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A linguistic innovation of women in Cairo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Niloofar Haeri
Niloofar Haeri
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

This article investigates the sociolinguistic variable of apical palatalization in Cairene Arabic. First, I discuss its linguistic features and then its sociolinguistic distribution. The significance of palatalization as a sociolinguistic variable is its status as a stylistic resource of Cairene Arabic. Depending on the complex interaction of a number of factors, some Egyptians use features of Classical Arabic while speaking in Egyptian Arabic for stylistic purposes. Palatalization, on the other hand, is an example of a stylistic resource that belongs to Cairene Arabic proper. The roles of gender and social class in the distribution of palatalization are explored in some detail. As in a number of other speech communities, women in Cairo seem to have been the innovators of this sound change.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 87 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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