The Connotations of Bird Names in Arabic and English

Abstract

This paper analyzes the use of bird names in describing people in Arabic and English. Specifically, the study aims to find the frequency of using such terms in the two languages and the extent to which the gender of the addressee affects their use. The participants are 24 native speakers of American and British English and 24 native speakers of Jordanian Arabic. The data were gathered using a questionnaire that contains 29 bird names and has two versions: one in Arabic and another in English. The findings revealed that there are no differences between the two languages in terms of the overall frequency of using bird names in describing people. However, the Jordanian participants are found to be more gender-sensitive in using the targeted bird names. The results also revealed that, in both languages, speakers tend to use bird names to transfer aspects of character more frequently than referring to facets of intelligence and physical appearance.