Reem Bassiouney | American University in Cairo (original) (raw)

Papers by Reem Bassiouney

Functions of Code Switching in Egypt, 2005

This book examines diglossia within the framework of code-switching through an analysis of negati... more This book examines diglossia within the framework of code-switching through an analysis of negation, deixis, and mood marking in Arabic monologues. It reassesses theoretical approaches to diglossia and code-switching in the light of empirical data, and examines the discourse functions of code-switching and the factors that influence it.

Language and Identity in Modern Egypt, 2014

The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, 2017

Arabic Sociolinguistics, 2020

vs. concrete code-switching, 83 Abu-Haidar, F., 18, 107-9, 126n, 157 Abu-Lughod, L., 136, 137, 14... more vs. concrete code-switching, 83 Abu-Haidar, F., 18, 107-9, 126n, 157 Abu-Lughod, L., 136, 137, 145, 151-4,

Arabic Grammars of Turkic, 1999

This first in-depth study of Arabic grammars of Turkic and the translation of Kitāb al-’Idrāk Li-... more This first in-depth study of Arabic grammars of Turkic and the translation of Kitāb al-’Idrāk Li-Lisān al-’Atrāk provides important new insights in the application of the Arabic model to Turkic in phonetics, morpho(no)logy and syntax.

Language and Identity in Modern Egypt, 2014

The aim of this work is to examine how language is used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminat... more The aim of this work is to examine how language is used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminate the collective identity of Egyptians, and how this identity is then made manifest in language form and content. The data used to identify the collective identity of Egyptians in public discourse includes newspaper articles, caricatures, blogs, patriotic songs, films, school textbooks, television talk shows, poetry, and, finally, Egyptian novels that deal with the theme of identity. Edwards (2009: 20) stipulates that "individual identities will be both components and reflections of particular social (or cultural) ones, and the latter will always be, to some extent at least, stereotypic in nature because of their necessary generality across the individual components." That is, the influence of public discourse in providing a coherent unified identity to all Egyptians is essential, even on the level of individual identity. What concerns us here is the individual as a member of an imagined "coherent group." A collective identity may be stereotypic, exclusive, built on myths, detached from reality, and propagated by politicians or the media at different times. However, it is, indeed, this imagined identity that steers individuals into taking specific actions, endorsing others, and perhaps putting up with some. This in itself makes the study of the relationship between language and identity a pivotal task. It has been established that language does not stand alone, but is related both directly and indirectly to social, political, historical, and other extra-linguistic factors (Spolsky 2004). However, extra-linguistic factors also need to be examined in relation to language. Thus, one cannot describe the social and political changes in Egypt without referring to the diglossic community and how code-choice reflects a political or social stand in most cases and is, in almost all cases, a reflection of an "What the young people achieved in eighteen days, no one had achieved in sixty years" SA: ma: faʕala-hu ʃ-ʃaba:b fi: θama:niyata ʕaʃara rel "do"-3msg-pr3msg det-"youth" "in" eight(f) "ten"(m) Bender classifies Egyptians as being, to some extent, different from Arabs and attempts to explain this difference by drawing upon independent I.2 Aims of this work This book starts from the assumption that language is a resource, access to which is constantly negotiated. Blommaert (2007: 115) defines language as a "repertoire: a culturally sensitive ordered complex of genres, styles, registers, with lots of hybrid forms, and occurring in a wide variety of ways big and small." In public discourse, individuals choose from their

International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2013

Abstract Studies on language and religion in the Arab world have generally focused on dialectal v... more Abstract Studies on language and religion in the Arab world have generally focused on dialectal variation between different religious communities within specific countries (cf. Abu-Haidar 1991; Holes 1984). This study, on the other hand, tries to show how Muslim religious figures exploit the diglossic situation in Egypt in their sermons in order to convey social messages more effectively to their target audience. I focus on patterns of language use within the Muslim religious community by examining cases of code-switching between SA (standard Arabic) and ECA (Egyptian colloquial Arabic) in mosque sermons. The study references indexicality (Woolard 2004) and markedness theory (Myers-Scotton 1998, 2005) in its theoretical framing, and analyses the discourse function of and social motivations for exploiting the diglossic situation in these sermons. It aims to show how Islamic preachers can manipulate the linguistic situation to convey a religious message.

Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (RSLI) series aims to examine the intricate relation b... more Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (RSLI) series aims to examine the intricate relation between language and identity from different perspectives. The series straddles fields such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, applied linguistics, historical linguistics and linguistic anthropology. It aims to study identity and language by utilizing novel methods of analysis as well as ground breaking theoretical approaches. The books in this series proceed from the standpoint that language constitutes the weft and warp of social processes and practices, and that it cannot be studied in isolation from social phenomena. They shed light on the role of language in identity construction, in relation to a broad variety of themes and issues, including language variation and change, code-switching, bilingualism, translanguaging, language in the diaspora, minority languages, pidgins and creoles, language and globalization, language and the media, language in political discourse, language and gender, language and education, language policies and ideologies, and language and literature.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Discourse & Society, 2012

This study aims to offer a fresh look at the relationship between identity, stance-taking and cod... more This study aims to offer a fresh look at the relationship between identity, stance-taking and code choice. The study provides three examples of different forms of Egyptian public discourse related directly to identity that took place during the 2011 revolution of Egypt, a time when state TV media stations cast doubt on the identity of the protestors by utilizing linguistic resources. This article argues that during the process of stance-taking speakers employ linguistic resources, discourse resources and structural resources. These linguistic resources include the associations and indexes of different languages and varieties, in this case Standard Arabic (SA), Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) and English. This stance-taking process depends on code-switching as a mechanism that lays claims to different indexes and thus appeals to different ideologies and different facets of identity. Second, this study also shows how speakers use public discourse in order to construe language as a classification category and an identity builder.

Functions of Code Switching in Egypt, 2005

This book examines diglossia within the framework of code-switching through an analysis of negati... more This book examines diglossia within the framework of code-switching through an analysis of negation, deixis, and mood marking in Arabic monologues. It reassesses theoretical approaches to diglossia and code-switching in the light of empirical data, and examines the discourse functions of code-switching and the factors that influence it.

Language and Identity in Modern Egypt, 2014

The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, 2017

Arabic Sociolinguistics, 2020

vs. concrete code-switching, 83 Abu-Haidar, F., 18, 107-9, 126n, 157 Abu-Lughod, L., 136, 137, 14... more vs. concrete code-switching, 83 Abu-Haidar, F., 18, 107-9, 126n, 157 Abu-Lughod, L., 136, 137, 145, 151-4,

Arabic Grammars of Turkic, 1999

This first in-depth study of Arabic grammars of Turkic and the translation of Kitāb al-’Idrāk Li-... more This first in-depth study of Arabic grammars of Turkic and the translation of Kitāb al-’Idrāk Li-Lisān al-’Atrāk provides important new insights in the application of the Arabic model to Turkic in phonetics, morpho(no)logy and syntax.

Language and Identity in Modern Egypt, 2014

The aim of this work is to examine how language is used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminat... more The aim of this work is to examine how language is used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminate the collective identity of Egyptians, and how this identity is then made manifest in language form and content. The data used to identify the collective identity of Egyptians in public discourse includes newspaper articles, caricatures, blogs, patriotic songs, films, school textbooks, television talk shows, poetry, and, finally, Egyptian novels that deal with the theme of identity. Edwards (2009: 20) stipulates that "individual identities will be both components and reflections of particular social (or cultural) ones, and the latter will always be, to some extent at least, stereotypic in nature because of their necessary generality across the individual components." That is, the influence of public discourse in providing a coherent unified identity to all Egyptians is essential, even on the level of individual identity. What concerns us here is the individual as a member of an imagined "coherent group." A collective identity may be stereotypic, exclusive, built on myths, detached from reality, and propagated by politicians or the media at different times. However, it is, indeed, this imagined identity that steers individuals into taking specific actions, endorsing others, and perhaps putting up with some. This in itself makes the study of the relationship between language and identity a pivotal task. It has been established that language does not stand alone, but is related both directly and indirectly to social, political, historical, and other extra-linguistic factors (Spolsky 2004). However, extra-linguistic factors also need to be examined in relation to language. Thus, one cannot describe the social and political changes in Egypt without referring to the diglossic community and how code-choice reflects a political or social stand in most cases and is, in almost all cases, a reflection of an "What the young people achieved in eighteen days, no one had achieved in sixty years" SA: ma: faʕala-hu ʃ-ʃaba:b fi: θama:niyata ʕaʃara rel "do"-3msg-pr3msg det-"youth" "in" eight(f) "ten"(m) Bender classifies Egyptians as being, to some extent, different from Arabs and attempts to explain this difference by drawing upon independent I.2 Aims of this work This book starts from the assumption that language is a resource, access to which is constantly negotiated. Blommaert (2007: 115) defines language as a "repertoire: a culturally sensitive ordered complex of genres, styles, registers, with lots of hybrid forms, and occurring in a wide variety of ways big and small." In public discourse, individuals choose from their

