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Volume 12 Issue 8 Version 1.0 May 2012
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: & Print ISSN:
Abstract - Diglossia is a language situation in which there are two distinct varieties of a language
used side by side. One variety, referred to as the High variety (H), is used only on formal and
public occasions, while the other one, referred to as the Low variety (L), is used under normal,
everyday circumstances. The distance between the H and L are sometimes to the extent that the
two varieties are mutually unintelligible. One good example is the diglossic situation held
between the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and the Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (EA). This article
aims to compare the two varieties, at different linguistic levels, to illustrate how these differences
have made the two verities mutually unintelligible.
Keywords : Diglossia, Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, High Variety, Low Variety etc.
GJHSS-F Classification : FOR Code: 160603
Diglossia in Arabic A Comparative Study of the Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of:
© 2012. Mohammad Jafar Jabbari. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Diglossia in Arabic
A Comparative Study of the Modern Standard
Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
Mohammad Jafar Jabbari
Abstract - Diglossia is a language situation in which there are language (which may include a standard or regional
two distinct varieties of a language used side by side. One standards), there is a very divergent, highly coded (often
variety, referred to as the High variety (H), is used only on grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the 2012
formal and public occasions, while the other one, referred to y
vehicle of a large and respected body of written a
as the Low variety (L), is used under normal, everyday literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech M
circumstances. The distance between the H and L are community, which is learned largely by formal education 23
sometimes to the extent that the two varieties are mutually and is used for most written and formal spoken
unintelligible. One good example is the diglossic situation held
between the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and the Egyptian purposes but is not used by any sector of the
Colloquial Arabic (EA). This article aims to compare the two community for ordinary conversation (p.336).
varieties, at different linguistic levels, to illustrate how these Diglossia for Trudgill (2009), "is a particular kind
differences have made the two verities mutually unintelligible. of language standardization where two distinct varieties
Keywords : Diglossia, Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, of a language exist side by side throughout the speech
High Variety, Low Variety etc. community (not just in the case of a particular group of
I. Introduction speakers, such as Scots or Blacks) and where each of
the two varieties is assigned a definite social
ome languages have two totally distinct varieties
used through a speech community, each of which function"(p.113).
S It is noticeable that Ferguson's definition of
with a different range of social functions. Whereas 'diglossia' is quite specific in that the two varieties should
one variety, referred to as High (H), is used only on
formal and public events, the other one, referred to as belong to the same language. Some other scholars, Volume XII Issue VIII Version I
Low (L), is used under normal daily-life circumstances. however, have extended the term to cover situations
This situation, referred to as "diglossia", is very common which do not count as diglossic according to Ferguson's cen
especially in Arabic-speaking communities. Varieties of definition. For Meyerhoff (2006:103) diglossia is a cie
Arabic form a roughly continuous spectrum of variation, situation in which "One language may be used for some
with the dialects spoken in the eastern and western social functions or in a specific social context, while cial S
extremes of the Arab-speaking world being mutually another language is served for other". Fishman So
unintelligible. The best example of this mutual (1971:75) refers to Paraguay as an example of a an
diglossic community, in which the two varieties do not m
unintelligibility is the diglossic situation, held between u
the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and the Egyptian belong to one language, but are Spanish and Guarani.
colloquial Arabic (EA). This article aims at illustrating the According to Warduaugh (2005:89), "the f H
differences between the two varieties at different phenomenon of diglossia is not ephemeral in nature: in al o
linguistics levels, which have resulted in this mutual fact, the opposite is true: it appears to be a persistent rn
unintelligibility. social and linguistic phenomenon." In a diglossic ou
situation, the two varieties have co-existed for a long
II. Background period, sometimes, as in Arabic-speaking communities, bal J
for many centuries. lo
Diglossia is a situation in which two distinct A key point in diglossia is that the two varieties G
varieties of a language are used. One variety is used are kept apart functionally. One variety, referred to as
only on formal and public occasions, while the other Low (L), is used at home or in other informal situations,
variety is used under normal, everyday circumstances. however, if someone needs to give a lecture at a
The term diglossia was introduced into the literature by university or in any formal circumstance, (s)he is
Charles Ferguson (1959):
expected to use the other variety, referred to as High
Diglossia is a relatively stable language (H). For Wardhaugh, the two varieties cannot be
situation in which, in addition to the dialects of the interchangeably used. He asserts: "You do not use an H
r : variety in circumstances calling for an L variety, e.g. for
Autho Faculty of Literature & Humanities, Yasouj University, Yasouj,
Iran. E-mail : mjjabbari@mail.yu.ac.ir , mjjabbari@yahoo.com addressing a servant; nor does one use an L variety
© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
Digl
ossia in Arabic A Comparative Study of the Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
when an H variety is called for, e.g., for writing a serious the need for such Arabic programs to help learners
work of literature"(2005 P: 90). communicate successfully, argues that ”If the goal of an
In a diglossic society, all children acquire the L Arabic-as-a-foreign language program is to prepare
variety. Some may concurrently learn the H variety, but students to function successfully in Arabic, then they
many do not learn it at all. Therefore, the two varieties should be introduced to both a Spoken Arabic dialect
are not regarded as having the same degree of prestige. and [formal Arabic] from the beginning of an Arabic
For example, this "diglossic situation may also be found course.”
