Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Remote sensing provides people with an alternative, otherwise unattainable view to
analyze the earth. Military and intelligence analysts quickly adopted this technology for tactical
and strategic applications. Accordingly, these interpreters require increasingly immediate,
accurate image analysis for decision-making in today’s dynamic military environment. Geographic
Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) provides a means for automated image interpretation
modeled after the expert interpretation processes. Although the system’s flexibility is
advantageous for creating comprehensive image classifications, its flexibility may also preclude full automation and replication.

The goal of this research was to improve image classification outcomes in the context of missile site detection. Here a GEOBIA workflow was developed that incorporates expert human knowledge for the detection of DPRK missile testing facilities. After conducting the analyses, I determined the best-fitting parameters from those tested include the rule-based classification for the Sohae testing facility and random forest classification for Yongbyon, with no conclusive results in favor of either software. The results indicate expert human knowledge does not necessarily improve classification accuracy for this case of study sites.

Key Words: GEOBIA, image classification, contextual analysis, situation awareness, DPRK

This study is a critical examination of news reports, editorials, and other stories directly related to the rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi, India, on 16 December 2012. I examine newspaper stories published in two widely circulated newspapers, The Times of India and Dainik Jagran from 17 December to 31 December, two days after the victim died of the injuries incurred during the rape on 16 December. Studies have shown that English or regional language newspapers in India do not give fair treatment in terms of coverage of incidents related to violence against women. This story, however, was different. I provide a critical discourse analysis of news reports, editorials, and comments on this episode to show that the social construction of violence against women, ideological prisms of the reporters, socio-cultural contexts of the media reports, and neoliberal subjectivity that was shaken by this episode played into the newspapers' treatment of this news.

Arabic is often characterized most readily by its diglossic description. As such, it is considered to be stable or, more pessimistically, as stagnant. While this may have been true when Charles Ferguson (1959) first described the situation, recent advances in communications technology have undoubtedly had an impact on Arabic, just as they have on other world languages. New conversation spaces such as online forums and chat rooms did not exist and therefore were not captured when Ferguson made his assessment. As Miller notes, "like everywhere in the world, internet opens the door for new writing practices fostering expressivity, informality, humor, refusal of strict social hierarchy and the exhibition of personal subjectivity" (Miller 2017). In this research paper I examine how Arabic language orthography is developing on the internet within online communities. Because of the variety of Arabic dialects used throughout the world, the relatively small amount of research that has been done on the topic, and the brevity of this paper, I will be taking a very wide approach and making some broad generalizations. I expect a longer paper with a more focused approach will bear out different details of great interest to the field but hope that this general approach is also informative. Some of the questions I hope to answer are how Arabic is being written, what rules govern online writing styles and what the major challenges are to these developments. To answer these questions, I review articles and literature that are pertinent to the subject and from them articulate a cohesive picture of the situation.

Examining language and performance in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution provides insight into the changing dynamics of the linguistic situation and the society. Previous studies of Arabic-speaking communities have too often employed diglossia as a faithful description of reality rather than as an ideology or useful framework for conducting research. Similarly, prestige as a variable has been ill-defined when applied to many Arabic sociolinguistic studies. This research aims at more thoroughly interrogating prestige as a sociolinguistic variable that is negotiated in each social performance, influenced by previous encounters and ideologies but not dictated by them. The samples for this research are drawn from YouTube videos of speeches by presidents and presidential candidates, a news broadcast, a cooking show, and a soap opera, as well as a post by Tunisian Instagrammers. This selection effectively demonstrates how the nuances of each performance impact the type of language used. Furthermore, analysis of the comments left about these various media make it clear that the democratization process led to a dramatic increase in the number of Tunisians interacting in online spaces thus elevating Tunisian Arabic in written forms and giving voice to the opinions of everyday people in a wider variety of discussions. This approach and the resultant analysis challenge traditional notions of Arabic diglossia as well as sociolinguistic theories of language prestige by rooting the discussion in actual practice rather than on ideological interpretations.

Failing to examine our own cultural beliefs about language can lead to flawed approaches to international activities. To work with foreign partners more effectively, it is vital to consider the different ways we think about language and use it. Taking time to consider our own language ideologies as well as those of our foreign partners can help us to refine our practices and approaches in simple ways that can yield more positive interactions.

Surah Analysis #1: Surah Yusuf (12) Inspecting the Most Beautiful of Stories The Qur'an foretells many fantastical tales and accounts of legendary heroes of monotheism that up held to the Qur'an's central theme and appeal of worship to Allah and him alone. An entire Surah is dedicated to the exemplary character of one of Allah's most renowned prophets. The 12 th Surah of the Qur'an, Yusuf, features a very well known Biblical epic centered on the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis 37-50 of the Hebrew Bible. This Qur'anic rendition of the Biblical classic retains all the major themes of brotherhood, betrayal, redemption and reconciliation in a more compact extent spanning 111 verses. Within these 111 ayat a noticeable structure and outline is discovered which uncovers the Surah's chronological placement in the Qur'an's ordering of Surahs. When analyzing Surah Yusuf identifiable clues and themes evidence can be extracted to identify it's placement in the Qur'an as a later Meccan Surah. But the narrative within the Surah also prophetically sets the archetype of future things to come for the receiver of the Qur'an and is possibly symbolizes an even higher meaning beyond what is first read. When inspecting Surah Yusuf, the readers find an intricate and creative method of storytelling and structure along with a powerful striking story with compelling elements and themes which captivates the reader into understanding why the legend of Yusuf and his brothers is the most beautiful of stories in the Qur'an.

