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Abstract
Author(s) -
J.M. Bulloch,
Allan MacDonald,
C.J. Daly,
J.C. McGrath
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
fundamental and clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1472-8206
pISSN - 0767-3981
DOI - 10.1111/j.1472-8206.1991.tb00732.x
Subject(s) - citation , computer science , information retrieval , library science
The present paper examines the difficulties encountered by Emirati students in comprehending English and American literary texts due to semantic and trans-cultural ambiguities deployed in the target texts. The paper identifies several types of culturally loaded vocabulary embedded in American slang and popular culture proliferated on a wide scale in contemporary American fictional and dramatic texts. Due to lack of cross-cultural and collocational knowledge on the part of EFL students, culturally determined vocabulary such as military slang in American war novels represents a major obstacle in analyzing and understanding the texts. Since most of the American slang and idiomatic expressions in literary texts are language and culture specific elements with no equivalence in TL, Emirati EFL students fail to understand them. Through inappropriate inter-lingual transfers, they reach perplexing conclusions formulating misconceptions about English language.