Like other Arab countries, students in Egypt will encounter at least two forms of Arabic. The first is the language of everyday life known as ‘amiya, meaning common language, or masrī, meaning Egyptian dialect. ‘Amiya is the language Egyptians grow up learning as a mother tongue. It is the language used in the home, in everyday communication, and in popular media like TV shows, movies, and advertisements.
Fushā, meaning eloquent speech, refers to Modern Standard Arabic which is learned in school almost like a second language. It is a simplified from of classical Arabic, the language of the Holy Quran. Egyptians consider MSA a “higher” language than ‘amiya and reserve this language for formal settings such as news broadcasts, newspaper articles, political speeches, and poetry.
A cultural situation in which there exists two forms of the same language is what linguists call diglossia. Today, we take it for granted that each country speaks one standardized language. French is the language of France. Italian the language of Italy. But what we call Italian, French, or Spanish are standardized forms derived from numerous local and regional dialects, which can still be heard spoken today throughout the world. The idea that every country should speak one language is rather new in human history.
In the next section, we will explore where the different dialects of Arabic come from, their relationship to the classical language of the Quran, and how Modern Standard Arabic came to be the official language of Egypt. This history will give you a deeper insight into the context of diglossia and give you a new perspective on your own native language.
A brief history of Arabic languages
The Arabic language we know today traces its roots back to the Arabian Peninsula in the period before the founding of Islam in seventh century C.E. In that time, the Arabian Peninsula was home to numerous nomadic tribes and cities that were nodes in trade routes extending to Asia, Africa, and the Indian ocean. The tribes of Arabia spoke many different dialects. The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him (PBUH), was from the tribe of Quraysh. When God delivered his message to Muhammad (PBUH), it came in an Arabic closely resembling the dialect of the Quraysh tribe.
In little more than 100 years after the death of Muhammad, the tribal confederation that he united under Islam had evolved into a vast empire stretching from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Indus River in the east. This empire brought together peoples representing numerous language families very different from the spoken dialects of the Arabian Peninsula. Aware of the danger such linguistic diversity posed to the original Arabic of the Holy Quran, Muslims developed a sophisticated system, what today we call philology, for identifying the precise meaning of Arabic presented in the Quran and studying the subtle differences between Arabic dialects.
The Arabic philologists largely succeeded in standardizing the language of the Quran so that non-native Arabic speakers could learn the language and use it writing and speech without introducing elements of their own language. But in the premodern age, only a small minority had the privilege of learning the highly standardized grammar and vast vocabulary of a language like classical Arabic. Classical language remained the language of the elite.
But Arabization was also happening below the thin strata of the literate population. Arabic came to enjoy wider use as greater numbers converted to Islam, interacted with the Islamic states that governed their territory, or wanted to trade across the vast territories of those empires. The interaction between common people and classical Arabic resulted in the development of various regional dialects combining the grammar and syntax both languages. Students toady can see this in the various ancient Egyptian words still used in the colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
In the nineteenth century, the introduction of the printing press, the need for increased translations from European languages, and the expansion of literacy stimulated efforts to standardize a simplified form of classical Arabic. Numerous individuals and institutions associated with the literary and cultural movement known as the Nahda, or Arab Renaissance, participated in this movement. Their efforts contributed to the formation of the Modern Standard Arabic used today. Later in the twentieth century, politicians and thinkers developed the ideas of pan-Arabism that asserted that all Arabic speakers should unite in a single country. The dream of uniting all Arabs under a single political authority contributed to the adoption of Arabic as the official language of Egypt.
What are the differences between Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial?
There are many syntactic differences between Modern Standard and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Perhaps the most difficult for students of Arabic, both speakers of English and native speakers of Arabic dialect, is the case system of Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. In languages that use case systems, each word in a sentence takes on a unique form based on its grammatical function. For example, if you say “I go to the hotel” in Modern Standard you say = ‘adhhbu ‘ilā al-funduqi” [أریدُ أن أذھ َب إلى فند ِق]. Notice the short vowel u at the end of the word for “go” ‘adhhab and the short vowel i at the end of the word for hotel funduq. The short vowel i is determined by the fact that hotel funduq comes after the preposition “to” (‘ilā). If you were to say “I bought the hotel” you would say ‘ishtiraytu al-funduqa. Notice that in this sentence funduq takes the short vowel a. This is because the word hotel is a direct object of the verb to buy ishtiraytu and thus takes it accusative case.
In Egyptian colloquial, you don’t have to worry about a lot of grammatical rules such as this. In fact, in Egyptian colloquial often forgoes prepositions like “to.” Notice the greater simplicity of the two examples above when translated into Egyptian colloquial. I go to the hotel =Rayah al-funduq. I bought the hotel=ishtiraytu al-funduq. Despite the simpler grammar, you see that Egyptian colloquial Arabic shares a great deal of vocabulary with its Standard and Classical cousins. So whatever Kalīmāt course you choose, you will be laying a good foundation for learning other varieties of Arabic. Moreover, because Egypt is the Hollywood of the Arab world, Egyptian colloquial is understood and used for communication throughout the Arab world.