3.
1
Class
The first large-scale survey of language and social class was conducted in New York City by William
Labov in the early 1960s (Labov 1966). Labov was interested in pronunciation features, not grammar or
vocabulary, because he believed that pronunciation is a more fine-grained indicator of social differences.
Partly this is due to the fact that individual vowel sand consonants occur far more frequently in the flow
of speech than do particular grammatical constructions or words (indeed, we can’t say anything at all
without them). Labov argued that it was important to obtain a representative sample of speakers from the
town or city under investigation, in order to be sure of revealing any systematic relationships between the
use of language and social factors, particularly class, gender and ethnicity. He also devised the
sociolinguistic interview, incorporating sections where the interviewee will be as relaxed as possible and
others where they are asked to read sentences and word lists, forcing them to pay attention to their speech
as much as possible. He termed these styles.
3.2
Ethnicity
In Britain, the investigation of language and ethnicity has tended to focus on working-class young people
living in the inner city, and to take much greater care in creating more natural contexts for the recordings.
The first large-scale study was that by Viv Edwards (1986), who recorded young people of Jamaican
descent in Dudley in the West Midlands. At that time, a form of Jamaican creole, locally known as Patois,
was used by many of the Afro-Caribbean population, including those born in Britain. Edwards expanded
Labov’s and Trudgill’s interview design by having people speak in a group rather than on their own, and
by varying the interviewer by age (young or older) and ethnicity (black or white).
The role of geographic location in
linguistic diversity and the
development of regional dialects has
always been a
recurrent topic in sociolinguistic
studies. For years, it was believed that
geographic location or distance had a
considerable effect on the way people
use language and hence the emergence
of regional dialects (Holmes, 2008;
Wardhaugh, 2006; Wardhaugh &
Fuller, 2015). These studies and the
like are now referred to as research
traditions in sociolinguistics. With the
emergence of globalization and the
development of unprecedented
communication channels between
people, different studies have come to
raise doubts in relation to the effect of
geographic location on linguistic
diversity. The main argument is that
geographic location has no connection
with language variation (Auer, 2013;
Auer & Schmidt, 2010; Beal, 2010).
In the face of this, this article
investigates the role of geographic
location on language use in Egyptian
and Saudi Arabic. The study is based
on
a corpus of colloquial spoken
Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. Data is
abstracted from two radio shows.
These are (1)
the Egyptian radio show Ish Sabahak
(Live Your Morning) on Nogoum FM
Radio Channel and (2) the Saudi
radio show Caffeine on Mix FM.
The role of geographic location in linguistic diversity and the development of regional dialects has always
been a recurrent topic in sociolinguistic studies. For years, it was believed that geographic location or
distance had a considerable effect on the way people use language and hence the emergence of regional
dialects (Holmes, 2008; Wardhaugh, 2006; Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015). These studies and the like are
now referred to as research traditions in sociolinguistics. With the emergence of globalization and the
development of unprecedented communication channels between people, different studies have come to
raise doubts in relation to the effect of geographic location on linguistic diversity. The main argument is
that geographic location has no connection with language variation (Auer, 2013; Auer & Schmidt, 2010;
Beal, 2010). In the face of this, this article investigates the role of geographic location on language use in
Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. The study is based on a corpus of colloquial spoken Egyptian and Saudi
Arabic. Data is abstracted from two radio shows. These are (1) the Egyptian radio show Ish Sabahak
(Live Your Morning) on Nogoum FM Radio Channel and (2) the Saudi radio show Caffeine on Mix FM.
Numerous studies have been concerned with the relationship between geographic location and linguistic
diversity. This is usually referred to in the literature as regional variation linguistics, a subdiscipline
within sociolinguistics (Beal, 2010; Hargraves, 2003; Hughes, & McArthur, 2002; Peters, 2007; Trudgill
& Hannah, 2008; Trudgill, & Watt, 2015). The main argument of these studies indicates that there are
significant linguistic differences within languages in general and that geographic location or space plays
an important role in linguistic diversity. Some studies even go beyond indicating that in spite of
globalization and the increasing advancement in telecommunication tools, features of dialect are still clear
markers of regional and local identity (Beal, 2010). According to Trousdale (2010), all languages have
dialectical variations. These variations, or dialects, can differ in phonology, morphology, spelling,
vocabulary, and/or syntax from the standard language that many people often think of wrongly as the
“correct” language. He asserts that geographic background has a significant role in linguistic diversity. In
the same way, Syal & Jindal (2007) argue that languages vary from one place to another where speakers
of the same language use it differently based on the place where they live. Beal (2010) agrees that
geographic location leads to the emergence of dialectal variations within a language. These variations,
however, are governed by mutual intelligibility where speakers of a language can understand each other.
