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Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXIV: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Tucson, Arizona, 2020
Edited by Mahmoud Azaz
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 12] 2023
► pp. 255–284

When the leak becomes a flood

Vernacular literature in Tunisia

| Georgetown University

Social and technological changes over the past several decades have led to widespread writing of “spoken” Arabic dialects. In Tunisia, there has been a noticeable growth of vernacular prose literature, part of a larger development of Tunisian Arabic as a written language. Tunisia does not have a history of colloquial literature: previously even the use of “dɛ̄rja” in literary dialogue was rare. From this nearly non-existent base, a small “leak” of vernacular writing appeared in the latter part of the 20th century, followed by a flood–first online and increasingly in print–in the first two decades of the 21st. This has culminated in over a dozen vernacular novels and literary translations.

Keywords: diglossia, Tunisian Arabic, vernacular literature, Arabic dialects, colloquial Arabic, vernacular Arabic, Arabic novel
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Tunisian Arabic literature in the early 20th century
  • 3.The slow leak I: Vernacular for functional purposes
  • 4.The slow leak II: Vernacular for creative purposes
  • 5.The catalyst: Text messages and the internet
  • 6.Tunisian Arabic fiction in the post-revolution era
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 6 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.12.11mcn
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