Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria
Arabic diglossia, whereby Standard Arabic (SA) exists alongside numerous vernaculars, often leads to diglossic style-shifting, based on context or topic changes and marked in the vernacular by shifting to standard linguistic features. While this phenomenon has been widely studied in the speech of ed...
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2024-10-01
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| author | Ourooba Shetewi Karen P. Corrigan Ghada Khattab |
| author_facet | Ourooba Shetewi Karen P. Corrigan Ghada Khattab |
| author_sort | Ourooba Shetewi |
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| description | Arabic diglossia, whereby Standard Arabic (SA) exists alongside numerous vernaculars, often leads to diglossic style-shifting, based on context or topic changes and marked in the vernacular by shifting to standard linguistic features. While this phenomenon has been widely studied in the speech of educated adults, research on diglossic style-shifting by children and adolescents has been rather limited. This paper investigates how it operates amongst 3–17-year-olds from a Bedouin speech community of Palestinian refugees in Syria. It examines context effects on realizations of the variables (θ) and (ð), which overlap with local realizations and (q), which has a standard realization ([q]) that is independent of dialectal variation in the community. Participants were recorded during sociolinguistic interviews and a picture-naming task, the latter being expected to evoke a school setting and prompt the use of more standard realizations, signaling diglossic style-shifting in their speech. Style-shifting was influenced by age, context, and the linguistic variables under examination. While picture-naming prompted greater use of standard realizations of all variables, shifting to [q] also appeared during the interview in lexical borrowings from SA, revealing topic effects on diglossic style-shifting. Children aged 6–14 exhibited more style-shifting in picture-naming, likely reflecting the central role of school in their lives, while the speech of 15–17-year-olds contained more lexical borrowing with [q]. This likely reflects their larger linguistic repertoires and longer exposure to SA than their younger peers. These findings indicate that SA plays a key role in participants’ linguistic practices and reflect their awareness of how to employ it appropriately in their speech. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-aa62a55ce5934afd8cec13f43a03bd6d2024-11-26T18:09:55ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2024-10-0191134110.3390/languages9110341Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in SyriaOurooba Shetewi0Karen P. Corrigan1Ghada Khattab2Department of English Language and Literature, Hama University, Hama, SyriaSchool of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKSchool of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKArabic diglossia, whereby Standard Arabic (SA) exists alongside numerous vernaculars, often leads to diglossic style-shifting, based on context or topic changes and marked in the vernacular by shifting to standard linguistic features. While this phenomenon has been widely studied in the speech of educated adults, research on diglossic style-shifting by children and adolescents has been rather limited. This paper investigates how it operates amongst 3–17-year-olds from a Bedouin speech community of Palestinian refugees in Syria. It examines context effects on realizations of the variables (θ) and (ð), which overlap with local realizations and (q), which has a standard realization ([q]) that is independent of dialectal variation in the community. Participants were recorded during sociolinguistic interviews and a picture-naming task, the latter being expected to evoke a school setting and prompt the use of more standard realizations, signaling diglossic style-shifting in their speech. Style-shifting was influenced by age, context, and the linguistic variables under examination. While picture-naming prompted greater use of standard realizations of all variables, shifting to [q] also appeared during the interview in lexical borrowings from SA, revealing topic effects on diglossic style-shifting. Children aged 6–14 exhibited more style-shifting in picture-naming, likely reflecting the central role of school in their lives, while the speech of 15–17-year-olds contained more lexical borrowing with [q]. This likely reflects their larger linguistic repertoires and longer exposure to SA than their younger peers. These findings indicate that SA plays a key role in participants’ linguistic practices and reflect their awareness of how to employ it appropriately in their speech.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/11/341diglossic style-shiftingchildren’s sociolinguistic awarenesschildren’s linguistic development |
| spellingShingle | Ourooba Shetewi Karen P. Corrigan Ghada Khattab Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria Languages diglossic style-shifting children’s sociolinguistic awareness children’s linguistic development |
| title | Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria |
| title_full | Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria |
| title_fullStr | Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria |
| title_full_unstemmed | Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria |
| title_short | Children’s Multilectal Repertoires: Diglossic Style-Shifting by Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria |
| title_sort | children s multilectal repertoires diglossic style shifting by palestinian children and adolescents in syria |
| topic | diglossic style-shifting children’s sociolinguistic awareness children’s linguistic development |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/11/341 |
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