Problems of Diglossia in Arabic A Comparative Study of Classical and Iraqi Arabic

Diglossia has been defined as 'A relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation.'In the light of this general definition, the problem of Arabic diglossia can best be illustrated by outlining salient functional and structural characteristics of the varieties of Arabic existing side by side in the Arab world.Altoma, Salih J. is the author of 'Problems of Diglossia in Arabic A Comparative Study of Classical and Iraqi Arabic' with ISBN 9780674707757 and ISBN 0674707753.