Arabic-L:PEDA:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 28 Jan 2009
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1) Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

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1)
Date: 28 Jan 2009
From:Benjamin Geer <benjamin.geer at gmail.com>
Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

> As far as teaching at my department
> is concerned, we have to get students to a quite high level of  
> proficiency
> in MSA very soon because we are training translators.

I suppose it doesn't matter for technical translation, but anyone who
wants to translate modern Egyptian literature needs to know Egyptian
dialect.  This applies to older works such as Tawfiq al-Hakim's
"Return of the Spirit" and Yahya Haqqi's stories, as well as more
recent ones such as Ibrahim Aslan's "The Heron," never mind something
like "Being Abbas al-Abd" by Ahmad al-Aidy.  I've had some great
laughs comparing translations of Egyptian novels into English with the
originals, and finding that some translators simply didn't understand
the colloquial expressions.  Some Egyptian newspapers, such as
Al-Dustur, are full of dialect, too.

I think my own experience has been very positive, and I always
recommend it to people who ask me about studying Arabic: first, go
study colloquial Arabic intensively (along with a bit of fusha) in an
Arab country for at least two years.  Study films, soap operas, etc.
Then go back to your home country and learn fusha.  That way, you
internalise colloquial as a means of everyday communication,
intimately connected with all the social practices that you learned
through immersion, and you experience fusha as something more formal
and less spontaneous, which is how native speakers experience it.  I
know this approach may not fit well into current university degree
programs, but maybe that's a sign that the degree programs need to be
changed.

Ben

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2)
Date: 28 Jan 2009
From:wasamy at UMICH.EDU
Subject:Teaching Colloquial with MSA

I don't know of any source that has a list of non-فصحى features of
Egyptian Arabic.  What I'm suggesting is to introduce elements non-
فصحى into a فصحى curriculum.  This suggestion is distinct from
introducing 'pure' colloquial alongside فصحى instruction.

First it would be necessary to select linguistic features of
colloquial to introduce into a فصحى curriculum.  Such features
would be located in discrete categories, including phonology,
morphology, lexicon, syntax, and hybrid Arabic (or combinations
thereof, such as morpho-syntactic features).

After making a determination about what features to introduce, a
determination should be made about when --during the course of a
فصحى instruction curriculum-- such features can be introduced.

Another aspect of investigation is to provide learners with 'switching
rules'.  In other words, not only should non-فصحى features be
introduced into the فصحى curriculum, but the learners should also
have some understanding of contexts lending themselves to the
introduction of such features.

With the foregoing as a general overview, the following is a brief
illustration.

  From phonology the following colloquial features can be introduced
into a فصحى curriculum:
- the definite relative pronoun الذي occurring as allazi;
- the number ثلاثة occurring as salaasa (or talaaata);
- 'al (the definite article) occurring as 'il.
- bayt occurring as beet (with /ee/ as opposed to /ay/).

Hybrid-phonological features:
- demonstrative pronouns, such as هذا (masc. sing.), occurring as
haaza;

  From the lexicon the following colloquial items can be introduced
into a فصحى curriculum:
- the definite relative pronoun occurring as illi (as a cover term in
lieu of the masculine, feminine, singular, dual, and plural);
- la''a (as opposed to "laa");
- 'aywa, or 'ee, as opposed to نعم;
- lee --and other geographical variants-- as opposed to لِماذا;

  From morphology the following colloquial features can be introduced
into a فصحى curriculum:
- the bi clitic of the imperfect tense indicative verb, such as
بيكتب bi-yiktib;
- shortening length in specific forms: faahima (3.f.s - active
participle) --> fahma;

Hybrid morphological verbal forms of verbs such as the following can
also be introduced:
the hybrid بِيَكتُب (bi-yaktub), which results from
يِكتُب and بِيكتب.

The above is a (non-exhaustive) list of examples of features that can
be introduced into a فصحى curriculum.  This approach seeks not to
instruct in 'pure' colloquial, but rather to gradually introduce
linguistic features thereof with the aim of providing learners with
benefits of acquiring experience/knowledge that serve to bridge the
gap between فصحى and عامية that learners of an only-فصحى
paradigm have.  After all, the linguistic situation in the Arab world
is not one comprised of 'pure' فصحى and/or 'pure' عامية.

I suggest we need a collective effort in which experts and
practitioners collaborate so as to make a determination of what
features are suitable for inclusion.  In this respect I would like to
call for a symposium or conference to be organized for that purpose.

After a determination is made concerning what features to select, the
subsequent step would be to determine when during the course of
curricula, and in what contexts, such features can be introduced.

The foregoing ideas do not address principles outlining linguistic
behavior.  In other words, if a فصحى curriculum includes non-
فصحى features as outlined above, the mere inclusion of such
features does not intrinsically provide the learners with a principled
view of when to mix, nor under what social conditions to do so.

Waheed Samy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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End of Arabic-L:  28 Jan 2009