Modern standard Arabic : an empirical study on Saudis

Abstract EN

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) has always been a controversial issue in soc iolinguistics.

The findings of the present study suggest that there are strong emphases on education to account for the observed soeiophonological variation in the SMSA.

This finding is in line with a number of sociolinguistic studies such as Coulmas' (1997), in which he stated that the concept of "educatedness" is fundamental in sociophonology.

It is interesting to note that the present study shows no sex-differentiated patterns of variation .

Such findings reveal that the higher the level of education of the speakers of SMSA, the higher their tendency becomes to use the Classical Arabic (CA) variable s IQ / , 1-&.

and 1-8 /) more frequently than the CHA variants I-q /, I-z), t-sl, 1-I / .Therefore, it appears that the influence of education is evident and significant on language usages.

As a result of the findings of the present study.

there are three discrete Arabic varieties to be distinguished.

I - First, IAI-'?arabiah AI-FuSha!.

"FuSha Arabic" or "Classical Arabic" (CA).

Second, IAI-?arabiah Almi?yariah AIhadi.

Bah,', "Modern Standard Arabic" MSA.

This Arabic variety combines linguistic aspects of both Classical and Dialectal Arabic, regardless of the nationality of the speakers of this Arabic variety.

Third.

IAlIahjah AI?a:mmi:yah AI'?arabiahl "Colloquial Dialectal Arabic" (CDA).

which is applicable to all Arabic dialects.

Consequently, the variety of the present study SMSA is deemed to belong to the second variety, namely.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).