Arabic in the City (Routledge Arabic Linguistics)

369 Pages·2008·2.69 MB·English

by  Catherine Mille

ARABIC IN THE CITY
Filling a gap in the literature currently available on the topic, this edited collection is
the first examination of the interplay between urbanization, language variation and
language change in fifteen major Arab cities.
The Arab world presents very different types and degrees of urbanization, from well
established old capital-cities such as Cairo to new emerging capital-cities such as
Amman or Nouakchott, these in turn embedded in different types of national con-
struction. It is these urban settings which raise questions concerning the dynamics of
homogenization/differentiation and the processes of standardization due to the co-
existence of competing linguistic models. Topics investigated include:
• History of settlement
• The linguistic impact of migration
• The emergence of new urban vernaculars
• Dialect convergence and divergence
• Code-switching, youth language and new urban culture
• Arabic in the diaspora
• Arabic among non-Arab groups.
Containing a broad selection of case studies from across the Arab world and featur-
ing contributions from leading urban sociolinguistics and dialectologists, this book
presents a fresh approach to our understanding of the interaction between language,
society and space. As such, the book will appeal to the linguist as well as to the
social scientist in general.
Catherine Miller is Senior Research Fellow at the French Council of Research
(CNRS), IREMAM, Aix en Provence, France.
Enam Al-Wer is Senior Teaching Fellow in Linguistics, University of Essex, UK.
Dominique Caubet is Professor of Maghrebi Arabic, Head of the CREAM-LACNAD,
National Institute of Languages and Oriental Civilizations (INALCO), France.
Janet C. E. Watson is Professor of Arabic and Linguistics, University of Salford,UK.
Contributors: Munira Al-Azraqi; Alassane Dia; Mohamed Embarki; Marie-Aimée
Germanos; Atiqa Hachimi; Hanadi Ismail; Jonathan Owens; Christophe Pereira;
Sherin Rizk; Catherine Taine-Cheikh; Aline Tauzin; Ángeles Vicente and Karima
Ziamari.
ROUTLEDGE ARABIC LINGUISTICS SERIES
General Editor: Clive Holes (University of Oxford)
Editors:
El-Sa’id Badawi (American University in Cairo)
Adrian Gully (University of Exeter)
Yasir Suleiman (University of Edinburgh)
Keith Walters (University of Texas)
TheRoutledge Arabic Linguistics Series publishes high quality, academicallyrigorous
research on Arabic linguistics to two main readerships: non-Arabist general linguists
with an interest in Arabic, and students and researchers already in the field of Arabic
language and linguistics. Both synchronic and diachronic studies of Arabic are
welcome which aid our understanding of the historical evolution and the present
state of Arabic, whether dialectal or standard. Works written from a sociolinguistic
(e.g. language variation), socio-historical (e.g. language history), sociological (e.g.
language planning), or psycholinguistic (e.g. language acquisition) perspective are
welcome, as are studies of Arabic stylistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis.
Descriptive dialectological works also fall within the scope of the Series, as do works
which focus on the evolution of mediaeval Arabic linguistic thought. Proposals or
scripts for the Series will be welcomed by the General Editor.
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED BY CURZON
1. MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PRAGMATICS
Sunni legal theorists’ model of textual communication
Mohamed Mohamed Yunis Ali
2. JEWISH AND MUSLIM DIALECTS OF MOROCCAN ARABIC
Jeffrey Heath
3. LANGUAGE CONTACT AND LANGUAGE CONFLICT IN
ARABIC
Variations on a sociolinguistic theme
Edited by Aleya Rouchdy
PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE
4. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE ARABIC VERB
Maher Bahloul
5. ARABIC IN THE CITY
Issues in dialect contact and language variation
Edited by Catherine Miller, Enam Al-Wer, Dominique Caubet and
Janet C. E. Watson
ARABIC IN THE CITY
Issues in dialect contact and
language variation
Edited by Catherine Miller,
Enam Al-Wer, Dominique Caubet
and Janet C. E. Watson
First published 2007 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2007 Editorial selection and matter; Catherine Miller, Enam Al-Wer,
Dominique Caubet and Janet Watson; individual chapters the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arabic in the city : issues in dialect contact and language variation /
edited by Catherine Miller... [et al.]
p. cm. — (Routledge Arabic linguistics series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN13: 978-0-415-77311-9 (hardback)
ISBN10: 0-415-77311-3 (hardback)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-93336-7 (ebook)
ISBN10: 0-203-93336-2 (ebook)
1. Arabic language—Dialects.2. Arabic language—Variation .3.
Urban dialects—Arab countries. 4. Arabic language—Social aspects.
5. Languages in contact—Arab countries. I. Miller, Catherine, 1955–
PJ6709.A78 2008
492.7′7—dc22
2007027019
ISBN 0-203-93336-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-77311-3 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-93336-2 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-77311-9 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-93336-7 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of maps vii
List of tables and figures viii
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Notes on the transliteration xiv
