TAYYIB (‫)طيب‬: A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH
_______________
A Thesis
Presented to the
Faculty of
San Diego State University
_______________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
in
Linguistics
_______________
by
Ghassan Hanna Zakaria
Fall 2015
iii
Copyright © 2015
by
Ghassan Hanna Zakaria
All Rights Reserved
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
Tayyib (‫)طيب‬: A Corpus-Based Approach
by
Ghassan Hanna Zakaria
Master of Arts in Linguistics
San Diego State University, 2015
Arabic is considered to be a very difficult language to learn by native speakers of
other languages. In fact, the United States government lists Arabic among the most difficult
for Americans to learn. The complexity of the Arabic language is caused by a number of
factors. One of the most challenging of these is the existence of polysemy. Polysemy--a term
comprised of the Greek roots "poly" which means many and "sema" which can be translated
as signs or words--refers to the coexistence of several disparate meanings for a word. There
is a significant amount of words in Arabic that, while spelled and pronounced identically,
differ in meaning based on the context. In general, polysemy presents a communicative
obstacle while, specifically, it can be an impediment to translation. In order to facilitate and
enhance the progression for learners of Arabic as a Second Language learners, it is essential
that learners understand polysemy in the Arabic language. The current research will illustrate
how sophisticated corpora can function as an effective method in the learning of polysemy as
they allow students to observe as well as deduce the meanings of polysemy words in context.
More specifically, I will utilize an Arabic corpus to analyze the polysemy of the Arabic word
Tayyib (‫)طيب‬. Tayyib has a variety of possible meanings and in addition, to many meanings
within the different contexts of the Levantine dialect.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................2
2.1 Introduction of the Literature Review................................................................2
2.2 Polysemy, Collocations and Idioms ...................................................................2
2.2.1 Polysmy Types In Arabic..........................................................................2
2.2.2 Collocations and Idioms ...........................................................................4
2.3 A Corpus-Based Approach ................................................................................5
2.3.1 What is Corpus Linguistics .......................................................................7
2.3.2 What is a Corpus & What is not a Corpus ..............................................10
2.3.3 The Arabic Corpus ..................................................................................11
2.4 Data-Driven Learning Vocabulary ..................................................................12
2.4.1 Collocation ..............................................................................................14
2.4.2 Colligation...............................................................................................14
2.4.3 Semantic Prosody....................................................................................14
2.5 Goals of the Study............................................................................................16
3. METHODS ..................................................................................................................17
4. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................19
4.1 Modern Standard Arabic ..................................................................................20
4.2 Levantine Colloquial ........................................................................................22
4.3 Islamic Religious Texts....................................................................................23
5. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................29
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6. LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................31
7. TEACHING MATERIALS .........................................................................................32
7.1 Lesson one: Corpus-based approach: Modern Standard Arabic ......................32
7.1.1 Activity ...................................................................................................32
7.2 Lesson Two: Corpus-based approach: Modern Standard Arabic ....................33
7.3 Lesson Three: Word Tayyib in Religious texts (Bible and Quran) .................34
7.3.1 Tayyib in the Bible..................................................................................34
7.3.2 Tayyib in the Quran ................................................................................34
7.4 Lesson Four: Tayyib in the Levantine Dialect .................................................35
7.4.1 Pre-Lesson...............................................................................................35
7.4.2 Tayyib in the Levantine Dialect ..............................................................36
7.5 Lesson Five: Speaking Activities.....................................................................39
7.5.1 Content Schema Activation -- Ranking ..................................................39
7.5.2 Activity Recalling Information ...............................................................39
7.5.3 Audio Transcript .....................................................................................39
7.5.4 Speaking Activity....................................................................................40
7.5.5 Listen/Speaking Activity Listen and Draw .............................................40
7.5.6 Activity Listening to a Native Speakers' Conversation ..........................41
7.5.7 (Role play). American Student and Syrian Host Family ........................42
7.5.8 Activity Recording (Main Speaking Activity) ........................................43
7.5.9 Activity: Video Critique .........................................................................43
7.6 Lesson Six: Authentic Materials ......................................................................43
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................44
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LIST OF TABLES
PAGE
Table 4.1. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at the Query Node: There
Are 15 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance Position ....................19
Table 4.2. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at Position 1 After the
Node: There Are 344 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance
Position ........................................................................................................................25
Table 4.3. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at Position 1 Before the
Node: There Are 366 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance
Position ........................................................................................................................27
Table 7.1. Exercise: Sample Sentence from Quran .................................................................34
Table 7.2. Pre-Lesson (Example Sentences)............................................................................35
Table 7.3. All of the Different Meaning of Tayyib in Levantine Dialect-- .............................36
Table 7.4. Listening Activity ...................................................................................................42
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LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE
Figure 2.1. Collocations of word green and dry. .....................................................................12
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
In this thesis project, I will argue that the Arabic word "Tayyib" has twenty six
meanings for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and nine meanings identified for Levantine
colloquial. To be clear, Levantine Arabic is the spoken dialect of Greater Syria, which
includes the modern-day states of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. The finding of this
thesis will benefit students who begin studying Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and continue
to the Levantine dialect after reaching an intermediate level. This model is followed in many
universities across the United States as the Levantine dialect is the closest spoken dialect to
Modern Standard Arabic based on its syntax and pronunciation. One of the incentives for
choosing this dialect over others is the fact that it maintains grammatical consistency with
what students have already learned in their Arabic classes previously.
This thesis project relies on a corpus-based approach, consisting of an analysis of a
body of Arabic texts collected by the University of Pennsylvania. This approach shows the
given keyword in a topical and grammatical context as it is used in real life situations or in
texts by listing numerous examples of sentences. The listing shows words that usually come
before and/or after the keyword that is being studied. From this study, we can teach nonnative Arabic learners of MSA and of the Levantine dialect the proper contexts for the usage
of this word and when to expect it.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
My literature review shows the studies that have been done about the Arabic corpus.
Although they are few, the information that they yield is a good foundation for our study and
provides us with much potential to build on. The information is mostly general so one can
easily know where to start in order to find the specific information or details one is looking
for. This broad information is a good base for those looking into this subject.
2.2 POLYSEMY, COLLOCATIONS AND IDIOMS
2.2.1 Polysmy Types In Arabic
Linguists and semanticists have devoted much attention to the study of ambiguity
over the last few decades. Across the world, human languages involve an assortment of
different types of linguistic ambiguity. When words, phrases or sentences have more than
one meaning, they can be ambiguous; for example, the man saw the boy with a telescope.
This sentence is ambiguous because it may have multiple meanings such as, the man's
inability to see the boy unless he uses a telescope, or simply that he saw a boy holding a
telescope. Polysemy, the focus of this thesis, is a primary source of ambiguity in lexical and