in Egypt, where both classical Arabic and colloquial There have also been views against teaching
Arabic is used"(Finch, 2005:214). Spoken Arabic which focuses on the impossibility of
Ferguson identifies four situations which show dealing with the full range of Arabic dialects and the
the major characteristics of this diglossic phenomenon: difficulty of choosing one dialect to teach, however,
Arabic, Swiss German, Haitian (French and Creole), and some surveys are indicative of the fact that “86% of
Greek. In each situation, there is a 'high variety' (H) of students who expressed interest in learning Spoken
1 gyptian Arabic” (Al-
language and a 'low' variety (L). Arabic prefer either Levantine or E
y 2012
a In an Arabic-speaking diglossic community, the Batal & Belnap, 2006, p.396, cited in Palmer, 2007, p.
M two varieties are standard Arabic (H) and the various 115). These two are not the most commonly spoken and
regional colloquial Arabic (L). understood varieties of Spoken Arabic, yet “ there are
242 abundant materials available in each that would make it
There has been this view that the spoken
varieties of Arabic are corruptions of MSA (Modern relatively painless for even a native Moroccan or Iraqi
Standard Arabic) or CA (Classical Arabic) as found in speaker to teach a class in Levantine or Egyptian;
the Quran and are, therefore, less prestigious varities of though the reverse is not viable” (Palmer, 2007:115).
Arabic. According to Wardhaugh (2005): To shed light on the diglossic nature of Arabic
and to sport his argumentation in favor of incorporating
"The H variety is the prestige variety; the L
variety lacks prestige. In fact, there can be so little Spoken Arabic in program curricula. Palmer (2007:115)
prestige attached to the L variety that people may even cites the following sentences:
deny that they know it although they may be observed to "On the political level, a rather spectacular case
use it far more frequently than the H variety]……[This of this manipulation of linguistic variation is to be found
feeling about the superiority of the H variety is reinforced in the political speeches of the late President Nasser. He
by the fact that a body of literature exists in that variety used to begin his speeches at an elevated level, spoken
and almost none in the L variety. That literature may slowly and rhythmically, because of the formality of the
Volume XII Issue VIII Version Ireflect essential values about the culture. Speakers of situation. But then his sentences would become
Arabic in particular gain prestige from being able to gradually more and more colloquial, spoken in a faster
ce allude to classical sources. The folk literature associated tempo, until he reached a purely colloquial level. At the
n
e with the L variety will have none of the same prestige" (p. end of his speech, he would conclude with a few
ci
90). sentences in Pure Standard Arabic. Such a mixture
al S Watson (2002) asserts that” Dialects of Arabic reflects the inherent problem for politicians in the Arab
ci
o form a roughly continuous spectrum of variation, with world: on the one hand, by identifying with colloquial
S
the dialects spoken in the eastern and western extremes speech they wish to involve their audience, who for the
an of the Arab-speaking world being mutually unintelligible” most part do not use or even understand the higher
m
u (p.8). levels of standard Arabic, on the other hand, they
f H Palmer (2007), pointing out to a great increase cannot simply switch to colloquial language, since this
al oin the number of Arabic programs and students would be regarded as an insult to their audience"(
n interested in learning Arabic, argues that most students Versteegh,2000, p. 196).
r
u learn only the formal variety of Arabic. This situation
o Palme
r adds:
al J“creates a fake of model of oral proficiency by
b presenting the students with an artificial variety that is "This passage elaborates the diglossic nature of
lo not used by the native speakers since no one uses Arabic in two ways:”first it reveals that Nasser’s
G [formal Arabic] for daily-life situations”(Al-Batal, audience- the common people-“ do not use or even
1995:122). It is also believed that these programs must understand “ MSA; the second, that Nasser felt obliged
not be limited to the formal variety of the language if to include some MSA in order to fulfill his role as an
they are to train future professionals to communicate educated persona(emphasis added) in a formal setting”
effectively with the Arabic-speaking world.“The Arabic (Palmer, 2007: 115).