[This paper was written for presentation, and presented, at MESA’s (Middle East Studies Association) annual meeting in 2003, in Anchorage, Alaska, as indicated below,* and later on, re-presented at CESS (Central Eurasian Studies Society)  annual meeting at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2004. Up until recently, on the occasion of Hamid Notghi’s commemorative events and celebrations for his 100th birth anniversary, having been held, and being held, primarily in Turkey, as well as having been held online with virtual meetings, in September of 2020, it has remained an unpublished paper. It was hoped that it would be published elsewhere for the first time, in a ‘gedenkschrift’ for Hamid Notghi, but due to the current state of the world –during this pandemic– it has not yet been printed as of this writing, since September of 2020 when it was submitted (and was hoped to have been published on Notghi’s centenary). This version includes some more corrections and updates. The title has been modified from the original, Hamid Notghi (“Aytan”) : Azerbaijani Iranian Author, Poet, Scholar (my unpublished paper was cited in Gilles Riaux's “Ethnicité et nationalisme en Iran: la cause azerbaïdjanaise". Paris: Karthala, 2012) ; since this paper’s content, subject(s) and topic, has been a “work-in-progress,” it has naturally evolved, but –still remains– an “unfinished work”: it is hoped that it shall continue to evolve! – an ‘expanded version’ was hoped to have become a Master’s thesis  (on hold, at this time, as a thesis, due to a lack of academic support at the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at OSU, but may become an independent/separate article, at a later date) and concentrate almost entirely on the vocabulary, word usage and lexical corpus building in Notghi’s poems, and his hopes for the future developments for, in, and of, Azerbaijani Turkish language, literary and cultural studies, and poetry.  Nima Shafaieh, December 2021, Dublin, Ohio (USA)]

The chief aim of this essay is to posit a well-known Mesopotamian royal and divine epithet, ušumgallu "great dragon," as the source behind Ezekiel's enigmatic description of Pharaoh in 29.3, hattannīn haggādôl, "the great dragon." This relationship sheds new light and meaning on an old problem: why does Ezekiel refer to Pharaoh as a dragon? Rather than viewing this prophetic expression as a pejorative, the cognate evidence argues for the converse by rooting it in an enduring tradition of regal titles. Replicating Akkadian ušumgallu (Sumerian UŠUM.GAL) as efficiently as possible and drawing upon Israelite cosmological history (viz. Gen 1.21a), Ezekiel feigned including Pharaoh within a venerable, long line of Mesopotamian kings and deities to receive this title. Instead, and as is characteristic of Ezekiel's rhetoric, he upended the putative associations of the "great dragon," thereby exposing its true subordinate position under the hegemony of YHWH

Nearly one hundred years ago J. Barth proposed an additional lexical entry for Hebrew šôṭ (" scourge, whip "), basing his argument primarily on the difficult readings in Isa 28,15.18. He supported this new lexeme, šôṭ II (" flood "), with late linguistic evidence from Ethiopic and (Qur'anic) Arabic. Scholarship has largely followed suit, adopting the meaning of šôṭ II in these verses. However, here within a context steeped in satirical rhetoric and treaty imagery, šôṭ finds a more natural explanation in light of both its earlier attestation in Isa 10,26 as a divine weapon and its connection to covenantal retribution. In addition to drawing attention to unique literary features, this essay employs inner-biblical exegesis (e.g. Lev 26) to interpret the references in Isa 28,15.18 as stylistic adaptations of a common biblical motif: divine vengeance enacted against covenantal infidelity.

Due to the inherent ambiguity of Northwest Semitic syntax with certain morphological collocations, it is often to difficult to discern between apposition and a genitive construction. One such construction, marked by the intermittent usage of the generic word for " man " ('īš) before both occupational and gentilic terms is especially difficult to categorize syntactically. The Northwest Semitic evidence does not correlate with traditional appositional categories and engenders awkward readings that defy superficial explication. Since no comprehensive study of these pleonastic syntactical constructions has yet appeared, this essay surveys the Northwest Semitic evidence, highlighting their conceptual and grammatical affinities, before positing an overarching explanation for their idiosyncrasy grounded in a phenomenon of linguistic convergence known from Canaanite Akkadian.

The metaphor is a hallmark of Classical Hebrew poetry. Some metaphors, such as “Yhwh is king” or “Yhwh is warrior,” play a foundational role. The same does not hold for metaphors from the fishing industry. Because they had access to only two major freshwater sources, archaeological research demonstrates that this industry did not play a major socioeconomic role in ancient Israel. Fishing has nevertheless made a substantial contribution to prophetic and wisdom literature. All metaphors manifest reality, but given the physical circumstances of a largely agrarian, nonmarine society, what does the sustained presentation of fishing metaphors in the Hebrew Bible communicate?

Examining the use of fishing images in the Hebrew Bible is a formidable task that demands an open mind and a capacity to mine the gamut of contemporaneous evidence. In Fishers of Fish and Fishers of Men, Tyler Yoder presents the first literary study devoted to the fishing images used in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as in the Mesopotamian textual records. This calls for a penetrating look into cultural contact with Israel’s neighbors to the east (Mesopotamia) and southwest (Egypt). Though nearly all fishing metaphors in the Hebrew Bible carry overt royal or divine connotations that mirror uses well-attested in Mesopotamian literature, this comparative analysis remains a largely untapped area of research. In this study of the diverse literary qualities of fishing images, Yoder offers a holistic understanding of how one integral component of ancient Near Eastern society affected the whole, bringing together the assemblage of disparate materials related to this field of study to enable scholars to integrate these data into related research and move the conversation forward.