Diglossia In Arabic.
The Arab world has 22 countries and all of those countries use Arabic as a source of their first language. However, Arabic language can be used in both Colloquial Arabic and Classical Arabic. This means that every country in the Arab world would have their own way of talking and communicating informally, which is why the Aaamiya or Colloqiol language exists. Diglossia can be defined as a language that has two versions; the high, prestigious and formal version (Classical) and the low, informal, easy to use daily version (Aamiyya, Colloquial).
The Classical Arabic language is known to be a language that is with high prestige and cannot be taught to non-speaking Arabs as easily as one might think. It is to the degree that Arab speakers themselves find the Classical Arabic difficult to use in which this why they prefer to use they’re Colloquial version instead. Islam’s Holy book, The Quran, is written in the Classical Arabic and linguists strongly believe that The Quran’s language is like no other. It is definitely unique and different from the other holy books of other religions in terms of the way of writing.
Another good example of a country that faces diglossia as well is China. China has been using the Classical Chinese for over 2000 years. But now, Modern Chinese is the informal way of talking, however, like Arabic, they would tend to use Classical Chinese to write or when formal occasions occur.
The everlasting question that is ongoing is whether the Arabic language should be transferred from Classical Arabic into the Colloquial (Aamiyya) Arabic. There are two views in this argument. The first one is that the Classical Arabic should be predominant as it is the origin of Colloquial Arabic. Classical Arabic is the language everyone understands even though they use different Colloquial Arabic. So this means that two different countries may not understand each other’s Colloquial Arabic however the Classical Arabic is fully understood by these two countries. The reason why there are different Colloquial languages is because the Classical Arabic is hard to use on a daily, informal basis. The Quran supported the Classical Arabic throughout the time and another reason why the Classical Arabic should be predominant is because the language of The Quran is scared and should be respected in terms of keeping it the superior language. The other view of this argument is that the Colloquial Arabic language is easier to use and can be easily used when spoken. However there is a constraint to the fact of making the Colloquial Arabic language the only Arabic language which is every country has its own dialect and different ways of using they’re branched language. So which one of the 22 Colloquial languages should be chosen to be the ‘New Arabic Language’? Not to mention that each of these 22 countries have a Colloquial language that is even broken down to different dialects. In my opinion, the Classical Arabic should not be changed and should maintain and even be more sacred than it is at the moment. This is because as a Muslim, when I read the Holy Quran, I start wondering how wonderful this language is. I also feel responsible for myself and for my Arabic Muslim community who read The Quran and barely understand the words written, not realizing the art and amusement of the way of writing it holds. At the same time, even though I would love all Arab countries to use the same language and not use the colloquial language, I believe it is too late to fix this matter. However, nothing is impossible. I always noted that if all of the Arabic countries used the same language, which should be the Classical Arabic, then we will all be united. We all say “I wish if the Arab countries would be one nation”. Unfortunately, we all have different cultures and reality says that sharing the same language would be impossible if that nation does not agree on using the same language. Why? It is because communication is culture.