Writing Change: Diglossia and Popular Writing Practices in Egypt

Abstract

Arabic is considered a paradigmatic case of diglossia, where written language is regarded as largely the domain of fuṣḥā. Presenting the results of a large-scale survey of language attitudes and practices in Cairo, we argue that this view should be reconsidered. A representative majority of Cairo’s literate population in fact report writing predominantly in the vernacular (ʿāmmiyya), and also regard it as a legitimate written variety, contradicting common assumptions about popular language attitudes. At the same time, fuṣḥā retains its position as an idealized prestigious variety. These surprising results are explained by rising levels of literacy and the growth of computer-mediated communication. The results encourage a rethinking of the language situation in the Arab world, supporting the view that diglossia is a social and cultural resource rather than a problem. L’arabe est considéré comme un cas paradigmatique de diglossie, dans lequel la langue écrite est largement perçue comme le domaine de la fuṣḥā, ou arabe standard moderne. En présentant les résultats d’une enquête à grande échelle sur les attitudes et pratiques langagières au Caire, nous estimons que ce point de vue devrait être reconsidéré. Une majorité représentative de la population éduquée du Caire écrit principalement en langue vernaculaire (ʿāmmiyya) pour rapporter des informations, et perçoit cette langue comme une variante légitime d’écrit, contredisant les affirmations sur les attitudes populaires vis-à-vis de la langue. Dans le même temps, le fuṣḥā garde sa position de variante prestigieuse et idéalisée. Ces résultats s’expliquent par différents niveaux d’alphabétisation et par le développement de la communication informatique. Les résultats invitent à repenser la situation linguistique du monde arabe, en soutenant l’idée que la diglossie est une richesse sociale et culturelle plutôt qu’un problème. This article is in French.

The Politics of Written Language in the Arab World

“…The survey covered a host of questions on language use and attitudes. The full list of results is published in Kebede et al (2013) for Cairo, and Kindt et al (2016) for Rabat. For a deeper analysis into and explanation of the Egypt survey specifically, see Kindt et al (2016).…”

“…The Language Change in the Arab World (lcaw) project evolved from the collective sense of the researchers involved that there appears to be a significant shift underway in writing practices and attitudes toward writing in the Arab world. This paper proposes a framework for the study of attitudes toward writing in non-standard Arabic, and applies this framework to data from a Twitter hashtag about writing in Arabic, and to the results of the 2013 and 2015 fafo surveys of language attitudes and society in Cairo and Rabat Kindt 2016).…”

A parallel text-based approach for teaching Standard and Vernacular Arabic

“…The second principle of the integrated approach, that only SA is written and that exposure to written VA should therefore be avoided, reflects Ferguson's original conception of diglossia, but fits poorly with current linguistic practices. VA is today the dominant variety in many forms of informal written communication, including in social media, text messaging, and, depending on the level of formality, in e-mails (Kindt, Høigilt and Kebede 2016;Alkhamees, Elabdali and Walters 2019). For many Arabic speakers, these forms of communication make up a large part of the writing they encounter and produce in their daily lives.…”

“…Finally, the transcripts provide a familiarity with written VA, which has become the default form in informal electronic written communication (Kindt, Høigilt and Kebede 2016;Alkhamees, Elabdali and Walters 2019). Familiarity with this form of writing is crucial for well-rounded communicative competence in contemporary Arab societies.…”

Parsing written language with non-standard grammar

“…Standard Arabic is acquired later through formal education as a second language, although children are exposed to it from a young age through audiovisual media (Saiegh-Haddad, 2003). The spoken varieties are also commonly used in informal written communication in text messaging and on social media (Abu Elhija, 2014;Kindt, Høigilt, & Kebede, 2016). The vast majority of writing is nevertheless in Standard Arabic, and readers have an advantage in visual word recognition in written Standard Arabic over written forms of their spoken variety (Nevat, Khateb, & Prior, 2014).…”