Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 28:2 (2018) ► pp.185–216

Diglossia

A language ideological approach

| University of Leuven, Belgium

Diglossia is, as far as the Arabic language is concerned, a concept that has been taken for granted, as much as it has been criticized. First, based on Ferguson’s article on diglossia and subsequent interpretations and ramifications of the concept and with a special focus on how language variability is discursively deployed and how it is perceived in the Arab speech community, I will argue that diglossia does not so much describe actual language use, but rather how language variability is ‘read’ in the Arab world. In the second part of the article, an analysis of labeling in a 19th century debate will show how the dichotomy between fuṣḥā and non-fuṣḥā varieties (ʿāmmīya), [1] 1 which is the basis of diglossia, was already taken for granted long before the concept and the term existed, and even before fuṣḥā and ʿāmmīya were used as independent lexical items. The analysis in both parts of the article shows how much diglossia is taken for granted by most native speakers of Arabic, even if it defies linguistic descriptions of actual language use. It is exactly this ‘common-sense-ness’ that suggests that diglossia is a useful tool to describe language ideological attitudes.

Keywords: diglossia, Arabic, language ideology, language debates, labeling
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Diglossia: A critical approach
    • 2.1A strict functional division between fuṣḥā and ʻāmmīya? The language continuum, intermediate varieties and code-switching
      • 2.1.1The linguistic continuum and intermediate varieties
      • 2.1.2Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA)
      • 2.1.3Code-switching
      • 2.1.4Diglossia, intermediate varieties and the native speaker
      • 2.1.5Diglossia as a set of metapragmatic norms
      • 2.1.6First set of conclusions
    • 2.2Diglossia and linguistic prestige: Standard versus prestige
      • 2.2.1 Lēš tmaddanti?
      • 2.2.2Foreign languages
      • 2.2.3Second set of conclusions
  • 3.Analysis of the Muqtaṭaf debate
    • 3.1Introduction
      • 3.1.1Why the 19th century?
    • 3.2The basic dichotomy: Fuṣḥā and ʻāmmīya
    • 3.3Clusters of associations Al-fuṣḥā and Al-ʻāmmīya: Synonyms and their connotations
      • 3.3.1The process of labeling and synonymy: Indirect equation
      • 3.3.2The process of labeling and synonymy: Direct equation
      • 3.3.3The terms and their connotations: al-luġa ʻāmmīya–luġat al-ʻāmma
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • The corpus (in order of appearance)
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 7 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.00006.dan
References
Abu-Haidar, Farida
1991 Christian Arabic of Baghdad. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz.Google Scholar
Al-Bustānī, Buṭrus
1998 (1st print 1870). Muḥīṭ al-muḥīṭ. Qāmūs muṭawwal li-al-luġa al-ʿarabīya [Muhit al-muhit. An Arabic-Arabic Dictionary]. Beirut: Librairie du Liban Publishers.Google Scholar
al-Qāsimī, ʻalī
(ed.) 2003 Al-muʿğam al-ʿarabī al-asāsī li-al-nāṭiqīn bi-al-ʿarabīya wa mutʿallimīhā [The Elementary Arabic Dictionary for Native Speakers and Learners]. Cairo: ALECSO/Larouse.Google Scholar
Ayalon, Ami
1987 Language and Change in the Arab Middle East: The Evolution of Modern Political Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ayoub, Georgine
2011 “Faṣīḥ.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Managing Editors Online Edition: Lutz Edzard; Rudolf de Jong. Brill 2011 Brill Online. University of Cambridge – Cambridge University Library (UK). 01 December 2011 [URL]
Badawi, al-Saʻīd
1973 Mustawayāt al-ʻarabīya al-muʻāṣira fi miṣr. Baḥt fī ʻalāqat al-luġa bi-al-haḍāra [The Levels of Contemporary Arabic in Egypt. Research on the Relation between Language and Culture]. Caïro: Dār al-Maʻārif.Google Scholar
Bassiouney, Reem
2009 Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blanc, Haim
1960 “Style Variations in Spoken Arabic – A Sample of Interdialectal Educated Conversation.” In Contributions to Arabic Linguistics. Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs III, ed. by C. A. Ferguson, 81–156. Cambridge Massassuchets: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
1964 Communal Dialects in Baghdad. Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Boussofara-Omar, Naima
2011 “Diglossia.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Managing Editors Online Edition: Lutz Edzard; Rudolf de Jong. Brill 2011 Brill Online. K.U. Leuven – University Library. 05 April 2011 [URL]
Caton, Steven
1991 “Diglossia in North Yemen: A Case of Competing Linguistic Communities.” Southwest Journal of Linguistics 10 (1): 143–59.Google Scholar
Daniëls, Helge
2002 Debating Variability in Arabic: Fuṣḥā versus ʻāmmīya. Unpublished Ph.D. Antwerp: University of Antwerp.Google Scholar
Diem, Werner
1974 Hochsprache und Dialekt im Arabischen: Untersuchungen zur heutigen arabische Zweisprachigkeit. Wiesbaden: Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft.Google Scholar
Eid, Mushira
2002 “Language is a Choice – Variations in Egyptian Women’s Written Discourse.” In Language Contact and Language Conflict in Arabic – Variations on a Sociolinguistic Theme, ed. by A. Rouchdy, 203–232. London: Routledge-Curzon.Google Scholar
El-Hassan, Shahir A.
1977 “Educated Spoken Arabic in Egypt and the Levant: A critical Review of Diglossia and Related Concepts.” Archivum Linguisticum 8 (2): 112–132.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Charles A.
1959 “Diglossia.” Word 151: 325–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frayḥa, Anīs
1938 “Al-ʻāmmīya wa al-fuṣḥā. ʻawd ilā al-mawḍūʻ [ʻāmmīya and fuṣḥā. Back tot he subject].” Al-muqtaṭaf 931: 292–8.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan, and Kathryn Woolard
