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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

newspaper readership, education level, Egypt, language

College

Humanities

Department

Asian and Near Eastern Languages

Abstract

Egypt has produced some of the greatest literature in the world and is quite known for its magnificent language, Arabic. Arabic is a symbol itself of the Arab’s society and has always been considered more than a form of communication, that is the writing itself is a form of art and Arabs learn from the beginning to write this language in a celebrated prose form that can be seen in the Qur’an and most serious works of literature. This form of writing, called Classical Arabic, or fuSHa, is, in itself, different than the colloquial spoken Arabic that differs according to region. This means that it is a diglossic language. My research looked into rather or not this higher form of Arabic was being used in communicative fashion as it traditionally has been. It seemed, though, in a country high in illiteracy, such as Egypt, where Arabic is the national language, that using Classical Arabic in written sources would affect what persons could utilize that source. From this came my research question. Is there any relationship in newspaper readership and education level in Egypt based on an admixture of colloquial with fuSHa? If this relationship is not dependent upon this variable, then what other factors might it depend on?

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