Vol. 58 No. 4 (2010)
Research Article

Pre-Peace and Post-Peace Referring in Jordanian Journalistic Arabic

Published 2010-12-01

Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of the Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel in 1994 on Arabic journalistic language. Jordanian journalistic language is the source of our data. A representative sample was taken from Al-Rai, a major Jordanian daily in the period 1971–1996. Issues were surveyed, looking for shifts in language prior to and following the Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel. This sample was then contrasted with a recent sample taken from the same daily on October 2009. The findings of this study reveal that the peace process has had a great effect on Arabic journalistic language, especially in the year of its signing. Negative names that were regularly used to refer to Israel at the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict have gradually disappeared from the Jordanian press giving rise to new positive to neutral names.

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