Essam Farag, Hasnaa
Research Interests:
Arabic linguistics, English linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, sociopragmatics, discourse analysis, translation, literature, Islamic studies, and gender studies
Geographical Area:
Egypt
Current Project:
Beyond Lexical Meanings: A Sociopragmatic Analysis of Address Terms Among Couples in Egyptian TV Series, Style and Performance
“My love,” “my soul,” “oh shiekha,” “chum,” “oh woman,” “my girls’ father,” “oh my unfortunate outcome”! The art of address terms among lovers and spouses is a profoundly social practice shaped by societal perceptions about gender, age, and social class, and it varies across various societies. In Egypt, television social dramas provide a rare public window into these intimate linguistic practices during private moments. By exploring how couples in Egyptian TV series address one another, this study illuminates the stylistic variations that both reflect and reshape societal perceptions, offering a fresh lens on the intersection between linguistic choices, social identities, and social purposes. Going beyond lexical meanings, my study newly demonstrates how these terms serve as powerful tools in constructing the styles of different social groups when navigating intimate relationships. It challenges conventional theories on address terms as well as demonstrates how many assumptions about social groups are reinforced or negotiated on screen. My study shows how this linguistic phenomenon among couples in Egyptian Arabic deepens our understanding of intimate social interactions within different communities in Egypt.
Academic Career:
2021- Present: Doctoral Researcher, Linguistics, Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies, University of Bayreuth.
February 2024: Participating in a winter school of Arabic sociolinguistics at the Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco.
Summer Semester 2023: Part-time Arabic lecturer for master’s students in the European Interdisciplinary Master African Studies (EIMAS) at the University of Bayreuth.
June 2023: Participating in a summer school of Survey and Questionnaire Design at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
2018: MA in teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language, Department of Applied Linguistics, the American University in Cairo, Egypt, with a sociolinguistics thesis entitled "Howwa wheyya: Performance and Gendered Style in the Egyptian Caricature [The Piece of Paper] " https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1345/
2010: B.A. in English Language, Literature and Simultaneous Translation, English Department, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Al-Azhar is well-known for its majors in Arabic and Islamic studies, alongside specialized disciplines. Hasnaa was an Al-Azhar student since primary school.
Recent Publications:
(2023): Book Review for the Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics (Edinburgh University Press): Sinatora, Francesco L. 2020. Language, identity, and Syrian political activism on social media. London: Routledge.
https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/arabic.2023.0008