syntactic levels. Polysemy is prevalent in Arabic as there is a myriad of terms that are
identical in form yet divergent in meaning. The Arabic word Tayyib (‫)طيب‬, which will serve
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as the primary focus of this thesis, has a multitude of definitions that depend on the contexts
in which it is used. Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬literally means "good"; however, it has been extensively
adapted so that it is now used in a variety of other situations. While Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬maintains
its original meaning, it is no longer confined to it, especially in speech. Because of this,
words like Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬can pose challenges to Arabic learners and can be especially tricky
to students with native tongues in which polysemy ambiguity is not as prevalent as it is in
Arabic. As a result, by drawing from a corpus, non-native speakers can discover these
differences in usage and acquire the knowledge necessary for using the word appropriately in
a variety of situations. This will improve their mastery of the Arabic language in both speech
and comprehension.
Salim (2013) discusses several different polysemy types in Arabic:
1. polysemy words with only two meanings such as /lisa:n/ ‫ لسان‬which can refer to
the physical object of a "tongue" (muscle located in the mouth) or to a more
abstract notion of "language."
2. polysemy words with multiple meanings such as /fasl/ ‫ فصل‬which can refer to an
"act of a play," a "chapter of a book," a "season of the year," or a "school
semester."
3. polysemy words with multiple related meanings such as /thira:3/ which can refer
to an "arm" or a "unit of measurement based on the arm."
4. polysemy words with multiple unrelated meanings such as /qarn/ which can refer
to a "horn" (of an animal) or a "century" (period of 100 years).
Many researchers across the world have studied polysemy across various languages.
Grabe (1991) studied polysemy ambiguity and notes that vocabulary analyses often have
trouble since:
each word form is counted as a single word, though in reality, each word form
may represent a number of distinct meanings, some of which depend strongly on
the reading context, and some of which are quite different from each other in
meaning. (p. 392)
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Sinclair (2004), however, asserts that a word's meaning is only ambiguous when the term is
viewed independently of its context rather when it is associated with its surrounding text.
On the other hand, Alansary, Nagi, and Adly (2014) state that "by consulting a
corpus, [a] lexicographer can be more confident that the results obtained reflect the actual
meaning of a particular word more accurately" (p. 3). In fact, since:
corpus data contain a rich amount of textual information--regional variety, author,
date, genre, part-of-speech tags, etc., it is easier to tie down usages of particular
words or phrases as being typical of particular regional varieties, genres, and so
on. (Alansary et al., 2014, p. 3)
For instance, by examining the Arabic word qalb ‫قلب‬--which means heart--in a corpus, we
find that it has three unrelated definitions among Arabic speakers in Egypt. It is used in
phrases such as "the qalb of the events" ‫ قلب األحداث‬to indicate the core of the matter, "open
qalb surgery" ‫ عملية قلب مفتوح‬to refer to the anatomical heart, and "the sun was in the qalb of
the sky" ‫ قلب السماء‬to refer to the center of a space.
Furthermore, Alansary et al. (2014) note that the same word can be associated with
multiple lexical categories as a result of its different uses and meanings. For example, the
Arabic word (‫)عين‬, which means eye, can be a noun when used in an anatomical sense,
proper noun when used in the name of a university, noun when used to refer to a wellspring,
or passive verb when used to mean hiring a person.
2.2.2 Collocations and Idioms
Collocations are pairs of words that usually come together. Native speakers are well
aware of these and have them joined together in their language use. For example, have a
drink, do your best and make a difference are common collocation. Unlike idioms, the
meanings of collocations is obvious from the two words making them up. One simply has to
understand the meaning of each word separately and then can easily understand the meaning
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of the whole collocation by sticking the two meanings together. There are two types of
collocations: grammatical collocations and lexical collocations.
Idioms are unique to specific languages and even to accents and/or dialects within a
single language. Also, unlike collocations, idioms cannot be understood when understanding
the literal meaning of each separate word. Rather, they must be memorized as whole
expressions with a unique meaning. It is usually difficult to understand idioms because one's
ability to understand them relies heavily on one's willingness to learn and study the speakers
and their culture in order to understand the meaning. Some idioms are easier to understand
than others, such as, give it a shot, where the meaning of the expression can be understood
by the meaning of the words used, here the meaning in try. Most idioms, however, are not
clear, such as, in deep water, where the words of this particular expression do not give off the
meaning of the idiom , here the meaning is in trouble.
2.3 A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH
A corpus is a vital tool that greatly facilitates instruction and the study of language.
To begin with, a corpus allows a learner to distinguish between a word's meanings by
presenting it in an array of divergent contexts. Next, it also allows learners to recognize the
grammatical patterns associated with a term. Words often used together--known as
collocations--can also be identified through the use of a corpus. Since collocation is vital to
conveying thoughts in a manner perceived as "normal" and natural by native speakers,
second-language learners can gain much insight by taking advantage of this feature of a
corpus. Additionally, a corpus provides the evidence needed to identify both the style and
regional varieties of a word, making it possible to know where a word is commonly used. A
corpus also computes the frequency of a word which is indicative of its prevalence and, thus,
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importance. Finally, the sample sentences provided by a corpus show how a word functions
in context, conveys its meaning, and demonstrates its characteristic use by native speakers.
Compiling a raw corpus for the Arabic language would prove to be significantly timeconsuming since Arabic is not vocalized. Because of this, Arabic has a greater degree of
ambiguity when considering words as separate units than do other languages. For instance,
the letters (d r s) represent the raw root of the Arabic verb to study. If you try to find a word
with this root, you will also find all of the others, including dars (lesson), al dars (the lesson),
duruus (lessons), dirasa (verbal noun-studying), madrasa (school), madaris (schools), adrus (I
study), yadrus (he studies), daaris (scholar), madruus (studied material), as well as many
more that may not have much relevance to the word I am looking for. This root redundancy
diminishes the value of an Arabic corpus since it will take a significant amount of time to go
through the results, locate irrelevant ones, and omit them. Based on that analyzing a word in
Arabic corpus will not be an easy task.
In comparison to other languages, Arabic lacks many linguistic resources. This
deficiency is most evident when it comes to corpora as well as the tools used to analyze the
results provided by corpora. As a result, Arabic language processing and corpus-based
studies in Arabic linguistics are inhibited due to this lack of fundamental, advanced software.
Corpora are not simply collections of text; rather, well-designed and sophisticated corpora
can provide insights of how patterns of language use that is difficult to attain from other
sources.
Both Arab and Western scholars alike have produced a handful of corpora to further
the study of the Arabic language. These serve as resources for researchers as they provide
both experimental and quantitative data based on extensive libraries of authentic Arabic
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texts. Presently, however, corpus-based research in European languages tremendously
outclasses that in Arabic both in sophistication as well as scope. As a result, the majority of
Arabic linguistic studies have had to draw from a rather limited pool of data.
In fact, Arabic corpora are not easily or freely available for public use. Both the
Linguistics Data Consortium (LDC) of Pennsylvania as well as the European Language
Resource Association (ELRA) of Paris must be purchased by research organizations before
they can be used. Consequently, they are not readily accessible to those interested in teaching
Arabic as a Foreign Language unless the researchers or educators are affiliated with
institutions that are members of the LDC or ELRA. On the other hand, many English corpora
are freely accessible online. Increasing the availability of Arabic corpora is particularly
important since people across the world are growing increasingly interested in learning the
language. Access to these resources can assist researchers in identifying the most optimal and
efficient methods for educating these students.
2.3.1 What is Corpus Linguistics
A corpus (plural corpora) is a collection of texts used for linguistic analyses, usually
stored on an internet website so that the data can be accessed easily. Corpus can be used for
research of words and/or languages and is becoming one of the most popular forms of
researching and learning about languages in the world. Corpus texts usually consist of
hundreds of thousands or even millions of words. Not examples created by a linguist or a
native speaker but naturally occurring, common spoken and written language.
Most corpora today are “systematic”. This means that the texts are collected
(“compiled”) according to different registers, genres or styles (e.g. written or spoken English,
newspaper editorials or technical writing); the sampling method follows language-external,
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as opposed to language-internal, criteria. Examples of balanced corpora are the International