1 Arabic urban vernaculars: development and change 1
CATHERINE MILLER
PART I
Migration, urbanization and language change 33
2 The (r)urbanization of Mauritania: historical context and
contemporary developments 35
CATHERINE TAINE-CHEIKH
3 The formation of the dialect of Amman: from chaos
to order 55
ENAM AL-WER
4 Urbanization and dialect change: the Arabic dialect of
Tripoli (Libya) 77
CHRISTOPHE PEREIRA
5 Becoming Casablancan: Fessis in Casablanca as a
case study 97
ATIQA HACHIMI
6 Two cases of Moroccan Arabic in the diaspora 123
ÁNGELES VICENTE
v
CONTENTS
PART II
Urban vernaculars: convergence and divergence 145
7 Greetings in Beirut: social distribution and attitudes
towards different formulae 147
MARIE-AIMÉE GERMANOS
8 Linguistic leveling in SanÄani Arabic as reflected in a
popular radio serial 166
JANET C. E. WATSON
9 The urban and suburban modes: patterns of linguistic
variation and change in Damascus 188
HANADI ISMAIL
10 Segmental and prosodic aspects of Ksar el Kebir’s neo-urban
variety 213
MOHAMED EMBARKI
11 The use of kaÌkaÌah/kaskasah and alternative means among
educated urban Saudi speakers 230
MUNIRA AL-AZRAQI
PART III
Multilingualism, codeswitching and new urban cultures 247
12 Close encounters of a different kind: two types of insertion in
Nigerian Arabic codeswitching 249
JONATHAN OWENS
13 Development and linguistic change in Moroccan
Arabic-French codeswitching 275
KARIMA ZIAMARI
14 The language of Cairo’s young university students 291
SHERIN RIZK
15 Rap and rappers in Nouakchott (Mauritania) 309
ALINE TAUZIN
16 Uses and attitudes towards Hassaniyya among
Nouakchott’s Negro-Mauritanian population 325
ALASSANE DIA
Index 345
vi
LIST OF MAPS
1.1 Cities investigated 3
2.1 Nouakchott (Mauritania) 36
3.1 Jordan 57
4.1 Tripoli (Libya) 79
5.1 Casablanca (Morocco) 99
6.1 Zaragoza and Ceuta 126
7.1 Beirut 149
8.1 Yemen 168
8.2 San¡a 172
9.1 Damascus 191
9.2 Dialect map of Syria 200
11.1 The map of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia showing
locations of the five cities of the study 234
16.1 Map of Mauritania showing main southern cities 327
vii
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND
SPECTOGRAMS
Tables
1.1 Number of urban inhabitants plus urbanization rate by
Arab country from 1900 to 2005 24
1.2 Population growth of 1st, 2nd and 3rd cities of each Arab
country from 1860 to 2005 25
3.1 Examples of the patterns found in the second generation 65
5.1 Social profile of informants 105
5.2 The linguistic variables 106
5.3 Frequency of use of Casablancan [r] by Fessi women 107
5.4 The variable (qal) by speakers 108
5.5 Second person singular in Fessi and Casablancan dialects 110
5.6 Frequency of use of gender distinction in 2nd person
singular among Fessis 111
6.1 Conjugation of kla-verb in prestigious Ceutí sociolect 133
6.2 Conjugation of kla-verb in the conservative Ceutí sociolect 133
6.3 Conjugation of kla-verb in Zaragoza Arabic 137
7.1 Percentage of bonjour in East and West Beirut 156
7.2 Percentage of mar}aba by age groups 157
7.3 Percentage of hi by age groups 157
9.1 Distribution of the speakers by age, gender, and life-mode 191
9.2 Percentage use of (h) according to the preceding
environment 201
9.3 Percentage use of (h) according to age groups 201
9.4 Percentage use of (h) according to neighborhood 202
9.5 Distribution of (r) by phonetic environment 205
12.1 Continuation in same language between speaker’s turns 252
12.2 Lexical insertions 252
12.3 Marking of definiteness on nouns: definite, indefinite,
incorrect 259
12.4 hana possessor 260
12.5 hana possessor, SA versus monolingual only 261
12.6 idAfa possessor 262
viii
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND SPECTOGRAMS
12.7 Adjectives 262
12.8 Monolingual norm tracking 263
12.9 Monolingual versus English insertions in CS texts,
type/token ratios for definite/indefinite nouns 264
12.10 Correspondence between some SA and NA phonemes 266
12.11 Total SA words, per CS text 267
14.1 Use and attitudes towards YL among 40 students 303
16.1 Classification of the languages of Mauritania,
French included, from the most spoken to the
least spoken 329
16.2 Other national language spoken besides native language 331
Figures
2.1 Population of Nouakchott from 1962 to 2005 44
4.1 Lexical evolution of TA 89
5.1 Casablanca’s population growth from 1897 to 2003 101
9.1 Percentage use of (h) by gender in Shaghoor 203
9.2 Percentage use of (h) in Dummar by gender 203
9.3 Use of (h) by gender and age groups in Shaghoor and
Dummar 203
9.4 Gender distribution of (r) in both communities 206
9.5 Distribution of (r) by neighborhood 206
9.6 Distribution of (r) by age groups 206
9.7 Distribution of (r) by age groups in both communities 207
9.8 Distribution of (r) by age groups (Y, M, O) and gender in
each neighborhood (S, D) 207
10.1 Evolution of the a1/a2 mean ratio according to the
schooling level in both areas 221
10.2 Word duration among 4 groups 223
10.3 Evolution of the mean articulation rate by age among the
4 groups 225
11.1 Growth of education sector in Saudi Arabia in number of
schools 232
11.2 Difference between regions in using /k/, colloquial form and
other means 236
11.3 Percentage of using /k/, colloquial form and other means by
informants of Riyadh 236
11.4 Percentage of using /k/, colloquial form and other means by
informants of Dammam 237
11.5 Percentage of using /k/, colloquial form and other means by
informants of Buraidah 237
11.6 Percentage of using /k/, colloquial form and other means by
informants of Abha 238
ix