Search

The paper offers literature review of the three suggested approaches that answer the question of ancient Egyptian meter. These theories reflect the constant contradictions between the dominant European Imperial languages of the 19 century (German - French - English). The paper also investigates the religious motivations that prompt Euro-American scholars to compare ancient Egyptian with Biblical texts. The rediscovered thematic affinities formed the main objective of these studies in order to restore historical hypothesizes that approve the legitimacy of several Biblical thoughts. Moving beyond the theoretical parameters of Eurocentric modernity, this paper argues that medieval Arabic literary criticism can be used as a foundation for understanding the literary nature of ancient Egyptian literary devices in order to recognize the various internal forces of the ancient Egyptian literary reproductions. Premodern Arabic poetics, represented in the theory of balāghah (literally 'eloquence' and roughly 'poetics'), can offer the ideal path to take advantage of the linguistic affinities between the two languages in the realm of literary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the right to freedom of opinion and expression. UN Resolution A/RES/61/266 called upon Member States “to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world”. This resolution has particular relevance for minority language groups where mother tongue – so vital to self-expression – is primarily a spoken medium, often ascribed low status. With few fluent readers and writers, and a consequent dearth of written resources, a vicious circle develops and linguistic and cultural heritage erodes. Not all governments are vigilant with appropriate policies and funding. Even in a community like Shetland, where there is no class connotation associated with speaking Shetlandic, the proportion of fluent dialect speakers is now relatively small. It therefore falls to the writer to create resources for children, to help stem the tide. Engaging in translation can also help raise the status ofdialectand pinpoint the somewhat arbitrary distinction betweendialectandlanguage. There are many problems in publishing in minority tongues; for example, uneconomic print runs, language authenticity versus contemporaneity, standardisation of orthography and the trend to “exotic-ise” dialect in mainstream literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]