Diglossia: Arabic Language
DIGLOSSIA
Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns including the use of two or more language varieties in distinct social domains within the same speech community. In other words, the use of two distinct varieties of the same language for different functions. There are many societies where the official language that is used at schools or media is significantly different from that used at home or in ordinary conversations and often called a “dialect” or “vernacular”. Such a situation is referred to by linguists as diglossia, a term that was introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles Ferguson, and it has attracted wide attention since the publication of his article in which he used the term. Diglossia has many definitions that were introduced by many linguists such as Ferguson, Trudgill, Fellman…etc. Basically, the term Diglossia was first introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles Ferguson, as he wrote in his article, “on the French diglossie, which has been applied to this situation, since there seems to be no word in regular use for this in English; other languages of Europe generally use the word for ‘bilingualism’ in this sense as well.” Furthermore, Charles Ferguson defines diglossia as a situation where: In addition to the primary dialect or language . . . there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature . . . which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson, 1959:336) Thus, Ferguson’s definition handles both the high variety as well as the low one. It also shows diglossia regarding the linguistic structures and how both varieties play different roles in communication process rather than being different in linguistics structure. On the whole, classic definitions of
Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns including the use of two or more language varieties in distinct social domains within the same speech community. In other words, the use of two distinct varieties of the same language for different functions. There are many societies where the official language that is used at schools or media is significantly different from that used at home or in ordinary conversations and often called a “dialect” or “vernacular”. Such a situation is referred to by linguists as diglossia, a term that was introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles Ferguson, and it has attracted wide attention since the publication of his article in which he used the term. Diglossia has many definitions that were introduced by many linguists such as Ferguson, Trudgill, Fellman…etc. Basically, the term Diglossia was first introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles Ferguson, as he wrote in his article, “on the French diglossie, which has been applied to this situation, since there seems to be no word in regular use for this in English; other languages of Europe generally use the word for ‘bilingualism’ in this sense as well.” Furthermore, Charles Ferguson defines diglossia as a situation where: In addition to the primary dialect or language . . . there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature . . . which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson, 1959:336) Thus, Ferguson’s definition handles both the high variety as well as the low one. It also shows diglossia regarding the linguistic structures and how both varieties play different roles in communication process rather than being different in linguistics structure. On the whole, classic definitions of
References: Fasold, R. 1984. The Sociolinguistics of Society. Oxford: Blackwell. Fasold, R. 1993. The Sociolinguistics of Language. Oxford: Blackwell. Fellman, J. 1973. Sociolinguistic problems in the Middle Eastern Arab world. The Hague: Mouton. Ferguson, A. Charles. 1996. Sociolinguistic Perspectives: Papers on Language in Society 1959-1994. Ed. Thom Huebner. New York: Oxford University Press. Trudgill, P. 1995. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. London: Penguin Books. Wardhaugh, R. 1990. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.