Arabic Sociolinguistics: Topics in Diglossia, Gender, Identity, and Politics

412 Pages·2020·3.094 MB·English

by  Reem Bassiouney

Reviews of the fiRst edition
‘[This] book is the first of its kind in Arabic sociolinguistics. It will set the
standard for the field with its rich insights, brilliant range, and copious exam-
ples that make the subject come alive. I have no doubt whatsoever that this
book will quickly emerge as the primary text on any course on Arabic in the
social world.’
Yasir Suleiman, Director, Centre of Middle Eastern and
Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge
‘A useful new text book on Arabic sociolinguistics . . . It presents a good over-
view of the literature . . . and will teach students to look at Arabic language
habits as phenomena, and not only as objects of normative discussion.’
Maartten Kossmann, Leiden, Journal of Arabic Linguistics
‘Arabic Sociolinguistics offers a new perspective on language variation and
change, and makes it clear that language variation in the Arab world is
undoubtedly different from that in the West. With a readable style, the book
addresses the very complex diglossic situation in the Arab world with concrete
examples resulting from interesting case studies that challenge the findings of
recent studies on different sociolinguistic issues . . . We highly recommend
this book to all readers who wish to gain a better understanding of Arabic and
the Arab world.’
Radia Benzehra and Don R. McCreary, University of Georgia,
Journal of Sociolinguistics
‘For those interested in the Arab situation from a sociolinguistic point of view,
it seems indispensable. The enthusiasm of the author and the abundant and
insightful examples make this a good book to be discovered by readers of tra-
ditional introductions into sociolinguistics, which, so this book demonstrates,
have as their point of departure a western way of looking at things. For many
readers, a renewed acquaintance with sociolinguistics will arise after reading
it. The book thus calls for more descriptions of language variation situations
that are not western.’
Dick Smakman, University of Leiden, Historical
Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics
‘This is an excellent effort in linguistic data collection and analysis and is a
remarkable addition to sociolinguistics and indeed to the phenomenology of
Arabic language and its reform; no library should be without it.’
Amidu Olalekan Sanni, Lagos State University, British Journal
of Middle Eastern Studies
‘This volume represents a welcome addition to the body of work on socio-
linguistics, and specifically on Arabic sociolinguistics. While this book is a
significant contribution to the field of sociolinguistic analysis, its true strength
is its value to students interested in pursuing research associated with the
Arab world. It will draw their attention to certain sociohistorical, cultural, and
political aspects and their intertwining with the different linguistic features in
the Arab world.’
Aleya Rouchdy, Wayne State University, Language in Society
‘Bassiouney’s book not only introduces various theoretical approaches, but
also presents empirical data in order to illustrate the usefulness and limitations
of these approaches.’
Muhammad Amara, Beit Berl Academic College,
Language Policy
Arabic Sociolinguistics
Topics in Diglossia, Gender, Identity, and Politics
Second edition
Reem Bassiouney
Georgetown University Press / Washington, DC
© 2020 Reem Bassiouney.
First published in the United Kingdom by Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN 978-1-62616-786-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-62616-787-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-62616-788-9 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019950985
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National
Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
21 20 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of charts, maps and tables xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Conventions used in this book xv
Introduction 1
1. Diglossia and dialect groups in the Arab world 10
1.1 Diglossia 11
1.1.1 An overview of the study of diglossia 11
1.1.2 Theories that explain diglossia in terms of levels 15
1.1.3 The idea of Educated Spoken Arabic 17
1.2 Dialects/varieties in the Arab world 19
1.2.1 The concept of prestige as different from that of standard 19
1.2.2 Groups of dialects in the Arab world 20
1.3 Conclusion 27
2. Code-switching 30
2.1 Introduction 31
2.2 Problem of terminology: code-switching and code-mixing 32
2.3 Code-switching and diglossia 33
2.4 The study of constraints on code-switching in relation to the
Arab world 33
2.4.1 Structural constraints on classic code-switching 33
2.4.2 Structural constraints on diglossic switching 44
2.5 Motivations for code-switching 61
2.5.1 Motivations and discourse functions of classic code-switching 61
2.5.2 Motivations and discourse functions of diglossic switching 73
2.6 A holistic approach to code-switching 87
vi arabic sociolinguistics