1995 “Constructing Languages and Publics: Authority and Representation.” Pragmatics 5 (2): 129–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, John Joseph
1982 Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haeri, Niloofar
1996 The Sociolinguistic Market of Cairo: Gender, Class and Education. London and New York: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
2000 “Form and Ideology: Arabic Sociolinguistics and Beyond.” Annual Review of Anthropology 291: 61–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holes, Clive
1986 “The Social Motivation for Phonological Convergence in Three Arabic Dialects.” International Journal of Sociolinguistics 611: 33–51.Google Scholar
1993 “The uses of Variation: A Study of the Political Speeches of Gamal Abd Al-Nasir.” Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics V, ed. by M. Eid, and C. Holes, 13–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 “Community, Dialect and Urbanization in the Arabic-speaking Middle East.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 58/2: 270–287. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Joseph, Earl John
2004 Language and Identity. National, Ethnic, Religious. Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kazimirski, A. De Biberstein
1860 Dictionnaire Arabe – Français (2 tomes). Beirut: Librairie du Liban.Google Scholar
Labov, William
1971 “The notion of “system” in creole studies.” In Pidginization and creolization of languages, ed. by D. Hymes, 447–72. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mackey, W. F.
1993 “Introduction.” In Diglossia: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1960-1990, ed. by M. Fernandez, xiii–xx. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Marçais, William
1930 “La diglossie arabe.” L’ensiegnement Public 971: 401–9.Google Scholar
Mahmoud, Youssef
1986 “Arabic after Diglossia.” In The Fergusonian Impact: In Honour of Charles A. Ferguson on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, ed. by Joshua Fishman, Andree Tabouret-Keller, Michael Clyne, Bh. Krishnamurti, and Mohamed Abdulaziz, 239–51. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Mazraani, Nathalie
1997 Aspects of Language Variation in Arabic Political Speech Making. Richmond Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Meiseles, Gustav
1980 “Educated Spoken Language and the Arabic Language.” Archivum Linguisticum XI, New Series 118–148.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Terence Frederic
1978 “Educated Spoken Arabic in Egypt and the Levant, with Special Reference to Participle and Tense.” Journal of Linguistics 14/2: 227–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1980 “Dimensions of Style in a Grammar of Educated Spoken Arabic.” Archivum Linguisticum XI1: 89–106.Google Scholar
1982 “More than a Matter of ‘Writing with the Learned, Pronouncing with the Vulgar.” Standard Languages, ed. by W. Haas, 123–55. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
1986 “What is Educated Spoken Arabic?” In Aspects of Arabic Sociolinguistics, ed. by M. H. Ibrahim, and B. H. Jernudd, special volume of The International Journal of the Sociology of Language 611: 7–32.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Terence Frederic, and S. A. al-Hassan
1994 Modality, Mood and Aspect in Spoken Arabic. With special reference to Egypt and the Levant. London and New York: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Muṣṭafā, Ibrāhīm
(ed.) 1980 Al-muʿğam al-wasīṭ [The Intermediary Dictionary]. Istanbul: Dār al-daʻwa.Google Scholar
Parkinson, Dilworth
1991 “Searching for Modern Fuṣḥa: Real-life Formal Arabic.” ʻArabiyya. Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic 241: 31–64.Google Scholar
Sallam, A. M.
1979 “Concordial Relation within the Noun Phrase in Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA).” Archivum Linguisticum (new series) X (1): 20–56.Google Scholar
1980 “Phonological Variation in Educated Spoken Arabic: A Study of the Uvular and Related Plosive Types.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XLIII 43: 1.Google Scholar
Schippers, Arie, and Kees Versteegh
1987 Het Arabisch. Norm en realiteit. Muiderberg: Coutinho.Google Scholar
Suleiman, Yasir
2004 A War of Words. Language and Conflict in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 “Egypt: From Egyptian to Pan-Arab Nationalism.” In Language and National Identity in Africa, ed. by Andrew Simpson, 26–43. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2011 Arabic, Self and Identity. A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Arabic in the Fray. Language Ideology and Cultural Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verschueren, Jef
2012 Ideology in Language Use. Pragmatic Guidelines for Empirical Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Versteegh, Kees
2001 (1997 1st print) The Arabic Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Walters, Keith
1991 “Women, Men, and Linguistic Variation in the Arab World.” In Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics III Papers from the third annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics, ed. By Mushira Eid, and B. Comrie, 199–229. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
1996 “Diglossia, Linguistic Variation, and Language Change in Arabic.” In Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics VIII, ed. by Mushira Eid, 157–97. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “Language Attitudes.” In Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Managing Editors Online Edition: Lutz Edzard, Rudolf de Jong. Brill Online 2013 Reference. K.U. Leuven – University Library. 19 November 2011 [URL]
Wehr, Hans, and J. Milton Cowan
(ed.) 1994 (1979 1st print) A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic: Arabic-English. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz.Google Scholar