Corpus of English (ICE), the British National Corpus (BNC), or the Brown and LancasterOslo/Bergen (LOB) corpora and their Freiburg updates (Frown and F-LOB).
A question that comes to mind is if the corpus is a branch of linguistics or not. We
can not give a definite answer to this question. The answer is yes and no. If we look at the
other branches of linguistics such as syntax, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and
semantics, we'll find that they each describe or explain some aspect of language use. The
corpus doesn't do this. A corpus is a form of methodology. A corpus based approach can be
used with the other branches of linguistics. We can use corpus-based methodology with all
the other branches of linguistics. Corpus methodology itself doesn't delimit any area of
linguistics.
Corpus based linguistics allow us to differentiate between different methods of
studying language. For example, corpus-based syntax and non-corpus-based syntax, corpusbased semantics and non-corpus-based semantics, etc.
From the beginning of corpus linguistics in the early sixties, there has always been
difference of opinion between linguistic scholars who are interested in doing empirical
corpus-based work, and those who are more interested in abstract notion of language,
conceiving the idea of universal grammar, that which we are theoretically all born with.
Chomsky has always regarded the concept of 'language', as an epiphenomenon,
caused by universal grammar. Chomsky changed the direction of linguistics away from
empiricism and towards rationalism in a remarkably short period of time. Empiricists rely on
the observation of naturally occurring data, usually by using the corpus. For example,
determining whether sentence x is a valid sentence of language y is done by measuring it
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against a corpus of the language in question and gathering evidence for the grammar of the
sentence. While rationalist theories are based on the development of a theory of linguistics,
the goal of which would be cognitive plausibility. The aim is to develop a theory to represent
how human language processing is undertaken.
Chomsky essentially eliminated the corpus as a source of linguistic research and
enquiry. Chomsky said that the corpus cannot be used as a useful tool to study languages
because the linguist must aim for language competency, rather than performance.
Competence analyzes a speaker's knowledge of a language. Performance is of lesser
importance than competence. Performance is effected by other outside factors. A corpus is a
collection of externalized utterances making it a poor guide to modeling linguistic
competence.
Even József Andor (2015) Trains of Thought on the Issues of Syntax, the Lexicon,
and Pragmatics: An Interview with Noam Chomsky wrote the Chomsky thought that Corpus
linguistics doesn’t mean anything. It’s like saying suppose physicians and chemists decide
that instead of relying on experiments, what they’re going to do is take videotapes of things
happening in the world and they’ll collect huge videotapes of everything that’s happening
and from that, maybe, they’ll come up with some generalizations or insights.
On the other hand, the diversity and direction of the functional utilities of English
language corpora are widely used because they provide a great opportunity for the learners to
understand the forms and functions of various language properties. The diversity of
information from a corpus provides important perspectives towards language learning.
Many advantages and benefits are already known in the corpus-based approach.
Intuition-based language course materials are usually misleading. Such materials contain
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invented examples of information, which generally overlook important aspects of language
use and replace more frequent stylistic choices with less frequent ones. The corpus-based
approach is more reliable and authentic, as the date that it is made up of is obtained from
corpora of actual English usage. These resources are explicitly empirical because they
include examples of practical language usage, giving it more attention than that which is less
common or rare in usage in the language.
The empirical evidence collected from the English language corpus is used to teach
learners about the language patterns they will see when they actually interact in practical
situations. Foreign language materials should be explicitly empirical and include examples
from practical use of the language. Referencing the English language corpus helps the
learners understand how the same sets of constructions or lexical items may vary in usage
and sense depending on the contexts of their use. Reference to English language corpora
causes learners to observe and imitate frequently used linguistic elements.
2.3.2 What is a Corpus & What is not a Corpus
A corpus is a collection of pieces of language text in electronic form selected
according to external criteria to represent, as far as possible, a language or language variety
as a source of data for linguistic research. A corpus is much more useful than a dictionary as
it gives the whole context of the word and how, where, and why it is used whereas a
dictionary just gives the literal meaning of an isolated word.
1. Examples of what don't make up a corpus include the ever-changing internet,
including its many search engines as there is not a known sampled population to
determine language.
2. Archives are also not a corpus as the priority of gathering information is not
consistent. Gathering information to make-up a corpus consists of organizing
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sources from specific outputs whereas archives are simply a mix of random
interests.
3. Collections of citations and quotations are also not a corpus as a corpus is not
interested in the word or phrase that make the citation important. Data that make
of a corpus is usually anonymous, making the location of the citation unimportant,
and the information is continuous, not random information from different trains of
thought. Quotations are not a corpus for the same reasons as citations are not a
corpus. The information is chosen at random by people, not computers.
Collections of citations and quotations correspond more closely to a concordance
than a corpus. Also the constituents of a corpus are known, and searches are
comprehensive and unbiased. Some collections of citations or quotations may
share some or all of these criteria, but there is no requirement for them to adopt
such constraints. A corpus researcher has no choice, because he or she is
committed to acquire information by indirectly searching the corpus, large or
small.
4. A text is not a corpus because a text cannot be taken out of its context to judge its
language, but it must remain in context even when the context is unimportant to
the language therefore making it useless. When textual language is considered
part of a corpus, it is only because the whole context which it is taken from is also
considered so. Following this, the instructor will then give a short lecture
accompanied by a hand-out on collocations and idioms.
2.3.3 The Arabic Corpus
The benefits of the "word sketch" functionality in a corpus are emphasized by Arts,
Belinkov, Habash, Kilgarrif, and Suchoul (2014) who argue that when it comes to identifying
collocation it is irreplaceable. For example, the "word sketch" provided for akhDar (‫)أخضر‬,
which means green in Arabic, yields some expected collocates including lawn (‫ )لون‬meaning
color and aSfar (‫ )أصفر‬meaning "yellow"; however, the "word sketch" also results in the
idiomatic ‫ األخضر واليابس‬which translates literally as "the green and the dry." The concordance
of the combination, which can be found by clicking on the number located next to the
collocate, demonstrates that the idiomatic use of akhDar (‫ )أخضر‬in "the green and the dry" is
generally associated with the Arabic words for "on" and "come" (‫)أتى على‬, verbs related to
destruction such as ‫ قضى على‬meaning to destroy and ‫ حرق‬meaning to burn. As a result, an
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analysis of the context of ‫ األخضر واليابس‬demonstrates that the idiom is used to mean
"everything" rather than the literal translation of "the green and the dry."
2.4 DATA-DRIVEN LEARNING VOCABULARY
Vocabulary teaching is an important component of language teaching. However
vocabulary lessons in foreign language classes are far from perfect. Sample sentences of
vocabulary lessons are usually either unauthentic compilations made by teachers or extracted
Figure 2.1. Collocations of word green and dry.
from a dictionary. Today foreign language vocabulary teaching content and methods are
based on abstract instructing and simple exercises.
The innovative Application of Data-Driven language in vocabulary teaching
with the growing popularity and use of information technology, the growing application of
multimedia in language teaching provides the technical prerequisites for foreign language
learning. There are various approaches to multimedia teaching methods. The major corpora
have become widely known and shared, being part of the corpus retrieval software,
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downloadable on a computer. Data-driven learning in foreign language teaching and research
is made more convenient by these factors.
In vocabulary data-based learning, learners can enter a word string and find examples
related to this word or a particular language phenomenon from a corpus of hundreds of
thousands or millions of words.
Learners can find the grammar rules of a word to find inferences for them. These can
also help the learners grasp the usage of words, their collocations, their language
environment, and their co-occurrence with a specific grammatical structure. The analysis and
observation of concordance can deepen their impression on linguistic phenomena and
vocabulary, as well as enhance their language awareness, and begin a self-exploration
process where the learner begins to put the pieces together for him/herself.
A word concordance is one of the main aspects of corpus linguistics. This is also an
approach of data-driven learning. The target words are always shown and highlighted in the
KWIC (keywords in context) format, which lists all the contexts of the same word together.
The concordance line refers to frequency of occurrence of keywords and their contexts
together.
For example "‫ " "طيب‬Tayyib" has been adapted from its literal meaning of "good" and
