This study discusses perceptions of variation across dialects of Arabic in the Arab world as revealed through a perceptual dialectology map task. On a map of the Arab world, female undergraduate students at Qatar University provided information about boundaries where people speak differently and labels for those boundaries. A correlation analysis of the boundaries showed that participants viewed Arabic dialects as constituting five major dialect groups: the Maghreb, Egypt and Sudan, the Levant, the Gulf, and Somalia. A closer analysis of the content of the labels revealed variation in terms of principal (Goffman 1981) on whom they draw in their judgments, the latter being either individual, regional (intermediate) or wide-scope generic. This analysis not only identifies more granularity in the concept of principal, it also quantifies the different kinds of principal and identifies statistical relationships between them, the labels, and the boundaries.

Research workshop on the unfinished Flavian Epics, Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica and Statius' Achilleid presented by students enrolled in CLA 525/625. There will be coffee breaks, lunch and a reception, followed by dinner with our Keynote Speaker.

Ödön von Horváth’s plays, although popular in Germany, are notoriously difficult to translate due to the stylized speech and cultural references von Horváth used in his desire for a realistic portrayal of the bourgeoisie of the Weimar Republic. Under the guidance of the skilled Scottish director and writer Alan McKendrick, students in GER 352 will perform a dramatic reading of their own translation of von Horváth's Kasimir und Karoline. There will also be a Q&A with the students and director after the reading. Reception with refreshments to follow.

Viewer discretion is advised. Both the original text and the translation contain phrasing that is sexual in nature which might make some viewers uncomfortable.