Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:58:20.281Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cross-dialectal variation in Arabic: Competing prestigious forms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Hassan R. Abd-El-Jawad
Hassan R. Abd-El-Jawad
Affiliation:
Department of English, Yarmouk University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most researchers of Arabic sociolinguistics assume the existence of a sociolinguistic continuum with a local vernacular at the bottom and the standard variety at the top. Those researchers seem to equate the terms “prestige” and “standard”; consequently, they tend to consider Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) as the only prestige variety in all settings. This article presents evidence showing that if an adequate description of sociolinguistic variation of spoken Arabic is to be met, it is necessary to posit not only one standard speech variety, MSA, but also other prestigious local or regional varieties which act as local spoken standards competing with MSA in informal settings. It will be shown in the reported cases that in certain contexts speakers tend to switch from their local forms – though these latter may be identical to MSA – to other local features characteristic of other dominant social groups and that happen to be marked [–MSA], These local prestigious norms act like the standard spoken norms in informal settings. (Diglossic model, prestigious varieties, stereotypes, dominant social groups, competing standards, spoken Arabic).

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 359 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abd-el-Jawad, H. R. E. (1981). Lexical and phonological variation in spoken Arabic in Amman. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvanie.Google Scholar
Abd-el-Jawad, H. R. E. (1986). The emergence of an urban dialect in the Jordanian urban centers. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 61(5). 53–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Ani, S. (1978). The development and distribution of the Qaaf in Iraq. In Al-Ani, S. (ed.), Readings in Arabic linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club. 103–12.Google Scholar
Annuri, M. J. (1979). Diraasa Sawtiyyah Sarfiyya lilahjati Madiinat Nablus al-Falastiiniyya [A phonological/morphological study of the Nablus dialect], M.A. thesis, Cairo University.Google Scholar
Blanc, H. (1964). Communal dialects in Baghdad. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs X.Google Scholar
Dorian, N. (1980). Linguistic lag as an ethnic marker. Language in Society 9:33–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holes, C. (1983). Patterns of communal language variation in Bahrain. Language in Society 12:433–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibrahim, M. H. (1984). On the notions “standard” and “prestigious” in Arabic sociolinguistics. Paper presented at the Third Annual Linguistics Conference, Yarmouk University, Jordan.Google Scholar
Kojak, W. (1983). Language and sex: A case study of a group of educated Syrian speakers of Arabic. M.A. thesis, University of Lancaster.Google Scholar
Kroch, A. (1978). Toward a theory of social dialect variation. Language in Society 7:17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Ryan, E. B. (1979). Why do low-prestige language varieties persist? In Giles, H. & Clair, R. St. (eds.), Language and social psychology. Baltimore: University Park Press. 145–57.Google Scholar