The effect of Arabic dialects variation on communication : the Arabic word as an example

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate a sociolinguistic phenomenon related to diaglossia. Lets first distinguish between this term and another overlapping one, bilingualism. The first refers to a linguistic dualism traceable to dialects and internal linguistic variation, as is the case with Arabic dialects. The second term means two languages of the same status for individuals or groups.

It is well known that Arabic comprised various dialects that once shared one fundamental element, but varied from each other. This variation was discussed at length by the ancients. One such variation was manifest in polysemy and homonyms. One dialect designated one referent with one word, while another dialect used the same word to refer to another object. This inconsistency leads to a certain degree of ambiguity and sometimes to misunderstanding in classical Arabic.

The basic gist of this argument falls into four major headings: first, an explication of the title of the paper and clarification of its topic; secondly, presentation of vocabulary items and speech events to show how the difference in dialect-based lexical meaning contributed to the emergence of ambiguity in classical Arabic; thirdly, the effect of the current dialectal differences on the vocabulary meaning of contemporary Arabic; Fourthly, an explanation of this variation between dialects.

The paper concludes with a suggested conceptual framework for this notion and a proposed solution for this sociolinguistic dilemma resulting from diaglossia.