Cover not available

In:Handbook of Terminology: Volume 2. Terminology in the Arab world
Edited by Abied Alsulaiman and Ahmed Allaithy
[Handbook of Terminology 2] 2019
► pp. 235–254

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
Covering linguistic variability in Arabic

A language ideological exercise in terminology

Published online: 29 January 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/hot.2.11dan
Abstract
In this article a series of Arabic terms that refer to language variability will be discussed. The basic principle of the analysis is that these terms are explicitly or implicitly informed by language ideological attitudes concerning linguistic variability in Arabic in which a diglossic division is taken for granted. Because of its common-sense and taken-for-granted nature, (language) ideology tends to be located much more in the unsaid than in what is overtly voiced. At first sight, linguistic terminology might seem straightforward and explicit. However, especially if the terms involved are commonly used, they tend to cover a set of shared attitudes toward language and language use. A study of the terminology regarding language variability, then, can be very productive in uncovering implicit assumptions concerning linguistic variability in the Arab-speaking world. We will focus on the early Islamic era and the end of the 19th century as crucial pivotal periods in the development of both language and linguistic terminology, as our basic assumption is that the semantic and ideological load of linguistic terms evolves in parallel with important social and political changes. The article will conclude with a preliminary exploration of recent terminological developments related to computer mediated communication (CMC).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The first pivotal point: luġa and its cognates
    • 2.1Dialect
    • 2.2Language
  • 3.The second pivotal point: The basic dichotomy: fuṣḥā and ʻāmmīya
    • 3.1Diglossia
    • 3.2The 19th century
  • 4.Contemporary terminology
    • 4.1Recent developments
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • The Muqtaṭaf corpus (in order of appearance)
  • Other references
References (47)
The Muqtaṭaf corpus (in order of appearance)
al-Ğamʿīya al-adabīya al-dimašqīya. 1882a. “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʿarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya (The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language).” al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (February): 551–556.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1882b. “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʻarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya (The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (April): 697.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
al-Mumkin. 1882a. “Mustaqbal al-luġa al-ʿarabīya (The future of the Arabic language).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (January): 494–496.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1882b. “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 6: 618–621.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1882c. “Mustaqbal al-luġa al-ʿarabīya (The future of the Arabic language).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 7 (June): 42–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
al-Yāziğī, ̱Halīl. 1881. “Al-luġa al-ʿarabīya wa al-nağāḥ (The Arabic language and success).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (December): 404–405.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dāġir, Asʿad. 1882. “Istiḥālat al-Mumkin i̱dā amkana (The impossibility of al-Mumkin if it were possible).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (February): 556–560.Google Scholar logo with link to 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 6 (April): 690–694.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qandalaft, Mitrī. 1882a. “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʻarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya (The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (April): 694–696.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1882b. “Nağāḥ al-umma al-ʻarabīya fī luġatihā al-aṣlīya (The success of the Arab nation in its authentic language).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 7 (July): 107–110.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ṣarrūf, Yaʿqūb, and Fāris Nimr. 1881. “Al-luġa al-ʿarabīya wa al-nağāḥ (The Arabic language and success).” Al-Muqtaṭaf 6 (November): 352–354.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Other references
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 logo with link to 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Anīs, Ibrāhīm. 1999 (1961). Al-aṣwāt al-ʻarabīya. Caïro: Maktabat al-Anglo al-Miṣrīya.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ayoub, Georgine. 2011a. “Faṣīḥ.” In 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]>Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011b. “Laḥn.” 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]>Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caubet, Dominique. 2018. “New elaborate written forms in darija. Blogging, posting and slamming in Morocco.” In The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, ed. by Elabbas Benmamoun and Reem Bassiouney, 387–406. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Daniëls, Helge. 2002. Debating variability in Arabic: Fuṣḥā versus ʻāmmīya. Unpublished Ph.D. Antwerp: University of Antwerp.
. 2018. “Diglossia: a Language Ideological Approach.” Pragmatics 28 (2): 185–216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davies, Eirlys. 2018. “Colloquial Moroccan Arabic: Shifts in Usage and Attitudes in the Era of Computer-mediated Communication.” In Language, Politics and Society in the Middle East. Essays in Honour of Yasir Suleiman, ed. by Yonatan Mendel and Abeer Alnajjar, 69–89. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dévényi, Kinga. 2011. “ʾIʿrāb.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Managing Editors Online Edition: Lutz Edzard; Rudolf de Jong. Brill Online. Consulted online on 20 April 2018. <[URL]> Google Scholar logo with link to 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 Aleya Rouchdy, 203–232. London: Routledge-Curzon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson Charles A. 1959. “Diglossia.” Word 15: 325–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frayḥa, Anīs. 1938. “Al-ʻāmmīya wa al-fuṣḥā. ʻawd ilā al-mawḍūʻ (ʻāmmīya and fuṣḥā. Back to the subject).” Al-muqtaṭaf 93: 292–298.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fück, Johann. 1955. Arabiya: Untersuchungen zur arabischen Sprach- und Stilgeschichte. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haeri, Niloofar. 2000. “Form and Ideology: Arabic Sociolinguistics and Beyond.” Annual Review of Anthropology 29: 61–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hassanein, Ahmad Taher. 2011. “Lisān.” In 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).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iványi, Tamás. 2011. “Luġa.” In 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).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kazimirski, A. De Biberstein. 1860. Dictionnaire Arabe – Français (2 tomes). Beirut: Librairie du Liban.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liam, Chaoqun. 2018. “Metaphorical Recurrence and Language Symbolism in Arabic Metalanguage Discourse.” In Language, Politics and Society in the Middle East. Essays in Honour of Yasir Suleiman, ed. by Yonatan Mendel and Abeer Alnajjar, 49–68. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marçais, William. 1930. “La diglossie arabe.” L’enseignement public 97: 401–409.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muṣṭafā, Ibrāhīm (ed.). 1980. Al-muʿğam al-wasīṭ (The intermediary dictionary). Istanbul: Dār al-daʻwa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rabin. Chaim. 1960. “ʻArabiyya, Arabic language and literature.” Encyclopdia of Islam II: 561-7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sanni, Amidu. 2010. “The Discourse on Laḥn in Arabic Philological and Literary Traditions.” Middle Eastern Literatures, Vol. 13 No. 1. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suleiman, Yasir. 2003. The Arabic Language and National Identity. A Study in Ideology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. A War of Words. Language and Conflict in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011a. Arabic, Self and Identity. A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011b. “Arabiyya.” In Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Managing Editors Online Edition: Lutz Edzard; Rudolf de Jong. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. K.U. Leuven – University Library.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Ideology and the Standardization of Arabic.” In Arabic Language and Linguistics, ed. by Reem Bassiouney and E. Graham Katz, 201–213. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013a. Arabic in the Fray. Language Ideology and Cultural Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013b. “Arabic Folk Linguistics between Mother Tongue and Native Language.” In The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, ed. by Jonathan Owens, 264–280. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Verschueren, Jef. 2012. Ideology in Language Use. Pragmatic Guidelines for Empirical Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001 (1997 1st print). The Arabic Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wehr, Hans, and J. Milton Cowan (ed.). 1994 (1979 1st print). A dictionary of modern written Arabic: Arabic-English.Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwettler. 1978. The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

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

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 december 2025. 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue