DOCUMENT RESUME 1 ED. 117 975 007 418 AUTUR Fairis, Amal Diglpgsia in Arabic Speech Communities: The Classical TITLE . Language Compared -with the Syrian Vernacular. PUB DATA 75 NOTE 54p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-43.50-R1lis Postage DESCRIPTORS.. *Acabic; Comparative Analysis; - contrastive Linguistics; Siachronic linguistics; Dialect Studies; *Digiossia; Grammar.; Language Planning; Language Role; *Language Standargizationi LanguagA Typology.; Language Usage; Literacy; Morphology (Language0; Mutual 'Intelligibility; Phono1O-ih Semantis; 1 *Sociolinguistics; Syntax IDENTIFIERS. Classical Arabic; *Intercommon Spoken Arabic; Syriant' . Arabic ABSTRACT - . kt. The purpose of.this paper is to present,la general overview of the-linguistic setting of Arabic. Three main areas are 17 covered. The first of these, diglossia, 'is defifled in generil terms and then examieed more)$closely in relation to its historical deVelopment'in Arabic-speaking countries (i.e., as 'resulting from geographic, socioeconomic, and religidus eplittingS in thisrea of .the world). The second major: portion of this .paper is devoted to a synchronic comparison of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon ot'Classical Arabic and Syrian Arabic. The- coniparison shows that;(1) the phonology ofthe two varieties of Arabic is "moderately, different:" (2) the vernacular has to simpler grammatical structure than the Classical, and is becoming increasingly synthetic; and (3) alexAcally, the vernacular,borroWs:mudh from Classical Arabic. The portion of the paper discusses, the need for :and development of a standardized language that 'would dissolivethe diglossic split in Arabic. The most practical and likely choice for a unified language is here offered as that dialedt known as the "language of the educated." This Intercommon Spoken Arabic, alreading evOlvingi perhaps will lead, to sociolinguistic changes' .what will1istribute literacy more widely in the Arab world. (uthor/TL) 'a ******************0**************** *********41c*********************** * Documents acquired by ERIC incl de manyAformalkunpuhlished * * 'materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every'effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items,ofmargidal * * repioducibility are often encountered and this affects thequality * * of the microfiche an4'hardcopy reproductions ERIC mak P4available * * via the ERIC Document) Reproduction Service (EDRS). E VRS is not , * * responsible for the quality of theoriginaldocument. Reproductions * ..31g supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from theoriginal. * . **********4,******************g**,*************************************** \ 11, . .... J Diglossia.Arabic Speech Communities: Tpe Clagftcal Language Compared with the Syrian Vernacular- ( 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY . .0 5 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. RIGHTED MAk9MCCAS.,B6EN GRANTED BY EDUCATION & WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION r ANA S THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO DUCEb EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN TO ERIC AND ORG,ANIZATIQNS OPERATING ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS UNDER AGREEMENTq WITH THE NATIONAL IN- STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO- SEJW-OFFiCIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DUCTION OUTSIDE 'THE &IC SYSTEM RE IMUCATI,ON POSITION OR POLICY QUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER .rI e 11, Amal Farris 'January 27, 1975 4 Project - EN 592 s W.,Ney, Advisor 2 4. r r Preface I would like texpress.niy'gr44tuae to my unc1e, Dr pseb sbelhoub-, tor ronouncihg oh tape the utterances in the syntax_ section i assical Arabic and in his own Damascus dialect. hav pecialyegard fOr his(zanner of articulation. I would lAke'to thank my'cousin, Michael Chahin, another 'Damascus nformant,'for his contrqoutions to variousDdmascusArabic usages 4nthis text. Any mistakes in transcription are the faultof this :wilter and not of airy informant; for all, of the Syrian, Arabic Utterances are transcribed on the basit oforal-aural comprehension. Appreciation also inevitably goes to'myadviso4Dr.Ney, who ,directed me to vital reso urces, and to my immediatef40. for their patience and tolerance. -,.. 4; N. i i Introduction, The purpose of,this paper is present a generaloverview o the linguistic setting of Arabic. he main areas covered -di- glossia, language descriptionand:aomparison, andstandardization-- are merelyintroductionsrthemseies to ill& status of Arabic. And. although all three of the areagiarequite nearly inseparable, each one wouldbenefit greatly fro(an in-depth, comprehensive study. This wrier has found it mos#ypleasurable,howeiter, delving into those existing sources, thouqh few*they are, dealing with these, three area and, for the fiest time,relating and exposing them, . even if only in asuperficial way. She anticipates carrying out o 'a great deal of investigation inthe seemingly complex and extreme- . ly fascinating ArabiclOguage field in the future. I ymbols ad Abbreviations 4 encl s phonemic transcription; .