International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2013

Abstract Studies on language and religion in the Arab world have generally focused on dialectal v... more Abstract Studies on language and religion in the Arab world have generally focused on dialectal variation between different religious communities within specific countries (cf. Abu-Haidar 1991; Holes 1984). This study, on the other hand, tries to show how Muslim religious figures exploit the diglossic situation in Egypt in their sermons in order to convey social messages more effectively to their target audience. I focus on patterns of language use within the Muslim religious community by examining cases of code-switching between SA (standard Arabic) and ECA (Egyptian colloquial Arabic) in mosque sermons. The study references indexicality (Woolard 2004) and markedness theory (Myers-Scotton 1998, 2005) in its theoretical framing, and analyses the discourse function of and social motivations for exploiting the diglossic situation in these sermons. It aims to show how Islamic preachers can manipulate the linguistic situation to convey a religious message.

Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (RSLI) series aims to examine the intricate relation b... more Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (RSLI) series aims to examine the intricate relation between language and identity from different perspectives. The series straddles fields such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, applied linguistics, historical linguistics and linguistic anthropology. It aims to study identity and language by utilizing novel methods of analysis as well as ground breaking theoretical approaches. The books in this series proceed from the standpoint that language constitutes the weft and warp of social processes and practices, and that it cannot be studied in isolation from social phenomena. They shed light on the role of language in identity construction, in relation to a broad variety of themes and issues, including language variation and change, code-switching, bilingualism, translanguaging, language in the diaspora, minority languages, pidgins and creoles, language and globalization, language and the media, language in political discourse, language and gender, language and education, language policies and ideologies, and language and literature.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East, 2010

1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d... more 1 0 1 C o m p a r a t i v e S t u d i e s o f S o u t h A s i a , A f r i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t V o l . 3 0 , N o . 1 , 2 0 1 0 d o i 1 0 .1 2 1 5 / 1 0 8 9 2 0 1 x -2 0 0 9 -0 5 5 © 2 0 1 0 b y D u k e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Redefining Identity through Language in the Literature of the Diaspora Reem Bassiouney his essay examines the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in the novel Al-hubb fi al-manfa (Love in Exile) by Baha Tahir. The essay argues that the writer uses code choice and code switching between MSA and ECA as a literary device that does not reflect reality but redefines and reconstructs a different identity for the protagonist with the different people in his life, from a waiter he befriends to his children. The essay starts by defining the phenomenon of diglossia in the Arab world and gives an overview of previous studies that have concentrated on the use of MSA and ECA in literature. Then the conversations in the novel are analyzed with code choice in mind.

Discourse & Society, 2012

This study aims to offer a fresh look at the relationship between identity, stance-taking and cod... more This study aims to offer a fresh look at the relationship between identity, stance-taking and code choice. The study provides three examples of different forms of Egyptian public discourse related directly to identity that took place during the 2011 revolution of Egypt, a time when state TV media stations cast doubt on the identity of the protestors by utilizing linguistic resources. This article argues that during the process of stance-taking speakers employ linguistic resources, discourse resources and structural resources. These linguistic resources include the associations and indexes of different languages and varieties, in this case Standard Arabic (SA), Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) and English. This stance-taking process depends on code-switching as a mechanism that lays claims to different indexes and thus appeals to different ideologies and different facets of identity. Second, this study also shows how speakers use public discourse in order to construe language as a classification category and an identity builder.