A. A. BELIKOVA, Post-Graduate Student of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Egypt Keywords:, Arabic literary language, Egyptian dialect, diglossia

Modern Egyptians are proud to claim that they are descendants of the founders of ancient civilizations, the Pharaohs. For the" descendants of the pyramid builders", the expression Masr Ummu Addunya sounds quite natural, which means "Egypt is the mother (homeland) of the world", one of the oldest centers of human civilization. The period of occupation of Egypt by various states, of course, was reflected in the language, religion and culture. The complex accumulation of historical realities, being under the rule of Persians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the British - all this, it would seem, should have contributed to the dissolution of Egyptian self-consciousness in the flow of changing civilizations. This fate has befallen many nations. The British Egyptologist P. Newbery wrote in his book "Egypt as a field of anthropological research":: "Egypt is parchment: the Koran is written on it on top of the Bible, the Bible on top of Herodotus, and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs shine through all the layers." ²

The gradual transition from the Coptic language to Arabic, brought by the first Muslim conquerors of Egypt under the leadership of Amr ibn al-As in the middle of the seventh century AD, and the spread of Islam did not become the basis for the rejection of "Egyptianism". Over the following centuries, a new language of the Egyptians was formed, the so-called Egyptian dialect of Arabic. Currently, it is the mother tongue of the vast majority of the Egyptian population: Luga al-Umm is the mother tongue (literally "mother tongue", "mother tongue").

It should be noted that although many Egyptians perceive the dialect as a "distortion of the correct Arabic language", there are a considerable number of those who associate it with the Egyptian heritage. Attempts have even been made to prove the presence of traces of the Coptic language in the modern Egyptian dialect. Copts3-the Christian minority of Egypt, according to various estimates, they make up from 8% to 16% of the country's population, and consider themselves descendants of thousands of years of Egyptian culture that existed long before the world heard about the Arabs.

The "correct" language, i.e. literary Arabic, of many official radio and television broadcasts is practically not applicable in everyday speech. In everyday life, it would sound too grandiose. Such a sad experience is familiar to foreigners who studied the literary language before going to Egypt. After the first days of being in the Land of the Pyramids, it becomes clear that for many Egyptians, high-style expressions sound about as inappropriate as for Russian speakers, for example, such a phrase (when ordering dishes in a modern cafe): "Man, what dishes can I taste in your tavern?" The meaning is clear, but it sounds ridiculous. Isn't that right?

Often people on the street or in the store ask if you have come to study "Arabic" or" Egyptian", meaning by the latter not the practically extinct Coptic language ⁴, but the modern Egyptian dialect. The attitude towards the Arabic literary language, in which, according to the Muslim theological tradition, the holy book of the Koran was revealed, is very respectful, especially among Muslims, but not everyone recognizes it as "their own" and not always.

The author heard an interesting story from one of the teachers of language courses in Cairo. Walking through the center

Finally, he met a group of his American students. Using simple expressions from the previous day's lessons, the teacher asked how they were doing, what they intended to do, and so on. The dialogue was conducted in literary Arabic. After saying goodbye to the students, an old man sitting nearby turned to the teacher: "Are you a foreigner?" "No, I'm not a foreigner. I am an Egyptian, " our friend retorted in the Egyptian dialect. In response, there was a surprised question-exclamation: "Then why are you speaking 'their' language?!"

Of course, such comical situations are more difficult to deal with in a university environment or in official institutions. The higher the educational level of the interlocutor, the easier it is to communicate in literary Arabic. But as soon as there is no need for official communication, Egyptians, as a rule, are happy to switch to their native dialect.

Linguists have noticed that sometimes official communication also has dialect features in its structure, i.e. the transition from a "high" language register (literary language) to a more "low" one (dialect) and vice versa. Specialists ' attention was drawn to the phenomenon of the so - called intelligentsia language, which is sometimes equated with the concept of "middle language" - that is, when they speak literary Arabic, but at the same time use dialect forms, words and speech cliches interspersed in speech. It was this compromise that helped solve many social and even political problems in the country.

