Natalie Smrekar, Ph.D.

Sociolinguist · Arabist · Translator
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About

A multilingual researcher, translator and linguist, Natalie Smrekar specialises in Arabic sociolinguistics, dialectology and political discourse analysis. She holds a PhD in Language Sciences from the Université Grenoble Alpes and has more than ten years of experience in academic research, translation and international collaboration across the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Her work sits at the intersection of linguistics, politics and culture, exploring how language shapes — and is shaped by — the dynamics of power in the Arabic-speaking world.

Sociolinguistics Arabic dialectology Discourse analysis Translation

Research

Arabic sociolinguistics Dialectology (Levantine dialects) Critical discourse analysis Political discourse analysis Communicative strategies
Doctoral thesis

Lexicon and Linguistic Variation in Shiite Political Discourse: The Example of Hassan Nasrallah

Lexique et variation linguistique dans le discours politique chiite : l'exemple de Hassan Nasrallah

Supervisor: Salam Diab-Duranton

Laboratory: LIDILEM, Université Grenoble Alpes

AMI doctoral fellow at Ifpo Beirut (DEAMM)

ANR project (2023–2027)

PredicMO — The Grammars of Preaching: lexis, mapping, staging

Les grammaires de la prédication : lexique, cartographie, mise en scène

Lead for linguistic studies

Direction: Norig Neveu

Career

Present

Global Support Hub

Factory

2021 – present

Doctoral researcher

Ifpo — Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beirut

Department of Medieval and Modern Arabic Studies (DEAMM)

2019 – present

PhD in Language Sciences

Université Grenoble Alpes — LIDILEM

2018 – 2019

CIUTI exchange

Université Saint-Joseph (ETIB), Beirut

2018

ERASMUS

University of Granada — School of Translation, Spain

2017 – 2018

M2 — Interpreting and Translation

University of Trieste, Italy

2016 – 2017

ERASMUS

Université de Lorraine — LEA, France

2015 – 2017

M1 — Interpreting and Translation

University of Trieste, Italy

2012 – 2015

BA — Interpreting and Translation

University of Trieste, Italy

Languages

Français Fluent
Italiano Native
English Fluent
Español Fluent
العربية Fluent
Português Basic

Communications

2024

AIDA 15

15th Conference of the Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe

University of Malta

2021 – 2023

Ifpo doctoral sessions

Convened sessions on Levantine Arabic dialects: methodological challenges and state of the art

In partnership with the University of Jordan and Yarmouk University

2021 – 2023

International conference on Levantine Arabic dialects

Co-organiser

Ifpo, Beirut & regional partners

2019 – 2024

International conferences

Research presentations at international colloquia

Jordan · Lebanon · Tunisia · France · Malta

Contact