2.6.1 Translanguaging and the challenge of two grammatical
systems 88
2.6.2 Motivations for switching in light of a social construct
approach to language 90
2.7 Conclusion 93
3. Language variation and change 97
3.1 Introduction 98
3.2 Language variation and change 100
3.2.1 Social class approach 100
3.2.2 Social networks approach 101
3.2.3 Third wave approach to variation studies: community of
practice 103
3.3 Methodology 104
3.4 Sociolinguistic variables 106
3.4.1 Ethnicity 106
3.4.2 Religion 111
3.4.3 Urbanisation 117
3.4.4 Social class 122
3.4.5 Other factors 123
3.5 Levelling 125
3.6 Conclusion to sections 3.1–3.5 128
3.7 Variation and the social approaches to sociolinguistics 131
3.7.1 Meaning, indexes and stance 134
3.7.2 Stance as the mediator between form and meaning 136
3.7.3 Studies that adopt a novel approach, method or data in
Arabic sociolinguistics 138
3.7.4 Discussion and conclusion 153
4. Arabic and gender 158
4.1 Introduction 158
4.2 Approaches to language and gender 159
4.2.1 The deficit theory and Lakoff’s contribution to the study of
language and gender 160
4.2.2 The dominance theory 161
4.2.3 The difference theory 162
4.2.4 Community of practice theory: third wave approach to
variation studies 163
4.3 Women in the Arab world: framing and background
information 163
4.3.1 Diversity in education 164
4.3.2 Diversity in urbanisation 165
contents vii
4.3.3 Economic diversity 165
4.3.4 Diversity in traditions and religious practices 166
4.3.5 Honour and modesty 167
4.4 Politeness in relation to gender 168
4.5 ‘Mister master’: names, status and identity 173
4.5.1 Names and why they are hidden 178
4.6 When a chicken crows like a cock: women narrators 180
4.7 Language variation and change in relation to gender 185
4.7.1 An overview of studies on language variation in relation to
gender 185
4.7.2 An overview of linguistic variation in relation to gender in
the Arab world 188
4.8 Projection of identity in the speech of educated men and
women in Egypt: evidence from talk shows 192
4.8.1 Description of data 193
4.8.2 Categorising the data 193
4.8.3 Detailed description of the data 198
4.8.4 Conclusion 215
4.9 The symbolic use of language 216
4.10 Gender universals re-examined 220
4.11 Conclusion 224
5. Language policy and politics 228
5.1 The power of language 229
5.2 What is language policy? 230
5.2.1 Language ideologies 232
5.2.2 Language practices 234
5.2.3 Language planning 235
5.3 Nation and state 236
5.3.1 The relation between nation and language 237
5.3.2 The Arab nation 237
5.4 Countries with SA as the official language 240
5.5 French versus British patterns of colonisation and their
relation to language policies 240
5.5.1 French patterns of colonisation 245
5.5.2 British patterns of colonisation 269
5.6 Language policies in other parts of the Arab world 289
5.7 The role of language academies in the Arab world 290
5.8 SA, politics and the aching nation: a case study 293
5.9 Linguistic rights and political rights 298
5.10 English and globalisation 302
5.11 Conclusion 303
viii aRabic sociolinguistics
6. A critical approach to Arabic sociolinguistics 308
6.1 Critical sociolinguistics 309
6.1.1 Problems with sociolinguistic research 310
6.2 The binary approach to sociolinguistics: a methodological
challenge 310
6.2.1 The inaccuracy of the binary approach to linguistic
variation 314
6.2.2 The confusion surrounding standard in Arabic 318
6.2.3 The correlation of independent variables to linguistic ones 321
6.3 The native speaker 323
6.4 Power, legitimacy and the social approach to language 331
6.5 The neutral linguist 337
6.6 Principles of methodological approaches in critical
sociolinguistics 338
6.7 Western hegemony of the field of sociolinguistics 340
6.8 Conclusion 342
General conclusion 345
Bibliography 348
Index 374
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 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, friend and a model of integ-
rity. 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 also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who read my
proposal and made useful recommendations. Thank you to the anonymous
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 many colleagues and friends.
Among those are, in alphabetical order: Ahmed Dallal, Marianna Di Paolo,
Mushira Eid, Gail Grella, Joe Metz, Carol Myers-Scotton, Karin Ryding,
Kees Versteegh, Keith Walters and Malcah Yaeger-Dror.
There is nothing as satisfying as having students who are interested and
engaged in the topics one teaches. My students helped me in many ways to
clarify my ideas in fruitful and stimulating class discussions. I thank them all.
The team at Edinburgh University Press are a delight to work with. For
the first edition of this work I would like to thank Sarah Edwards and Nicola
Ramsey, who were both extremely dedicated and efficient. Thanks also to
James Dale for seeing the book through to completion and to Fiona Sewell, the
copyeditor. For this edition I would like to thank Nicola Ramsey who initiated
the process. Thank you to Adela Rauchova who worked with me on this new