THE TEACHING O F SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ARABIC Frederic J. Cadora American University of Beirut zyxwv zyxw zyxwv zyxwvu zyxw IT IS AXIOMATIC in modern linguistic science that the spoken language is primary and that the written language is derived from or is a reflection of it. The spoken form is primary for two reasons: (1)It appeared in the history of the human race before the written form. (2) It is acquired in the history of the individual human before reading and writing. This motivates linguisticallygeared pedagogy to teach the spoken language before the written language. It seems that the only possible and effective way of teaching the two versions of a language to the child is by spoonfeeding the spoken form of the parents until such time whenthe child has acquired a minimum proficiency in oral communication and has developed adequacy in manual coordination.l To facilitate effective teaching of the written language, modern progressive linguistic pedagogy applies this postulate of historical development synchronically. It maintains, therefore, that a mastery of the spoken language is an essential prerequisite to the study of the written language. It bases this on the assumption that the student of written lumguage takes recourse automatically to the internulized spoken langtdage in order to elicit auxiliary information which will resolve graphic and structural complexities and ambiguities.2 The language teacher trained in linguistics will not deny this selfevident principle. However, in language areas, such as the Arab world, where cultural factors and communicative tensions led to the development of a triglossia situation, the linguistic set-up goes partly against the stated postulate. In methodologically feasible terms, the teacher is confronted with three different coexisting spoken languages each with a definite normative role and one of which is also the written language. Then, on the basis of the above assumption, the obvious question is: Which one of the three, once mastered first, will contribute the most highly significant infomation to the learning of the other two? ‘It i s noteworthy to add that most languages of the world today have no written forms; moreover, the best orthography i s still an imperfect representation of speech. It i s not surprising therefore, that from the outset modern linguistic s c i e n c e c h o s e the spoken language a s i t s main domain of operation. 2Paul Denlinger, “Why Teach Spoken Chinese?” Language Learning. XII, 4 (1962), 289-293. 133 134 zyxw zyx zyx zyxwvuts LANGUAGE LEARNING, VOL. X V , NOS. 3 & 4 In the Arab world, spoken dialectal Arabic (SDA) varies not only from country to country and town to town, but even from village to village, quarter to quarter, and family to family, not to mention from person to person. Concurrently there exists a standard language (Modern Standard Arabic ‘MSA’) which is both written and spoken, and a common mixed spoken language (Intercommon Spoken Arabic ‘ISA’) “of relatively uncodified, somewhat unstable, intermediate forms.”3 In other words, “people who have broadened their horizons through a modicum of education, travel, reading, and the like. . .do not always stick exclusively to either the commonplace dialect or the prestige standard language .4 Finally, MSA in general terms a syntactically simplified and lexically and phonetically modified form of Classical Arabic, is restricted in use to formal occasions: speeches, news broadcasts, learned debates, their written counterparts, poetry, prose, etc. It can be generally stated that ISA is derived essentially from a form of Arabic equivalent to the pausalized system of MSA and one or more of the dialects. Furthermore, SDA is derived from a koine 11, the structural system of which seems to be approximately identical with ISA.5 Given this sequential linguistic relationship, the following stages can be set up for the instruction of written and spoken Arabic: 3Charles Ferguson, “Diglossia,” Word, XV (1959), 332. He relates that i t i s tantamount to the kind of spoken Arabic much used in semi-formal or cross-dialectal situations. 4Haim Blanc, “Stylistic Variations in Spoken Arabic: A Sample of Interdialectal Educated Conversation,” in Contribufions to Arabic Linguistics, ed. Charles Ferguson, (Cambridge, 1960), p. 81. He related that “It i s a classicized and levelled form of the dialects.” ISA has not received the attention that i t deserves by linguists. Labels such as “Middle Arabic” and “Elevated Arabic” should be avoided altogether, for the former utilizes a term which now belongs to historical linguistics, and the latter betrays pseudo stylistic or social stratification. The Shimlan School of Arabic Studies (Lebanon) is the only institution (to my knowledge) which h a s devoted equal attention to this form of Arabic and developed a grammar, however, based on a traditional approach, for its instruction. A. Frayha relates that “there i s now a spoken Arabic dialect which may be called the spoken Arabic of the educated class. It i s this Arabic which should b e . . .taken into account when teaching conversational Arabic.” The Essentials of Arabic (Beirut, 1958) p. 250. It is interesting to note that the Arab child during the six years of h i s elementary school education i s exposed to this form of language. “In dealing with conversation, storytelling, and other types of oral expression, the teacher is instructed not to impose upon the child the classical pattern. Instead, he i s directed to accept what they say and encourage them to move gradually towards the adoption of that modern pattern of Arabic used by the educated members of the society.” Mohmoud Rushdi, Khater, The Teaching of Arabic in the Arab World, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C. Furthermore, ISA is on the way to standardization for speaking and writing. Already in 1956 Tawfiq al-Hakim used the “third language” (a s it w a s termed by him) successfully for the dialogue in his play As-Su/ a (“The Deal”), Al-hlatbaca al-Namudhijiyya, 1956. !Charles Ferguson, “The Arabic Koin;,” Language. 