Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Arabic language is a complex, diglossic language, with varying written \n(fuṣḥá) and spoken (‘āmmīyah) forms. While the study of mixing between \nfuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah in spoken Arabic has received some scholarly attention, \nfar less attention has been paid to mixing in writing, which this study seeks \nto address. \nBadawi’s (1973) landmark study of Egyptian Arabic use identified five \nlanguage levels, assuming naturally that written Arabic exists as either \nClassical or Modern Standard Arabic, while mixing between written and \nspoken forms is reserved as a feature of Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA), \ndespite the proliferation of mixed literary works by renowned writers such as \nTawfiq al-Hakim, Yusuf Idris and Yusuf Sibai at the time. Since Badawi’s \n(1973) study, studies of mixed Arabic have centred around ESA (Eid, 1988; \nBassiouney, 2006), uncovering to some extent the type and degree of, and \nmotivations for, mixing, which have been used as a backdrop for the \nexamination of mixed writing in this study. More recently, Høigilt & Mejdell \n(2017), Mejdell (2014), Ibrahim (2010), and Rosenbaum (2000) have \nidentified occurrences of mixing in written Arabic. \nThe aim of this study therefore, is to take a holistic view of Arabic writing, \nacross different times and media, towards establishing a theoretical \nframework for Egyptian Arabic writing, including fuṣḥá, ‘āmmīyah and socalled \n‘mixed’ forms. \nThe catalyst for this study, as well as for the proliferation of mixed and \n‘āmmīyah writing, has been the expansion of the internet and the rapid \nincrease in online writing. For Arabic at least, the Arab Spring and social \nmedia within it, have played an important role in the widespread use of \n‘āmmīyah in writing, which this study aims to place within the wider context \nof Arabic writing.
Author: Saussan Khalil
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2953742261