# Literary works in dialectal/colloquial Arabic



## Izumrud

Are there any literary works that have been written and published in any of the Arabic colloquials? 

I refer specifically to those works accessible in the written form, i.e. novels rather than television/radio scripts or plays, which are intended to be performed/heard and not read.

I imagine resistance to such things would be high amongst publishers, reflecting the common opinion amongst (especially older) native Arabic-speakers that anything short of fusHa is not worthy of being committed to paper, but I wonder (read hope) that some authors/publishers have freed their creativity of such restraints.


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## Ihsiin

There is a book I've read called الادب الشعبي العراقي by ماجد شبر which is an anthology of Iraqi folk poetry.


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## akhooha

There are a number of novels where the dialogue appears in the colloquial. The first one that comes to mind is the classic "al-arD" (الأرض) by abd al-raHman al-sharqawi (عبد الرحمن الشرقاوي), first published in 1954.
You can preview a lot of the text here.
Also, there's a lot of poetry published in colloquial. You can read most of the poems by Ahmed Fuad Negm (أحمد فؤاد نجم) here.


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## Izumrud

Thanks to both of you. I think poetry belongs in its own special class, as it requires a lot more creativity with the language than what would be used/expected in everyday use. What I'm really wondering about is works of prose, such as novels, where the language appears as it would be narrated in an informal context. I guess folk tales come to mind, however these would be much shorter than what I'm seeking - but all the same, if anyone knows of any such collections, please also do join in.

It's interesting that there are some novels where only the dialogue is written in colloquial language. It makes a certain sort of sense. I wonder if there are novels where where the entirety of the narration, description, dialogue appears in colloquial language?


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## Hemza

I'm not sure but I think that some Egyptian authors wrote some kind of books in Urban Egyptian Arabic. I have no author in mind nor book, but still, I hope it helps you .


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## akhooha

يوسف القعيد (Yusuf al-Qu3ayd) published a first person narrative novel in 1994 called لبن العصفور (labn al-3aSfour). The entire novel is in Egyptian colloquial.


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## Jack.D

Izumrud said:


> I imagine resistance to such things would be high amongst publishers, reflecting the common opinion amongst (especially older) native Arabic-speakers that anything short of fusHa is not worthy of being committed to paper



To be honest with you I share the same opinion (I am in my twenties), I feel like any literary which is not written in MSA (Fusha) is not worthy to be published, because for me it didn't rise to an enough intellectual level which allows it to be published, and reading a piece of literature in anything other than MSA gives me the feeling that the writer is not educated (I think the majority of people share the same opinion)... but I am totally fine with novels where *only* the dialogue is written in colloquial language (because it is the spoken language between people and that would make the novel more real).


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## akhooha

There's also مذكرات طالب بعثة (Memoirs of a scholarship student) by Luwiis 3waD (لويس عوض) (formerly chairman of the Faculty of Letters of Cairo University and, having studied at Cairo University as well at Oxford and Princeton, he could be considered fairly well educated). Published in 1991, it is written entirely in Egyptian colloquial.


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## Izumrud

Jack.D said:


> To be honest with you I share the same opinion (I am in my twenties) I feel like any literary which is not written in MSA (Fusha) is not worthy to be published, because for me it didn't rise to an enough intellectual level which allows it to be published, and reading a piece of literature in anything other than MSA gives me the feeling that the writer is not educated (I think the majority of people share the same opinion)... but I am totally fine with novels where *only* the dialogue is written in colloquial language (because it is the spoken language between people and that would make the novel more real).



But why should creative expression be limited in this way? After all, these are not scholarly works, but stories, designed to capture the imagination or talk about personal experience rather than impart information. Literature can be playful and artistic with language, and I don't see a reason why this can't occur in dialects too. It saddens me that this is, as you say and as I have found, a majority opinion. Do you also feel then, that poetry should never be written in colloquial language?

Excellent examples from akhooha, many thanks, and to Hemza also for  mentioning the existence of such works in Egyptian. Does anyone know of  anything written in dialects other than Egyptian? Any collections of folk tales, any novels, any short stories?


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## Jack.D

Izumrud said:


> But why should creative expression be limited in this way? After all, these are not scholarly works, but stories, designed to capture the imagination or talk about personal experience rather than impart information. Literature can be playful and artistic with language, and I don't see a reason why this can't occur in dialects too. It saddens me that this is, as you say and as I have found, a majority opinion. Do you also feel then, that poetry should never be written in colloquial language?



Writing in MSA (Fusha) is not a limitation for creative expression , on the contrary it is a process of expanding the horizon of creativity, when you write literature in MSA you are showing and giving me this feeling that you are an intellectual, creative and a clever person (but of course it doesn't mean that someone who wrote in colloquial is lacking those traits).. MSA is more deep and its more rich than any colloquial language and by using it in literature you can reach all the 350 million who can speak Arabic instead of only limiting yourself by reaching the people living in your region or country. After all colloquial languages are everyday languages and their main use is *speaking*, and usually when you write a piece of literature you are using more vocabulary than you are using while speaking, writing is an art and you need to show me how artistic you are and how strong your capability of using vocabulary and expressions is (and I think you can see this in any other language, the kind of language used in a great novel is different than the language used in everyday's life) ... using colloquial language to write poetry is a big *NO *for me.


