Arabic Sociolinguistics Arabic Sociolinguistics Reem Bassiouney Edinburgh University Press © Reem Bassiouney, 2009 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in ll/13pt Ehrhardt by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and East bourne A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 2373 0 (hardback) ISBN 978 0 7486 2374 7 (paperback) The right ofReem Bassiouney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Contents Acknowledgements viii List of charts, maps and tables x List of abbreviations xii Conventions used in this book xiv Introduction 1 1. Diglossia and dialect groups in the Arab world 9 1.1 Diglossia 10 1.1.1 Anoverviewofthestudyofdiglossia 10 1.1.2 Theories that explain diglossia in terms oflevels 14 1.1.3 The idea ofEducated Spoken Arabic 16 1.2 Dialects/varieties in the Arab world 18 1.2. 1 The concept ofprestige as different from that ofstandard 18 1.2.2 Groups ofdialects in the Arab world 19 1.3 Conclusion 26 2. Code-switching 28 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2 Problem of terminology: code-switching and code-mixing 30 2.3 Code-switching and diglossia 31 2.4 The study of constraints on code-switching in relation to the Arab world 31 2.4. 1 Structural constraints on classic code-switching 31 2.4.2 Structural constraints on diglossic switching 42 2.5 Motivations for code-switching 59 2. 5. 1 Motivations and discourse functions ofclassic code-switching 59 2. 5.2 Motivations and discourse functions ofdiglossic switching 71 2.6 Conclusion 85 Vl ARABIC SOCIOLINGUISTICS 3. Language variation and change 88 3.1 Introduction 89 3.2 Language variation and change 90 3.2.1 Social class approach 90 3.2.2 Social networks approach 92 3.2.3 Third wave approach to variation studies: community of practice 93 3.3 Methodology 94 3.4 Sociolinguistic variables 97 3.4.1 Ethnicity 97 3.4.2 Religion 103 3. 4. 3 Urbanisation 111 3.4.4 Social class 114 3.4. 5 Other factors 116 3.5 Levelling 117 3.5.1 Diglossia and levelling 119 3.5.2 Levelling and language change 120 3.6 Conclusion 122 4. Arabic and gender 128 4.1 Introduction 128 4.2 Approaches to language and gender 129 4.2.1 The deficit theory and Lakoff's contribution to the study of language and gender 130 4.2.2 The dominance theory 131 4. 2. 3 The difference theory 132 4.2.4 Third wave approach to variation studies: community of practice theory 133 4.3 Women in the Arab world: framing and background information 133 4. 3.1 Diversity in education 134 4. 3. 2 Diversity in urbanisation 134 4. 3. 3 Economic diversity 135 4. 3. 4 Diversity in traditions and religious practices 135 4.3.5 Honour and modesty 137 4. 4 Politeness in relation to gender 138 4.5 'Mister master': names, status and identity 142 4. 5.1 Names and why they are hidden 148 4.6 When a chicken crows like a cock: women narrators 149 4. 7 Language variation and change in relation to gender 155 4. 7.1 An overview ofstudies on language variation in relation to gender 155 4. 7.2 An overview oflinguistic variation in relation to gender in the Arab world 158 CONTENTS Vll 4.8 Projection of identity in the speech of educated women and men in Egypt: evidence from talk shows- a case study 162 4.8.1 Description ofdata 163 4.8.2 Categorising the data 163 4.8.3 Detailed description ofthe data 167 4.8.4 Conclusion 185 4.9 The symbolic use of language 186 4.10 Gender universals re-examined 190 4.11 Conclusion 193 5. Language policy and politics 198 5.1 The power oflanguage 199 5.2 What is language policy? 200 5.2.1 Language ideologies 201 5.2.2 Language practices 204 5.2.3 Language planning 205 5.3 Nation and state 206 5.3.1 The relation between nation and language 206 5.3.2 The Arab nation 207 5.4 Countries with SA as the official language 210 5.5 French versus British patterns of colonisation and their relation to language policies 210 5.5.1 Frenchpatternsofcolonisation 212 5.5.2 British patterns ofcolonisation 236 5.6 Language policies in other parts of the Arab world 254 5. 7 The role oflanguage academies in the Arab world 256 5.8 SA, politics and the aching nation: a case study 258 5. 