arXiv subjects

Mohammed Q. Shormani

Publications and source records attributed to Mohammed Q. Shormani.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Digital diglossia: Arabic between X and Facebook

This study highlights the distribution of Standard Arabic (SA; H(igh) variety) and Colloquial Arabic (CA; L(ow) variety) across X and Facebook. 16754 public posts were collected via Python, with 10000 retained as the net dataset. Posts were classified into 7 discourse categories: *politics, technology, science, business, culture, fun,* and *sports*. Bivariate analyses, including Chi-square tests and Cramer's V (CV), examined associations among platform, discourse category, and diglossic choice, while binary logistic regression with Platform x Discourse Category interactions tested whether these associations varied across platforms. Findings reveal that there are significant associations between discourse category and diglossic choice on X, chi-square(6, *N* = 5000) = 600.35, p < .001, CV = .347, and Facebook, chi-square(6, N = 5000) = 1249.52, p < .001, CV = .500. Across platforms, platform was also associated with diglossic choice, chi-square(1, N = 10000) = 262.16, p < .001, CV = .162. Binary logistic regression further shows higher odds of SA use on X than Facebook in the political reference category (*OR* = 1.31, p = .0028), with significant platform-by-domain interactions for Culture (OR = 2.65), Fun (*OR* = 6.34), Sports (*OR* = 26.71), Science (OR = 0.41), and Technology (OR = 0.71). The study concludes that the diglossic use of SA and CA contributes to the growing body of research on digital discourse, unveiling that the digital age reshapes but does not erode diglossic boundaries, giving rise instead to a reconfigured digital diglossia.

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arXiv2026

Machine learning and digital pragmatics: Which word category influences emoji use most?

This study examines the performance of the state-of-the-art MARBERT model in identifying the lexical/pragmatic category associated with emoji use on X within a digital pragmatics approach (DPA). A net corpus of 15856 Colloquial Arabic (CA) posts containing emojis was collected from X using Python. The texts were tokenized and normalized into 4 lexical categories, namely noun_norm, verb_norm, adj_norm, and adverb_norm, and 2 pragmatic/structural categories, question_norm and exclamation_norm. MARBERT was finetuned and optimized to identify which category scores standard metrics more, hence associated with emoji use, while binary logistic regression was used to examine which category is statistically associated with emoji occurrence. Findings unveil that nouns dominate the corpus in normalized frequency (M = 0.675, SD = 0.161), followed by verbs (M = 0.083, SD = 0.100). However, verbs have the strongest influence of emoji use indicated by verb density (\b{eta} = 0.821, p = .001, 95% CI [0.332, 1.309]). The study concludes that in digital pragmatics of CA on X, emoji use association with lexical/pragmatic category can be explained by a hybrid approach of computational, statistical, and pragmatic methods, reflecting the interaction among machine learning, linguistic/lexical features, contextual representation, and pragmatic communication.

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arXiv2026

Domain-specific Pretraining Profile and Transformer Performance: Evidence from Modeling Digital Pragmatics in Arabic-English Code-switching

This study highlights the role of domain-specific pretraining profile (DSPP) in Transformer performance for modeling digital pragmatics in Arabic-English code-switched discourse. It evaluates MARBERT and XLM-R(oBERTa), with BERT serving as a general-purpose baseline. The models were evaluated on their ability to classify context-sensitive pragmatic functions in code-switched social-media discourse. 11695 unique X posts were collected via Python and utilized for the study. The study employs a quantitative and qualitative NLP approach, following a supervised pipeline. Findings unveil that MARBERT consistently surpasses XLM-R with validation Macro F1 increasing from 0.39 to 0.84 and validation loss decreasing from 0.55 to 0.19. On an independent test set, it achieved 0.96 accuracy, 0.83 macro precision, 0.87 macro recall, and 0.85 Macro F1, while XLM-R achieved 0.92 test accuracy but a substantially lower Macro F1 of 0.52. This was also supported by class-level performance where MARBERT outperforms XLM-R considerably with F1 improvements ranging from +0.33 to +0.60, demonstrating a clear advantage in modeling Arabic digital pragmatics. The study concludes that Transformer performance depends more on DSPP than multilingual coverage alone, as the latter does not guarantee optimal performance on a highly specialized pragmatic classification task.

