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Egyptian Romanized Arabic: a Study of Selected Features from Communication Among Egyptian Youth on Facebook

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Egyptian Romanized Arabic: a Study of Selected Features from Communication Among Egyptian Youth on Facebook Egyptian Romanized Arabic: A Study of Selected Features from Communication Among Egyptian Youth on Facebook Jan Arild Bjørnsson Thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Arabic language (60 credits) UNIVERSITY OF OSLO November 2010 2 Table of contents Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................................5 Chapter one: Introduction ...................................................................................................6 1.1 Research question .........................................................................................................7 1.2 Outline of the thesis ......................................................................................................8 Chapter two: Writing and language ....................................................................................9 2.1 Writing, scripts and alphabets ..................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Conversion of scripts ............................................................................................ 12 2.1.1.1 Transcription of Arabic ................................................................................. 13 2.1.1.2 Judaeo-Arabic ............................................................................................... 14 2.1.1.3 Romanization of Turkish ............................................................................... 15 2.1.1.4 Maltese .......................................................................................................... 16 2.1.1.5 Arabic language reform ................................................................................. 17 2.2 The language situation in Egypt .................................................................................. 20 2.2.1 Arabic in Egypt .................................................................................................... 20 2.2.1.1 Attitudes towards the varieties ....................................................................... 21 2.2.1.2 The continuum between the varieties ............................................................. 21 2.2.1.3 Egyptian Arabic as a written language ........................................................... 22 2.2.2 English in Egypt ................................................................................................... 23 Chapter three: Computer-mediated communication ........................................................ 24 3.1 Communication situations on the Internet ................................................................... 24 3.1.1 CMC – between speech and writing? .................................................................... 26 3.2 The Internet in Egypt and the Middle East .................................................................. 28 3.2.1 The Egyptian Internet user ................................................................................... 29 3.2.2 Arabic online ....................................................................................................... 30 3.2.3 Language choice online in Egypt .......................................................................... 31 3.3 About Facebook and communication between its members ......................................... 33 3.4 Method ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.4.1 Selection criteria .................................................................................................. 35 3.4.2 Notes on transcription .......................................................................................... 37 Chapter four: The graphemes ............................................................................................ 41 4.1 The consonants ........................................................................................................... 41 4.1.1 Numerals representing phonemes ......................................................................... 42 4.1.1.1 Representation of /ḥ/...................................................................................... 43 4.1.1.2 Representation of /x/ and /ġ/ .......................................................................... 44 4.1.1.1 Marginal representations ............................................................................... 46 4.1.2 Other consonants .................................................................................................. 47 4.1.2.1 Representation of /w/ and /y/ ......................................................................... 47 4.1.2.2 Representation of /q/...................................................................................... 48 4.1.2.3 Representation of /ʾ/ as a reflex of Standard Arabic /q/ ................................... 48 4.1.2.4 Representation of /ʾ/ as a reflex of Standard Arabic /ʾ/ ................................... 49 4.1.2.5 The emphatic consonants ............................................................................... 51 4.1.6 Regional differences............................................................................................. 51 4.2 The vowels ................................................................................................................. 53 4.2.1 Vowels in the data ................................................................................................ 56 4.2.1.1 Long vowels .................................................................................................. 57 4.2.1.2 Short vowels .................................................................................................. 60 4.2.1.2.1 <y> representing final /i/ ......................................................................... 62 3 4.2.1.2.2 The minor representations ....................................................................... 63 4.2.1.2.3 The epenthetic vowel .............................................................................. 64 4.2.1.2.4 Short vowels and emphatic consonants ................................................... 65 4.2.3 A summary: long and short vowels....................................................................... 66 4.2.4 The inconsistent use of vowels ............................................................................. 66 Chapter five: Some selected features ................................................................................. 69 5.1 The definite article ...................................................................................................... 69 5.2 The feminine ending ................................................................................................... 71 5.2.1 Realized as /a/ ...................................................................................................... 71 5.2.2 Realized as /it/ ...................................................................................................... 71 5.2.3 Realized as /ā/ ...................................................................................................... 72 5.3 Gemination ................................................................................................................. 72 5.4 The future prefix ḥa-/ha- ............................................................................................. 74 5.5 The prepositions li and bi ............................................................................................ 75 5.6 Some other prepositions .............................................................................................. 76 Chapter six: conclusion ...................................................................................................... 78 Literature ............................................................................................................................ 81 Abstract............................................................................................................................... 84 4 Acknowledgements First of all I wish to thank my supervisor Professor Gunvor Mejdell for her valuable advice, encouraging enthusiasm, and patience throughout the process of writing this thesis. I also owe her gratitude for leading me onto the subject of Romanized Arabic. I am also greatly indebted to Unn Gyda Næss for reading through the thesis and giving constructive feedback. Thanks to Helen Rodgers for her efforts in helping me improve the language of the thesis. I would also like to thank my Egyptian friends who have been happy to answer all my questions about their mother tongue, and for helping my whenever I have come across something in my data I did not understand. And lastly, thanks to all fellow students of Arabic and Middle Eastern studies who have kept me company for numerous lunch and coffee breaks. Blindern, November 2010 – Jan Arild Bjørnsson 5 Chapter one: Introduction In Cairo, when visiting one of the numerous upper class cafeterias that are scattered around the city, it is almost impossible not to notice the television sets playing music videos rather indiscreetly. During the music, text messages sent from viewers‟ mobile phones scroll across the bottom of the screen. Some of these are written in Roman letters, but are still a representation of Arabic. Although I became intrigued by this way of writing Arabic during my stays in Cairo, I never considered making it the theme of my master‟s thesis until it was suggested to
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