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 construction. It is these urban settings which raise questions concerning the dynamics of homogenization/differentiation and the processes of standardization due to the coexistence 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 featuring 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.
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vii | |
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List of tables and figures |
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viii | |
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xi | |
| Acknowledgements |
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xiii | |
| Notes on the transliteration |
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xiv | |
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1 Arabic urban vernaculars: development and change |
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1 | (32) |
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PART I Migration, urbanization and language change |
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33 | (112) |
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2 The (r)urbanization of Mauritania: historical context and contemporary developments |
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35 | (20) |
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3 The formation of the dialect of Amman: from chaos to order |
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55 | (22) |
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4 Urbanization and dialect change: the Arabic dialect of Tripoli (Libya) |
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77 | (20) |
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5 Becoming Casablancan: Fessis in Casablanca as a case study |
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97 | (26) |
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6 Two cases of Moroccan Arabic in the diaspora |
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123 | (22) |
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PART II Urban vernaculars: convergence and divergence |
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145 | (102) |
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7 Greetings in Beirut: social distribution and attitudes towards different formulae |
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147 | (19) |
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8 Linguistic leveling in Sancani Arabic as reflected in a popular radio serial |
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166 | (22) |
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9 The urban and suburban modes: patterns of linguistic variation and change in Damascus |
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188 | (25) |
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10 Segmental and prosodic aspects of Ksar el Kebir's neo-urban variety |
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213 | (17) |
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11 The use of kaikasah/kaskasah and alternative means among educated urban Saudi speakers |
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230 | (17) |
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PART III Multilingualism, codeswitching and new urban cultures |
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247 | (98) |
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12 Close encounters of a different kind: two types of insertion in Nigerian Arabic codeswitching |
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249 | (26) |
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13 Development and linguistic change in Moroccan Arabic-French codeswitching |
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275 | (16) |
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14 The language of Cairo's young university students |
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291 | (18) |
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15 Rap and rappers in Nouakchott (Mauritania) |
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309 | (16) |
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16 Uses and attitudes towards Hassaniyya among Nouakchott's Negro-Mauritanian population |
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325 | (20) |
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| Index |
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345 | |
Catherine Miller is a senior research fellow at the French Council of research (CNRS), IREMAM, Aix en Provence, France
Enam Al-Wer is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Linguistics, University of Essex, UK.
Dominique Caubet is Head of the CREAM-LACNAD, National Institute of Languages and Oriental Civilizations (INALCO), France
Janet C. E. Watson, Professor of Arabic and Linguistics, University of Salford UK.
