Arabic Diglossia. Specificity and Problems

      Аннотация: The present work offers an original analysis of one of the most interesting sociolinguistic phenomena – diglossia, which at present is especially topical for the Arabophonic world. In the authors’ view, diglossive opposition in the Arabic reality is complex also due to the fact that on the one side there are two literary languages, and on the other one – more than 20 dialects. In a single context, an overview of some other topics are given as well. One of them is related with development and popularity of fiction created in the dialect, namely Egyptian dialect, which, as the authors believe, causes and will cause a number of transformations in the linguistic and literary picture. The authors link this phenomenon with the problem of national/ethnic identity as well. The concept of heterography is introduced, which is reflected in the possibility of different oral deciphering of one and the same Arabic graphic text. In the work the code-switching is also discussed, as well as some problems of interrelation of the literary and non-literary Arabic language. Other issues, discussed in the work, include some specific features of teaching the Arabic language.

Ключевые слова: Arabic, Code-switching, Dialect, Diglossia, Egyptian, Literature, Sociolinguistics, heterography