Arabic-L:PEDA:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 14 Jan 2009
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1) Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA
2) Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

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1)
Date: 14 Jan 2009
From:Waheed Samy <wasamy at umich.edu>
Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

I'm glad Joseph Bell brings this topic to the list.

For reasons you are all familiar with there are many institutions that
resist teaching anything but فصحى.  However, there seems to be a
growing interest in teaching something other than فصحى.  As Joseph,
and others have asked: which عامية?

Looking at Arabic as a broad spectrum with عامية on one end and
فصحى at the other, by dedicating instruction to a limited sliver at
the فصحى end does not adequately reflect the linguistic reality of
Arabic.  As a consequence teaching only فصحى does not serve
learners adequately.

Therefore, in an attempt to bridge the gaps, and to introduce more of
that spread, I believe that more mixing is useful.  In my opinion such
a mixing should proceed on the basis of the following broad linguistic
areas, as well as combinations of these areas as necessary:

Phonology
The lexicon
Morphology
Syntax

To illustrate, using an example of a phonological generalization, I
suggest that within the context of courses in MSA --as commonly taught
using Arabic textbooks, such as الكتاب الأساسي, or
الكتاب, or The Michigan Series, and others-- it will be very
useful for learners to know that the dipthongs /aw/ and /ay/, such as
in فوق and بيت are realized as vowels /oo/ and /ee/.  There are
numerous other examples.  As a speaker of Egyptian Arabic, I can
introduce such phonological information and mix it in during the
course of the semester.  Speakers from other regions of the Arabic-
speaking world can do the same.

 From the lexicon, an example of what to introduce is the definite
relative pronoun اِللي.  Learners can be encouraged to use it, and
also be informed of usage.

Taking morphological, syntactic, and mixed categories, the learners
should become aware of 'b prefixing' imperfect form verbs: يعرف and
بيعرف.  Someone once told me that on a visit to Jordan, never
having been introduced to anything but فصحى, when he heard the 'b
prefixed verb' he was sure it was a noun.

Learners should know that the definite article is 'il; not just 'al.


I am suggesting that non-فصحى features be introduced into the MSA
curriculum, and that such an introduction be within the context of MSA
--as opposed to فصحى only or عامية only instruction.

Waheed Samy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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2)
Date: 14 Jan 2009
From: Mustafa Mughazy <mustafa.mughazy at wmich.edu>
Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

Dear Joseph and interested colleague,

First of all, I would like to note the paradigm shift from whether we  
should teach a colloquial dialect to how we can teach one along with  
MSA. I think this is the question that will dominate the field for a  
long time.

The question of which dialect to teach is a very loaded question  
because it has nationalistic undertones with everyone thinking their  
dialect is more prestigious, more widely understood, or closer to MSA.  
There is also the issue that I mentioned earlier of whether dialect  
choice can affect hiring decisions.

I asked my French and Canadian colleagues who teach French in my  
department about the dialect they teach. They all said that they teach  
their own dialect while making comparisons to others when they see  
fit. When I asked what they meant by “their dialect”, it turned out  
that they were talking about prestigious “nationalist” dialects  
rather than regional dialects. I got the same answer from my Spanish  
and Mexican colleagues who teach Spanish.  Arabic presents a rather  
different situation, but it is not that unique or exotic.

What I do in my teaching is use MSA and Egyptian together in every  
exercise, activity, or even vocabulary quiz (fourth semester). By  
Egyptian, I mean Cairene, not my local dialect of Alexandria (However,  
I still say falafel, not ta3meyya). I also mention other dialects that  
I understand, especially if there are students who are interested in a  
particular dialect. If students use other dialects, I accept it as a  
correct answer.

Back to which dialect to teach: teach your own “nationalist”  
dialect or the one you are most comfortable with. Some people are even  
very good at teaching other dialects. I know a highly esteemed  
colleague from Libya who teaches Egyptian and a Moroccan colleague who  
speaks Egyptian flawlessly.  You do not have to be a native speaker to  
teach a dialect, as long as you speak it well. Besides, that is what  
textbooks are for.

As for dialect leveling, we should wait for this to happen among  
native speakers. Teaching a dialect mix is very difficult because  
there are no textbooks for dialect mixes as far as I know. Even if we  
can do this, the students will end up speaking something that is very  
different from native speakers speak. Can you imagine someone who  
speaks a mixture of American, British, Australian, Hindi, and African  
American English?

Mustafa Mughazy


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End of Arabic-L:  14 Jan 2009