is now even being used in some figurative expressions. While Tayyib is still mostly used to
mean "in a good sense," this is no longer its sole meaning--especially when it is used in
speech. Tayyib is being used in some situations to mean "not good"--its antonym--in order to
emphasize the significance of a particular situation.
Another example The word farther is used to describe literal, physical distances that
are usually measurable while further is used to describe figurative quantities or amounts. For
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instance, in the match, "you are farther away from New York", farther is used to describe a
measurable, actual distance. This can be quantified in miles. On the other hand, "if I can help
further please do not hesitate to contact me gives an example of further. As can be seen, this
is not measurable. The amount you can help someone is not a quantifiable value.
Data-driven learning is mostly applied in foreign language vocabulary teaching,
including collocation, colligation, and semantic prosody.
2.4.1 Collocation
Collocation is very important in linguistics and applied linguistics. Collocation is the
co-occurrence of two or more words within a short distance in the text. Collocation is a
sequence of words in a text using specific grammatical forms which consistently occur.
The analysis of collocation is of great significance in the study of word behavior.
2.4.2 Colligation
Colligation is important in the study of word collocation. It explains the framework
and grammatical structure of collocation. Grammatical patterns of vocabulary are found by
colligation. Different words in the same grammatical pattern are definitively related and
words with different meanings have different grammatical patterns.
2.4.3 Semantic Prosody
Semantic prosody refers to the atmosphere created by the typical collocates of the
keyword in its context. There is positive prosody, neutral prosody or intricate mixed prosody
and negative prosody. Semantic prosody introduces new research for corpus linguistics.
In Data-Driven Language, the student-centered approach puts more emphasis
interaction where students communicate through the information they apply from the corpus.
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Corpus-learning allows the learner freedom to learn language according to his/her own needs
and, perhaps, curiosity, leading them to explore the language freely. Data-Driven Language
eliminates the traditional teacher-based approach. Teachers become the coordinators,
organizers, and counselors of the classroom. The relationship between teachers and students
becomes closer and thus more mutually cooperative.
To fully master a word, a learner must satisfy a wide range of prerequisites, including
knowledge of all its definitions, word parts, collocations, grammatical features, register, and
uses. Because of this, second language learners experience the most trouble with words that
have numerous meanings.
There are a variety of factors that contribute to the difficulty of learning terms with
multiple meanings. For example, since the spelling and appearance of a multi-meaning word
are the same--regardless of meaning--learners must examine the context of the word in order
to determine its meaning. This must be done each time the learner runs into the word.
Oftentimes, when learners stumble upon one of these terms, they assume that it has the
meaning they are already familiar with since they simply associate the meaning with the
word's appearance. As a result, learners frequently fail to realize that these words even have
multiple meanings and that those meaning vary with context. Al -Shumaimeri and
Baniabdelrahman (2014) claimed in their study "Strategies use by Saudi EFL students to
determine the meaning of English words" that EFL language teachers should be aware of the
different vocabulary learning strategies their students actually use.
More often than not, the vast majority of a polyseme's use can be credited to a single
meaning: the one most frequently used. Furthermore, even when learners realize that a
polyseme's meaning may be irrelevant in context, they tend to assume that the meaning they
16
have encountered must be similar to the ones they are familiar with. This further complicates
the learning of multi-meaning words since learners are often hesitant to deviate from a word
meaning they already know. Since many polysemes are associated with vastly different
meanings, this assumption exacerbates the difficulty of learning vocabulary. Because of this,
instructors should be encouraged to emphasize polysemes in order to facilitate student
adoption of new meanings. By ensuring that educators are aware of the challenges posed by
polysemes, we can assist our students as they strive to develop novel lexical connections. In
order to properly understand and recognize a word's new meanings, it is necessary for
learners to connect all of a word's different meanings and contexts through repetition.
2.5 GOALS OF THE STUDY
The goal of the study is to familiarize the students with one of the most common
words within one of the most common dialects in the Arab world based on the corpus as
opposed to simply teaching them standard formal ways, which will be of much less use to
them.
1. Discover the different meanings of the word Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬by searching a corpus
of newspaper articles.
2. Study the frequency of each of the word's meanings.
3. Determine the value of including the more regularly-used meanings of Tayyib
(‫ )طيب‬in an advanced course curriculum due to the impracticality of teaching all of
its meanings since some are quite rare.
4.
Create material to teach the word Tayyb in proper Arabic and the Levantine
dialect.
17
CHAPTER 3
METHODS
My study will utilize the Arabic corpus included in the collection of the Linguistics
Data Consortium. It consists of a body of Arabic texts, collected by the University of
Pennsylvania, that are all derived from the Arabic Newswire. The corpus consists of
89,731,308 words across 383,872 standard Arabic texts. There are 929,505 word types. The
texts date from May 13, 1994 to December 20, 2000.
The usefulness of corpora is rooted in the frequency-sorted word lists that they can
provide. In order to study Arabic polysemy, it is necessary to determine how often various
meanings occur. In my study, I will look up the Arabic word Tayyib (‫)طيب‬, take a random
sample, determine the frequency of each of the word's different meanings, and identify the
meanings that do not appear in the sample. In addition to tallying the frequencies of each of
the word's meanings, I will also study the collocations of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬to determine the
words that its various meanings are frequently associated with.
For example, in spoken Arabic, the word qalb, which means heart, is often used with
the word Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬to mean kind-hearted. In the collocations, the meaning of a phrase of
words differs from the meanings of the individual words. Because of this, Arabic learners
need to be familiar with the collocations associated with each meaning instead of simply
learning individual vocabulary words. Additionally, I will examine the words appearing
18
immediately before and after the node in order to identify the frequent surrounding terms and
also consider both the masculine and feminine forms of Tayyib (‫)طيب‬.
19
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS
This section will introduce the results of the study. Results were taken from the
following: Modern Standard Arabic, the Levantine dialect, and religious texts.
Table 4.1. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at the Query Node: There
Are 15 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance Position
No.
Search result
No. of occurrences
Percent
1
‫طيبة‬
802
69.8%
2
‫طيب‬
204
17.75%
3
‫طيبا‬
90
7.83%
4
‫طيبي‬
12
1.04%
5
‫طيبان‬
9
0.78%
6
‫طيبين‬
6
0.52%
7
‫طيبون‬
6
0.52%
8
‫طيباوي‬
5
0.44%
9
‫طيبى‬
5
0.44%
10
‫طيبات‬
4
0.35%
11
‫طيبتها‬
2
0.17%
12
‫طيبه‬
1
0.09%
13
‫طيباريوس‬
1
0.09%
14
‫طيبتين‬
1
0.09%
15
‫طيبت‬
1
0.09%
20
4.1 MODERN STANDARD ARABIC
1. The feminine form of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬has the highest frequency, appearing 802
times and accounting for 69.8% of the word's use among 741 different texts. The
database consisted of 89,731,308 words in 383,872 texts. The feminine form of
the word Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬averaged 8.94 instances in each one million words. The
prevalence of the feminine form of the word can be explained by taking a random
sample from this corpus. In doing this, it becomes evident that, in many of these
occurrences, Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is used as an adjective describing nonhuman plural
objects. In Arabic, nonhuman plural objects are always described with singular
feminine adjectives.
2. The second most frequent appearance of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is the masculine form of
the word. This returned 204 matches in 191 different texts. The masculine form of
the word Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬averaged 2.27 instances in each one million words.
3. Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬in the accusative case is the third most frequent result. In this case,
Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is an indefinite adjective to the indefinite noun which serves as the
object of the sentence. Here, the object also uses the accusative case.
4. Tayyib being used as a name / proper noun meaning "good." This is not
particularly surprising since, in Arabic many adjectives can serve as names.
Examples include the Arabic words for beautiful, handsome, gracious, etc.
5. Another meaning of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is "beneficial" when used to describe a
diplomatic meeting.
6. Additional meanings of Tayyib, in various contexts, (‫ )طيب‬that appeared in the
sample include: good job, pleasant atmosphere, sleeping well / comfortably,
encouraging words, tasty food, willingly, kind-hearted, best of luck, good
impression, good performance, and good improvement.
The word Tayyib (‫)طيب‬, however, has even more meanings that did not show up in
the results. These include: pleasant odor, friendly, good weather, and be patient.
In written Arabic, Tayyib also has multitude of divergent definitions. These, however,
are dependent on only the short vowels and context. Here are those potential meanings when
Tayyib is written as a verb:
1. To make speech kinder