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## loghrat

The Moroccan writer Youssouf Amine Elalami has started writing in darija (Moroccan dialect).
He talks about it on YouTube: (link removed by moderator)
You may find more information about writing in Darija here:
http://www.arabemarroqui.es/


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## akhooha

In case the moderators delete the  link, you can find it by searching on youtube under the title:
Youssouf Amine Elalami on writing in Morocco. 
Thanks, loghrat.


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## Schem

A bunch of Saudi novels include dialogues in the local dialects and, of course, poetry volumes are always written in the dialect they're spoken. I've never come across a book published entirely in a dialect, though, as even these examples will be a mix of MSA introductions/retellings and dialect excerpts.


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## إسكندراني

Izumrud said:


> the common opinion amongst (especially older) native Arabic-speakers that anything short of fusHa is not worthy of being committed to paper


This is simply false in Egyptian fiction. Dialectal novels have been widespread for many decades.


Jack.D said:


> using colloquial language to write poetry is a big *NO *for me.


It may be big no for _you_, but it's not a big no for most people. الشعر العامي has long been very popular, both written and oral.


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## Hemza

إسكندراني said:


> It may be big no for _you_, but it's not a big no for most people. الشعر العامي has long been very popular, both written and oral.



I agree, even in Morocco, a loooot of old poems, from 19th century were written in Moroccan dialect. I think it's also the case for Algeria and Tunisia.


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## Izumrud

Many thanks to all for engaging in the conversation and furnishing additional links and resources.



Jack.D said:


> After all colloquial languages are everyday languages and their main use is *speaking*, and usually when you write a piece of literature you are using more vocabulary than you are using while speaking, writing is an art and you need to show me how artistic you are and how strong your capability of using vocabulary and expressions is (and I think you can see this in any other language, the kind of language used in a great novel is different than the language used in everyday's life)



But it's possible to be very eloquent even in everyday speech, and in English I certainly have come across many people (most of them academics) who make a habit of using quite an elevated vocabulary in all their dealings with others, but who are also not afraid to lower their register and insert slang where and when appropriate. I don't see how using colloquial language precludes one from being artistic with language. In something like a novel in colloquial Arabic, I imagine that the grammar would be colloquial, the main vocabulary would be taken from everyday speech, and other words taken from the much broader vocabulary available in _fusHa_ if required, where there was no suitable colloquial equivalent. It appears to me as though the essence of your argument is that 'uneducated' people have no right to creative expression in their own language.



إسكندراني said:


> This is simply false in Egyptian fiction. Dialectal novels have been widespread for many decades.



I am very pleased to hear this. My experience has been limited to the Levant, where I have encountered many people who express the view that colloquial language simply should never be written down for any reason, and many people who very much resist doing so and resist being exposed to it. I am glad to see its changing here too. Does anyone know of any authors writing primarily in a Levantine dialect?


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## إسكندراني

I'm not really into reading fiction in any language, but if you want to start with poetry, the internet has lots of starting points (e.g. Lebanese dialect poets - Zajal - search «حكاية معجب» on youtube)


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## Ihsiin

Jack.D said:


> (and I think you can see this in any other language, the kind of language used in a great novel is different than the language used in everyday's life)



I think Mark Twain might disagree with you.

The word 'colloquial' is inappropriate in this context, anyway. Most vernacular Arabic poetry is written in a particular poetic voice that is far from colloquial. It is quite wrong to think of vernacular Arabic as being 'slang', or simply the language of everyday; it often has its own elegances and can be beautiful in ways that Fusha can't. I think it's a great shame that there is very little, and often no, prose fiction written in the dialects. The incredibly rich tradition of vernacular poetry is proof enough of how how fitting the dialects are for literature. But, as ever, there's no point complaining. There is, of course, only one way to heal this dearth of vernacular fiction. To our pens we must turn.


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## إسكندراني

If you're looking for prose, try الحكوّاتي / الراوي / القاصّ in essentially any country. It just doesn't seem to be published often. And there are many colloquial Egyptian novelists (none of which I really read so couldn't recommend them - I mean we were forced to read nagib mahfouz at school but I hate his guts).


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## She'lock Holmes

I had come across يا مال الشام by سهام ترجمان where the dialogues are in Damascus Arabic and it contains poetry too along with cultural references to Damascene Arabs' lifestyle. I found it cute and the insults felt 'real' compared to the dull and not-so-insulting typical _Fusha _dialogues 

I also came across this list which is _supposedly _in Damascus Arabic, but I didn't get the chance to check them myself:
1. 'الحكايات الشعبية الدمشقية' by 'نزار الأسود'.
2. 'سيرة الملك الظاهر بيرص حسب الرواية الشامية' by 'بوهاس، جورج، كاتيا زكريا'.
3. 'حكايات دمشقية' by 'منير كيال'.

PS: this is quite an old thread, but I didn't want to open a new one for a related subject and DA literature are quite useful for Arabic learners.

Edit: I can confirm that 3. is indeed in DA and is available in the public domain here; he also has إيقاعات شامية في مكنون السلوك الدمشقي where the dialogues are in DA.


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## djara

A relatively recent example from Tunisia, wholly written in dialect, _kalb bin kalb_ a novel by Taoufik Ben Brik, 2013. 
توفيق بن بريك، كلب بن كلب، 2013
A word of warning: Very crude language used!


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