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Arabic in Contact
Edited by Stefano Manfredi and Mauro Tosco
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 6] 2018
► pp. 349–368

Contact-induced change from a speakers’ perspective

A study of language attitudes in Siwa

| University of Bayreuth

The article presents the speakers’ perception of contact-induced linguistic change in the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, based on data collected during the authors’ doctoral research (Serreli 2016). The research explored language attitudes and ideologies in Siwa with a qualitative approach built on sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological theories. Linguistic change is presented by speakers as a generational variation; it is attributed to the increased contact between the Siwi and Arabic languages that followed the wider socioeconomic change in the community in recent decades. Moreover, Siwi speakers hold a variety of attitudes towards linguistic change, appreciating phenomena perceived as adjustments to the current times, while criticizing those perceived as a betrayal or corruption of their native language.

Keywords: Siwa Oasis, Berber, Arabic, minority languages, language contact, language attitudes, language change, Egypt
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Brief overview of Siwa
    • 2.1General background of the oasis
    • 2.2Sociolinguistic overview
    • 2.3Siwi and Arabic in contact
  • 3. Perceived contact-induced change in Siwi
    • 3.1Introductory considerations
    • 3.2Presentation of data
      • 3.2.1General patterns of Siwi variation
      • 3.2.2Loss of Siwi lexicon related to the traditional lifestyle
      • 3.2.3Integration of Arabic loanwords into Siwi
      • 3.2.4Codemixing and “broken Siwi”
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 10 July 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.6.18ser
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