Are Iraqi women more prestige conscious than men? Sex differentiation in Baghdadi Arabic

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farida Abu-Haidar
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differentiation ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Iraqi Women ◽  
Dialectal Arabic ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
Spoken Arabic ◽  
Literary Arabic ◽  
The Prestige

ABSTRACTInvestigators have found in Arabic-speaking communities that men's speech, and not women's, approximated the standard variety. More recent studies have challenged the assumption that prestige and standard spoken Arabic are one and the same. These studies have found that there are, in some Arab communities, prestige varieties of spoken Arabic which are not in the direction of standard Arabic, and that, contrary to what had been previously concluded, it is mostly women who speak the prestige dialects. This article, based on an investigation of the speech of a group of Baghdadi men and women, shows that in Baghdad the prestige variety of spoken Arabic is in the direction of the standard, and that women, more than men, tend to favor this variety. Using the findings of a previous research project in Baghdad, the article also draws attention to the fact that in the past, when Baghdadi women did not have the same access to standard Arabic as men, it was men, and not women, who spoke a dialect approximating the standard variety. (Standard literary Arabic, dialectal Arabic, linguistic prestige norms, style shifting)

Cross-dialectal variation in Arabic: Competing prestigious forms

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan R. Abd-El-Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Adequate Description ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Arabic Sociolinguistics ◽  
Informal Settings ◽  
Spoken Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

ABSTRACTMost researchers of Arabic sociolinguistics assume the existence of a sociolinguistic continuum with a local vernacular at the bottom and the standard variety at the top. Those researchers seem to equate the terms “prestige” and “standard”; consequently, they tend to consider Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) as the only prestige variety in all settings. This article presents evidence showing that if an adequate description of sociolinguistic variation of spoken Arabic is to be met, it is necessary to posit not only one standard speech variety, MSA, but also other prestigious local or regional varieties which act as local spoken standards competing with MSA in informal settings. It will be shown in the reported cases that in certain contexts speakers tend to switch from their local forms – though these latter may be identical to MSA – to other local features characteristic of other dominant social groups and that happen to be marked [–MSA], These local prestigious norms act like the standard spoken norms in informal settings. (Diglossic model, prestigious varieties, stereotypes, dominant social groups, competing standards, spoken Arabic).

The impact of phonemic and lexical distance on the phonological analysis of words and pseudowords in a diglossic context

2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELINOR SAIEGH–HADDAD
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Word ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Lexical Status ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Target Phoneme ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spoken Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

The study examined the impact of the phonemic and lexical distance between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and a spoken Arabic vernacular (SAV) on phonological analysis among kindergarten (N=24) and first grade (N=42) native Arabic-speaking children. We tested the effect of the lexical status of the word (SAV, MSA, and pseudoword), as well as the linguistic affiliation of the target phoneme (SAV vs. MSA), on initial and final phoneme isolation. Results showed that, when words were composed of SAV phonemes only, the lexical status of the word did not affect phoneme isolation. However, when MSA and pseudowords encoded both SAV and MSA phonemes, kindergarteners found MSA words significantly more difficult to analyze. Comparing children's ability to isolate SAV versus MSA phonemes revealed that all children found MSA phonemes significantly more difficult to isolate. Kindergarteners found MSA phonemes that were embedded within MSA words even more difficult to isolate. Results underscore the role of the lexical status of the stimulus word, as well as the linguistic affiliation of the target phoneme in phonological analysis in a diglossic context.

The theater of memory: Direct speech in Palestinian oral history

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-648
Author(s):  
Kobi Peled
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Striking Feature ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theatrical Performance ◽  
Main Thing ◽  
Significant Figures ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
Do So

A striking feature of Palestinian oral history projects is the extensive use that interviewees make of direct speech to communicate their memories—especially those born before the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. They do so irrespective of whether or not they participated in or actually heard the dialogues they wish to convey. This article seeks to characterize and explain this phenomenon. In the interviews conducted by the author—an Arabic-speaking Jew—as well as in other projects, this mode of speech is marked by ease of transition from character to character and between different points in time. It clearly gives pleasure to those engaged in the act of remembering, and it grades readily into a theatrical performance in which tone of speech and the quality of the acting become the main thing. This form of discourse sprang up from the soil of a rural oral culture and still flourishes as a prop for supporting memory, a vessel for collecting and disseminating stories, and a technique for expressing identification with significant figures from the past.

scholarly journals «Siftlikom msg f tel opostitha hna rj3 l history»: mescolanze di codice nella comunicazione mediale in Marocco

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Tamburini ◽  
Gabriele Iannàccaro
Keyword(s):  
English Teachers ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
The Real ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
French And English ◽  
Self Assessments ◽  
Dialectal Arabic

Based on first-hand collected data, the article analyses a number of code-switching occurrences in multilingual chats among a community of English teachers in the Fes-Meknes region of Morocco. The data are compared with the results of a perceptual questionnaire on linguistic self-assessments and also take into account the orthographic aspect of the messages. The complex sociolinguistic framework of the area vividly emerges, as well as the real and perceived status of the varieties and the relationships between codes. The result is a coherent combination of Standard Arabic, dialectal Arabic, French and English.

