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" Linguistic variation in Damascus Arabic: "
Daher, Jamil
J. R. S. J. V. Costello
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1103978
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| Doc. No
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TLpq304439641
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| Main Entry
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Daher, Jamil
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J. R. S. J. V. Costello
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| Title & Author
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Linguistic variation in Damascus Arabic:\ Daher, JamilJ. R. S. J. V. Costello
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| College
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New York University
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| Date
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1998
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| student score
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1998
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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314-314 p.
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| Abstract
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This dissertation is a quantitative study of linguistic variation in the Damascus speech community. The research material is based on data drawn from tape-recorded sociolinguistic interviews with 46 speakers, 23 men and 23 women, of different ages and educational backgrounds. The primary purpose of this study is to explain the variation in men's and women's use of standard and colloquial variants of three phonological variables, (q), (th)/(dh) and (aw)/(ay), and to identify possible correlations of that variation with various factors in the linguistic environment and with the social factors of speaker's sex, age and educational level. A distinction is made between (th)/(dh) as a binary variable and (th)/(dh) as a ternary variable. The study concludes that Standard Arabic and Damascus Arabic both function as speech norms. Each variety carries its own well-defined type of prestige and a distinctive set of social connotations and a given variable may be evaluated differently by different speakers or groups of speakers. The variation in (th)/(dh) and (aw)/(ay) appears to be fairly stable, with the colloquial variants functioning as the norm for most speakers and more than minimal use of Standard Arabic restricted to a few highly-educated speakers, most of whom are men, whose professions entail substantial involvement with the written, prescriptive language. The variable (q) is by far the most widely used and the most socially marked. The variation in (q) suggests a change underway, with men in general more likely than women to approach the traditional values represented by the use of its Standard Arabic variant (q), while women, particularly young, educated women, are more likely to avoid those values, approaching instead the values of urbanization and modernization represented by the use of the Damascus Arabic variant (?). ftnOriginally published in DAI Vol. 59, No. 4. Reprinted here with corrected text.
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| Subject
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Arabic
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Damascus arabic
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Language, literature and linguistics
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Linguistic variation
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Men
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Phonology
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