The study of language variation, or what is technically referred to as dialects, is the concern of
dialectology, a discipline in sociolinguistics. The emergence of dialects or language variation can be
attributed to some primary factors. These include geographic location, class, education, occupation,
ethnicity, sex, and age (Matras, 2009; Wardhaugh, 2006). This article, however, is concerned with
regional differences in relation to spoken Arabic. To put it into effect, the study investigates the
differences between Egyptian and Saudi Arabic concerning the use of intensifiers. In regional variation,
the assumption is that there is a connection between language and space or location. Numerous studies
have indicated that geographic location plays an essential role in language variation and the emergence of
dialects. That is, when speakers of the same group are geographically apart, it is more likely that they use
language differently. In England, for instance, geographic location is an important element in identifying
the dialects that are spoken over the country. English speakers in the North East, for instance, pronounce
bus as /bus/, which is different from RP. It is also claimed that space and location have been essential in
the emergence of a new variety of English that came to be known as General American English which is
different from the UK varieties. Historically, when people moved from England to America, they brought
their language with them. However, for contact and communication reasons, the English they used to
speak began to change in different ways. One main change was the adoption of local forms on the level of
vocabulary and the takeover of lexemes from other languages. Increasingly, American English as a
language drew on its own resources and became less and less dependent on the English motherland
(Algeo, 2010). Today there are so many differences between British and American English. It is always
said: “two nations divided by a common language”, a saying which is attributed to many including Dylan
Thomas, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde. The implication is that barriers of
geographic location become linguistic barriers. The emergence of linguistic differences due to time and
distance relation is referred to in the literature as “contagious diffusion” (Wolfram & Schilling, 2016, p.
144). The implication here is that the emergence of dialectal variations is bound to the movement of a
language from one place to another. In our case, Arabic moved from Arabia to Egypt and this movement
has brought about different linguistic differences.
The role of geographic location in
linguistic diversity and the
development of regional dialects has
always been a
recurrent topic in sociolinguistic
studies. For years, it was believed that
geographic location or distance had a
considerable effect on the way people
use language and hence the emergence
of regional dialects (Holmes, 2008;
Wardhaugh, 2006; Wardhaugh &
Fuller, 2015). These studies and the
like are now referred to as research
traditions in sociolinguistics. With the
emergence of globalization and the
development of unprecedented
communication channels between
people, different studies have come to
raise doubts in relation to the effect of
geographic location on linguistic
diversity. The main argument is that
geographic location has no connection
with language variation (Auer, 2013;
Auer & Schmidt, 2010; Beal, 2010).
In the face of this, this article
investigates the role of geographic
location on language use in Egyptian
and Saudi Arabic. The study is based
on
a corpus of colloquial spoken
Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. Data is
abstracted from two radio shows.
These are (1)
the Egyptian radio show Ish Sabahak
(Live Your Morning) on Nogoum FM
Radio Channel and (2) the Saudi
radio show Caffeine on Mix FM.
The role of geographic location in
linguistic diversity and the
development of regional dialects has
always been a
recurrent topic in sociolinguistic
studies. For years, it was believed that
geographic location or distance had a
considerable effect on the way people
use language and hence the emergence
of regional dialects (Holmes, 2008;
Wardhaugh, 2006; Wardhaugh &
Fuller, 2015). These studies and the
like are now referred to as research
traditions in sociolinguistics. With the
emergence of globalization and the
development of unprecedented
communication channels between
people, different studies have come to
raise doubts in relation to the effect of
geographic location on linguistic
diversity. The main argument is that
geographic location has no connection
with language variation (Auer, 2013;
Auer & Schmidt, 2010; Beal, 2010).
In the face of this, this article
investigates the role of geographic
location on language use in Egyptian
and Saudi Arabic. The study is based
on
a corpus of colloquial spoken
Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. Data is
abstracted from two radio shows.
These are (1)
the Egyptian radio show Ish Sabahak
(Live Your Morning) on Nogoum FM
Radio Channel and (2) the Saudi
radio show Caffeine on Mix FM.
The role of geographic location in
linguistic diversity and the
development of regional dialects has
always been a
recurrent topic in sociolinguistic
studies. For years, it was believed that
geographic location or distance had a
considerable effect on the way people
use language and hence the emergence
of regional dialects (Holmes, 2008;
Wardhaugh, 2006; Wardhaugh &
Fuller, 2015). These studies and the
like are now referred to as research
traditions in sociolinguistics. With the
emergence of globalization and the
development of unprecedented
communication channels between
people, different studies have come to
raise doubts in relation to the effect of
geographic location on linguistic
diversity. The main argument is that
geographic location has no connection
with language variation (Auer, 2013;
Auer & Schmidt, 2010; Beal, 2010).
In the face of this, this article
investigates the role of geographic
location on language use in Egyptian
and Saudi Arabic. The study is based
on
a corpus of colloquial spoken
Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. Data is
abstracted from two radio shows.
These are (1)
the Egyptian radio show Ish Sabahak
(Live Your Morning) on Nogoum FM
Radio Channel and (2) the Saudi
radio show Caffeine on Mix FM.
