On Arabic (Egyptian) Fiction Created in the Vernacular

ON ARABIC (EGYPTIAN) FICTION CREATED IN THE VERNACULAR

APOLLON SILAGADZE NINO EJIBADZE

Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Institute of Oriental Studies, Department of Arabic Studies

Abstract: 1. Egyptian literature created in the dialect begins to develop intensively from the middle of the past century. Naturally, these literary texts are recorded by means of the classical Arabic graphic system, and their reproduction/deciphering occurs as that of a dialectal text (heterography). 2. Taking into account that Egyptian dialectal fiction nowadays is a finally established phenomenon, it is possible to formulate several generalized theses. Sociolinguistic aspect. a) It seems, that the Egyptian dialect is no longer only a means of oral communication – it also becomes the language of literature (resp. literary language/a means to create literary heritage). b) The fact that the dialect is recorded in a literary style, indicates that it undergoes standardization, assumes the standard language form, and the common Egyptian language – the literary koine (mostly based on the Cairo dialect) – finds itself in opposition with all the other Egyptian dialects. Finally, broadening of the Egyptian dialect to the full condition (vernacular and language of literature) means that the functions of the elements involved in the sociolinguistic situation will change; thus, literary Arabic will no longer be the only language of Arabic literature. Literary aspect. Literature created in Egypt was one of the fragments of the common Arabic literary sphere, which was based on the same language as literature of any other Arab country. At present, the situation is obviously changing: it seems that there already exists Egyptian Arabic fiction proper, which is no longer a fragment of common Arabic literature, as it uses its own – Egyptian – Arabic/dialect, rather than common Arabic literary language. Elsewhere, in other Arab countries, literature is not and will not be created in this language (dialect). At the same time, today the literary situation in Egypt contains two components: parallel coexistence of literature created in literary Arabic and fiction written in the Egyptian dialect is observable. Further development can be assumed in two ways: maintaining the two-component situation or unification in favour of literature created in the Egyptian dialect (Egyptian Arabic). Keywords: Egyptian Arabic, Arabic dialect, fiction, sociolinguistics.

1. In the Arab world, fiction created in the dialect has a quite long history, starting from the 15th c. Usually, this literature is considered as two periods: 15th-18th cc. and from 19th c. to present.1 However, in our view, if the functional aspect is taken into consideration (in particular, its role in the literary process and its significance for literature), the following variant of classification seems realistic: Old and Modern; Old – until the 20th c., Modern – from mid-20th c. to present. Qualitatively, the new stage begins from the middle of the 20th c. and is mostly linked with Egypt. Its specificity is determined by the following features: a) Productivity, which led to the fact that increasingly great number of artistic works are created, which are entirely (not partially) written in the dialect. b) Removal of genre restriction: since the second half of the 20th c., Egyptian dialectal fiction covers all genres of prose and poetry (and not only entertaining works – containing satire and humor, or certain insertions in texts written in Literary Arabic). c) The significant and autonomous place and role of dialectal fiction in Egyptian reality; the following formulation is more accurate: creation and establishment of Egyptian proper, i.e. Egyptian dialectal fiction. d) In general, origin of new Egyptian dialectal fiction is a phenomenon of the beginning of last century, when on the one hand works were created in which passages written in the dialect were inserted, and on the other one, works composed entirely in the dialect were of specific character, as

1 Davies 2006: 597-604. 494 APOLLON SILAGADZE; NINO EJIBADZE they represented plays (Maḥmūd Teymūr wrote his plays in doublets – literary and dialectal versions2). Extension of the area and full covering of fiction are later phenomena, the chronology of which obviously should be counted from the 1940s (novel by Muṣṭafā Mušarrafa3…”Qinṭara l-leḏī kafar”). At present Egyptian dialectal fiction is a finally formed and established as well as an independent fact. Naturally, for texts the Arabic graphic system is used. At this time, in general, we are dealing with a phenomenon which is qualified by A. Silagadze as heterography4, specific for the Arab reality, when one and the same (or almost the same) graphic text can be decoded in several ways – as a text in the literary language (or in classical, or the so-called standard language) and as a text in the dialect (at the same time, certain specific aspects, related to dialectal speech, are reflected in the graphics).

2. At this point, we shall not discuss any other specific aspects of the issue, we shall only offer several generalized theses. The process can actually be considered to be completed in the Egyptian literary and linguistic area. As regards the entire Arab world – the rest of the Arab countries – it is possible to define certain future dynamics by analogy. In any case, from the positions of Egyptian reality, the process causes/will cause certain changes, on the one hand, in the sociolinguistic, and on the other one, in the literary aspect, with which transformation of some fundamental linguistic and literary concepts is/will be related. It should be noted that certain transformation of concepts such as “literary language” and “dialect” is perceived by the Arab (Egyptians) themselves. E.g. Mustafa Musharrafa, mentioned above, emphasizes that the dialect is consciously chosen for his novel (Qinṭara l-leḏī kafar5). In particular, what novelties are brought about by process of establishment of Egyptian dialectal fiction?