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba al-kalaam
21

Example: If someone made a mistake at work, a boss might make her words
kinder when she corrects the person.
2. To make someone feel better with comforting words (in response to a tragedy in
someone's life)

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba khatirahu

Example: If a girl broke up with her boyfriend, you try to comfort her by
saying that it was for the best or that she will find someone better.
3. To make food more tasty

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba aT-Ta'aam

Example: A chef adds more spices and herbs while preparing a meal to make
it taste better.
4. To make a person smell better

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba al-jism

Example: A lady applies perfume to improve her smell.
5. To treat a person or animal

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba al-(a noun for a person or animal)

Example: A doctor treats his patient.
6. To ask God to let someone rest in peace (similar to English: may he rest in peace)

‫ طيَّب‬Tayyaba allah tharah

Example: A mourner offers his condolences to the deceased's family by
asking God to let the deceased rest in peace.
Here are some additional meanings when Tayyib is written but not as a verb:
1. Positive adjective to describe someone's character / kindhearted

Tayyib

Example: "That man is so Tayyib."
2. Part of a family with a good reputation
22

Tayyib al-asil

Example: In Arabic culture, one's family name is very important. If a man
asks for a woman's hand in marriage, people will say this about the man if his
family has a good reputation.
3. Calming words (to stop argument)

Kalima tayyiba
Example: Two men are arguing and an observer says kind words to calm them down.
Some interesting findings to note related to these results:

Since Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is usually an adjective, it is not surprising to find that it is
usually following a noun as nouns precede adjectives in Arabic.

While Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is often used in the expression jaw Tayyib (‫ )جو طيب‬to mean
"good weather" in everyday conversation, this meaning never appears in the
corpus. The expression jaw Tayyib (‫ )جو طيب‬does appear in the corpus many
times, but this same expression can also mean "pleasant atmosphere" and this is
the meaning of joo Tayyib (‫ )جو طيب‬throughout the corpus. This is likely because
the corpus consists of newspaper articles which frequently describe political
meetings of good faith.

In spoken language, the word Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬is paired with the Arabic word for
heart often as it is regularly used to describe people as kind-hearted. In the corpus,
however, this pairing is rare. I would also attribute this to the lack of variety in the
sources of the corpus texts.
4.2 LEVANTINE COLLOQUIAL
In Levantine colloquial, while the letters remain the same, Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬has a variety
of different meanings which are dependent on the intonation, pronunciation, and context.
These meanings are clear to native speakers. Here are some of the possible meanings:
1. Okay (as a response to a question or command)

Example: "Would you like some water?" "Okay."
2. I will show you, you will see, just wait (threatening context)

Example: This can be used by a parent when a child misbehaves in public to
inform the child that a punishment is waiting when they get home.
23
3. Why are you telling me this? What can I do about it? (an indication of
powerlessness in response to someone telling you something that you have no
control over)

Example: A wife is complaining about her mother-in-law to her husband. The
husband replies with Tayyib to convey that he can't do anything.
4. Hurry up, get to the end (while someone is telling you a story)

Example: A friend is telling you a story about an interesting event in her life
and is taking her time in telling the story. You tell her Tayyib to indicate
impatience and that you want to her to hurry up with the story.
5. Default filler response in conversation

Example: Similar to "uh-huh," "mmm," and "yeah" in English, Tayyib can be
used to indicate that you're paying attention to what someone is saying.
6. Compliment for delicious food

Example: "Wow, this food is very Tayyib."
7. Positive adjective to describe someone's character / kindhearted

Example: "That man is so Tayyib."
8. Alive? (asking about someone's health as a question)

Example: "Is your dad still Tayyib?"
9. Weak (as an insult, usually when gossiping about someone)

