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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Syrian Arabic synonyms, formal standard language, spoken dialects, Middle East

College

Humanities

Department

Asian and Near Eastern Languages

Abstract

In Arabic there is a fundamental schism between the formal standard language and the scores of dialects spoken throughout Middle Eastern countries. Nearly all newspapers, magazines and television programs throughout the Middle East exclusively utilize the formal standard language. In contrast, the spoken dialects are rarely recorded in a written or audio format, even though they are what the people of the Middle East actually use in daily communication. Unfortunately, most grammar books and dictionaries are only available in the formal variant. The dearth of colloquial language-learning materials causes extreme difficulty for students who want to become more familiar with the different spoken dialects of the people in the Middle East.

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