LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE EMPATHETIC SHIFT BETWEEN ARABIC AND ITALIAN

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the properties of the rhetoric functions and
empathetic shift between Arabic and Italian. Our target is to describe a set of related
linguistic and rhetoric functions in the field of social and discourse deixis across the
two languages. The structure and function of both social and discourse deixis have
been studied to highlight their influence on the acquisition of empathetic shift in both
languages. In addition, this study shows that deictic forms in Arabic are more
pragmatically conditioned than in Italian. As for the empathetic shift, it has been
found that Arabic is abundant with the means through which the empathetic shift is
carried out. Arabic seems to be very rich in the fields of rhetoric and empathetic shift.