35 (1959) 6 1 6 3 0 . zy zy zyxwvut TEACHING OF SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ARABIC 135 ( 1 ) Modem Standard Arabic: (both spoken and written) is t o be taught with a great deal of attention devoted to the study of pausal forms.6 In any case since modern linguistic pedagogy utilizedthe so-called audiolingual method, then theoretically the spoken version is taught simultaneously with its graphic r e p r e ~ e n t a t i o n . ~ ( 2 ) Intercommon Spoken Arabic: is t o be taught next, perhaps concurrently with MSA after the basic structural elements of the latter have been dealt with. MSA pausal forms have been generalized throughout the ISA system eliminating all inflectional endings of the verb and noun except in borrowed words, terms, o r expressions from MSA and in some items which retain semantically significant markers (feminine endings i n verb and noun, adjective; dual ending in the noun, and the generalized oblique masculine plural). This difficult task of shifting from a synthetic t o an analytic system has been anticipated in the study of pausal forms in MSA. The vocabulary (learned and technical) is predominantly that of MSA, while the morphology and syntax overlap to a great extent with the dialectal. Once the morphology of the ISA system has been mastered, learning those of the dialects becomes an easy procedure. The phonological system of ISA can be taught by postulatinga set of transfer rules to account for all deviations and changes from the MSA system.8 ( 3 ) Dialectal Arabic: whatever the dialect, will be found relatively easy to learn by the prospective student who has gone through the previous two stages. In other words, the transition from ISA to any one of the diverse dialects should be made without too much difficulty. The grammar has been covered i n ISA; the learning task entails primarily coverage of minimum tangential structural and lexical material indigenous to the particular area. Here the more intercommon and classical features are eliminated in favor of localisms: popular expressions, names for objects of a very localized distribution which have no equivalents in the other two systems, etc? zyxwv zyxwvu +he best linguistic treatment of pausal forms in particular and MSA in general i s found in E. McCarus and Adil Yacoub's E l e m e n f s of Confemporary Arabic. Ann Arbor, 1962. 'Waldo Sweet has used this method successfully in the teaching of Latin. Note for example, Lafin: A Structural Approach (Ann Arbor, 1957). 'This i s not to suggest that there i s one unified ISA language. At the present, agreement a s to the characteristics of these intermediate forms rests on geography. For example, the Shimlan ISA texts are restricted to an Eastern form of Arabic. %or dialectal literature s e e Arabic Dialect Studies: A s e l e c t e d Bibliography, ed. H. Soblernan (Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics of the Modern Language Association and the Middle East Institute, 1962). 136 zyxw zyx zyx zyxwvutsr LANGUAGE LEARNING, VOL. XV, NOS. 3 & 4 Such a plan conforms to the stated axiom except that the subsidies of information go unidirectionally from the written form (which is also spoken) to the two other spoken forms. What has taken place diachronically is taught synchronically in a parallel manner. Practical utility of Arabic is gained by means of these pedagogical steps in outline for it seems highly impractical to teach the prospective student of Arabic one particular dialect and let him loose in the Arab World. It will be extremely difficult for him to communicate across dialectal borders; whereas ,proficiency in ISA will allow him to communicate effectively everywhere. Furthermore, should he desire to remain in a particular dialect area for an extended period of time, he can make the transitional and contingent modifications easily and speedily from ISA. Lastly, a knowledge of MSA will enable him to deal with the rest of linguistic situations, written or spoken. lo In retrospect, all three forms are spoken, and each plays a definite normative role in the society. The suggested procedure will provide a smooth transition from the 'formal' to the 'semiformal' and then to the 'informals kind of Arabic. Of utmost importance, however , is the filtering process, for overfiltering of MSA features into ISA and SDA is linguistically acceptable to the native speaker but not the reverse process.ll The shift from one stage to another represents an effective transition from more complex but 'rigid' materials to less intricate but 'fluid' materials. This constitutes an easy way of learning Arabic since the beginning student learns 'words' as lexical items rather than morphological forms; it is only a matter of pronunciation at this point.12 Furthermore, MSA is the common denominator of all SDA; it bridges them all, unifying them and facilitating passage from one to another via ISA. None of these are dispensible for the student of Arabic, and since MSA is both written and spoken, the ultimate goal of mastering both versions of the language will have been achieved. zyxw "Anis Frayha relates that "he had to follow a procedure which is diametrically opposed to new methods which insist upon the 'spoken word' rather than on dead words in books.. .; thereason for this choice is the unfortunate situation in Arabic wherein exist two Ehree: F J g living languages. . On the basis of 25 years of experience in teaching Arabic to foreigners, it was found that students who begin with Classical Arabic [MSa learn the spoken ISA and SDA readily and with no difficulty but not vice versa." The Essentials o/ Arubic. 2nd ed. (Beirut, 1958). p. VIII. "The only exception to the latter i s the use of the SDA system of numerals in the spoken version of MSA. 12Professor E. McCarus suggests that this constitures a psychological justification for this teaching sequence. Personal communication. ..