Abstract

This study examines the use of language and code choice in a modern Egyptian novel, al-Ḥubb fī ’l-manfā (Love in Exile) by Bahāʾ Ṭāhir (b. 1935). The study concentrates on the diglossic situation that prevails in the entire Arabic-speaking world, i.e. a situation in which there are two language varieties: a ‘High’ variety (standard Arabic) and a ‘Low’ one (vernacular dialects), each with a different function. The study will concentrate on the language varieties, or ‘codes’, used by the writer to depict dialogues between the different protagonists in the novel. The question posed is whether the dialogues in this, as well as in other novels published in Egypt and the Arab world, reflect realistic linguistic choices on the part of the protagonists, or whether this literature projects a different reality with different rules and language choices. If the latter case is true then language may be viewed as a tool to redefine reality and project different identities. It is argued that the choice of standard or vernacular has a discourse function, well as a creative one. This case study furthers our understanding of code choice in dialogue in the Arabic literature of Egypt, and of the Arab world in general.

Highlights

  • This study examines the use of standard Arabic (SA) and Egyptian colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel al-Ḥubb fī ’l-manfā (Love in Exile) by Bahā Ṭāhir

  • The study argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between Standard Arabic (SA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in dialogues as a literary device which does not reflect reality but re-defines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with different people in his life, ranging from a waiter he befriends to his children

  • Despite the assertions by some linguists that the diglossic situation in the Arab world creates an uneasy relation with the self

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Summary

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

This study examines the use of language and code choice in a modern Egyptian novel, al-Ḥubb fī ’l-manfā (Love in Exile) by Bahā Ṭāhir (b. 1935). The study concentrates on the diglossic situation that prevails in the entire Arabic-speaking world, i.e. a situation in which there are two language varieties: a ‘High’ variety (standard Arabic) and a ‘Low’ one (vernacular dialects), each with a different function. The. JAIS question posed is whether the dialogues in this, as well as in other novels published in Egypt and the Arab world, reflect realistic linguistic choices on the part of the protagonists, or whether this literature projects a different reality with different rules and language choices. JAIS question posed is whether the dialogues in this, as well as in other novels published in Egypt and the Arab world, reflect realistic linguistic choices on the part of the protagonists, or whether this literature projects a different reality with different rules and language choices This case study furthers our understanding of code choice in dialogue in the Arabic literature of Egypt, and of the Arab world in general

Introduction
Diglossia in Egypt and the Arab world
Identity and code choice
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Conclusion
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