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arXiv2026

Does Machine "know" interpersonal pragmatics? Evidence from MARBERT's learning of emoji pragmatics in Arabic digital discourse

This study examines Transformer-based models' ability to learn emoji pragmatics in Arabic digital discourse (ADD), providing evidence from MARBERT's behavior with interpersonal pragmatic functions (IPFs). A corpus of 8,504 unique emoji-posts collected from Facebook via Python was used in the study. These posts were manually annotated, developed, and labeled for five IPFs: Politeness, Respect, Solidarity, Empathy, and Encouragement. A mixed-method approach was employed comprising statistical methods and interpretative analyses involving speech act theory, politeness theory, and rapport management theory. MARBERT was fine-tuned to model these context-dependent pragmatic functions. Findings demonstrate MARBERT's ability to learn these IPFs, achieving strong performance on unseen data, with an accuracy of 93%, a micro F1-score of 0.61, and a macro F1-score of 0.56, demonstrating its effectiveness in capturing interpersonal functions beyond conventional sentiment analysis. Function-level evaluation showed that Politeness and Respect were identified more accurately than Solidarity, reflecting differences in the explicitness and contextual dependence of IPFs. The study concludes that Transformer-based models learn patterns of face management and relational communication but remain challenged by highly implicit social meanings. It contributes a novel computational approach to modeling emoji pragmatics and advances the integration of interpersonal pragmatics with NLP for digital communication research.

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arXiv2026

The syntax of wh-agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic

This article tackles an important phenomenon in the syntax of Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA), viz., wh-agreement, a phenomenon common to several languages including Greek, Indonesian, Lubukusu, Irish, etc. In YIA, wh-agreement manifests itself via agreement inflections on the Wh-Op, C, T/V, v. To account for this phenomenon, we propose an Agree across phases (AAP) approach anchored in the mechanism of Feature Inheritance (FI) in which Agree as MATCHING (AM) is a bit separated from feature valuation (FV). AM concerns Cs/vs, but FV Ts/Vs. Analyzing the agreement patterns observed between Wh-Op(erators), functional heads (precisely C, (T), v), and verbal complexes, we argue that the suffixes -eh, -uh, -nen, -um, having undergone grammaticalization process from Stannard Arabic (SA) third person pronouns, function as morphological marking of wh-agreement. Findings indicate that YIA data offer a unique empirical contribution to generative syntax, specifically concerning wh-agreement in this dialect operating via MATCHING mechanism. Our proposal straightforwardly accounts for wh-agreement cross-linguistically. This study provides further evidence that incorporating under-investigated typology provides further support for the universality of Universal Grammar (UG) by revealing how specific I-language operations reflect deeper, invariant principles of human language architecture. It concludes that the wh-agreement mechanism in YIA is more morphosyntactically robust than in languages such as Greek, Indonesian, Palauan, and Irish, providing compelling evidence for AAP as a UG approach to long-distance dependencies.

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arXiv2026

AI tools in Arab University English classrooms: Looking back and forward

This paper aims to synthesize empirical research on AI tools used to support English as a second/foreign language (EL2) learners in Arab University classrooms (AUCs) between Jan 1st 2023 and Aug 31st 2025. We utilized 3 large datasets, namely Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus as the data sources. Using PRISMA-guided searches across these well-known databases, we included only published articles. The search process results in 184 studies, but only 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings unveil that EL2 learners have positive attitudes towards AI for drafting, revision, and practice. Empirical gains were most consistent for surface-level outcomes improvements in higher-order writing quality and speaking proficiency was mixed and often contingent on teacher mediation. The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda and practical guidelines for Arab universities seeking evidence-based AI integration in EL2 instruction. It also recommends scaffolded integration, teacher training, reflective tasks to reduce over-reliance on AI tools.

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arXiv2026

Revisiting the syntax of imperatives in Yemeni Arabic: An Agree across phases approach

This article revisits the syntax of imperatives in Yemeni Arabic proposing an Agree acros phases (AAP) approach. I argue that the AAP approach successfully accounts for both simple and complex imperative constructions, including A'-chain structures, by establishing a close interactions between syntax and discourse. The study demonstrates that this interface is motivated by the interpretive and performative functions associated with imperatives, linking informational structure with propositional structure. It is also proposed that the thematic subject of imperatives is a 2-person pro, whereas any overt pronominal or nominal element occurring preverbally is not a subject, but rather a C-domain element, precisely aboutness topic. These topics serve as the logical subjects of imperatives and enter into a coreferentiality relationship with pro. This relation is analyzed as APP involving Match, yielding both local and non-local A'-chains. For core imperatives, viz., lacking an overt topic, I propose a null topic to (re)merge in Spec,TopP, whose interpretation depends on the discourse.

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arXiv2026

Machine learning and emoji prediction: How much accuracy can MARBERT achieve?

