Arabic cross-dialectal conversations with implications for the teaching of Arabic as a second language
This research is divided into two interlinked parts. The first part reviews literature on the diglossia and variability of the Arabic language and investigates how mutual intelligibility is achieved in informal conversations between speakers of different Arabic dialects. 11 conversations were recorded between speakers of 12 Arabic dialects. Instances of borrowing from Modern Standard Arabic were observed and analysed. The participants were also interviewed after the recorded conversations in order to get more insight into the listening comprehension strategies that they applied to achieve intelligibility. The results show that the native speakers tend to rely mostly on their native dialect in cross-dialectal interaction with a much smaller number of borrowings from Modern Standard Arabic in comparison with previous studies. A number of listening strategies were observed to be used in order to aid intelligibility. These strategies included making use of the context, ignoring non-content words and making use of their linguistic knowledge and the root and pattern system in Arabic as a frame of reference in comprehending unfamiliar cognates. The analysis also showed that dialect familiarity has a major role in
Soliman, Rasha Kadry Abdelatti Mohamed
Arabic cross-dialectal conversations with implications for the teaching of Arabic as a second language. This research is divided into two interlinked parts. The first part reviews literature on the diglossia and variability of the Arabic language and investigates how mutual intelligibility is achieved in informal conversations between speakers of different Arabic dialects. 11 conversations were recorded between speakers of 12 Arabic dialects. Instances of borrowing from Modern Standard Arabic were observed and analysed. The participants were also interviewed after the recorded conversations in order to get more insight into the listening comprehension strategies that they applied to achieve intelligibility. The results show that the native speakers tend to rely mostly on their native dialect in cross-dialectal interaction with a much smaller number of borrowings from Modern Standard Arabic in comparison with previous studies. A number of listening strategies were observed to be used in order to aid intelligibility. These strategies included making use of the context, ignoring non-content words and making use of their linguistic knowledge and the root and pattern system in Arabic as a frame of reference in comprehending unfamiliar cognates. The analysis also showed that dialect familiarity has a major role in
arabic cross dialectal conversation implication_teach arabic second_language divide_two interlinked part first_part review_literature variability arabic_language investigate mutual intelligibility achieve informal conversation speaker different arabic_dialect conversation record speaker arabic_dialect borrow modern_standard_arabic observe analyse participant also interview recorded conversation order get insight listen_comprehension strategy apply achieve intelligibility show native_speaker tend rely mostly native dialect cross dialectal interaction much_small number borrowing modern_standard_arabic comparison previous_study number listen strategy observe used order aid intelligibility strategy include make_use context ignore non content word make_use linguistic_knowledge root pattern system arabic frame_reference comprehend unfamiliar cognate analysis also_show dialect familiarity major_role