truly expe-

rienced what this means during my time as a leader.‖ The biggest challenge she finds herself facing right now

is ―bringing a group of people together for a meeting or other such purposes. Finding a specific time that is

suitable for everyone is more difficult than I imagined.‖ Rahma Ashgar is confident as a leader and has a lot of

aspirations for her Debate Club. She adds that, ―The one thing I wish to achieve through this club is that at the

end of the day, everyone is able to take something back home with them. Although I am the leader, I know I

will learn many things from the club members and all other participants as I hope they will learn from me. I

also specifically hope to hone people's debating and public speaking skills through debates that we will be

hosted in campus for everyone to participate.‖

We encourage the clubs to contact Ethos magazine in publicizing for their events and activities in the future. We also

look forward to collaborating in reporting these events and giving the clubs a platform here at Ethos for expanding their

reach.

By Sumaiyya Naseem/ Literature/ Sophomore

Clubs at Effat: A Student Venture (continued)

Leader: Rehma Asghar

Major: IS

Level: Freshman

8

Students Delayed From Their Classes

The year 2013-2014 has started at Effat University. Each year, new students arrive and are ready to

begin their journey in higher education. Schedules have been organized and classes have started, but a new

problems emerged this year. Many students arrive late to their 8:00 am classes and this time it is not the driv-

er‘s fault.

Gate 4, the students‘ gate, is always congested around 7:30 am due to the university‘s policy for all students to

sign in and out by the fingerprints machine. An average of 25 students lined up

in a queue extending to outside for their turn over only 4-5 fingerprinting ma-

chines. As a desperate measure the university opened Gate 3, known as the

faculty gate, for students and the faculty entrance was moved to Gate 20, but

the problem has not been solved from its roots.

The students feel that this process is time con-

suming and better solutions must be applied. They continue to be irritated, and

the fingerprinting issue is currently the talk of the month.

Students have suggested that there should be a gate to every college in the uni-

versity. This will facilitate the entrance to the university and will make it easier

for the students to reach their classes and for the security ladies to monitor the students and ensure their safety.

Dr. Rania Ibrahim, Dean for Students Affair, has confirmed that the University is well aware of this issue and

is taking serious measures to be available after Eid. They are working on opening new gates for the students.

Article by: Siham Abdulwahab/ Translation/ Junior

“

”

The fingerprinting

device needs to be up-

dated. Humans get tired

and so do machines

said Lubnah, CS student

“ ”

The fingerprinting

line is taking too long

and it’s tiring

said Sarah Sultan,

PSYCH student.

9

A Conversation with the Effat SG President

The Student Government is an active student body that aims towards focusing on the culture at Effat Universi-

ty. But perhaps the most important role is served by the President of the Student Government. I was fortunate

enough to interview the new SG President , Israa Al Qassas. She is an ECE major at the Senior Level. Known

for her hard working and determined attitude, Israa shows great promise as the new leader of this student or-

ganization. Continue reading to know more about Israa, her work ethics and plans for SG.

1. What are your aspirations as the President of the Effat SG? I hope I can help students THINK of ideas for the betterment of Effat, CONSTRUCT them to see them in real-ity and thus INSPIRE others to do the same. 2. What should the Effat family expect from you regarding the Presidency? As president, I really hope I can reach out to the students, hear their concerns and be able to help them make the change they want to see in Effat together. 3. How do you hope to benefit from the experience of working for the SG? Being a member of Student Government comes with so much gaining and learning of new skills and discover-ing of talents you never knew you had. Qualities of leadership, communication and teamwork will hopefully be benefited not only by myself as SG president but hopefully by the entire team working with SG. 4. How do you keep yourself motivated? Tell us about your attitude towards work and it's ethics.

Knowing that this position of presidency is a huge responsibility keeps me going. Knowing that I have a duty

to fulfill to the friends and family I have at Effat pushes me forth. And of course, I really would have to say

that my biggest source of inspiration is my wonderful team who just have great spirits and want better change

for Effat as much as I do!

