Mixed Arabic: Stylistic and Sociolinguistic Choices in Contemporary Egyptian Literature

This paper deals with the issue of language variation in contemporary Egyptian literature and highlights a number of written cases of exposure to diglossia and multilingualism. The interaction among varieties of the same language and the switching to foreign languages originate significant effects in writing, although to a lesser extent than in speaking. The research is based on a corpus of literary texts in which the composite and unstable reality of orality is reflected, namely two novels published in the first decade of 21st century: ‘Imārat Ya‘qūbiyān, by ‘Alā’ al-’Aswānī, and ’An takūn ‘Abbās al-‘Abd, by ’Aḥmad al-‘Ᾱydī. The first work shows the writer’s choice to represent the characters’ dialogues by adopting ‘āmmiyyah or fuṣḥā or intermediate varieties, according to discourse functions. The second one is an example of mistilingual and pluristylistic narrative in which the author uses code mixing and code switching to depict a milieu marked by the interference of endogenous or exogenous models. Both novelists use language resources which are available in a rich and complex linguistic situation and represent a complicated and stifling society: al-’Aswānī from a realistic point of view, and ’Aḥmad al-‘Ᾱydī with a postmodern sensibility.