Arabic in Iraq A Diglossic Situation

In some speech communities two distinct varieties of one language are used side by side, each of which serving a different range of social functions. One variety, called High, is used only under formal and public circumstances, while the other one, referred to as Low is used in normal daily-life events. Phonological, semantic and syntactic differences between the two varieties are so drastic that the two varieties are mutually incomprehensible. This sociolinguistic phenomenon is termed "diglossia". It is very common especially in Arabic-speaking countries. One good example is the diglossic situation, held between the Modern Standard Arabic and the Iraqi Colloquial Arabic. The present article aims to illustrate the differences between the two varieties at different linguistics levels, to account for this mutual unintelligibility. To achieve this objective, appropriate data were collected from the two varieties. The linguistic differences were spotted, and categorized according to the Surface Strategy Taxonomy. The data were analyzed and supported by respective explanations, where necessary.


Introduction
Diglossia is a language situation in which two distinct varieties of one language are used within a speech community.One variety, referred to as the High variety (H), is used only on formal and public occasions, while the other one, referred to as the Low variety (L), is used under normal, everyday circumstances.Varieties of the Arabic language shape a continuous spectrum of variation, with the dialects spoken in the Arab-speaking world being mutually incomprehensible.One good example of Arabic diglossia is held between the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and the Iraqi Colloquial Arabic (ICA).This article aims to compare MSA and ICA at different linguistic levels, to find out what factors have made the two verities mutually incomprehensible.To do so, a good number of data belonging to the two varieties were collected.The differences were scrutinized, and categorized according to the Surface Strategy Taxonomy.The data were analyzed and supported by respective explanations, where necessary.The alterations between the two varieties proved so drastic in nature which can justify the aforesaid mutual unintelligibility.The findings are especially revealing for the Arabic Language curriculum planners.As a step forward, suggestions for further research are addressed.

Trudgil (2009) defines diglossia as:
A particular kind of language standardization where two distinct varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the speech community (not just in the case of a particular group of speakers, such as Scots or Blacks) and where each of the two varieties is assigned a definite social function.(p.113)The term 'Diglossia' was first introduced into the literature by Charles Ferguson (1959) as follows: Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly coded (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation.(p.336) Some scholars, however, maintain that diglossia holds between two languages rather than two varieties of one language.According to Meyerhoff (2006), "One language may be used for some social functions or in a specific social context, while another language is served for other" (p.103).Fishman (1971) refers to Paraguay as an example of a diglossic community, in which the two varieties do not belong to one language, but are Spanish and Guarani.

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A key point in diglossia is that the two varieties are kept apart functionally.One variety, referred to as Low (L), is used at home or in other informal situations, however, if someone needs to give a lecture at a university or in any formal circumstance, (s)he is expected to use the other variety, referred to as High (H).
According to Wardhaugh (2006, p. 90), "The two varieties cannot be interchangeably used.]…[Youdo not use an H variety in circumstances calling for an L variety, e.g. for addressing a servant; nor does one use an L variety when an H variety is called for, e.g., for writing a serious work of literature".
In a diglossic situation, the two varieties have co-existed for a long time, sometimes, as in Arabic-speaking communities, for many centuries.Wardhaugh (2006: 89) asserts that "the phenomenon of diglossia is not ephemeral in nature: in fact, the opposite is true: it appears to be a persistent social and linguistic phenomenon".
Ferguson identifies four situations which show the major characteristics of this diglossic phenomenon: Arabic, Swiss German, Haitian (French and Creole), and Greek.
Arabic diglossic situation is of special interest for some sociolinguistics.Watson (2002) asserts that "Dialects of Arabic form a roughly continuous spectrum of variation, with the dialects spoken in the eastern and western extremes of the Arab-speaking world being mutually unintelligible" (p.8).
In an Arabic-speaking diglossic community, the two varieties are, on the one hand, Standard Arabic (H) and, on the other, the various regional colloquial Arabic dialects (L).For example, this "diglossic situation may also be found in Egypt, where both classical Arabic and colloquial Arabic is used" (Finch, 2005, p. 214).
Children, in the Arabic diglossic society, acquire the low variety at home.Some may simultaneously learn the high variety, usually at school, but many do not learn it at all.There has been this view that the spoken varieties of Arabic are corruptions of MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) or CA (Classical Arabic) as found in the Quran and are, therefore, less prestigious varieties of Arabic.According to Wardhaugh (2006): The H variety is the prestige variety; the L variety lacks prestige.In fact, there can be so little prestige attached to the L variety that people may even deny that they know it although they may be observed to use it far more frequently than the H variety]…[This feeling about the superiority of the H variety is reinforced by the fact that a body of literature exists in that variety and almost none in the L variety.That literature may reflect essential values about the culture.Speakers of Arabic in particular gain prestige from being able to allude to classical sources.The folk literature associated with the L variety will have none of the same prestige.(p.90) In a recent study, Jabbari (2012) has compared the Modern Standard Arabic and the Egyptian Colloquial Arabic.The article has introduced the drastic phonological, semantic, and morphosyntactic differences between the two varieties which have resulted in a mutual incomprehensibility.