I try my best with my attitude towards work to treat everyone on the team like they are leaders; because they

really are. Trusting them, giving them tasks that require much responsibility and appreciating their hard work

afterwards is what I try my best to do to keep the spirit of the team alive.

By: Sumaiyya Naseem/ Literature/ Sophomore

10

The journalist and university professor Robert Hernandez paid a visit to Effat University on the 7th of October

as a guest lecturer to speak about the ―nuts and bolts‖ of journalism and the impact of our mobile and social

media apps on our daily lives. In his talk, Mr. Hernandez focused on the ethics involved in the role of a jour-

nalist as he believes that ―With great power comes great responsibility.‖ (Well said, Uncle Ben of Spider-

man!). Mr. Hernandez puts great emphasis on the importance of being a trusted source of information, because

a journalist‘s basic work is to inform and if credibility is lost, it could damage your entire career. Quoting his

ex-boss, Robert Hernandez says, ―We edit information‖ as journalists. The idea is to connect the dots without

changing what the dots mean. This is journalism‘s most basic idea. He further explained in detail the ways in

which journalism can be made into an ethical act. The Code of Ethics of journalism has been written down and

practiced by the Society of Professional Journalists, which is an organized union of journalists renowned inter-

nationally. They came up with a series of codes and ethics that can be made into a guideline by anyone who

wishes to practice journalism at a professional or personal level. As a web journalist – someone who makes the

internet his/her platform for journalism and exchanging information – Mr. Hernandez is exploring the world of

Google Glass. Some lucky Effat students got the opportunity to try this amazing technology. When asked

about the Google Glass by EThos magazine‘s reporter, Robert Hernandez says,, ―It‘s obviously not going to be

bigger than the internet, but it really is the next natural thing when we talk about Global technology. t also al-

lows me to be experiencing life while I have digital in the corner there. The main goal is to be present in life

but not hidden behind a screen.‖

Follow Robert Hernandez‘s updates on: Twitter - @webjournalist Instagram - @webjournalist

And his blog where he explores the Google Glass technology for

storytelling; www.glassjournalism.tumblr.com

By Sumaiyya Naseem/Literature/Freshman

Journalism in Social Media

NEWS CORNER

11

LITERARY BITES Literature Connect: A Bookworm’s Online Heaven

Reading books has been a debatable subject in the 21st century as the number of readers around the world has

significantly dropped down due to the technology revolution. Here at EThos, we disagree. People are reading

now more than ever before. But, it is true that people seem to have lesser time than before due to all the dis-

tractions that technology (Social media, gadgets, gaming, etc.) creates.

Goodreads.com is one of my personal favorites when it comes to reading book reviews and writing them! On

the home page of the website, it invites you to ―Meet your next favorite book!‖ and it couldn‘t be more apt

than that. At GoodReads, you create your own personal account, add your friends and even recommend books

to them! You can list books as ―Read,‖ ―To-Read,‖ or ―Currently reading‖ so that your friends know what

you‘re reading or wish to read. You also have the option to subscribe to emails which let you know when

there‘s an update from your friends. Based on the books you have rated (out of 5 stars), GoodReads recom-

mends similar books that you might like. There are also groups and book clubs that you can join, reading chal-

lenges, trivia and quizzes that you can attempt, and quotes that you can ―Like‖ and save in your profile.

The website can be extremely useful when you want to read a book but you‘re not sure if it‘s the right book for

you. The reviews contain *Spoiler Alert* warnings so you also avoid ruining your reading experience.

The EThos team highly recommends you to join GoodReads.com if you‘re a book enthusiast and hopes you

make the most of it!

PS: Apps for GoodReads are available for Android and Apple.

