The article analyzes the Arabic language’s ‘multiglossia’ since different varieties of the Arabic language exist in the language community, which are used depending on circumstances. The author suggests applying Badawi’s five levels of Contemporary Egyptian Arabic when analyzing the linguistic situation in Egypt. These levels consider sociolinguistic aspects of using the language and include
- ‘Classical Arabic of the heritage,’
- ‘contemporary Classical Arabic,’
- ‘Colloquial of the educated,’
- ‘Colloquial of the enlightened, ‘and
- Colloquial of the illiterate.’
Depending on the level, the speakers use different phonemes, which sometimes leads to the interchange of consonants, for example, interdental fricative ‘θ’ to voiceless dental stop ‘t’ to voiceless fricative alveolar ‘s.’ Interestingly, level (a) allows only ‘θ’ usage, with no interchanges, level (e) allows only for ‘t,’ level (b) uses both ‘θ’ and ‘s,’ preferring ‘θ.’ Level (c) uses more ‘s’ then ‘θ,’ while level (d) uses more ‘t’ then ‘s.’ This clear definition makes it possible to determine which level of language is used in a given circumstance.
Next, the author presents the model of a continuum in the Arabic language, saying there is a continuous transition between standard and Colloquial Arabic, and these two variations can be put on opposite sides of the continuum. Native speakers use variants more or less close to the final points, depending on the situation. Classical or Standard Arabic is called ‘Arcolect,’ and Colloquial Arabic is named ‘Basilect.’ At the same time, everything in between has the name ‘Mesolect.’
The author also notes that the presented continuum model is a dynamic linguistic system that changes depending on the community and individual choices. Factors of change include setting, topic, speaker’s skills in Modern Standard Arabic, speaker’s emotional state, participants of the discussion, the function of the discourse, and personal relationship with the audience. The author also mentions that there is a one- versus two-system approach to Arabic multiglossia. The latter supports two prototypical centers of ‘standard’ and ‘Colloquial’ language. On the opposite, the one-system approach supports the only ideal prototypical center of ‘Colloquial Arabic.’
References
Badawi, E. S. M. (Ed.). (1996). Understanding Arabic: essays in contemporary Arabic linguistics in honor of El-Said Badawi. American University in Cairo Press.
Hary, B. (1996). The importance of the language continuum in Arabic multiglossia. Understanding Arabic, 69-90.