9 Linguistic rights and political rights 263 5.10 English and globalisation 267 5.11 Conclusion 268 General conclusion 273 Bibliography 276 Index 299 Acknowledgements This work is the product of years of investigation in both sociolinguistics in general and Arabic sociolinguistics in particular. Two semesters of research­ leave from the University of Utah and Georgetown University have helped me focus more on this book. I would like to thank both universities for this research period. Professor Jean Aitchison has been and will remain a constant friend and a great scholar. I thank her for drawing my attention to Edinburgh University Press. Dr Mahmoud Hassan will also remain a teacher, a friend and a model of integrity. Thank you also to Professor Yasir Suleiman for suggesting the title Arabic Sociolinguistics instead of Arabic and Society and for being an inspiring scholar. I would like also to thank the two anonymous reviewers who read my proposal and made useful recommendations. Thank you to the reader of the manuscript, whose suggestions were very useful and insightful, and whose knowledge of the field is exemplary. I am very lucky to have such a reader. Needless to say any oversight is my responsibility. I have benefited in one way or another from discussions and exchange of ideas, not necessarily about linguistics, with a lot of colleagues and friends. Among those, in alphabetical order, are: Ahmed Dallal, Marianna Di Paolo, Mushira Eid, Gail Grella, Oive Holes, Joe Metz, Carol Myers-Scotton, Karin Ryding, Keith Walters, Kees Versteegh and Malcah Yaeger-Dror. There is nothing as satisfying as having students who are interested and engaged in the topics one teaches. My students in many ways helped me clarify my ideas in fruitful and stimulating class discussions. I thank them. The team at Edinburgh University Press are a delight to work with. Nicola Ramsay and Sarah Edwards are both extremely dedicated and efficient. James Dale has been enthusiastic about the book, friendly, resourceful and efficient. Thanks also to Fiona Sewell my copy-editor for her diligent work. Thanks to all my family, whose support and belief in me were my main ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IX incentive always, especially my parents Nour El-Hoda and Alnned Refaat. It becomes clearer over time that without moral support from people who care, the journey is aimless. This book is dedicated to Mark Muehlhaeusler. Charts, maps and tables Chart 3.1 Fixed independent variables 123 Chart 3.2 Flexible independent variables 124 Chart 4.1 Binary approaches to gender studies 195 Chart 4.2 Construction approaches to gender studies 195 Chart 5.1 The education system in Egypt 244 Map 1.1 The Arab world 20 Table 1 Pronounciation of the letters of the Arabic alphabet in Modem Standard Arabic xiv Table 2 Transliteration scheme of the Library of Congress xvi Table 2.1 Relation between code choice and speaker's role 84 Table 4.1 Diversity in literacy rates 135 Table 4.2 Strong palatalisation in female speakers in Cairo, by social class 160 Table 4.3 Use of /q/ by male and female Cairene speakers, by social class 161 Table 4.4 Categorisation by use ofMSA variables 164 Table 4.5 Male speakers 170 Table 4.6 Female speakers 170 Table 4. 7 Number of interruptions and overlaps initiated by women and men 185 Table 4.8 Languages and varieties used in Morocco and their gender associations 187 Table 5.1 Countries with Arabic as the joint or sole official language 211 Table 5.2 Language of instruction by subject and educational cycle: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia 233 Table 5.3 Weekly hours per language in primary and secondary education: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia 234 CHARTS, MAPS AND TABLES Xl Table 5.4 Weekly hours/periods per language in primary and secondary education: Lebanon and Syria 235 Table 5.5 Weekly hours/periods per language in primary and secondary education: Egypt, Sudan and Palestinian Territories 253 Abbreviations LANGUAGES AND VARIETIES CA Classical Arabic CB Christian Baghdadi Arabic ECA Egyptian Colloquial Arabic ESA Educated Spoken Arabic ICA Iraqi Colloquial Arabic LCA Lebanese Colloquial Arabic MB Muslim Baghdadi Arabic MSA Modem Standard Arabic SA Standard Arabic SCA Saudi Colloquial Arabic SYCA Syrian Colloquial Arabic TCA Tunisian Colloquial Arabic OTHER ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ace accusative adj adjective adv adverb asp aspect conj conjugation CP projection of a complementiser def definite dem demonstrative det definite article EL embeddedlanguage f feminine ABBREVIATIONS XIll fut future tense gen genitive H high, highly valued 1m perf imperfect tense indef indefinite ind indicative juss jussive L low, lowly valued loc adv locative adverb m masculine ML matrix language n noun neg negative marker nom nominative NP noun phrase par particle part participle pass passive perf perfect tense pi plural poss par possessive particle pp prepositional phrase pr pronoun prep preposition pres present tense rei relative pronoun sub subjunctive sg singular v verb voc vocative 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person Conventions used in this book TRANSCRIPTION This book uses the following symbols shown in Table 1 to transcribe examples and other linguistic data.