By Sumaiyya Naseem/Literature/Sophomore

12

Everybody loves watching movies on the big screen, right? I, for one, am a big fan of watching my favorite

novels in action. But I love books too! I love the way they smell, the way they feel, and I love the feeling of

having another world in the palm of my hands. Not all movies manage to live up to our expectations or imagi-

nation. Take The Hunger Games, for example; it was extremely nerve-wracking to sit for an hour and a half

watching a well-written piece of art being brutally played before my eyes. Some of you may not agree with

me, it might be due to the fact that you haven't read the book first. Let me tell you the story behind The Hun-

ger Games and I. I watched The Hunger Games as soon as it came out and fell in love with the movie like it

was love at first sight: the idea, the experience, the adrenalin rush - EVERYTHING about the movie spoke to

me. In other words, I felt the movie. Before you know it, I bought the books and started reading them. I carried

the work everywhere, having it on me when I went to college, restaurants, birthday parties, family gatherings

and even the bathroom! It was super-glued to my hands. After reading Catching Fire and Mocking Jay, I de-

cided to watch the film again. Forgive me for what I'm about to say, but I hated the movie and was completely

disappointed. I had nothing to say but "Hollywood ate the novel." It didn't live up to my imagination, nor was

it pleasing to watch. All I can say is, we should never judge a book by its movie or by its cover. However, a

friendly advice is watch the movie then read the books; that way you would have the best of both worlds. If I

was asked ―What would you prefer? Movies or books?‖ My answer would be ―boovies!‖

Review by: Sommer Atraji/Literature/ Senior

The Other Side of Imagination: Books as Movies

13

Boob Blabber: A Thousand Splendid Suns

When I went away over the summer, I took a couple of books with me and

among them was A Thousand Splendid Suns. I can safely say I have never fin-

ished a book so fast in my life. A Thousand Splendid Suns centers around the

stories of two women, whose lives come together as a result of the circum-

stances they were dealt.

Starting off with young Mariam, a poor girl of illegitimate birth, living on the

outskirts of Herat. While the bitterness of her mother, whom she lives with,

pushes Mariam away, her rich and insincere father‘s charm draws her in on his

weekly visits. She longs to be part of his real family. However, reality quickly

hits her when she finds herself homeless and married off to a stranger, Rasheed, who takes her to Kabul, a city

unknown to her.

Hosseini now introduces us to Laila, our second heroine. Laila‘s early life is not trouble-free but her happier

times bring us some joy and relief. But of course, unimaginable circumstances change Laila‘s life forever and

she finds herself forced into a marriage with Rasheed too. We see Mariam and Laila‘s relationship evolve from

loathing to understanding and a deep friendship in the face of the horrors they experience.

The last part of the novel, you will have to read to find out. And for those of you who have, you know what

I‘m talking about when I excuse myself to break down and cry.

Hosseini is not afraid to explore the difficult topics of violence, war and marriage, but pairs it with hope to

keep us hooked. He puts a spotlight on the lives of Afghani women, during the war and the Taliban rule – not

just what we hear in the media but very real, complex characters, who we build deep connections with.

A Thousand Splendid Suns will break your heart into a thousand pieces, right up until the bittersweet end.

While I sobbed at the tragic parts, I also managed to find peace in the splendour of love, friendship and brav-

ery our beautiful heroines demonstrate. Ultimately, Hosseini proposes the idea of a better tomorrow for Af-

ghanistan. While it may seem too good to be true to some, I feel it is a fitting ending to a tumultuous tale.

By: Shafna Abdulmajeed/ Sophomore

14

Collector’s Post: Café Terrace at Night

Café Terrace at Night is one of the most famous paintings by

Vincent Van Gogh, who is one of my favorite Post-

Impressionism painters. He did this painting in Arles, France,

around mid-September, 1888. It is one of the three Starry Nights

paintings by Van Gogh. These paintings focus on the beauty and

magnificence of the night stars.

