The Standardization of a Diglossic Low Variety: The case of Moroccan Arabic

This book investigates horizontal (regional and social) and vertical (colloquial-standard) variation in Moroccan Arabic. At the horizontal level, it shows that MA dialects are converging toward the variety of the capital cities of Rabat and Casablanca. At the vertical level, the study focuses on the new functions of MA and their impact on its structure. The two dimensions are argued to be aspects of language standardization. The linguistic and the social aspects of this process are accounted for in a uniform way.

The author is an associate professor of linguistics at the Faculty of Education, Mohamed V University - Morocco. His research interests include the sociolinguistics of Morocco and the Arab world, Arabic linguistics and cognitive linguistics. His publications include journal papers and an introductory textbook to Arabic sociolinguistics (in Arabic).