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The role of translation in language standardization

The case of Egypt

ORCiD logo with link | KU Leuven
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with KU Leuven.

Published online: 18 April 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24012.ali
Abstract
This article contributes to the debate on language standardization from below by examining the role of translation in the struggle to standardize ʿāmmiyya as a national language in Egypt. Drawing on Haugen’s model of language standardization, the article investigates the sociolinguistic and cultural factors that influenced the production and reception of three recent translations of literary classics into ʿāmmiyya: Le Petit Prince, L’Étranger, and The Old Man and the Sea. It is argued that the translations were undertaken not only on literary but also on nationalistic and feminist grounds. The findings show that the translations negotiated the norms of the literary field, where literariness has been coded by fuṣḥā, by conceptualizing Cairene Arabic as a separate diglossic language. Codification and elaboration occurred simultaneously through the diffusion of folk linguistic views in the paratexts of translated works from different literary genres, as well as through media interviews and social media.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Haugen’s model of linguistic standardization as a methodological approach
  • 3.Fuṣḥā and ʿāmmiyya in Post-Arab Spring Egypt
  • 4.Selection: Negotiating the norms of the literary field
    • 4.1Power of naming
    • 4.2Linking Cairene Arabic to national identity
  • 5.Codification
    • 5.1The translations as sites of folk linguistics
    • 5.2Textual codification of the selected norm
  • 6.Elaboration: The turn to print culture
  • 7.Acceptance by the community: ‘Āmmīyya as a feminist counterforce to fuṣḥā
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Ali, Hisham M.
2025. One language, many hierarchies. Language Problems and Language Planning DOI logo

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