In the 1960s, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who actively promoted the idea of Arab unity, became one of the first political leaders to actively include words and constructions from the "low" language register in their speeches. Thus, a big step was taken to make what was said from the stands clear not only to the educated intelligentsia, but also to the common people.

Some researchers are already talking about a new "middle language" that brings together different layers of society. Until recently, Western sociolinguists were more concerned with such arguments. Their opponents often appeal to the fact that elements of the "Cairo" dialect were inherent in literature since the 12th century (we are talking about dialogues in the "Tales of a Thousand and One Nights"), but so far there has not been a complete mixing of literary Arabic and dialect.

Gradually, the use of the dialect became very common in literary works, radio and television programs, and especially in plays and films. The language of everyday life and everyday communication is a dialect. You can sing, argue, joke or swear exclusively in the "popular" Arabic language.

In recent years, there have been TV channels broadcasting only in the Egyptian dialect. One of them, for example, On TV, was founded in Cairo by a well-known large businessman Naguib Sawiris, a Copt by birth.

Ever since the abolition of the British protectorate and the independence of Egypt in 1922, there have been thoughts about giving the Egyptian dialect a special state status. The heirs of these ideas were the founders of the liberal Egyptian party "Homeland Egypt", based on the principles of recognizing the Egyptian identity as a priority in relation to the pan-Arab one. One of the points of the program of this political association was "recognition of the modern Egyptian language (Egyptian dialect or Egyptian Arabic)" and giving it the status of a state language along with a literary one. In Egyptian society, this proposal has not yet received a great response due to the widespread belief in the dominance and superiority of the literary Arabic language.

Time will tell whether the Egyptian dialect will eventually acquire a new status or, like vulgar Latin, become the basis for a new language.

In today's rapidly developing technogenic society, the dialect, especially Egyptian, has long crossed the border in many spheres of life and has firmly established itself in the territory of the literary Arabic language. It is rapidly entering the Internet sphere (there is an opinion that communication on the social network Facebook, and almost only in dialect, played a decisive role in the events of the Egyptian revolution of 2011), occupies a very strong niche in the television space (even on state channels there are a large number of youth and children's programs in dialect), and on the streets of cities, speech in the literary language can still be heard extremely rarely.

Language researchers and intellectuals reflect on the emergence of new language trends. Ordinary Egyptians, on the other hand, are more preoccupied with questions of "daily bread" and do not think much about the fact that they live in a paradoxical linguistic situation. Speaking only in a dialect, many of them memorize sacred lines from the Koran that have a sacred meaning for them in a literary language. This explanation of the presence of "two languages" (one for people, the other for God) in their lives suits them perfectly.

¹ Many researchers have even pointed out the external similarity of the modern Egyptians with the ancient ones. The famous Soviet Egyptologist, M. A. Korostovtsev, noted:: "After living in Egypt for several years and visiting different parts of the country, I had the opportunity to repeatedly see that the ethnic type of ancient and modern Egyptians, especially the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, are very close to each other." Comparing the faces depicted in ancient temples and tombs with the faces of local residents, the scientist sometimes experienced the impression that those Egyptians with whom he spoke and communicated "came down from the walls of temples and tombs." - For more information, see: Ulyanishcheva E. Shahsia Masriya - "the personality of an Egyptian" in the cultural space of the Arab world, "Ancient Egypt" / / Collection of works of the Association for the Study of Ancient Egypt "MAAT". Moscow, 2005 p. 14.

^{Nesterova A.V.} 2 Monuments of Ancient Egypt, Moscow, 2002, p. 26.

³ The word Copts in Arabic is pronounced Qibt-a short form from the Greek Aigyptios (Egyptian). - For more information, see: Sappioueg S. Coptic Egypt: The Christians of the Nile. Cairo, 2001, p. 11.

⁴ Coptic is the language of the ethnic Egyptians, descendants of the population of ancient Egypt. The last stage in the development of the ancient Egyptian language. Currently, it remains the language of church worship. It is taught as a written language in Coptic Sunday schools. - For more information, see: Woodard R., Loprieno A. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. N.Y., 2008. p. 160.

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