intention might or might not be there. The expressions fool and deceive, thus, are more likely to describe what some groups are doing to the Syrian rebel forces in
reality. The table below shows the comparison of the semantic properties contained in the expressions mislead, fool, and deceive.
mislead fool
deceive to lie
+ +
+ to cheat
± +
+ to take advantage
- +
+ Table 19. Semantic properties of mislead, fool, and deceive
18. Amateur
Amateur refers to someone who does not have much skill in what they do. Usually the person is either new to what he does or still learning how to do a
particular thing. It implies a possibility that someday and somehow he will obtain the skill to do what they do. This expression is used when Bashar al-Assad talked about
Palestine’s resistant forces which allied themselves with Israel A15. Amateur, however, does not exactly define the resistant groups Assad was referring to. Syria
has long been in war with Israel, especially Syria under Assad family’s regime. Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father, was once betrayed by a double agent in Yom
Kippur War in 1973. Since then, the regime has become cautious and wary of the Palestinian people or groups who might work for Israel’s cause against them.
However, Israel and their allies or double agents have not succeeded until this very
era to take over the whole Palestinian territory and some of Syrian as well. This shows that Israel’s allies are not that effective to carry out their work even though the
war has lasted for over a century. That being said, the expression amateur does not quite cover the allies.
Layperson refers to someone who is not trained in or does not have a detailed knowledge of a particular subject. Compared to amateur, this expression contains the
semantic property unskilled because of being not trained, although not necessarily incapable. Incompetent refers to someone who does not have the ability or skill to do
something as it should be done. The difference between this expression and amateur is the degree of being unskillful. Amateur implies the person has little skill although
not enough to be able to do something while incompetent implies the person has no skill at all to do a particular job. Therefore, the job cannot be done and the person is
incapable. The semantic properties unskilled and incapable are not shown in the expression amateur. In order to see the distinction between these three expressions,
the table below compares the semantic properties of amateur, layperson, and incompetent.
amateur layperson
incompetent lack of experience
+ +
+ unskilled
- +
+ incapable
- ±
+ Table 20. Semantic properties of amateur, layperson, and incompetent
19. Foreigner
Foreigner means a person who comes from another country. However, in the last part of the speech transcript, Assad specifies that “Syria will remain strong,
proud, resilient and inviolable to any foreigner” A16. It means that the meaning of foreigner is more than just a person from another country, but someone who has the
possibility to damage or violate Syria. In reality, Syria has witnessed foreign invasions in the Arab world such as in Iraq and Libya. These invasions were carried
out to depose dictators ruling the countries at that time. The invading forces were from the West. They were United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and NATO, a
military alliance controlled by the West. Seeing this phenomenon, Bashar al-Assad is preparing himself for such possibility to strike his country. In this case, expressions
such as outsider and external threat will actually be more suitable. Outsider refers to a person who is not liked or accepted as a member of a particular group, organization
or society and who feels different from those people who are accepted as members. This expression contains the semantic property disliked while foreigner does not
imply such meaning. External threat is a suggestion that something unpleasant or violent will happen due to an outside force. From this definition, it can be seen how
the expression contains the semantic property possible damage. This semantic property is not shown in foreigner and it is sometimes shown in outsider. Below is
the table which shows the semantic properties contained in the expressions foreigner, outsider, and external threat.
