The Arabic Language

Further reading
A general introduction to Arabic sociolinguistics was published by Bassiouney 
(2009a); it deals with diglossia, code-switching, language variation and language 
policy; a large section is devoted to language and gender. A literature review on 
variation in urban vernaculars is in Miller (2004).

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Diglossia 
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The term ‘diglossia’ became current in studies on Arabic after Marçais (1930); 
most of the sociolinguistic literature starts with Ferguson (1959), which provoked 
a large number of reactions: see, for instance, MacNamara (1967), Kaye (1972), 
McLoughlin (1972), El-Hassan (1977), Eisele (2002), Boussofara-Omar (2006a) and 
others. A diachronic study of diglossia in Classical Arabic is Corriente (1975).
Theoretical discussion of Ferguson’s model is in Gumperz (1962), Fishman 
(1967, 1972) and Britto (1985). Hudson (2002) argues that the original notion of 
‘diglossia’ in Ferguson’s study is still useful. For a general appraisal of Ferguson’s 
model, see the introductions to the various sections in Belnap’s and Haeri’s edition 
of Ferguson’s papers (1997). Fernández (1993) is a comprehensive bibliography on 
diglossia, in which the number of items on Arabic diglossia is substantial.
One of the first studies in which the notion of ‘diglossia’ was applied to the 
linguistic situation in an Arab country (Iraq) is Altoma (1969). For the linguistic 
situation in Egypt, Badawī (1973) is a classic and also one of the very few publi-
cations in Arabic about a sociolinguistic topic; for an empirical evaluation of 
Badawī’s model, see Elgibali (1985). Diem’s (1974) study of radio Arabic has been 
mentioned in the text; the book contains transcribed texts that were taken from 
speeches, interviews and conversations; a more recent analysis of radio Arabic is 
in Eid (2007).
The asymmetry between the varieties involved in code-mixing is analysed by 
Mejdell (2012a, b). On the Matrix Language Model see Myers-Scotton (1993, 2010), 
and the critical analysis by Boussofara-Omar (2003, 2006b). Syntactic constraints 
on code-switching are discussed by Eid (1988).
On Educated Standard Arabic see Al Batal (2002) and Parkinson (2003), and the 
large-scale studies of the mixed style used in an academic context by Bassiouney 
(2006) and Mejdell (2006). Not much is known about the use of classicisms in 
colloquial speech, but the radio texts in Diem provide many examples of people 
upgrading their speech.
There is no analysis of the range of classical markers actually being used; on 
this topic, see also above, Chapter 9, and Palva’s (1969a) study of the use of classi
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cisms in Bedouin speech in Jordan.
Language and politics: on the structure of Nasser’s speeches, see Holes (1993) 
and Mazraani (1996).
Language and religion: see Haeri (2003); on new forms of Islamic preaching 
see Wise (2003) and Soliman’s (2008) analysis of language use in Amr Khaled’s 
sermons. In their written production, in spite of individual differences in style 
and rhetoric, all Islamic preachers adhere to the norms of the standard language; 
a comparison of the written styles of Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Amr Khaled is drawn 
by Høygilt (2008).
Language and nationalism: Suleiman (2003, 2004). 
Attitudinal research in the Arab world remains poorly represented; attitudes 
towards foreign languages have been studied by Bentahila (1983; French–Arabic in 

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The Arabic Language
Morocco, see below Chapter 14), Zughoul and Taminian (1984; English–Arabic in 
Jordan), Suleiman (1985; English–Arabic in Jordan), Abu-Haidar (1988a; English–
Arabic in Iraq) and Amara (1999; Hebrew–Arabic in the West Bank and Israel).
Theoretical aspects of linguistic variation in contemporary Arabic speech 
communities are discussed by Holes (1987) in his study on the sectarian varia
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tion in the dialects of Bahrain; valuable methodological remarks may be found in 
Owens’ (1998) study of variation in Arabic in Nigeria, and in Haeri’s (1996) study 
of variation in Cairene Arabic.
On socioeconomic class and education as variables: see Ismail (2007) and Al 
Wer (2002).
Religion as a variable: Blanc’s (1964) study on Baghdad was mentioned above; 
see also Jastrow (2004) on communal dialects in Mosul, and Holes (1983, 1984, 
1987) on Bahrain.
Gender as a variable: see Bassiouney (2009b: 128–97). A survey of recent 
research in male–female differences in Arabic dialects is in Rosenhouse (1996), see 
also Vicente (2009). There is a number of studies on the relation between gender 
and language use from a different perspective, that of the effects of gendered 
language on the position of women in society; for this aspect, see Sadiqi (2003). 
The linguistic variation between male and female speech in Tunisia is discussed 
by Walters (1989, 1991), and in Egypt by Haeri (1992, 1996); they both empha-
sise the methodological need to distinguish between Western and non-Western 
speech communities. On male–female speech in Jordan, see Al Wer (2003). Ismail 
(2007, 2008) analyses variation in Damascus, including male–female differences. 
For the effects of urbanisation processes, see the articles in Miller a.o. (2007); 
specifically about youth language, see Rizk (2007).

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