Example: "That guy is so Tayyib."
4.3 ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS TEXTS
The word Tayyib also makes notable appearances in Islamic religious texts, including
the Qur'an and Sunnah. To reiterate, the general meaning of Tayyib is anything that is good
and pure.
1. In Islam, At-Tayyib is one of the ninety-nine names of Allah. Here it essentially
serves as title meaning "one who is far removed from every imperfection and
deficiency." In Sahiih Muslim, which is a collection of hadiith, Abu Hurayrah radi
Allahu anhu writes that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam used the word
Tayyib a number of times in his description of Allah. For example, he states,
24
"Indeed Allah is Good, Far Removed from any Imperfection, and He only accepts
that which is good.
2. In the Qur'an, Tayyib is also used to describe good men and women who are
destined for one another: "And good women are for good men, and good men are
[an object] of good women" (Qur’an, 24:26).
3. Allah only accepts good from the deeds and sayings. Furthermore, Tayyib appears
in the Qur’an where it says, "He ascends all the goodly words and it is He who
exalts each deed of righteousness (Qur’an, 35:10).
4. More examples of Tayyib in Islamic texts include: "and they had been guided [in
worldly life] to good speech, and they were guided to the path of the
praiseworthy" (Qur’an 22:24).
5. In fact, in Islam, paradise is for the al-Tayyibeen as mentioned here: "the ones
whom the angels take in death, [being] tayyibeen, good and pure; [the angels] will
say, “Peace be upon you. Enter Paradise for what you used to do” (Qur’an 16:32).
6. Finally, in the Qur'an, Tayyib is also used to describe the halaal (lawful) food for
Muslims: "O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good"
(Qur’an 2:168).
As can be seen in Table 4.2, 'alaaqaat (‫ )عالقات‬is the most common word to appear
before Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬at 15.49%. The word 'alaaqaat (‫ )عالقات‬means relations and when paired
with Tayyib (‫)طيب‬, It essentially means good political relations. Both the second and third
most frequent results preceding Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬are actually the same word in its singular and
plural forms. These are the Arabic words for "result" and "results" which, in context, refer to
the results of political meetings and discussions. Again, these results are understandable
considering the makeup of the corpus.
Table 4.3 shows the words that follow Tayyib (‫)طيب‬. The most common result is ma'a
(‫)مع‬, which is the preposition "with," and it is frequently being used to describe the good
relations "with" a political entity.
25
Table 4.2. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at Position 1 After the Node:
There Are 344 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance Position
No.
Search
result
1
‫عالقات‬
2
No. of occurrences
Percent
178
15.49%
‫نتائج‬
50
4.35%
3
‫نتيجة‬
36
3.13%
4
‫فرصة‬
32
2.79%
5
"
32
2.79%
6
‫بداية‬
31
2.7%
7
‫عرضا‬
25
2.18%
8
‫رجب‬
22
1.91%
9
‫بسمعة‬
19
1.65%
10
‫ارادة‬
18
1.57%
11
‫نوايا‬
16
1.39%
12
‫ذكرى‬
16
1.39%
13
‫بكل‬
12
1.04%
14
‫غير‬
12
1.04%
15
‫عالقة‬
11
0.96%
16
‫بعالقات‬
10
0.87%
17
‫صحة‬
10
0.87%
18
‫جو‬
10
0.87%
19
‫حظا‬
9
0.78%
20
‫اجواء‬
9
0.78%
21
‫اخبارا‬
9
0.78%
22
‫مستوى‬
8
0.7%
23
‫رجل‬
8
0.7%
24
‫بنية‬
8
0.7%
25
‫روح‬
7
0.61%
26
‫بادرة‬
7
0.61%
27
‫خطوة‬
7
0.61%
28
‫بو‬
7
0.61%
(table continues)
‫‪26‬‬
‫)‪Table 4.2. (continued‬‬
‫‪0.61%‬‬
‫‪7‬‬
‫اخوية‬
‫‪29‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫في‬
‫‪30‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫رجال‬
‫‪31‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫بارادة‬
‫‪32‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫سمعة‬
‫‪33‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫احمد‬
‫‪34‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫شعب‬
‫‪35‬‬
‫‪0.52%‬‬
‫‪6‬‬
‫الفلسطينية‬
‫‪36‬‬
‫‪0.44%‬‬
‫‪5‬‬
‫بذكرى‬
‫‪37‬‬
‫‪0.44%‬‬
‫‪5‬‬
‫عن‬
‫‪38‬‬
‫‪0.44%‬‬
‫‪5‬‬
‫من‬
‫‪39‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫فرصا‬
‫‪40‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫حالة‬
‫‪41‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫المتحدث‬
‫‪42‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫مناسبة‬
‫‪43‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫بصحة‬
‫‪44‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫حظكم‬
‫‪45‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫واوضح‬
‫‪46‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫بن‬
‫‪47‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫مباراة‬
‫‪48‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫بنوايا‬
‫‪49‬‬
‫بمستوى‬
‫‪50‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
27
Table 4.3. Frequency Breakdown of Words in this Query, at Position 1 Before the
Node: There Are 366 Different Types and 1,149 Tokens at this Concordance Position
No.
Search result
No. of occurrences
Percent
1
‫مع‬
129
11.23%
2
"
86
7.48%
3
".
77
6.7%
4
‫في‬
56
4.87%
5
.
41
3.57%
6
‫من‬
28
2.44%
7
،
27
2.35%
8
‫جدا‬
26
2.26%
9
‫اردوغان‬
22
1.91%
10
‫على‬
19
1.65%
11
‫خاطر‬
18
1.57%
12
‫ان‬
16
1.39%
13
‫عبد‬
14
1.22%
14
‫بفوزه‬
11
0.96%
15
‫القديمة‬
10
0.87%
16
‫القلب‬
9
0.78%
17
‫امام‬
8
0.7%
18
‫ولكن‬
8
0.7%
19
‫عن‬
7
0.61%
20
(
7
0.61%
21
‫بين‬
7
0.61%
22
"،
6
0.52%
23
‫لكن‬
6
0.52%
24
‫لدى‬
5
0.44%
25
‫خالل‬
5
0.44%
26
‫للراي‬
4
0.35%
27
‫للغاية‬
4
0.35%
28
‫بنت‬
4
0.35%
29
‫لتحرك‬
4
0.35%
30
‫لم‬
4
0.35%
(table continues)
‫‪28‬‬
‫)‪Table 4.3. (continued‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫حتى‬
‫‪31‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫ونامل‬
‫‪32‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫ال‬
‫‪33‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫عندما‬
‫‪34‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫‪...‬‬
‫‪35‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫صفوة‬
‫‪36‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫االقامة‬
‫‪37‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫للتوصل‬
‫‪38‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫وليس‬
‫‪39‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫بتعادلها‬
‫‪40‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫بالنسبة‬
‫‪41‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫وان‬
‫‪42‬‬
‫‪0.35%‬‬
‫‪4‬‬
‫خان‬
‫‪43‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫للمغربيين‬
‫‪44‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫بكوش‬
‫‪45‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫لبحث‬
‫‪46‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫ويجب‬
‫‪47‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫وانه‬
‫‪48‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫)‪(...‬‬
‫‪49‬‬
‫‪0.26%‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫وبناء‬
‫‪50‬‬
29
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION
The frequencies of the different meanings of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬provide Arabic educators
with information that can be used to improve and enhance the curriculum of their courses.
Meanings with a relatively high frequency are more commonly used and, thus, should be
taught with a greater emphasis to learners in non-Arabic-speaking countries. Additionally,
word-meaning frequency results demonstrate the popularity and use of each meaning in the
corpus.
Since the corpus consists of texts found solely in a Lebanese newspaper, the results
demonstrated that the most common uses of Tayyib (‫ )طيب‬relate to political situations while
the more conversational uses of Tayyib prevalent in interpersonal communication--such as
tasty, kind-hearted, and generous--are sparse. As a result, this study may be most helpful to
students learning Arabic to pursue interests related to Middle Eastern politics. In fact, interest
in learning Arabic has notably increased over the past decade as a result of the growing
importance of the Middle Eastern politics on the world stage. An understanding of Arabic
newspaper collocations is necessary for those attempting to study primary documents from
the Arab world.
I would suggest that educators teaching Arabic to non-native speakers outside of the
Arab world should focus on the high frequency meanings of polysemy words since these will
be most prevalent in academic Arabic. On the other hand, non-native speakers attempting to
30
pick up Arabic while studying abroad in an Arab country may get the most benefit out of
learning the low frequency meanings of polysemy words since they naturally pick up the
high frequency meanings from conversational immersion.
There are also a handful of successful methods instructors can exploit in order to
facilitate the learning of polysemes.
Firstly, when introducing a new meaning, it is most effective to do so at the time a
meaning is encountered. The teacher can take advantage of the word's context in the text
while presenting the meaning. On the other hand, an educator should not introduce multiple
meanings of a single word together. This has the potential to confuse students; instead, a
teacher should regularly review words throughout a course in order to facilitate word
retention. Additionally, teachers should suggest that students mark or highlight unclear words
as this enhances students' awareness of polysemy. Teachers can then provide the learners
with dictionaries, ask them to return to their marked terms, and encourage students to identify
accurate meanings for familiar words that do not fit logically in context.
Clear instruction is another effective approach available to educators when covering
multiple-meaning words. When students are unaware of the existence of more than one
meaning for a word, rather than allowing students to discover the novel definition
independently, it has been found to be very helpful when teachers simply present the word
along with its new meaning. The direct presentation of a new meaning, along with sentences