-encloses.glosses or translation / (sUbscript dot) indicates'emphatic.velarized sounds, with the exception of /12./, 0 which is not a velarized consonant; its dot is merely to ditinguish it from /h/ double phonemes( /ii/ or /bb/) indicate long vowel or consonant , indicates liaison between words" . , indicates division of a lingustic (0 .form at the end of a line ti 'alternates with' a consonant C1, C2. identifies positionof C ina root or word' V a vowel 1 CA Classical Arabic SA *Syrian Arabic. ISA. Intercommon Spoken Arabic 5 A 4, / .)-0, CONTENTS Preface . .i %IF Introdirctic. OOOOOOOOOOOOOO . 41, p . 1 Symbols and -Abbreviationq . I, . '. OO % ..... .iii Map (Bateson 19.67:1). , .-', tab. iv 1. General background to the Arabic language , :. ; 1 A A. Classification of Arabic 'a B. Vqrieties of Arabic 4 1 1. Digloia silivation . .. A. Definition and description of the ,erm B. Socto--..ultural setting in which Arabic functions 1. Plight .of the peasant tr Z. Historical cleavages Language descriptionfand comparison 15 a A. Phonology 1. Classical Arabisc 2. Syrian Arabic B. Morphology 1. classical Arabic 2. Syrian Arabic C. Syntax 1. Classical Arabic V 2. Syrian Arabic D. Lexicon 1. Classical Arabic 2. Syrian Arabic IV. StandardizatAn 35 A. Advocates of the Classical c o B. Advocates of a veroacular. Intercommon Spoken Arabi t, r 42 - 4 / II 7 I SPAIN a MALTA ALGERIA LI !NA (V.A.R.)EGYPT .1 , 'k . t. General Background,.to the Arabic-LangAge t . 4 . I- Arabic is the official language-pi more than a dozen states, . including Morocco,'Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, the United Arab . RepUblic, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria,-Jordan, Iraq-y-lcuwait, Nemei, Aden, and the- states of the Arabian peninsula {see-map-} . It belongs'to the SemitiC group of languages, which include Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic, SdUth°- Arabic, and many Arabic dialects.\ Of these, Arabic is the most important Semitic language, with over eighty million speakers. 1 k Arabic itself can'be divided intoSouthern and'Northern dialects: 0 the earliest inscriptions available may be traced back to Soahen dialects of the bight centuryB.C., while Northern Arabic id not appear until Much later. It was not until the sixth century A.D. that a poetic koine:appeared,Which.developed into the language of the Qur'an, Islam's sacred book, in the following century. The Arabic o f the Qur!an and of literatuieL., may be traced to the cityo f Mecca and its surroundings in the northwestern regioh of the Arabian 'Peninsula. (Beeston 1970: 11-15; Chejne 1969:25) The term "Arabic" refers to a number of speech-forms which are sufficiently homogeneous to be considereddialectal varie- ties of a single language, although substantial differences 10. exist among them. One of these forms is the Classical Arabic . of medieval times:. It was the language of pre-Lslamic poetry, the Qur'an, and the literature, and is the primary writtenforiri today. Classical Arabic, was also the language bf administration and science and coexisted with many Arabic and non-Arabic dia- lects; for it accompanied Islam throughout North and East Africa . and into Central and Southeast Asia as a liturgical language, 2' a. 7 and itpreservedGreek sciende through the Middle Ages. The Muslim conquests in ;the 8th century stirred in scholars a fear , . that a very rapid evolution of. the language might lead to g lass of ability to -understand the Qur krid.---ther-op-hetic fttaditian, thereby producing a situation whichparallels. the evolution of the Romance languages'frpM the now,defurict Latin. ence, Arabic grammar.and lexicography were barn inthat century to establish-a standard of "correct' Arabic. This very same grammar is taught in the schools of the Arabworld today and yet remains the ideal aimed at by the educated classes for literary ex4ression. (Chejne 1969:34; Bateson 1967:ix;.-BeeSion, 1970:14) 4 The second type of Arabic is the modern literary or stan- ' dard Arabic used throughout the whole Arabic-speaking world' from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east. It is based-on the Classical Arabic of medieiral times and has similarmorphol- ,ogy, grammar, and syntax, but has included newvocabulary. It is ,also like Classical Arabic in that it is the languagg ofthe educated class and of a vast and variedliterature, and it is the common standard language thriving beside a large number of 1 dialects:1 (Chejne 1969:34) r The,third type of Arabic consists of localized varieties', termed "Arabic dialects", which are used in the speech cif every- 'day life. Each. of these