Arabic-L:PEDA:Thoughts on teaching Colloquial with MSA

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 30 Dec 2008
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1) Subject:Thoughts on teaching Colloquial with MSA

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1)
Date: 30 Dec 2008
From:Chris Holman <chrish at uoregon.edu>
Subject:Thoughts on teaching Colloquial with MSA

Hello everyone,

I am writing to seek out your thoughts on teaching dialect, but my  
line of inquiry is not along the usual lines of thought when it comes  
to this topic.  Rather, I am curious as to what references there are  
that present colloquial forms in ways that are easily dove-tailed with  
MSA instruction.  I know that we are talking about different registers  
of language here, but what I am ultimately curious about is what your  
thoughts are on the following idea:

Students do not have to learn a particular dialect in an all-or- 
nothing fashion.  Instead, they can be equipped with knowledge about  
core 'rules' (although many would cringe at my use of "rules" in  
reference to dialect) that give them a superficial yet beneficial  
understanding of common underlying themes to the way a colloquial form  
is spoken.  For instance, one could be taught the ways in which verb  
conjugation is slightly different from standard MSA conjugation  
forms.  Also, basic pronunciation of letters (i.e. the Qaaf becoming a  
hamza in Shamiyya colloquial forms) could give students tools beyond  
MSA to dissect the colloquial they hear.

I think you get the point I'm trying to make here, and I am curious to  
hear what you think because I am of the opinion that one can wade into  
a colloquial form with MSA and some superficial/basic understandings  
of the dialect and then learn the particular dialect quicker than if  
they had MSA alone.  Of course, a class focusing on dialect only is  
still beneficial (etc), but if one wanted to focus on MSA and not  
ignore colloquial forms altogether, I think that it would be possible  
to do so intelligently and in ways that would benefit students  
(especially those who go abroad).

I have run into some disagreement here where I teach on this, and I am  
interested in seeing what a wider audience has to say.

Thank you for your time!

--
Chris Holman
Arabic Instructor
World Languages Academy
1236 University of Oregon
541-346-1538

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