The corpus (in order of appearance)

Ṣarrūf, Yaʿqūb and Fāris Nimr
1881 “Al-luġa al-ʿarabīya wa al-nağāḥ [The Arabic language and success].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (November): 352–4.Google Scholar
Al-Yāziğī, Halīl
1881 “Al-luġa al-ʿarabīya wa al-nağāḥ [The Arabic language and success)].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (December): 404–5.Google Scholar
al-Mumkin
1882 “Mustaqbal al-luġa al-ʿarabīya [The future of the Arabic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (January): 494–6.Google Scholar
al-Ğamʿīya al-adabīya al-dimašqīya
1882 “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʿarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya [The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (February): 551–6.Google Scholar
Dāġir, Asʿad
1882 “Istiḥālat al-Mumkin idā amkana [The impossibility of al-Mumkin if it were possible].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (February): 556–60.Google Scholar
al-Mumkin
1882 “Mustaqbal al-luġa al-ʿarabīya. Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʿarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya [The future of the Arabic language. The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language]. ” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61: 618–21.Google Scholar
Ḥ.Ḥ.
1882 “Kašf al-ğaṭā ʿammā fī kalām al-Mumkin min al-haṭā [Uncovering the mistakes in al-Mumkins words].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (April): 690–4.Google Scholar
Qandalaft, Mitrī
1882 “Nağāḥ al-’umma al-‘arabīya fī luġatihā al-‘aṣlīya [The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (April): 694–6.Google Scholar
al-Ğamʿīya al-adabīya al-dimašqīya
1882 “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʿarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya [The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 61 (April): 697.Google Scholar
al-Mumkin
1882 “Mustaqbal al-luġa al-ʿarabīya [The future of the Arabic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 71 (June): 42–4.Google Scholar
Qandalaft, Mitrī
1882 “Nağāḥ al-’umma al-‘arabīya fī luġatihā al-‘aṣlīya [The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language].” Al-Muqtaṭaf 71 (July): 107–10.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Daniëls, Helge
2022. News broadcasts between fuṣḥā and Lebanese: Language choice as an implicit comment on national identity in Lebanon. Lingue Culture Mediazioni - Languages Cultures Mediation (LCM Journal) 8:2 DOI logo
Verschueren, Jef
2021. Reflexivity and Meta-awareness. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Fundamentals of Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 13 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.