in which it is used, assists students in developing connections between a familiar word and its
new meaning. The sentences provide examples of the word in various contexts and allow
students to experience a single word's multiple meanings.
31
CHAPTER 6
LIMITATIONS
The results are limited by the corpus used in my study. This is because all of the texts
originate from news agencies and most of them come from Lebanon. A more useful corpus
may be one that includes texts from a variety of concentrations, disciplines, types of media,
and Middle Eastern countries. These may include engineering texts, medical publications,
everyday speech, and films. In fact, utilizing more than one corpus and then comparing the
results would prove even more helpful.
Finally, it is my hope that this paper encourages other researchers by providing a
foundation and basis for further analysis of Arabic polysemy using corpora.
32
CHAPTER 7
TEACHING MATERIALS
7.1 LESSON ONE: CORPUS-BASED APPROACH: MODERN
STANDARD ARABIC
Before the instructor starts the first corpus-based activity, a training session must be
given to students as the corpus is not a traditional method for teaching a foreign language.
Most of the students in the class will most likely need to have some training before going
over the activities.
In order to prepare students for the activities, a practice exercise should be given to
them. In this practice exercise the students will be given a brief introduction about corpus and
the use of corpus.
7.1.1 Activity
The instructor will give the students an Arabic corpus. Each student will put in the
word "Tayyb" and will get approximately 50 random samples. Each student will have
different data. Each student will find different meanings for the word "Tayyb" based on his
sample and will write the definitions according to the sample he or she has. Each student will
then write a sentence in Arabic for each meaning which he or she will share with the class.
The student will then look for collocations and idioms and write them on his or her paper and
attempt to guess their meanings. He or she will then look for synonyms for these. Students
will be given the following questions
33
1. How many meanings for the word Taayyib did you find?
2. Give a definition for each meaning you found in the data.
3. Create one original sentence for each meaning of the word.
4. Look at the word "Tayyb" in the language data. Look for collocations and idioms.
5. Write synonyms for each meaning found
After the students finish, the instructor displays the questions on the doc-cam and gets the
answers from the students. The instructor will not immediately give them the answers. The
instructor used the inductive approach to help learners build their own language using
induction, analogy, and hypothesis formation and testing. Learning a language involves
critical thinking and not just memorization. The instructor will do this by asking students
questions rather than providing them with answers when they do not know something.
However, this approach may pose a challenge to students who are familiar with a more
traditional approach to language learning.
7.2 LESSON TWO: CORPUS-BASED APPROACH: MODERN
STANDARD ARABIC
Use the Arabic Newswire corpus (http://bulba.sdsu.edu/corpora) to answer the
following questions. Give specific examples to back up your answers.
1. How literal is the word Tayyib? Literally the word Tayyb means good, but does it
always mean what it literally means? Make an Arabic corpus search and examine
the query results in random order.
2. According to the Arabic Newswire corpus, the adjective feminine form of Tayyib
has different meanings. Considering the uses of the feminine word Tayyib, is
there anything else a speaker needs to know to use this word correctly?
3. What’s the difference (in meaning or function) between Tayyib and lathith?
34
7.3 LESSON THREE: WORD TAYYIB IN RELIGIOUS TEXTS
(BIBLE AND QURAN)
7.3.1 Tayyib in the Bible
The instructor asks the students to use the following Christian Corpus to find as many
different meaning of word Tayyib as possible that appear in the bible:
http://www.thegrace.com/bible/search.htm
After that the instructor separates the students into pairs and asks them to share their
findings to one another. After the students are finished the instructor asks them to share their
findings with the class.
7.3.2 Tayyib in the Quran
The instructor splits students into groups of three, and asks them to find out the
different meanings of word Tayyib in the following sentences. After the students are finished
the instructor asks them to share their findings with the class.
Table 7.1. Exercise: Sample Sentence from Quran
and good men
clean
pure
blessed
pleasant
the good things
blessedness
And good women
good
ِ ‫ات والطَّيِّبو َن والطَّيِّب‬
ِ ِ
‫ي‬
َ ِ‫ات للطَّيِّب‬
ُ َ َ ُ َ َ‫للطَّيِّب‬
ِ
ِ
‫صعِ ًيدا‬
َ ‫فَ ْام َس ُحوا بُِو ُجوه ُك ْم َوأَيْدي ُك ْم طَيِّبًا فَتَ يَ َّم ُموا‬
ِ َ ‫إِن‬
َ َ‫يع طَيِّبَ َةً ق‬
ِّ ‫ال َر‬
ً‫ك ذُِّريَّة‬
َ ْ‫ب ِِل ِم ْن لَ ُدن‬
ْ ‫ب َه‬
ُ ‫َّك ََس‬
‫ُّع ِاء‬
َ ‫الد‬
ِ ‫ِِف جن‬
‫ض َوا ٌن ِم َن اللَّ ِه أَ ْكبَ ُر طَيِّبَ َةً َوَم َساكِ َن‬
ْ ‫َّات َع ْد ٍن َوِر‬
َ
ِ
ِ
ِ
‫يم طَيِّبَ َةً َوَم َساكِ َن‬
َ ‫ِِف َجنَّات َع ْد ٍن ََٰذل‬
ُ ‫ك الْ َف ْوُز الْ َعظ‬
‫ك َماذَا أ ُِح َّل ََلُ ْم قُ ْل أ ُِح َّل لَ ُك ُم‬
َُ َ‫الطَّيِّب‬
َ َ‫ات يَ ْسأَلُون‬
ِ َّ ‫آب طُوبىَ الَّ ِذين آمنوا وع ِملُوا‬
ِ ‫اِل‬
‫ات‬
َ َ َُ َ
َ ٍ ‫ََلُ ْم َو ُح ْس ُن َم‬
َ ‫الص‬
ِ
ِ ‫اْلبِيثو َن لِلْخبِيث‬
‫ات‬
َُ َ‫ي َوالطَّيِّب‬
َ َ
ُ َْ ‫ات َو‬
َ ِ‫للطَّيِّب‬
ِ َ ِّ‫الصالِح ي رفَعه الطَّي‬
‫ص َع ُد الْ َكلِ ُم‬
ْ َ‫ب إِلَْيه ي‬
ُ ُ ْ َ ُ َّ ‫َوالْ َع َم ُل‬
ُ
35
7.4 LESSON FOUR: TAYYIB IN THE LEVANTINE DIALECT
The instructor starts by writing the lesson title (The meaning of Tayyib in the
Levantine dialect) ‫ معاني طيب في اللهجة الشامية‬on the whiteboard.
7.4.1 Pre-Lesson
1. The instructor informs the students that they have already learned the different
meanings of the word Tayyib in Modern Standard Arabic and religious texts, and
are already able to construct sentences using the word in the standard language.
The teacher can use the following examples:
Table 7.2. Pre-Lesson (Example Sentences)
He is a good man
Our meeting was beneficial
‫هو رجل طيب‬
‫اجتماعنا كان طيبا‬
2. Prior to beginning the lesson, the instructor will ask the students to write
sentences using various meanings for the word Tayyib in Modern Standard
Arabic. This is to refresh the students' memories by having them construct simple
Arabic sentences using different meanings of the word Tayyib in Modern
Standard Arabic.
3.
Below are some examples of sentences that students could write:
‫ان هذا الرجل بالفعل طيب األصل‬
.1
Literally: This man has a good origin.
Meaning: This man is a good person.
‫لقد جاء وطيب خاطرها بكلمتين‬
.2
Literally: He came and bettered her sake in two words.
Meaning: He made her feel better.
‫رائحتها طيبة جدا‬
.3
Literally: Her smell is very good.
Meaning: She smells good.
‫ طيب هللا ثراه‬. ‫كان رجال جيدا‬
.4
Literally: He was a very good man.
36
Meaning: God make his dirt good. (This is said for a deceased person, the dirt referred to is
that in which the deceased is buried in.)
‫هو من عائلة طيبة‬
.5
Literally: He is from a good family.
Meaning: He is from a good family.
4. The instructor separates the students into pairs and asks them to read their
sentences to one another.
5. The instructor asks the students for sample sentences to write on the whiteboard.
The teacher circles everywhere the word Tayyb is found in the student sample sentences on
the whiteboard and then writes the meaning of word Tayyib next to each sample.
7.4.2 Tayyib in the Levantine Dialect
1. The instructor will now introduce the different meanings of the word Tayyib in
the Levantine colloquial dialect. The instructor will inform the students that while
the letters remain the same, Tayyib has a variety of different meanings which are
dependent on the intonation, and context. These meanings are clear to the native
speakers.
2. The instructor writes the following chart on the board, reading the sentences out
loud while writing them. The students are simultaneously copying it down as the
teacher writes each row. This chart includes all of the different meaning of
Tayyib in Levantine dialect—
Table 7.3. All of the Different Meaning of Tayyib in Levantine Dialect-Meaning
Arabic sentences
Okay
‫تشرب شاي ؟ طيب بشرب‬
Threat
‫طيب وهللا ألورجيك‬
What can I do about it ?
‫طيب شو أعملك أنا ؟‬
Hurry up
‫طيب ياهلل خلصنا‬
Default filler
‫طيب وبعدين ما الحقت المباراة‬
Compliment for delicious food
‫هاألكل طيب وهللا‬
Kindhearted
‫هو انسان طيب‬
Alive
‫والدك طيب ؟‬
Weak
‫مسكين هاالنسان حرام طيب‬
37
3. After the students are finished copying down the chart, the instructor will read the
sentences out loud, one row at a time. This allows the students to hear the
different intonation of each meaning.
4. The instructor goes row by row through the chart and asks students to raise their
hands if they would like the words to be repeated.
5. The instructor will then ask one student to read the first sentence, another to read
the second sentence, and a third to read the third sentence out loud.
6. The instructor asks students to give a definition for each meaning using their own
language to describe what the word means. This will help students remember the
appropriate definitions.
7. The instructor asks students to draw a picture of the word or what the word
represents.
8. The instructor asks students to find synonyms and antonyms for each word on a
list. Synonyms are often used as definitions.
9. The instructor will ask the students to compose songs for the words and
definitions that they have learned. This will help them memorize them faster.
10. The instructor will give the students a handout with the following list of Arabic
sentences which have the word Tayyib. The students will participate in a listening