The painting shows the exterior of an actual café in France which

still stands in Arles. It was later renamed The Van Gogh Café af-

ter the painter. It was also remodeled to closely resemble the

painting which immortalized it. This is one of his most beautiful

paintings, full of the light and peace he sought but never found.

Perspective and warm complementary colors draw the viewer

into the painting and beyond. The graphic texture of the street's cobblestones invites the eye toward the little

café itself. The tiny white spherical shaped tables repeat the shape of the stars in the Prussian blue colored sky

on the ground. The walls of the café cut into the blue sky enhancing the contrasting colors.

Van Gogh firmly held his belief that the night is more striking in colors than daytime. ―I often think that the

night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. He also writes, "I have a terrible need of—dare I

say—religion . . . then I go outside at night and paint the stars." He painted this night scene on the spot, at

night, using no blacks. He knew he could easily mistake the colors but he believed in the aesthetics of the art.

His father was a preacher and Van Gogh went into the ministry for a while. It was later that the artist decided

his ministry would be to find a way to give hope and consolation to humanity through his art – something he

has managed to achieve as his paintings reach out on a more human and emotional level.

By Sumaiyya Naseem/Literature/Freshman

15

LING WING Linguistics Connect: Linguistics Inquiry and Word Count

Any linguist in the world would admit that linguistics is the science of a natural phenomenon: languages. Nev-

ertheless, that does not mean that linguists can‘t deal with modern day technologies in their field.

LIWC or Linguistics Inquiry and Word Count website is a website which has an automatic and analytical

search engine where you can enter any piece of text (email, stories, speeches, poems, etc.) and it will catego-

rize for you the sets of words that are in the text you entered. I have tried with one of my poems and this is the

result I got:

LIWC Results

Details of Writer: 21 year old Female

Date/Time: 14 October 2013, 2:27 am

The text you submitted was 741 words in length.

This website is helpful for linguists who are doing research in morphology and literature. But it doesn‘t work

as well for languages other than English.

To check it out visit the website: www.liwc.net

Review by: Afnan Linjawi/Senior/Translation

LIWC Dimension Your

Data

Personal

Texts

Formal

Texts

Self-references (I, me, my) 4.05 11.4 4.2

Social words 12.42 9.5 8.0

Positive emotions 2.70 2.7 2.6

Negative emotions 1.62 2.6 1.6

Overall cognitive words 5.26 7.8 5.4

Articles (a, an, the) 7.42 5.0 7.2

Big words (> 6 letters) 9.99 13.1 19.6

16

The Story Behind: Turkish Language and Identity

The Turks were only one of many ethnic groups living in the time the Ottoman State ruling in Turkey. The of-

ficial language used was the Ottoman Turkish. Back then, that language was written in Arabic script, besides it

being a mixture of Arabic and Persian, it not only borrowed vocabulary but also contained expressions and

syntactic structures out of them. Arabic was the language of Islam whereas Persian was more related to arts

and refined literature. The Turkish army commander Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the new Republic of

Turkey. Atatürk decided to make a language reform by passing a law to start using the Latin Alphabet instead

of the Arabic in 1928. All of this was done aiming for a more modern, more Turkish (taken from his surname;

as he was called the father of Turks), less Arabic, and amongst all, less Islamic identity of the citizens. By

making Turkish more ‗modern‘, he meant making the language plus the people‘s identity more related to the

European‘s. Hence Turkish has eventually borrowed many words from French, Italian, Greek and of course

English, while it still uses many from Arabic and Persian. Nowadays, there are three major identities: there are

those who identify themselves with their religion, Islam, so they may borrow words from the Ottoman Turkish

or Arabic. Then there are who identify themselves with Turkish identity, those try to be loyal to the ―pure

Turkish lexicon‖ so they do not use any borrowed words. The last group are those who believe in moderniza-

tion and westernization, so they keep themselves away from both Islamic and Turkish nationalism, and they

borrow words from European languages. As an example, to mean ―specific‖ Turkish you have the following

variations: the first group would say ―muhaddad‖ the second ―ozel‖ and the latter ―spesifik‖. What we under-

stand from this brief background is that language is an inseparable element of identity, once it has changed, it

also plays a role in changing people‘s ideology. Simply because they are using many words from languages

with different backgrounds, which makes them think they have something of that other identity linked to the

other language, and accordingly should start acting differently.

