The Dialectic of Reciprocal Impact between Arabic and English: Egyptian Colloquial Arabic as a Model

Abstract

The study investigates the issue of the reciprocal impact between Arabic and English. It demonstrates the reasons that make English stop being inspired by Arabic. It also sheds light on the effect of Englishization on culture-specific words in the Egyptian society. The study illustrates the effect of westernization and globalization on the Arabic language. It raises some questions: Will the continuous injection of English words into the Egyptian spoken language affect the Arabic language and people's cultural identity? There is another question which is if English dominates the Arabic language in its homeland, will it be spoken by the west that cherishes its language? The study sample consists of 15 recorded hours of various talk shows that discuss different topics like fashion, health, beauty, cooking, medicine, economics, business, horoscope...etc. Analysis of the data is based on Carol Myers-Scotton theories: Markedness Model and Matrix Language Frame Model (1993a, 1993b). It has been noticed that English is commonly used because it is stylish and trendy. It has been suggested that there is a relationship between the topic being discussed and the frequency of English being used.