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Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXI: Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Norman, Oklahoma, 2017
Edited by Amel Khalfaoui and Youssef A. Haddad
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 8] 2019
► pp. 103–134

Destabilizing Arabic diglossia?

New media and translingual practice

| Portland State University
| Portland State University
| Portland State University

This paper problematizes current understandings of Arabic diglossia by demonstrating the ways in which it is clearly being reconfigured thanks to the linguistic practices of younger users of the language in the New Media. Analysis of social media data from two undergraduate students, native users of Arabic, illustrates the ways in which such practices are translingual; that is, users do not limit themselves to a single language, language variety, or script, but rather employ multiple resources, including nonlinguistic ones, that they assume will be understood by their addressee(s). These literate practices represent a clear break with traditional academic and lay understandings of diglossia, particularly with regard to the user-based conventionalization of writing dialectal Arabic.

Keywords: Arabic, diglossia, new media, translingual practice
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • Complicating common understandings of diglossia
    • The turn toward considering translingual practice
    • The emergent register of interactive written discourse
  • 3.Methods
  • 4.Some representative data
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • ?ack?
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.8.05alk
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