This study investigates Machine Learning (ML) in the prediction of emojis in Arabic tweets employing the (state-of-the-art) MARBERT model. A corpus of 11379 CA tweets representing multiple Arabic colloquial dialects was collected from X.com via Python. A net dataset includes 8695 tweets, which were utilized for the analysis. These tweets were then classified into 14 categories, which were numerically encoded and used as labels. A preprocessing pipeline was designed as an interpretable baseline, allowing us to examine the relationship between lexical features and emoji categories. MARBERT was finetuned to predict emoji use from textual input. We evaluated the model performance in terms of precision, recall and F1-scores. Findings reveal that the model performed quite well with an overall accuracy 0.75. The study concludes that although the findings are promising, there is still a need for improving machine learning models including MARBERT, specifically for low-resource and multidialectal languages like Arabic.

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arXiv2026

The impact of postediting on AI generative translation in Yemeni context: Translating literary prose by ChatGPT

This study examines the role of artificial intelligence in translation, focusing on ChatGPT, specifically ChatGPT-4, and the extent to which human postediting is required in literary translation. A mixed-method approach was adopted, involving 30 professional translators who evaluated and postedited AI-generated translations of selected Arabic and English literary texts. The results show that although AI improves translation speed and accessibility, it remains limited in handling cultural, stylistic, and figurative aspects of language. Participants generally confirmed the necessity of human postediting, particularly in novels and drama. The findings indicate that emerging human-machine collaboration model rather than replacement of human translators. The study concludes that AI should be used as a supportive tool, while human expertise remains essential for ensuring translation quality and cultural appropriateness.

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arXiv2026

Current LLMs still cannot 'talk much' about grammar modules: Evidence from syntax

We aim to examine the extent to which Large Language Models (LLMs) can 'talk much' about grammar modules, providing evidence from syntax core properties translated by ChatGPT into Arabic. We collected 44 terms from generative syntax previous works, including books and journal articles, as well as from our experience in the field. These terms were translated by humans, and then by ChatGPT-5. We then analyzed and compared both translations. We used an analytical and comparative approach in our analysis. Findings unveil that LLMs still cannot 'talk much' about the core syntax properties embedded in the terms under study involving several syntactic and semantic challenges: only 25% of ChatGPT translations were accurate, while 38.6% were inaccurate, and 36.4.% were partially correct, which we consider appropriate. Based on these findings, a set of actionable strategies were proposed, the most notable of which is a close collaboration between AI specialists and linguists to better LLMs' working mechanism for accurate or at least appropriate translation.

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arXiv2026

The acquisition of English irregular inflections by Yemeni L1 Arabic learners: A Universal Grammar approach

This study examines the acquisition of English irregular inflections by Yemeni learners of English as a second language (L2), utilizing a Universal Grammar (UG) approach. Within the UG approach, the study considers Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (FRH) (Lardiere, 2008, 2009) part of UG, focusing on the roles of first language (L1) transfer and L2 developmental influence. It analyzes learner errors across two developmental stages. Stage 1 data reveal a dominant influence of L1 transfer, particularly in phonological and structural mismatches, while stage 2 data demonstrate increased learner sensitivity to UG properties and morphological reconfiguration toward the target language. Findings reveal that errors in irregular inflectional morphology are attributed to both interlingual and intralingual sources, with overgeneralization of L2 rules as a common developmental strategy. Statistical analysis, including a one-way ANOVA, indicates significant improvement in the production of well-formed irregular inflections from stage 1 to stage 2, underscoring learners' continued access to UG. However, persistent difficulties with consonant change, zero-morpheme, and -a plural inflections suggest that limited exposure, ineffective input modeling, and insufficient instructional quality constrain full UG access. The study concludes that while L1 transfer and L2 developmental factors influence initial stages of acquisition, appropriate linguistic input and instruction are critical for facilitating UG-driven feature reassembly in adult L2 learners.

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arXiv2026

The Syntax of qulk-clauses in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic: A Minimalist Approach

This study investigates the syntax of qulk-clauses in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA) within the Minimalist Program. The construction qulk-clause, a morphologically fused form meaning 'I said,' introduces embedded declarative interrogative, and imperative clauses, often eithout complementizer. The central proposal of this paper is that qulk-clauses are biclausal structures in which qulk functions a clause-embedding predicate sec;ecting a dull CP complement. By applying core minimalist operations, viz., Merge, Move, Agree, and Spell-out, the study provides a layered syntactic analysis of qulk-clauses, for illustrating how their derivation proceeds through standard computational steps and post-syntactic processes such as Morphological Merger. The proposal also accounts for dialect-specific features like bipartite negation, cliticization, and CP embedding. The findings offer theoretical contributions to generative syntax, specifically minimalism. The study concludes raising theoretical questions concerning extending the analysis to the addressee-clause kil-k 'you said'. It also provides insights into the possibility of the universality of minimalism.