Sociolinguistic aspect

a) A fundamental novelty, which is already a fact, is that the Egyptian dialect is no longer only a means of verbal communication. After the formation and establishment of Egyptian dialectal fiction, the conditions are created for the full-fledged functioning of the Egyptian dialect: 1. Actually, it is the only means of oral communication – spoken language; 2. At the same time, it is becoming the language of literature/literary language, i.e., means to create literary heritage. b) Existence of Egyptian dialectal fiction means that this dialect is recorded in a literary way, which, in its turn, indicates that it undergoes standardization. This is one more real indicator that it gradually moves from the category of dialect to that of language, acquiring the form of a standard language. In particular, the phenomenon referred to above several times as the Egyptian dialect, is (/will be) regional/Egyptian standard-language, in fact, the Egyptian language/Standard Egyptian Arabic, mainly based on the Cairo speech. Represented in this form, it, as Common Egyptian, opposes all living spoken dialects of Egypt. Thus, the following opposition seems realistic:

Language (< Egyptian speech of Cairo) : dialects (vernaculars of various regions of Egypt)

c) Everything indicates that expansion of the Egyptian (Common Egyptian) dialect – absolute broadening of its functions is observable, which naturally means modification of functions of other elements involved in the sociolinguistic picture. As is known, general (Common Arabic, including Egyptian) sociolinguistic picture, is clearly diglossive6: literary language and dialects (22 countries

2 See, e.g., Maḥmūd Teymūr. n.d. Abū Šūša wa-l-mawkibu wa-qiṣaṣun ’uḫrā, al-Qāhira. 3 Georgian translation by Ejibadze, N. published in 2010. 4 Silagadze 2010: 5-10; See also: Silagadze, Ejibadze 2012:17. 5 Muṣṭafā Mušarrafa, 1991, 2012. Qinṭara l-leḏī kafar, al-Qāhira. 6 In detail, see: Silagadze, Ejibadze 2012: 10-17. ON ARABIC (EGYPTIAN) FICTION CREATED IN THE VERNACULAR 495 plus regional dialects inside the countries). It should also be noted that on the side of the literary language there are two languages – Classical Arabic (fuṣḥā) and Modern Literary Arabic/Modern Standard Arabic. Of these, the function of the former is extremely limited – it is only the written language. In speech it is completely replaced by Standard Arabic, which is realized with the full function. At the same time, its communication/spoken function is extremely limited (formal conversations, etc.) due to drastically actualized role of dialects. Finally, Standard Arabic is the literary language for the entire Arab world, it can be used for communication with the entire Arab world, however, normal, natural communication language for each country/region is the local, native dialect. As noted above, at present there are all conditions facilitating introduction of certain corrections in this picture, in case of Egypt. In particular, the basis for the fact is the circumstance that the Egyptian dialect, already as the language of literature as well, begins to function fully (which leads to re-distribution of sociolinguistics relations), whereas Modern Literary Arabic (again in case of Egypt) is no longer the only literary language (as regards Classical Arabic, apparently, there is a tendency for further limitation of its function).

Literary aspect

Fiction, created in Egypt, was one of the constituents/fragments of Common Arabic literary area, which was considered on the same plane as literature of any other Arab country, because it was based on the same literary language as literature of any other Arab country (in other words, the only distinguishing feature of Egyptian literature was its localization – it was created in Egypt). Today, after the establishment of the Egyptian dialectal literature, the situation is changing: there is Egyptian Arabic literature as well. It is no longer a fragment of Common Arabic literature, as it does not use the common Arabic literary language, but its own, Egyptian Arabic. Literature is not and will not be created in this language elsewhere, in other Arab countries. At the same time, at present the literary picture of Egypt contains two components, which is manifested in parallel coexistence of literature created in literary Arabic and Egyptian Arabic literature. Consequently, there are two ways for further development: maintaining this two-component picture, or unification in favour of Egyptian Arabic literature. It is also possible to visualize two ways of literary development for other Arab countries, which today form a common literary area, as they are based on the Common Arabic literary language: to keep this situation, or to realize the Egyptian variant (in the first case, Egypt can remain as the only example). In any case, it is a fact that there is dialectal Arabic fiction, which offers new themes for literary criticism analysis, in particular, those related to the determination of specificity of dialectal and non- dialectal literature (created in Literary Arabic/Common Arabic). From the viewpoint of Common Arabic, it is a fact that dialectal Arabic literature is a new phenomenon, and its future will greatly influence the further dynamics of development of Arabic literature.

References

Davies, Humphrey. 2006. “Dialect Literature”, Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Brill, I, 597-604. Silagadze, Apollon. 2010. “Modern Arabic Language: Specificity and Problem of Teaching”, The Manual of Modern Standard Arabic, Tbilisi (in Georgian). ------, Ejibadze, Nino. 2010. On Arabic Diglossia, Tbilisi. Maḥmūd Teymūr. n.d. Abū Šūša wa-l-mawkibu wa-qiṣaṣun ’uḫrā, al-Qāhira. Muṣṭafā Mušarrafa, 1991, 2012. Qinṭara l-leḏī kafar, al-Qāhira. Musṭafā Mušarrafa, Qinṭara l-leḏī kafar, Translated into Georgian by Nino Ejibadze, Tbilisi, 2010.