Data of the Study
The data of the study are collated from an Iraqi Arabic language guide, titled Hamrah-e-Shoma dar Araq (literary meaning: with you in Iraq), by Ameri i and Zeighami ii (2007).The book is meant to be used by Iranian pilgrims to Iraq.It includes a good number of words, phrases, expressions and sentences in both Standard Arabic and Iraqi colloquial Arabic, with their translations into Persian.By Standard Arabic is meant the variety based on the speech and writing of educated native speakers of Arabic, e.g. the variety used by the Arab media.

Methodology
To illustrate the linguistic differences between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and Iraqi Colloquial Arabic (ICA), the Surface Strategy Taxonomy has been utilized.This perspective, "highlights the ways surface structures are altered" (Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982, p. 150).Categorizing linguistic items within the framework of the Surface Strategy Taxonomy helps researchers analyze linguistic alterations, in more details.To achieve this, (1) the collected data were transcribed phonemically iii , (2) the meanings were given in English, (3) when needed, a rough literal (morpheme-based) back translation of the (Arabic) examples into English was added, to help the non-Arab reader follow the discussions, and (4) necessary explanations were provided.

Pronunciation Key
Arabic shares a good number of phonemes with other languages.Yet, there are a few phonemes, only found in Arabic and some sister languages.The Arabic phonemes are presented in tables (1) to (4).

Data Analysis
In a diglossic situation "most linguistic items belong to one of the two non-overlapping sets" (Hudson, 2005, p.55).The differences between H and L are manifested in (1) grammar, (2) lexicon and (3) phonology.According to Dittmar (2000): "1-L has fewer grammatical (morphological) categories and a reduced system of inflection; H has a greater grammatical (morphological) complexity.
2-H and L have, in the main, a complementary lexicon.It is a particular characteristic of the diglossic situation that pairs are used situation-specifically with the same meaning in the H variety and the L variety.
3-H and L share one single phonological system, in which the L phonology represents the basic system and the deviant characteristics of the H phonology from a subsystem or parasystem"(p.120).
In the forthcoming sections, phonological, lexical and morpho-syntactic differences between MSA and ICA will be introduced and analyzed, in detail.

Phonological Differences
As regards phonology, "the L system will often appear to be the more basic]…[there is quite a difference between Classical Arabic and the colloquial varieties" (Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 91).

Some Arabic Phonological Rules
Standard Arabic, lacks consonants /ʧ/, /Ʒ/, /g/, /v/ and /p/, however, the first three sounds, are not ruled out in different colloquial varieties of Arabic.The only phonemes not found in any variety of Arabic are the voiceless bilabial stop/p/ iv and the voiced labio-dental fricative /v/.
Arabic syllable structure is CV(C)(C).It means that: (a) any syllable necessarily starts with a consonant, (b) the initial consonant is necessarily followed by a vowel, i.e. consonant clusters are not allowed syllable initially, and (c) the (nucleus) vowel can be followed by 0 up to 2 consonants.Some phonological differences between the MSA and ICA are: In ICA the empty morph /ʔi-/ may be added to the beginning of a word, while the following vowel is deleted.This phonological rule usually occurs in words of more than one syllable.This way the initial syllable changes from CV (in MSA) to CVC (in ICA).This phonological process is very productive in ICA and may happen in words of different parts of speech.Examples ( 23) to ( 30) are examples of this rule.The deleted vowels are underlined, and the syllable boundaries are marked (ˡ): ( A good example of the said reduced system of inflection is the tendency of /u(n)/, /a(n)/, /i(n)/ deletion word finally in ICA.This deletion, also mentioned as a phonological process, is of morphological importance too.As a matter of fact, the said deleted items are verb suffices or case markers.

Meaning
The price of these products for the customer is 1000 dollars.

Table 1 .
Consonants Specific to Arabic /ʔaridu hiða:ʔ-an riʤa:lij-an qijas-a ɵala:ɵat-in wa ɵala:ɵin-a/ /ʔarid-Ø hiða:ʔ-Ø riʤa:lij-Ø qijas-Ø ɵala:ɵ-Ø wa ɵala:ɵin-Ø/ I want a man shoe of a size 33.5.1.3.Occasional Phonological changesOccasional phonological changes are those ones which do not take place systematically and frequently.They can be found in only few examples.Occasional phonological changes are of different types.Some examples are as follows: Palmer (2000, P. 120) asserts that "L has fewer grammatical (morphological) categories and a reduced system of inflection; H has a greater grammatical (morphological) complexity".This implies that the two varieties do not necessarily follow the same set of grammatical rules.