cloze activity where the instructor will read the sentences out loud and ask the
students to write the appropriate meaning in English next to each one. Both the
sentences and the transcript are in spoken Arabic.
‫هذا الشخص قلبه طيب كتيير‬
Literally: This person's heart of very good
Meaning: This person is a good person
‫طيب وهللا ألورجيك‬
Literally: Good, by God I will show you
Meaning: By God I will show you (a threat)
‫طيب كمل هالقصة وخلصنا‬
Literally: Good, complete this story and finish us
Meaning: Hurry up and finish the story (annoyed)
38
‫طيب ماشي راح أحضر االجتماع‬
Literally: Good, walking, I'm going to prepare the meeting
Meaning: Okay fine I'm going to prepare for the meeting
‫شو طيب هاألكل‬
Literally: What good this food
Meaning: This food is very good
‫هذا عالبركة كتيير طيب‬
Literally: This on the blessing is very good
Meaning: He's a Fool
‫أبوك طيب؟‬
Literally: Is your dad good?
Meaning: Is your dad alive?
‫وطيب وشو الي عالقة أنا‬
Literally: And good, and what relationship to I have?
Meaning: Okay, what do I have to do with it?
This activity is especially useful because it involves two features. To begin with, it presents
the different meanings of the word Tayyib that the learners are asked to learn clearly in the
instructions. Additionally, writing the meaning next to each sentence depends on the
students' ability to recognize the correct meaning.
1. When the students are finished, the instructor puts the handout on a Doc-Cam and
asks students to volunteer. Each volunteer will read a sentence out loud with the
different meaning of the word Tayyib while he/she emphasizes the correct
intonation. The instructoe will discuss the selected meaning and explain why each
is correct or incorrect.
39
2. The instructor then comes up with sample sentences and says them, one-at-a-time,
to the class. After each sentence, the instructor has the students identify what the
meaning of Tayyib is each particular sentence is.
3. Separate the class into different groups and give each group one meaning of the
word Tayyib and ask them to come up with a sketch using their meaning in it and
then act it in front of the class who have to guess what meaning is given.
4. The instructor will ask the students to make a graphic organizer for the word
Tayyb. They will place the word in the center and creatively put all its definitions
around it.
7.5 LESSON FIVE: SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
7.5.1 Content Schema Activation -- Ranking
The instructor divides the class into pairs and gives each pair of students the
following chart in Arabic. The instructor asks students to describe each of meaning of the
word Tayyib in order of which one they like the most (1 being the most and 9 being the
least), and explain their rankings with their partners. At this level, Arabic-learning students
are able to participate in these conversations. Students are told they can ask the teacher if
they need help with any of the words.
7.5.2 Activity Recalling Information
The instructor divides the class into pairs and plays an audio of sentences in Arabic
that includes different meanings of Tayyib. The instructor repeats each sentence more than
one time. After listing all the different meanings of the word Tayyib, students will share their
answer with their partners. The instructor will seek student input while listing all of Tayyib's
items in a chart displayed with the doc-cam. This allows students to check their answers.
7.5.3 Audio Transcript
The instructor gives each student the Arabic audio transcript of this part of the
listening lesson. The instructor reads it aloud and asks students to repeat each sentence after
40
him. After this, the instructor asks students to work in pairs. One student will be asked to
read the text aloud while the other follows along on the transcript. The students then switch
roles. After both students have a chance to read the transcript aloud, teacher reassigns the
students to new partners and has students repeat this activity with their new partners for extra
practice. When each student has read the transcript twice, the teacher asks for volunteers or
randomly selects students to read it aloud in front of the class.
7.5.4 Speaking Activity
The instructor displays a picture of two people at an Arabic restaurant talking about
how the food is Tayyib (delicious) on the screen using the doc-cam. The teacher uses this
image to model the activity for the students. The instructor then asks each student to
individually to draw a scenario where one of the meanings of Tayyib is used. When they are
finished, the instructor asks the students to separate into pairs and asks them to try to explain
their picture using the meaning of the word Tayyib they have selected. The instructor will
model this first by his picture. Students are then asked to do this with their partners. After
both partners complete the activity, the pairs will be changed so that each student completes
the activity two times. After they complete the activity twice, they then trade pictures and
create new stories based on the new pictures.
7.5.5 Listen/Speaking Activity Listen and Draw
The instructor splits students into two groups. One of the groups is asked to wait
outside the classroom while the other group remains inside. The instructor then tells those
students inside the classroom different sentences in Arabic each one using a different
meaning of Tayyib. The students are asked to write down keywords. The instructor repeats
the sentences a second time. The second group is invited back into the classroom. Students
41
are split into pairs with one student from each of the groups (one from the inside group and
one from the outside group). The students that were inside the classroom are asked to say the
sentences that have the word Tayyib in Arabic to their partners who were not present for the
instructor's description. As the students describe the story, they can refer to their notes. The
students who were outside are asked to draw the meaning of Tayyib on their partners'
descriptions. The instructor takes some of the drawing samples and displays them on the doccam. The instructor then reads the original description again and the class compares the
drawings with the description. The teacher repeats this activity with a description. The
groups are switched this time around so the outside group is now inside and the inside group
is now outside.
7.5.6 Activity Listening to a Native Speakers'
Conversation
The instructor will play a conversation between two native Arabic speakers. If this is
done at SDSU or a similar campus that has many fluent Arabic-speaking students, the
instructor can ask two native Arabic speakers to act this out in front of the students instead of
playing the recorded clip. This activity allows Arabic learners to experience natural Arabic at
the speed used by typical Arabic speakers. During the first listen, students will be asked to
listen for general ideas and to attempt to identify the relationship between the two speakers.
The dialogue will be played or performed a second time. This time, the instructor will give
each student the following chart and ask that each student work with a partner to fill in the
chart as they listen to it the second time. After this, the dialogue will be played or performed
a third time, one sentence at a time, and the students will have another opportunity to correct
42
and complete their charts. The instructor will then solicit student feedback as he attempts to
fill in a chart on the doc-cam.
Table 7.4. Listening Activity
The meaning of word Tayyib
Sentences
Sentences one
Sentences two
Sentences three
Sentences four
Sentences five
Sentences six
Sentences seven
Sentence eight
Sentence ten
7.5.7 (Role play). American Student and Syrian Host
Family
The instructor asks students to work in pairs to come up with a possible conversation
between an Arabic-speaking American foreign exchange student and a member of a Syrian
host family. The American student will ask as many questions as he can while the Syrian
host family member answers in details trying to use different meanings of the word Tayyib.
To save time, the teacher can assign this activity as homework. In the next class, the teacher
will then review some of the completed written conversations and find some examples. The
teacher asks the students who wrote these examples to model their conversations in front of
the class. Afterwards, the teacher and students who modeled the conversations can provide
suggestions to the rest of the class which can be used to improve the conversations they came
up with.
43
7.5.8 Activity Recording (Main Speaking Activity)
Using the homework assignment from the last activity, the instructor asks students to
practice their conversations in pairs in class. The instructor allows them to practice the
conversations until the students feel comfortable. The instructor then asks students to go to
the Computer Lab and record their conversations with the computers' webcams and upload
the videos to the class BlackBoard website.
7.5.9 Activity: Video Critique
The instructor plays each video in front of the class and asks each group to critique
their own work first. Afterwards, the teacher asks the other students in the class to provide
constructive criticism, describe the strong aspects of the conversation, and detail the parts
that can be improved. Finally, the teacher gives his own opinion. After all of the videos are
played and critiqued, the class will be asked to vote for the best performance.
7.6 LESSON SIX: AUTHENTIC MATERIALS
The instructor will have the class listen to the following two Arabic songs on
blackboard and have them write the definition of the word tayyb according to both of these
songs:
Song ya tayyib elgalb ‫يا طيب القلب‬
Song Ya tayyib ‫يا طيب‬
44
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