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arXiv2025

Artificial intelligence contribution to translation industry: looking back and forward

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of artificial intelligence (AI) contribution to research in the translation industry (ACTI), synthesizing it over forty-five years from 1980-2024. 13220 articles were retrieved from three sources, namely WoS, Scopus, and Lens; 9836 were unique records, which were used for the analysis. We provided two types of analysis, viz., scientometric and thematic, focusing on Cluster, Subject categories, Keywords, Bursts, Centrality and Research Centers as for the former. For the latter, we provided a thematic review for 18 articles, selected purposefully from the articles involved, centering on purpose, approach, findings, and contribution to ACTI future directions. This study is significant for its valuable contribution to ACTI knowledge production over 45 years, emphasizing several trending issues and hotspots including Machine translation, Statistical machine translation, Low-resource language, Large language model, Arabic dialects, Translation quality, and Neural machine translation. The findings reveal that the more AI develops, the more it contributes to translation industry, as Neural Networking Algorithms have been incorporated and Deep Language Learning Models like ChatGPT have been launched. However, much rigorous research is still needed to overcome several problems encountering translation industry, specifically concerning low-resource, multi-dialectical and free word order languages, and cultural and religious registers.

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arXiv2025

What fifty-one years of Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence research tell us about their correlation: A scientometric analysis

There is a strong correlation between linguistics and artificial intelligence (AI), best manifested by deep learning language models. This study provides a thorough scientometric analysis of this correlation, synthesizing the intellectual production over 51 years, from 1974 to 2024. Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was the data source. The data collected were analyzed by two powerful software, viz., CiteSpace and VOSviewer, through which mapping visualizations of the intellectual landscape, trending issues and (re)emerging hotspots were generated. The results indicate that in the 1980s and 1990s, linguistics and AI (AIL) research was not robust, characterized by unstable publication over time. It has, however, witnessed a remarkable increase of publication since then, reaching 1478 articles in 2023, and 546 articles in January-March timespan in 2024, involving emerging issues including Natural language processing, Cross-sectional study, Using bidirectional encoder representation, and Using ChatGPT and hotspots such as Novice programmer, Prioritization, and Artificial intelligence, addressing new horizons, new topics, and launching new applications and powerful deep learning language models including ChatGPT. It concludes that linguistics and AI correlation is established at several levels, research centers, journals, and countries shaping AIL knowledge production and reshaping its future frontiers.

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arXiv2025

Can ChatGPT capture swearing nuances? Evidence from translating Arabic oaths

This study sets out to answer one major question: Can ChatGPT capture swearing nuances? It presents an empirical study on the ability of ChatGPT to translate Arabic oath expressions into English. 30 Arabic oath expressions were collected from the literature. These 30 oaths were first translated via ChatGPT and then analyzed and compared to the human translation in terms of types of gaps left unfulfilled by ChatGPT. Specifically, the gaps involved are: religious gap, cultural gap, both religious and cultural gaps, no gap, using non-oath particles, redundancy and noncapturing of Arabic script diacritics. It concludes that ChatGPT translation of oaths is still much unsatisfactory, unveiling the need of further developments of ChatGPT, and the inclusion of Arabic data on which ChatGPT should be trained including oath expressions, oath nuances, rituals, and practices.

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arXiv2024

Non-native speakers of English or ChatGPT: Who thinks better?

This study sets out to answer one major question: Who thinks better, non-native speakers of English or ChatGPT?, providing evidence from processing and interpreting center-embedding English constructions that human brain surpasses ChatGPT, and that ChatGPT cannot be regarded as a theory of language. Fifteen non-native speakers of English were recruited as participants of the study. A center-embedding English sentence was presented to both the study participants and ChatGPT. The study findings unveil that human brain is still far ahead of Large Language Models, specifically ChatGPT, even in the case of non-native speakers of an L2, here English. The study concludes that human brain's ability to process and interpret natural language data is unique and that ChatGPT still lags behind this human unique ability.

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arXiv2024

Generative linguistics contribution to artificial intelligence: Where this contribution lies?

This article aims to characterize Generative linguistics (GL) contribution to artificial intelligence (AI), alluding to the debate among linguists and AI scientists on whether linguistics belongs to humanities or science. In this article, I will try not to be biased as a linguist, studying the phenomenon from an independent scientific perspective. The article walks the researcher/reader through the scientific theorems and rationales involved in AI which belong from GL, specifically the Chomsky School. It, thus, provides good evidence from syntax, semantics, language faculty, Universal Grammar, computational system of human language, language acquisition, human brain, programming languages (e.g. Python), Large Language Models, and unbiased AI scientists that this contribution is huge, and that this contribution cannot be denied. It concludes that however the huge GL contribution to AI, there are still points of divergence including the nature and type of language input.

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