classrooms can and should be a place in which multiple a f u
registers co-exist, as they do in real life“(Al-Batal III. Dat o theSt dy
&Belnap,2006:397). Younes (1995:233) commenting on The data of the study are collected from the
Lingaphone Egyptian Arabic Course. The course
1 - A dialect spoken in part of Syria. includes 30 written and tape-recorded dialogs in
22 G Glolobbal Jal Joouurrnnaalsls I Inncc. . (U(US)S)
© 201
© 201
Digl
ossia in Arabic A Comparative Study of the Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
Egyptian Arabic. The dialogs are translated in writing a) Pronunciation Key
into Standard Arabic and then tape-recorded, by Qamari Arabic shares a good number of phonemes
(1993), for the purpose of teaching the two varieties of with other languages. Yet , there are a number of
Arabic to students majoring in the Arabic Language and phonemes, only found in Arabic and some sister
Literature, at Iranian universities. By Standard Arabic is languages. The Arabic phonemes are presented in
3
meant the variety based on the speech and writing of tables (1) to (4).
educated native speakers of Arabic. Table 1 : Arabic Vowels.
IV. Methodology V owel Arabic Arabic Example Meaning
Letter
To illustrate the linguistic differences between /a/ ﹷ ﻦﺤَﻧ /nahnu/ we
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and Egyptian Colloquial S
ho /i/ ﹻ ﻦﻣ /min/ of, fr
Arabic (EA), the Surface Strategy Taxonomy has been ِ om
r
t /u/ ﹹ ٌ room
utilized. This perspective, "highlights the ways surface ﺔ ﻓ ﺮ ﻏ /ɤurfa/
structures are altered" (Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982: /a:/ ﺍ ﺏﺏﺍ /ba:b/ door 2012
lo y
a
150). Categorizing linguistic items according to the ng /u:/ ﻭ ﻭ ﺎﺻ soap
ﻥﺏ / sˤa:bu:n/ M
surface strategy taxonomy helps researchers analyze /i:/ ﻱ ﻱﻑ /fi:/ in, at
linguistic alterations, in more details. To achieve this, (1) 25
2
the collected data are transcribed phonemically , (2) the Table 2 : Arabic Diphthongs.
meanings are given in English, (3) when needed, a Diphthong Arabic Meaning English
rough literal (morpheme-based) translation of the Example Example
(Arabic) examples into English is given, to help the non- /aw/ ﻡﻮﻳ /jawm/ day house
Arab reader follow the discussions, and (4) necessary /aj/ ﻒﻴﺿ / ðˤajf/ guest eye
explanations are provided.
Table 3 : Specific Consonants.
Consonant Arabic Ara Meaning Featu
Letter bic Example res
/ sˤ/ ﺹ ﺡﺎﺑﺹ /sˤaba:h/ morning (Emphatic) Voiceless alveolar fricative
Volume XII Issue VIII Version I
ﻒﻳ
/ dˤ/ ﺽ ﺽ / dˤajf/ guest (Emphatic) Voiced alveolar fricative
cen
ﻁ ﺐﻟﺍﻁ cie
/tˤ/ /tˤa:lib/ student (Emphatic) Voiceless dental-alveolar al S
stop cio
S
ﻅ
/ ðˤ/ ﻅ ﻑﺭ / ðˤarf/ envelop (Emphatic) Voiceled dental-alveolar stop an
um
ʔ ﺊ ﺌ ﺍ ﺎﻧﺍ ʔ I (Voiceless) glottal stop f H
al o
/ / / ana/ rn
/ʕ/ ﻉ ﻉﻱﻥ /ʕajn/ eye Voiced pharyngeal fricative u
o
bal J
ﻍ ◌ً ﺍ ﺩ ﻍ
ً /ɤa tomorrow Voiced uvular fricative lo
/ɤ/ dan/ G
ﺥ ﻝﺎﺧ /xa: nc ocel s uvular fricative
/x/ l/ u le V i es
ﺐﻳﺭ
/q/ ﻕ ﻕ / qari:b/ relative Voiceless uvular stop
2 transcription is read from left to right although Arabic is written from right to left in the script.
- The
3
- The symbols used are taken from: Wikipedia-Arabic Phonology.
© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
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