The functioning of dialect in the Egyptian press

The written form of Colloquial Arabic is used in texts that are perceived as marginal to the concerns of serious journalism, such as captions in cartoons. In Egypt, Cairene Arabic appears in newspapers and magazines, mainly in popular material such as sports and fashion reporting, and in advertising. But dialect in Egypt has a higher status than elsewhere in the Arab World, and is used in more serious journalism, including feature articles, interviews and reports. Although its use is mostly limited to quotation, one can periodically find long passages of it. The quantity of dialect used in a text depends on the language policy of the newspaper, the general aim of an author and the kind of article in which it appears. The main goal of this study is to show how dialect can function in the Egyptian press. With this end in view, I present an analysis of two articles that were published in a monthly sports magazine. The first is an interview. The language is marked by switching between Modern Standard Arabic and different levels of Cairene Arabic. There are few passages written either fully in dialect or fully in MSA; most are evenly mixed. It seems that such an application of dialect aims to imitate ordinary conversation, giving the discourse have the appearance of being spontaneous, extemporaneous, and therefore more credible. The second article is a feature written mostly in MSA. The passages of dialect are introduced to engage readers and create a sense of closeness – a one-of-us feeling between the author and readers. In contrast to the first article, one can observe here sharp boundaries between dialect and MSA passages.