By: Fadhia Maghrabi/ Literature/ Senior

17

Orthography: Writing in Japanese Writing in Japanese might be one of the most difficult, but also fun, parts of learning Japanese. One thing known for sure is that Jap-

anese people don't use the Germanic alphabets (or more commonly known as the English alphabet) at all.

There are three types of scripts in Japanese (writing systems):

Kanji 漢字 Hiragana ひらがな Katakana カタカナ

*The combination of all three is used for writing.

Kanji 漢字

This system‘s origin is Chinese. Kanji represents blocks of meaning (symbols for nouns, stems of ad-

jectives and verbs) as shown in figure 1

Hiragana ひらがな

Hiragana mainly expresses the grammatical relationship between them (endings of adjectives and

verbs, particles). One interesting fact is that Japanese kids learn Hiragana way before starting their

elementary schooling. Figure 2 shows how Hiragana is different from Kanji.

Katakana カタカナ

Katakana is mainly used for foreign names, the names of foreign places and words of

foreign origin. Figure 3 shows katakana writings.

Q. Can I survive in Japan without knowing any Japanese writing?

A. You definitely do not need to know Japanese writing to speak the lan-

guage, but you will need to learn it if you want to read novels or newspapers.

You can also use Romaji, which is a sub writing system that allows you to

write Japanese without knowing Japanese writing. That is because the Romaji

system uses the Germanic alphabets to phonetically represent the sounds of

the Japanese language. Native Japanese can read Romaji, though they don‘t

use it unless they are communicating with foreigners. If you want to learn Japanese writing, it‘s better to start first with

hiragana and katakana, then kanji. Hiragana and katakana are way simpler than kanji, and have only 46 characters each.

It is also possible to write an entire Japanese sentence in hiragana. For example, many children's books are written in

hiragana only. Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two

thousand kanji.

Article by: Marwa Al-Sobaihi/Senior/Architecture

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

18

Every language in the world has a unique specialty to it, adding to its beauty and eloquence. The Arabic lan-

guage is one of the famous languages worldwide. It has challenged many languages phonetically, syntactically,

and morphologically. Here we will talk about the morphological wonders of Arabic.

Arabic has what is known among linguists as a stem-root structure to its words. This means that each word in

the Arabic language can be traced back to a root. In other words, a single root in the Arabic language can pro-

duce many stems.

What‘s all this talk about stems and roots?

Roots in morphology are the basic form of a word without adding any affixes to it. A stem is the result of a

basic form of a word (root) plus an affix.

An example:

The word ‗count‘ is a root word in the English language. But the word ‗countless‘ is a stem word in English, as

there is the root ‗count‘ plus ‗-less,‘ an added affix. Such is the case with the word ‗countable‘ and ‗counted‘.

However, English roots are much more limited than Arabic roots. The Arabic language can form up to 30 dif-

ferent stems or more. That is how much it can form from only one root. That is why it earned the title ‗a rich

language‘, because it can make so much from so little. The classical Egyptian poet Ibrahim Hafiz was right in

his metaphor of the Arabic language as a sea of pearls.

Article by: Afnan Linjawi/Senior/Translation

The Sea of Pearls

19

Credits

Cover poem: Afnan Linjawi

Design: Rahma Asghar

Editors in-Chief: Afnan Linjawi & Sumayya Naseem

Issue Supervisor: Dr. Sanna Dhahir

Ethos welcomes your literary creativity from poems, creative essays, or short stories. If you

want to be featured in Ethos please send us an email via:

E-mail: ethos@effat.edu.sa