scholarly journals Effects of Language Variety and Word Availability in Commercial Advertisements on Listener’s Lexical Recall

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-177
Author(s):  
Munerah Algernas ◽  
Yahya Aldholmi
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Key Word ◽  
Dialectal Arabic ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Modern Standard

Commercial advertisements in Arabic-speaking regions tend to alternate between dialectal Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, but it is not yet clear whether language variety has any impact on listener’s lexical recall. Insight into this issue should help enterprises design their commercial advertisements in a linguistically intelligent manner. This study addresses two questions: 1) How does language variety (dialectal vs. standard) affect listener’s lexical recall in commercial advertisements? 2) Do listeners recall words that have appeared in dialectal advertisements better than those that did not appear in advertisements using the same variety? Fifteen Saudi participants responded to a forced-choice memory test with 24 yes-no questions (3 per advertisement) asking participants to report whether they heard a specific key word in eight advertisements that utilized different language varieties. The findings show that Arabic speakers tend to perceive both Modern Standard Arabic and dialectal Arabic in commercial advertisements similarly, but tend to recall the presence of a key word in an advertisement better than its absence. Future research may increase the sample size and examine more Arabic varieties.

scholarly journals Living through Transition: The Poetic Tradition of the Jbala between Orality and Literacy at a Time of Major Cultural Transformations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1434-54
Author(s):  
Sarali Gintsburg
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
National Level ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Poetic Tradition ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
Identity Changes ◽  
Arabic Speaking

In my paper I analyze transformations happening in the oral tradition of the Jbala, an Arabic speaking ethnic group inhabiting the western and central part of the Rif mountains of northern Morocco. My analysis centers on the work of two modern poets, who although they see themselves belonging to the oral tradition, compose their poetry in writing. Their poetry is, therefore, characterized by use of two different, and, to some degree, opposite modes of language – the oral and the written. This is especially interesting in the context of the Arabic language, where, officially, only Standard Arabic exists in two modes – oral and written, while its dialectal varieties are seen as exclusively oral forms of communication and ‘vulgar’ poetry. The textual analysis will be substantiated by information received directly from both poets. To complement this analysis I examine this tradition through the lens of major cultural and identity changes occurring in local Moroccan genres and traditions at the national level and argue that the oral tradition of the Jbala is converging with the more popular and prestigious tradition of the malhun.

Completion of the Consonant Inventory of Arabic

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mousa M. Amayreh
Keyword(s):  
Normative Data ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Reading Problems ◽  
Functional Load ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Articulation Disorders ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
Spoken Arabic

This study is a follow-up of previous research on the acquisition of Arabic consonants in normally developing children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. The purpose of this study was to provide normative data on the acquisition of late consonants that had not been acquired by the age of 6;4 (years;months). Speech samples from 60 Arabic-speaking children between ages 6;6 and 8;4, in Amman, Jordan, were analyzed to determine the age at which 10 late consonants had been acquired and to determine the error patterns and sound changes used. Five of these consonants had still not been acquired in their standard form (Educated Spoken Arabic) by even the oldest children. However, 8 of the late consonants were produced in their acceptable colloquial forms by age 7;4 and all 10 by age 8;4. The late acquisition of these consonants was discussed from the point of view of functional load and markedness. Implications for diagnosis of articulation disorders and reading problems were considered.

Marketing Memory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ashley Kistler
Keyword(s):  
Local History ◽  
High Status ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Market Women ◽  
To Come ◽  
Flexible Model ◽  
The Prestige

This chapter summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. It argues that by perpetuating the traditions of their ancestors, market women connect themselves to the prestige and power of the past, honoring the legacies of their ancestors who dominated the market in previous generations. The local category of the house provides them with a flexible model of kinship that ensures their ability to select viable heirs to continue their family's participation in the market and preserve their high-status identities over the years and generations to come. By doing so, and by becoming prominent figures through marketing, these women secure their own immortality as a part of the narrative that governs local history and memory. Through the recognition, power, and prestige they generate in the market, the women, like their market ancestors before them, will forever remain an integral and inextricable part of life in Chamelco.

Acquiring diglossia: mutual influences of formal and colloquial Arabic on children's grammaticality judgments

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
REEM KHAMIS-DAKWAR ◽  
KAREN FROUD ◽  
PETER GORDON
Keyword(s):  
Interference Effects ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
Local Variant ◽  
Colloquial Arabic ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
Modern Standard

ABSTRACTThere are differences and similarities between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and spoken varieties of Arabic, in all language domains. To obtain preliminary insights into interactions between the acquisition of spoken and standard varieties of a language in a diglossic situation, we employed forced-choice grammaticality judgments to investigate morphosyntactic knowledge of MSA and the local variant of Palestinian Colloquial Arabic (PCA), in 60 Arabic-speaking children aged 6 ; 4 to 12 ; 4, from a school in Nazareth. We used morphosyntactic structures which either differed or were similar between PCA and standard Arabic. Children generally performed better on items presented in PCA than in standard Arabic, with the exception of constructions involving negation. Children performed better on items when the two constructions were similar in both language varieties. We discuss the results with respect to the multiple factors that affect acquisition in a diglossic situation, and relate our findings to the possibility of interference effects of diglossia on learning.

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