Heba Al-Kababji

MA in Translation Studies

Class of 2017

Heba Al-Kababji is a first year student enrolled in the MA in Translation Studies program. Before enrolling as a student at TII, Heba earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Linguistics from Qatar University. She is currently employed at her alma mater within the College of Arts and Sciences as the Events Coordinator at the Office of the Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement.  On June 15, 2016, Heba travelled to Murcia, Spain to attend the 21^st edition of the Sociolinguistics Symposium hosted by the University of Murcia.  Heba will present a paper titled “From Rajjal to Rayyal: Ideologies and shift among young Bedouins in Qatar”.  In recent sociolinguistic studies on language identity, shift, and change, ideologies surrounding language are considered crucial factors that fuel and determine the direction of language change. In sociolinguistics of the Arab World, scholars believed that Standard Arabic is the only prestigious variety. More recent studies have however shown that, in most Arab countries, there exists a spoken variety that carries some prestige besides Standard Arabic.

In her paper, based on empirical sociolinguistic data collected in Qatar, Heba shows how the perceptions of prestige evidenced through speakers’ language ideologies play a role in a dialect shift from Bedouin to Hadhari among young Bedouins. “I believe the conference is going to be an exciting trip, not many people my age get the chance of being on an international conference with people whom we've only known through their publications. Being a TII student has shown me another level of dedication and seriousness in academia; one that was not as present during my BA.”