It is important to cast light on diglossia which is one of the most significant linguistic features that distinguishes Arabic from many other languages. In the Arabic context, the diglossic situation means that each Arabic speech community is represented by its own spoken variety such as Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian or Iraqi and all speakers of these varieties share the rules of Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). For example, all the following expressions have the meaning of (I want to go now) which means Ureedu an ath-haba alaan in MSA, the written form of Arabic (Palmer, 2007:113):
1- Abgha aruuH alheen, Saudi Arabic. 2- Areed aruuH haessa, Iraqi Arabic. 3- Biddii ruuH haellae(q), Syrian Arabic. 4- Aawiz aruuH dilwa’ti, Egyptian Arabic. 5- Bgheet nimshi daaba, Moroccan Arabic.
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CA is the older form of written Arabic and it is the language of the Qur’an and more ancient traditions while MSA is used in official contexts. Both CA and MSA share the same grammatical rules and need a high level of proficiency to be produced orally (Palmer, 2007). According to Palmer (2007) this situation generates a degree of difficulty in both processes of teaching and learning Arabic. The only forms used in teaching Arabic are CA or MSA, which are not used in daily life interaction, and this creates a lack of oral proficiency among learners of Arabic who aim to communicate with Arabic native speakers (Palmer, 2007). In addition, it can be said that CA and MSA are considered among Arabs as the prestigious forms of Arabic that mainly are used for linguistic attention or research purposes (Palmer, 2007).
On the other hand, the spoken varieties are considered in some situations as lower prestigious forms of the language and they are used at home or in daily interaction and are not taught in schools. Related to this situation is that the grammatical features of spoken forms of Arabic known as colloquial Arabic, dialects or vernaculars are not taught and there are not any textbooks for teaching them but rather they are acquired at home, which generates another level of difficulty in the process of teaching Arabic.
The linguistic phenomenon of diglossia is also related to other complicated issues related to Arabic culture. According to Palmer (2007) it is usually difficult for foreigners to integrate into Arabic societies on both linguistic and cultural levels. One of the main reasons is that spoken forms are usually used at home, among friends or in informal situations (in-group levels), whereas MSA is used in formal situations which require Arabic speakers to show more respect and this could lead to increasing the social distance among the speakers (Palmer, 2007). That means that learners of Arabic could encounter some situations of embarrassment when they use MSA in informal situations or they may be kept outside the in-group forums (Palmer, 2007).
Since this study focuses on the spoken form of Saudi Arabic, it is important to discuss some of the important issues about the current situation of spoken dialects in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of providing more understanding about the various varieties that Arabic expressions usually produced.
2.8.7.1 Dialects in Saudi Arabia
Regarding the diglossic situation in Saudi Arabia, spoken Saudi Arabic, as in many Arabic countries, includes a number of spoken varieties and dialects which vary according to the regional areas of each speech community. For example, the Hija:zi represents an area in the western part of Saudi Arabia which includes the dialects of the cities of Makah, Al-Medina and Jeddah, as well as the areas surrounding these cities. The southern area of Saudi Arabia is represented by a number of dialects such as in Abha, one of the cities in the south west of the country (Al-Azraqi, 1998). The Eastern region of Saudi Arabia is also represented by dialects of cities such as Al-Ahsa and Al-Dammam.
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The Najdi represents the middle and the north of Saudi Arabia and includes the dialects of the tribe of Shammar in the city of Hi:yl, the Al-Qaseem dialects and the speech of central Najd including Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Al-Moaily (2008) states that classifying Najdi Arabic extends further to include dialects of Arabian tribes who settled in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Jordan. According to Al-Moaily (2008), this classification was due to similarities observed between the dialects of these Arabian tribes and the dialects used in the middle area of Saudi Arabia. Since this study examines the speech act of requests in spoken variety used by Saudi women who live in Riyadh, it is important to aware that Najdi Arabic used in the centre of Saudi Arabia is the variety to be focused upon in this study. However, it is anticipated that the data do not only represent Najdi Arabic. This can be referred to that Riyadh as the capital of Saudi Arabia and the centre of all governmental institutions has the largest population which includes citizens from all areas of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, dialects from different regions in Saudi Arabia are expected to be part of the current study.
It can be useful to refer to some of the various factors that have led to changes in Arabic dialects. Al- Azraqi (1998) claims that although both dialects inside and outside the Arabian Peninsula, the situation of changes inside is different from the situation of changes that occurred to the Arabian dialects outside the peninsula. To support her claim, Al-Azraqi (1998) suggests that modern dialects outside the Arabian Peninsula have been affected lexically and morphologically by other languages such as Turkish and Persian as a result of the contact between Arabs and their Islamic neighbours from these countries. Additionally, Arabian dialects outside the Arabian Peninsula have been affected by colonising languages such as French and English (Al-Azraqi, 1998). On the other hand, the situation is different within the Arabian Peninsula, specifically in Saudi Arabia, since Saudi Arabia has never been subjected to colonization in addition to being geographically far from border contact with communities from different linguistic backgrounds. Changes in Saudi dialects have been caused by the exchanged contact between tribes and other nomadic groups (Al-Azraqi, 1998).
Besides the spoken form, this study focuses by examining Arabic requests on another linguistic phenomenon related to the written form of the Arabic language. The following section will provide a brief discussion about the phenomenon of Arabizi that has emerged recently as a Latinised texting style among Arab youth.